Foster earns historic win, bags first HDT Modified feature win

Josh Foster made the pass 10 laps into the 30-lap I.M.C.A. Modified feature to take the win in the JR Motorsports Dirt Modified Tour at Independence Motor Speedway on May 19. Foster topped an impressive field of 59 entries in the first-ever installment of the series.

At the drop of the green, outside front row starter Ryan Gustin settled into the lead. He held the point during a trio of early caution periods that slowed the first three laps of the event. This allowed third row starter Jay Noteboom to settle in behind the race leader for the next green flag run. Running the low side, Gustin held Noteboom at bay while Josh Foster worked through the field from a 10th place starting spot and into third place just prior to that third caution.

With the leaders glued to the bottom of the speedway, Foster nosed beneath Noteboom's #87 to secure second place seven laps into the event, then quickly ran down the leader. Three laps later, Foster again used the low line to advance. He gained the lead on the 10th circuit and quickly built half of a straightaway lead by the time he entered lapped traffic three laps later.

While Foster navigated the backmarkers, Gustin closed the gap and worked the low side of Foster. Foster, Gustin and Noteboom started to pull away from the field just prior to a lap 19 caution. On the restart, Foster denied all challenges of his pursuers to drive to the historic victory. Ryan Gustin came home second followed by Richie Gustin, Michael Long and Nate Caruth. Noteboom experienced mechanical problems exiting turn four on the fianl lap and limped to a seventh place finish. (complete results below)

Pole-sitter Kyle Anderson led throughout much of the 15-lap I.M.C.A. Hobby Stock main event. Anderson settled into the lead at the drop of the initial green and was chased out front by Vince Buchholz, who was piloting the #88S normally driven by Joe Sprague. As he was challenging for the lead, Buchholz broke in turns three and four to bring out the caution on the fifth lap.

On the restart, August Bach was moving through traffic from the middle of the pack. His progress was aided when second and third running Scott Pippert and Josh Irvine made contact with only three laps to go. Both drivers spun to bring out the final caution flag, leaving Bach on Anderson's rear bumper for the restart.

When racing resumed, Bach pulled to the inside of Anderson and the two raced side-by-side over the final three laps. Bach pushed high exiting turn four on the final lap and survived contact between the two cars to steal the win. Anderson edged Rod Grother for second while Brad Forbes and Quinton Miller ran fourth and fifth.

In the I.M.C.A. SportMod feature, Kurt Hogan rocketed from his fourth row starting spot into the lead just a couple of laps into that 15-lapper. He pulled away from the field to score the win, his first of the season at Independence. Kaleb Bentley crossed the line in second ahead of Austin Kaplan, who started 12th. Tyler Droste and Danny Dvorak completed the top five.

RESULTS
MODIFIED
First heat - 1. 71 Troy Cordes; 2. 27M Mark Schulte; 3. 57B Dennis Betzer; 4. 86 Jeff Morris; 5. 12K Andrew Kinser; 6. 45 Ron Pope; 7. 34 Scott Strauss; 8. 21 Brett Ladehoff; 9. 27 Jamie Johnson; DQ 12C Kent Croskey.
Second heat - 1. 77 Josh Foster; 2. 8 Rich Smith; 3. 19D Darin Duffy; 4. 71W Jeff Waterman; 5. 25T Duane Petersen; 6. 24R Adam Johnson; 7. 37 Mike Jergens; 8. 36 Jeff Connor; 9. 18 Jake Durbin; DNS 93 Cale Sponsler.
Third heat - 1. 11T Toby Hartman; 2. 01 Ed Thomas; 3. 10K Ronn Lauritzen; 4. 14 Tom Hanson; 5. 31 Corey Dripps; 6. 10 Jeremy Mills; 7. 8X Scott Olson; 8. 22 Cory Bauer; 9. 3C Max Corporon; 10. 57H Richard Hinz.
Fourth heat - 1. 18L Michael Long; 2. 3 Jeff Feaster; 3. 7C Nate Caruth; 4. 19 Jimmy Gustin; 5. 75 Clint Wendel; 6. 64 Vern Jackson; 7. 1X Dan Chapman; 8. 32X Chris Snyder; 9. 5R Bill Roberts; 10. 1XX Chris Abelson.
Fifth heat - 1. 87 Jay Noteboom; 2. 62 Greg Cox; 3. 12J Justin O'Brien; 4. 47S Brandon Savage; 5. 68 J.J. Wise; 6. 32 Rick Speck; 7. 17J Jason Seegmiller; 8. 83C Todd Conrad; 9. 58 Andy Krieger; 10. 15 Matt Stagman.
Sixth heat - 1. 19GX Ryan Gustin; 2. 98 Jason Snyder; 3. 19G Richie Gustin; 4. 41P Joey Schaefer; 5. 18J Jerry Luloff; 6. Z3 Mike Albertson; 7. 60 Kurt Krauskopf; 8. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 9. 12 Mark Elliott.
First B Feature - 1. Morris; 2. Jergens; 3. Waterman; 4. A. Johnson; 5. Croskey; 6. Petersen; 7. Strauss; 8. Kinser; 9. J. Johnson; 10. Pope; DNS Ladehoff, Connor, Durbin, Sponsler.
Second B feature - 1. J. Gustin; 2. Dripps; 3. Abelson; 4. Wendel; 5. Roberts; 6. Chapman; 7. C. Snyder; 8. Bauer; 9. Hanson; 10. Hinz; 11. Mills; 12. Jackson; DNS Olson, Corporon.
Third B feature - 1. Albertson; 2. Savage; 3. Krieger; 4. Schaefer; 5. Wise; 6. Flannagan; 7. Krauskopf; 8. Speck; 9. Seegmiller; DNS Luloff, Conrad, Elliott, Stagman.
A feature - 1. Foster; 2. Ryan Gustin; 3. Richie Gustin; 4. Long; 5. Caruth; 6. Schulte; 7. Jergens; 8. Noteboom; 9. Smith; 10. Duffy; 11. J. Gustin; 12. O'Brien; 13. Morris; 14. Lauritzen; 15. Cox; 16. Thomas; 17. Albertson; 18. Hartman; 19. Betzer; 20. J. Snyder; 21. Savage; 22. Luloff; 23. Dripps; 24. Feaster; 25. Cordes.

SPORTMOD
Feature - 1. MR09 Kurt Hogan; 2. 10 Kaleb Bentley; 3. 1 Austin Lucas; 4. 92 Tyler Droste; 5. 3R Danny Dvorak; 6. 00 Jim Buhlman; 7. 64 Brandon Leeman; 8. 7R Ryan Ashton; 9. 41Jeremy Embrey; 10. 7M Kurt Moeding; 11. 86 Rod McDonald; 12. 2 Ryan Coleman; 13. 34J Jerry Hinton; 14. 34 Mike Mitchell; 15. 83 Russell Hesse; 16. C45 Clint Chamberlain; 17. 26 Joel Cox; 18. 54 Wayne Hessel 19. 96 Lucas Lundry; 20. 12 Creston Williams (DNS)

HOBBY STOCK
Feature - 1. 19 August Bach; 2. 98 Kyle Anderson; 3. 77 Rod Grother; 4. 09 Brad Forbes; 5. 73 Quinton Miller; 6. 8 Dave Wheeler; 7. 33X Max Leonard; 8. 67 Justin Stander; 9. 35 Josh Irvine; 10. 16 Wes Stanek Jr.; 11. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.; 12. 47 Scott Pippert; 13. 88S Vince Buchholz; 14. 20B Matt Burmeister.