Cousin Kyle Doubles Up, Starter Huff May Require An MRI At Vinton

Sunday was a strange night at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. You couldn't have asked for a better car count for this weekly show with exactly 100 across the five classes and very evenly distributed as well. To me at least, the track seemed to be good as they were able to race two, three and even four wide from the start of the heat races through the final feature, but holy cow there were so many yellows! Drivers getting sideways in traffic and collecting others, drivers spinning on their own and then just sitting until the race was stopped and drivers just driving through others in a night when sportsmanship seemed to go out the window. For the most part, in the story below, I will provide the "caution stats" but leave out the names of the offenders to protect the guilty, but I have to wonder if flagman John Huff might be checking in for an MRI on his worn out rotator cuff this morning after waving that damn yellow flag so many times!

Even the kid on the John Deere tractor in the Power Wheels race was swerving back and forth trying to ward off the competition so I should have known what we would be up against as the Sport Mods were first up for features with fifteen laps being the scheduled distance. Seven cautions would fly during this one with the longest green flag stretch being four laps from six to ten. Luke Bird would lead the first two circuits until a restart found him racing three-wide down the back stretch with Tony Olson and the youngster from Utah, Payce Herrera. Olson would prevail and he would lead until lap thirteen when his cousin Kyle Olson would drive under him and to the front. Kyle would then see the caution wave twice after taking the white flag and, on the second one, Huff just threw the checkers as well to send these guys to the pits.

Even Brisket was checking his cell phone during cautions

The Sport Compacts were up next for twelve laps that included four cautions with the longest stretch of green flag action coming from lap two to lap eight. To me it looked like Blake Driscol had lead the opening lap, but the transponders don't lie so Trevor Forey would bring the field back to green after the lap one caution that would then see Driscol spin in turn two collecting point leader Cristian Grady. Grady was rightfully given his spot back for the restart and he would be on the outside of a four-wide scramble for the lead going down the back stretch to take the lead on lap two. A restart on lap eight would give the eighth starting Jake Anderson the opportunity that he needed to drive under Grady in turns one and two to take the lead, and three laps later the victory, his first here at Vinton in 2025. Lukas Rick started twelfth and finished second, Stephen Randall came from ninth to third, Robert Rundle was fourth after starting tenth and Mike Peyton crossed the line in fifth. However, in one of those "I've never seen that before" moments, it was announced that Peyton had been disqualified because he had his cell phone in the car. Apparently having that lady's voice on Waze constantly saying "turn left" is not allowed. 

The Stocks Cars were up next for twenty laps and the first three of a total of eight cautions all came with two laps on the scoreboard and ironically all three involved three cars in turn number two. Kyle Olson would lead the opening lap before getting a bit crossed up himself allowing David McCalla to slip to the front on lap two. However when McCalla went off the top of turn four that allowed Kyle to regain the lead on lap four. We did get ten laps of caution free racing here that saw Brandon Tharp working the high line to move from sixteenth to second, and when he went around John Oliver Jr. for that second spot it showed the track point leader that the top was now good to go.

Following a restart, Oliver worked the outside of Olson to lead lap thirteen by a bumper at the line and of course a caution would then wave with Oliver now setting the pace back to green. Olson was not to be denied though as he charged back under Oliver with four laps remaining and then rode out two more cautions to earn his second victory of the night. Oliver, the current National IMCA Points leader finished second with Tharp plus thirteen in third, fourth went to Shane Richardson who also used the high line to come from twelfth and veteran driver Norman Chesmore finished in fifth.

Could the Hobby Stocks break the streak and run a clean fifteen laps of feature racing?

Nope.

Seven cautions would wave during this one with the longest string of green flag laps coming from lap seven to lap thirteen. Michael Kimm would lead the opening two laps before Dalton Weepie took over on a lap three restart and caution #6 came when the driver starting from the inside of the first double row in a Delaware Double File restart spun Weepie as the field came to green with two laps remaining. He would be given his spot back and while Joren Fisher was there to challenge, there would be no stopping Weepie from scoring his second win in a row here at Vinton. Fisher was second, Leah Wroten third, Matt Brown came from row six to finish fourth and pole-sitter Michael Cheney closed out the top five.

Could the Modifieds close out the evening with minimal issues? Well, not really as they had five cautions wave during the twenty lap finale. We did get five laps in though before the first caution was needed, the most to start any of tonight's five features, but that five lap segment would tie with laps six through ten as the longest stretch of green in this one. Hometown driver Jerry Dedrick would lead the way early before being swallowed up by the ninth starting Troy Cordes on that lap five restart.

Even with the restarts Cordes would be well in control the rest of the way while drivers battled for position well behind him. One driver on the move was Spencer Diercks who, earlier in the evening, had cost himself a spot in the invert when he spun in turn three on the final lap of his heat race. That would start him nineteenth in the twenty car field, but he was up to fourth and charging late when he was clipped from behind sending him for a spin in turn four with just four laps remaining. The other driver was charged with the caution though, so Diercks would restart fourth but his momentum was now stalled and that is where he would finish as Cordes secured the win. Trevor Fitz charged from fifteenth to finish second, Dedrick held on for third and Jacob Snyder completed the top five.

So let's summarize the stats here, in eighty-two laps of feature racing there were thirty-one cautions, or one every 2.65 laps and the longest stretch of green flag action came in the Stock Cars when they reeled off ten in a row. I have been to Vinton enough to know that tonight was an anomaly and if the racing had been one lane as well I would have left after the first ten cautions. I would definitely go back again soon because you can bet that promoter Corey Dripps will be giving the drivers an ear full during next week's Drivers Meeting! And John, rather than trying to come up with a reason for your insurance to cover that MRI on your right shoulder, hopefully just a bag of ice on and off throughout the day will get you back to one hundred percent soon.

Weather permitting it is back to the county fair circuit this week with the PRO Late Models headlining at the West Liberty Raceway on Wednesday night and then Thursday the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders return to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Hope to see you there!