Every inch of available pit space was needed on Sunday as the Benton County Speedway's 2025 season opener would pull in an amazing 159 cars to do battle on the quarter-mile "Bullring" in Vinton. And when all was said and done nine drivers would visit victory lane in the seven division program.
Wait, what?
Yes, you read that correctly and that was attributed to the "C" word used in the title above, so let's start from the beginning with the first of those seven feature races.
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| They were pitted all the way out to the neighbor's house at Vinton |
Kyle Olson would lead the opening lap of this fifteen lap headliner for the Sport Mods from the pole position and on lap two a hard crash would take place right in front of the large opening night crowd. Kole Quam would get sideways and nose into the concrete just past the flagstand and he would get drilled by both Jason Niedert and Noah Beenken. Thankfully all drivers were okay and that statement will also apply to any future crashes that are referenced here.
Once back to action northwest Missouri driver Daniel Harris would put the pressure on Olson finally taking the lead on lap seven. Olson would try to battle back though as the lead duo pulled away from the rest of the field, but on lap ten Kyle would get sideways in turn three and he could not get the car back in motion before the caution waved sending him to the rear of the pack for the restart.
With the green flag back in play Cole Suckow found the high side to his liking as he quickly moved from the middle of the field up to third and he was about to take second when the caution waved again as Will Wolf and Olson both sat motionless in turn three. It looked like we might be set up for a sizzler with just three laps remaining, but Harris nailed his line and actually pulled away a bit from the battle for second as he repeated his victory from the night before at the Boone Speedway to make for a nice weekend visit to Iowa. Brady Hilmer would edge out Suckow for second, while hometown drivers Austin Kemp and Brandon Tharp would complete the top five.
Twenty-three drivers from six states including Tennessee and South Carolina would start the eighteen lap Legend Cars feature with Dylan Manning outrunning pole-sitter Eric Blumer into turn one to lead the opening lap. Griffin McGrath's spin entering turn three would reset the field and on the restart Blumer would drive under Manning to take the point. A red flag would fly on lap four when Joe VanNatta and Cody Moline tangled in turn four with Moline's #33 tipping onto its side before settling back down on all fours.
Two more cautions would slow the field over the remaining fourteen laps as Blumer went unchallenged for the most part while the battle for positions behind him went two and three wide. Michael Weber would come from eighth to second to finish right on the rear bumper of the winner as Dave Eberle finished third ahead of South Carolina driver Zach Miller and Cedar Rapids favorite Kacey Korsmo.
It was good to see a full field of Sport Compacts up next for twelve laps and as they often do here at Vinton, the swarm would go from green to checkers with no cautions. The front row of Jake Anderson and Blake Driscoll would complete the first lap side by side with Anderson just a nose ahead before Driscoll took control on lap number two. The driver on the move was Cristian Grady who had started eighth and was looking for a better finish to his weekend than how it started after getting upside down at Marshalltown on Friday night.
Grady would clear Anderson for second with two laps remaining and after the white flag waved he would make his run at the leader driving to the inside of the rim riding Driscoll. His run would come up just short though as Driscoll scored the win, but Grady's second place finish did put him to the top of the May 4th update of the All Iowa Points for the division. Anderson would come home third, Stephen Randall rallied from twelfth to fourth as Robert Rundle finished in fifth.
The twenty-five lap PRO Late Model Tour headliner would be up next, an event that would see six lead changes involving two drivers with three of them coming after the checkered flag had waved!
Tom Berry Jr. would set a quick early pace from the pole position, but the third starting Tim Ward was finding the grip on the bottom and soon charged to the front on lap five. Berry would battle back with a high to low move in turns one and two to get back to the front on lap six and then the only caution of the race would wave three laps later when Brandon Davis spun in turn four collecting Bobby Hansen.
On the restart both Ward and Matt Ryan would keep the heat on Berry and on lap eleven Ward would get back to the lead with another nifty move. Berry would then stay close over the next several laps only to see Ward pull away to take the checkers and that is where the fun started.
There was a long delay as Ward went up and down on the scales apparently having a tough time making the minimum weight and then finally Berry was brought to victory lane. However, as he started his interview I noticed that a tech official was still checking things over with a flashlight on Ward's car, something that wouldn't be needed if he had been disqualified at the scales.
Berry's interview ended abruptly mid-sentence and he climbed back in his car and quickly drove off to the pits as now Ward's car was parked in victory lane and another uncomfortable interview was conducted. Then a few minutes later it was announced that Ward had been disqualified for grooving his tires, apparently a no-no in the PRO Late Model Tour rule book and during a red flag in the Stock Car feature that we will get into here shortly, Tom Berry Jr. returned to victory lane where he had some choice words for how this whole scenario had played out. But let me tell ya, you ain't seen nothing yet!
The official finish, at least as of Monday morning, would have Berry with the victory, Matt Ryan taking second, J.D. Auringer hustled from sixteenth to be credited with third, C.J. Horn was fourth and Dallon Murty finished fifth.
Several drivers on the night, including Berry described the track as having character while still being raceable. The one division that really had a challenge with it though was the Stock Cars with several of them apparently setup to run rolled over to the right rear with the left front coming off the ground as they entered the corners. A ridge entering turn one was the culprit though as at least three Stock Cars bicycled during the heat races and after pole-sitter Johnathon Logue paced the field into turn one for the second time a car mid-pack caught the ridge and snap rolled several times shedding all of the body parts except for the rear bumper cover.
The only way to identify who had endured this wild crash was a method of elimination and it was southeast Iowa racer Austin Staley who thankfully emerged from the stripped clean car uninjured. As the Late Model winner at that moment was brought back to victory lane to resume his interview with the other announcer, some quick track work was done to knock down that ridge for awhile and we were soon back to racing with Logue still leading the way.
Not another caution would be needed in this one and when the seventh starting Tony Olsen slipped past Dustin Vis for second he would start to close the gap on the leader with the laps winding down. As they were coming to three laps remaining the lapped car of Dakota O'Connor drifted high causing Logue to stand on the brakes, and when O'Connor corrected and went back to the low groove he would be right in front of Olson allowing Logue to pull away to what seemed like an insurmountable advantage.
However, coming to the white flag Logue got a bit crossed up entering turn four and that allowed Olson to get back into contention and on the final lap, when Logue again stumbled in turn four, Olson dove to the bottom and squeezed between the big infield tire and the left front of Logue's car for what looked like an apparent last lap victory. As Logue's car drove up the track after contact exiting turn four, Dustin Vis would slip by for second before Logue could scramble across the line for third ahead of John Oliver Jr. and Shaun Bistline.
Olson would park his car in victory lane and was soon joined in by several family and friends striking a pose, but the photographers did not engage as the announcement came that "Race Control" was reviewing the situation. The family and friends soon dispersed and Olson climbed back in his car and headed for the scales and the announcement soon came that he would be disqualified for rough driving and that Dustin Vis would be awarded the win. To his credit, Vis did not drive to victory lane as that would have given us ten drivers in seven divisions as the final decision was made that Logue would be awarded the victory and his car would later be brought to the stage in front of the judges stand on a wrecker for an unusual photo op.
In this writer's opinion, without the aid of any video replay and obviously with nowhere near as close of a view as "Race Control" would have had as I sat near the top of the grandstands, this situation was over officiated with the leader getting out of shape and the challenger going as low as he could go to take advantage of the situation. But hey, right or wrong, love it or hate it, this is the kind of stuff that will have that grandstand nearly full once again when the Benton County Speedway gets back to action on May 18th after taking Mother's Day off.
The official finish would read like this, Johnathon Logue with the win, Dustin Vis in second, John Oliver Jr. who was behind the wheel of Chad Krogmeier's #12 for the second night in a row after winning on Saturday at 34 Raceway was credited with third, Shaun Bistline was fourth and Dakoda Sellers joined the top five as Olson was regulated to eleventh, the final car on the lead lap.
You know what else fills the stands here at Vinton? Races like the twenty-lap feature for the IMCA Modifieds where there were six lead changes amongst three drivers and all of these took place BEFORE the checkered flag!
Pole-sitter Kollin Hibdon would out run his former mentor Jeff Aikey from the front row to take the early lead before New Mexico native Zane DeVilbiss stole the point on lap four. The only caution of this thriller would wave a lap later when Kaylin Lopez and Dustin Kroening would tangle on the back stretch and on the restart the battle between DeVilbiss and Hibdon would resume. Ethan Braaksma who had started ninth was on the move and once he made it up to third all of us were treated to an amazing three car battle for the lead.
Hibdon was now using the cushion on both ends and that momentum off the top would take him back to the lead on lap fourteen only to have DeVilbiss nose back to the front a lap later. Meanwhile Braaksma was really finding the bite on the bottom and he would lead the trio at the stripe on lap fifteen only to have Hibdon regain the lead one lap later. Finally, with just three laps to go, Braaksma again used the bottom to take the lead and he would not give it up from there taking an impressive victory where there was no confusion as to who was the winner.
Hibdon actually jumped the cushion in turn four with two laps remaining and faded to a nineteenth place finish as DeVilbiss was the runner-up ahead of Izac Mallicoat and Troy Morris III. Morris had started eighth and Mallicoat came from twelfth, but the hard charger was Joel Rust who filled out the top five after starting twentieth on the grid.
The Hobby Stocks would close out the evening with fifteen laps where Matt Brown would lead the first two before the third-place car of Brad Graham got sideways in turn three and collected Daniel Wauters taking two top drivers out of contention. On the restart Nathan Ballard would race to the lead and just three laps later Brown would clip an infield tire exiting turn two and get upside down to bring out the red.
Once back to racing the eleventh starting Tucker Richardson was now up to second and he would pull door to door with Ballard for the lead down the back stretch before the caution waved again at the back of the field. Unfortunately Richardson's night would come to a close with a flat right rear tire as he exited the track under caution. There would be one more race stoppage on lap eleven and while Joren Fisher was able to stay close, he could not make a run at Ballard who would score the victory with the final checkers waving just before ten o'clock. Briar Kriegel, Justin Wacha and Jarod Weepie would complete the top five.
It was one of the most unusual and entertaining nights that I have had at a race track in sometime and while the promotional team of Rick and Corey Dripps as well as the officials with the PRO Late Model Tour are taking some arrows today, you can bet that each and every one of those angry race fans will either be back in the grandstands or tuning in on IMCA.tv the next time that the green flag waves at the Benton County Speedway.
Next up for me will be a trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on Wednesday night where the roster will be trimmed to four divisions with a couple of make-up features sprinkled in. Then, on Friday night May 9th, the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders return to the Davenport Speedway for a night of action on the wide and racey quarter-mile.
Hope to see you at the track again soon!
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