A full grandstand celebrated the Saturday night before Independence Day at Independence Motor Speedway as 114 teams signed in to compete for the holiday racing program.
Phil Holtz scored his first win of the year in the IMCA Stock Car division. He topped a field of 16 cars to take the victory in the 20-lapper. After Austin Evens and Kevin Rose exchanged the lead over the first two laps, Holtz took charge from his third row start. Following a pair of lap two stoppages, he motored to the front. Holtz survived another pair of yellow flag situations shortly thereafter to drive to the victory. Jarod Weepie ran second ahead of points leader Sean Johnson, who held onto his lead in the standings over Weepie by three points at night's end. Brian Irvine ran fourth and Shane Manson, who started 11th, rounded out the top five.
Vern Jackson drove the high side to victory in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. From his outside third row start, Jackson swept around the high side of the competition and settled into the lead after just two laps. He held off periodic challenges from Adam Bolin to drive to victory, his first of the season and the 33rd in his Modified career at Independence. His win Saturday night left him a single victory behind Darin Duffy atop the all-time Modified wins list at the speedway. Adam Johnson came home to a third place finish in his first night out after having his tonsils removed just over a week ago. Johnathan Thimmesch and J.D. Auringer completed the top five.
Pole-sitter Rick Dralle led wire-to-wire to score the IMCA Late Model victory. As Dralle led, a pair of cautions bunched the field midway through the event, which allowed Curt Martin to remain within striking distance. Martin challenged late, but was unable to find a way around Dralle as he settled for second. Tyler Bruening and Darren Ackerman ran third and fourth, respectively. By virtue of their heat and feature finishes on the night, those two drivers enter next week tied atop the Late Model standings. Greg Kastli finished fifth.
Ray Lundry led throughout the IMCA SportMod 15-lapper to score his first win of the season. Lundry withstood pressure from Joel Rust to take the win. Rust spun late in the event, which allowed Jim Buhlman to come home second ahead of Scott Thomas and Danny Dvorak. Lundry's son, Lucas, finished fifth.
In a wildly entertaining IMCA Hobby Stock feature, a handful of drivers positioned themselves for a shot at the win throughout that 15-lap event. Numerous times, the leaders ran three-wide at the front of the pack as Jim Ball, Josh Irvine and Vince Buchholz put on an exciting show for the fans. In the end, however, it was Jamie Whitaker surging through the field from a sixth row start to challenge for top honors. He made his way around Ball as the white flag waved to score the thrilling win. Ball, Rod Grother, Irvine and Justin Hanson rounded out the top five.
Wes Stanek Jr. crossed the line in second in the Hobby Stock main, however he was later disqualified after officials learned he changed cars between his qualifying heat and the feature. The track rule at Independence states that when you take the green flag in an event, you are committed to that machine throughout the duration of the program. Stanek blew an engine in his heat event and made a trip to his shop a few blocks away prior to the feature to make the switch to his other car, which is nearly identical in appearance. While a number of tracks do allow car changes in the middle of the program, Independence has never allowed it. Trying to keep the "economy racing" theme in check, the track prefers not to give multi-car race teams an unfair advantage. Along with that, not everyone who competes would have the same luxury of driving across the street to pull the back-up car out of the shop.
Another driver who had his share of misfortune was Modified driver Darin Duffy. Duffy blew an engine in his heat race, as well. Unable to start the feature, Duffy, who was second in points entering the night, lost ground to points leader Troy Cordes. Cordes opened up a 36-point lead over now-second place Jerry Luloff in that division's standings.
The program started an hour earlier than normal in attempt to accommodate the Independence Day fireworks scheduled for 10 p.m. in Independence. The show was completed at 8:50, which allowed for race fans to scamper across town or to make their way to the pits to view the display.
That's all for my holiday racing weekend, unless, of course, I get restless Sunday! Whether or not you find yourself at the races, have a great 4th of July!
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