The Hobby Stocks opened feature action with Billy Faler assuming the early lead from his pole position start. Hot on his heels, however, were Bryar Keltnerand Lane Kauffman. The trio engaged in an enetertaining three-car battle througho ut much of the event.
Faler's pursuers tried to pull even with the race leader numerous times, however neither one was able to take away the top spot, allowing Faler to lead the event in its entirety on his way to the win. Kauffman worked under Keltner with only two laps remaining to finish second.
In Mod Lite action, Jason Masengarb jumped into the lead at the drop of the green flag. Working the high side, Justin Buchholz made his way around Daniel Keltner for second on the second lap and into the lead one lap later.
A trio of cautions throughout the first half of the event kept the field close, however Buchholz and Masengarb put a comfortable distance between themselves and the rest of the field as the second half of the event ran caution-free.
Continuing to run the high side, Buchholz held off all of Masengarb's challenges until the leaders entered lapped traffic with only two laps to go. This allowed Masengarb to sneak underneath for the lead as he drove to the victory ahead of Buchholz. Robert Guss, Darrin Norton and Gary Rossell completed the top five.
Tyler Whalen took the lead early in the 10-lap Four Cylinder feature. He quickly extended his lead and held an advantage of half of a straightaway just prior to the midway point of the event.
As Whalen led, Wayne Noble was maneuvering through traffic from a fourth row start. Sneaking under the low side of his competitors, Noble secured second place on lap six. He cut into Whalen's advantage as the leader navigated through lapped traffic, however he wasn't able to make up enough ground, allowing Whalen to lead the caution-free event in its entirety. Following Whalen and Noble to the line were Jordan Tipps, Ryan Walker and John Whalen.
In Modified action, Daniel Brockert shot into the lead at the drop of the green from his outside front row starting position. Brockert's stay out front was short-lived, however, as Steve Stewart worked under the leader one lap later.
Stewart continued to pace the field while Bruce Hanford settled into second on the third lap. Although the leaders encountered lapped traffic on just the fifth circuit, they extended their advantage over the field to a full straightaway by lap eight.
Stewart was able to pull away from Hanford by six car-lengths as the backmarkers held Hanford back. Stewart drove to the win ahead of Hanford and Brockert, who over a straightaway behind the leaders when the checkers flew. Alex Buffington and Larry Herring rounded out the top five.
The I.M.C.A. Stock Cars closed the evening with an exciting 12-lap feature. Darrin Ealy jumped into the lead early and found himself half of a straightaway ahead of his nearest pursuer by lap five, despite a lap two caution.
Working the low groove, Tad Payne made his way into second place on the third lap after starting in the fifth row. Slowly gaining ground on Ealy, Payne was able to erase the deficit entirely with the help of a lap nine caution.
On the restart, Ealy stayed committed to the high groove as Payne worked low. Another pair of cautions slowed the event with Ealy holding the edge each time. On the final restart, Trent Vrchoticky entered the mix at the front of the pack as he was glued to the tires on the low groove. Pulling even with Payne as the white flag displayed, the pair battled each other as Ealy drove to the win, his first-ever in the I.M.C.A. Stock Car division. Payne held onto second ahead of Vrchoticky. David Hemsted and Randy Phillips ran fourth and fifth.
There were a few more cars tonight than the previous points night and the show was done an hour earlier than opening night. In addition, the hard work Don and Sharon Wood and Brian and Amanda Tipps have put into the racing surface is definitely paying off as it has been smoother and smoother each passing week.
While there was a delay midway through the event to add water to the dry surface, the post-intermission features were run in impressive fashion. Three of the five events ran without a single caution and all five feature events were completed in 75 minutes.
Another side note about CJ is the quick manner in which they distribute purse money. Checks are written almost immediately following the completion of each feature event in the scoring tower and they are handed out almost by the time the next feature on the track sees checkers.
While the Hobby Stock car count was low tonight with only five cars in attendance, I understand other drivers were in the stands and they indicated they planned to support the speedway on the track in coming weeks. Car counts of 16 Mod Lites, 18 Four Cylinders, 12 Modifieds and 21 Stock Cars brought the total to 72 on the evening.
Thanks to announcer Gene Arnold and promoter Amanda Tipps for allowing me to watch the races from the tower and thanks to Gene for the special plug for http://www.positivelyracing.com/.
Tomorrow night it looks like the weather should be great for weekly racing at Independence Motor Speedway.
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