Following a pair of first lap yellows, outside pole starter Ed Thomas settled into the lead. Vern Jackson, who initially started in row five, worked toward the front and into a challenge for the lead after only a couple of laps. Jackson made his way around Thomas and quickly distanced himself from the pack as Duffy was working through traffic.
By the time Jackson made his way to the front on lap three, Duffy motored into eighth. Jackson continued to stretch his lead while Thomas was holding off Leon Wilson for second. Duffy worked into fourth by the time Jackson built nearly a straightaway lead over his nearest foe on lap six.
Two laps later, Jackson encountered lapped traffic while Duffy closed on Thomas and Wilson. Duffy swept around the outside of Wilson, then shot to the inside of Thomas for second as the field completed the 10th circuit. He then had the tall order of cutting into Jackson's lead which, by that time, was a straightaway margin.
While Jackson worked through more backmarkers, Duffy managed to trim his lead in half, but it appeared his strong run from the tail would result in a runner-up finish as laps were running out. Just following the completion of the 16th lap, however, the third and final caution of the race waved for a car stopped on the low side of turns one and two. This placed Duffy on Jackson's rear bumper for a four-lap shootout between the track's two all-time winningest Modified drivers.
When racing resumed, Jackson continued to pace the field as Duffy went to work up high. As the flying green waved, Duffy made his way around the leader as he drove to the improbable victory. The win, his second of the season, was the 35th of his career in the division at the speedway. This broke the tie with Jackson atop the all-time list at Independence. Jackson ran second at the line ahead of Wilson, Shawn Ryan and Thomas.
Darin Duffy came from the 21st and final starting spot in the IMCA Modified feature to drive to his second win of the season. It was his 35th career Modified win at the speedway. (all photos courtesy of Scott Tjabring/ Action Track Photography/ http://www.actiontrackphotos.com/)
Another veteran made his way to the winner's circle in dramatic fashion as Rick Wendling picked up his 34th career weekly Late Model victory at the speedway.
Travis Smock held the early lead of the 25-lapper while Dean Wagner gave chase. Luke Merfeld joined the fray, moving into a challenge for second four laps into the event. Wendling, who started in the fourth row, entered the top three as Merfeld moved into second. The top three remained unchanged throughout the first half of the event before Wendling made his move at the 15 lap mark. At that time, Wendling worked past Merfeld, then inched ahead of Smock one lap later.
Wendling started to pull away until lapped traffic slowed his progress, allowing Merfeld to stay close. Jeremiah Hurst, who started in the sixth row, also reeled in the front-runners and made it a three-car battle as the leaders dodged backmarkers. Wendling held on for the thrilling win ahead of a hard-charging Hurst. Merfeld ran third ahead of Wagner and points leader Tyler Bruening.
Rick Wendling piloted to his first IMCA Late Model win of the season. It was the 34th Late Model win of his career at Indee - he sits fifth on the all-time list for the division at the speedway.
Lucas Lundry held the early lead in the 15-lap IMCA SportMod main event. He survived a trio of cautions early while Josh Sherbon worked through traffic from a fourth row starting spot. Sherbon found himself in second just prior to the race's final stoppage on lap five.
When racing resumed, Sherbon chased Lundry until he finally made a bid for the lead with only five laps to go. Sherbon went on to take the win ahead of Lundry and Austin Lucas. Points leader Austin Kaplan ran fourth ahead of Joel Rust. The victory was Sherbon's fifth of the season, breaking the previous division-best of four wins in a season set by Danny Dvorak in 2009.
Josh Sherbon drove to his fifth IMCA SportMod win of the season and third in the last four weeks.
In the IMCA Hobby Stock division, Don Arnold entered the night with only two career wins in the division, his second coming just last week. By the end of the 15-lapper, Arnold had three wins in his back pocket, including his second straight.
Arnold and Jim Ball battled throughout much of the event as Arnold took the lead at the drop of the green with Ball in tow. Ball tried both high and low to put his #7 in front of Arnold, but couldn't find a way to make it happen.
Following a caution on the 12th lap, Ball failed to get up to speed on the restart, allowing Bruce Fraser to sneak past him for second. Arnold, meanwhile, picked up where he left off and pulled away from the pack to drive to the victory. Fraser and Ball ran second and third. Wes Stanek Jr. finished fourth ahead of points leader Rod Grother.
Don Arnold earned his second straight IMCA Hobby Stock victory. Arnold became the first driver in the division to earn back-to-back wins this season.
After a couple of early caution periods, Kirk Fauser took the lead in the IMCA Stock Car feature. He paced the field while Sean Johnson worked into a challenge for the top spot a handful of laps into the event. Following a lap six caution, Johnson made his way around the leader.
Johnson continued to pace the field until lap eight when Jason Hocken's engine let go, dropping oil all over the speedway. As track officials were questioning how much fluid was on the track, Johnson spun in the oily mess where Hocken's engine went sour in turns three and four.
After the yellow flag was displayed for the oil on the speedway, Johnson returned to the lead where he remained throughout the duration of the 15-lapper. He scored the victory ahead of Tim Helle, Damon Murty, Austin Evens and points leader Jarod Weepie.
Sean Johnson (8R) battled Kirk Fauser (77D) throughout the first half of the IMCA Stock Car feature. Johnson went on to record his third win of the season.
Roger Ciesielski, a two-time track champion in the Pro Stock division from days gone by (1998 and 2001) made his return to the speedway tonight after a many year absence. He was behind the wheel of an IMCA Stock Car in his recognizable #37C... Dan Feltus also made his first appearance in the Stock Car division. A B Mod driver for a number of years, this is Dan's first year in the Stock Cars... Once again, flagman Dan Hilby's yellow flag made a delayed first appearance tonight. It took until the final of 15 heats for the first caution to wave this evening... A streak in the Hobby Stocks came to an end. After 11 different starting spots produced the 11 winners entering the night, Don Arnold became the second winner this year to visit victory lane after starting outside of the front row. The first winner this year to come from that position? Don Arnold on August 7... Wendling's Late Model win made him the 10th different winner in that division through 12 weeks so far this season. While eight other seasons in track history have produced 10 different Late Model winners, only twice have there been more. In 1970 there were 11 different winners (in a 14-week season) and in 1975, 12 different drivers found victory lane in that 16-week season. With two weeks left in 2010, there is a possibility that record could be matched.
Rouse Motor - Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge of Grundy Center - sponsored tonight's races and offered one of the more well designed promotional deals I've seen. Not only did they get use out of Brian Lillie's T-shirt cannon, sending T-shirts into the grandstands from the infield, but they offered test-drives to race fans in attendance. Marty Rouse, owner of the company and Indee SportMod driver, brought five new vehicles from the lot and offered the opportunity for any interested race fan to sign up for a test drive... on the race track after the races. Over 100 people took advantage of the opportunity to test-drive a new vehicle and make a lap on the speedway. Rouse Motor has been a family-owned business in Grundy Center for nearly 60 years - that right there says they know a thing or two about marketing their product.
When not selling vehicles at his dealership in Grundy Center, Marty Rouse (52R) wheels an IMCA SportMod at Independence.
I was originally planning on heading back to Vinton tomorrow, but am now thinking I'll take the night off to tend to things around the house before a busy early part of the week. On Monday, I'm going to head to Des Moines and test my patience with the traffic and parking before taking in the annual Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models event during State Fair. On Tuesday, it'll be back over to Highway 3 Raceway in Allison for the next special event on its calendar. Hope to see you at one (or both!) of those events!
No comments:
Post a Comment