Late race drama highlights exciting night at Benton County Speedway

There are a number of things that can be brought into the equation when a person distinguishes an exciting race night from an average one. One of the statistics I keep track of at Independence and use to help determine that (from a statistical standpoint) is the number of feature laps a winner leads. Well, more specifically, how few laps they lead during their feature win. The fewer the laps a person leads on his/her way to victory often tells me there's been more passing and excitement rather than knowing a guy led every lap from the pole. While that isn't always the case, it served true Sunday night.

At Benton County Speedway, that theory was put to test as three drivers who finished the night in the winner's circle took the lead past the midway point of their respective events. In fact, one made his bid for the lead with just one lap remaining and another took the lead as the checkered flag waved. When you consider there were a pair of drivers that led throughout much of their features, I'd say it was a pretty good night when the feature winners led just 37 of the 77 laps of feature competition.

The night started out with the 15-lap event for the IMCA Hobby Stocks. At the drop of the green, pole-sitter Steve Higham jumped into the lead and quickly put a few car-lengths on Al Sweerin and Kyle Parizek. As Sweerin worked low and Parizek went high, Higham slowly started to pull away from the field.

After Parizek left the speedway on a lap three restart due to a flat tire, August Bach, Wes Stanek Jr., Vince Buchholz and Brad Forbes battled behind Higham for second. Running the low groove, Forbes snuck past Buchholz and Bach at the midway point to settle into fourth while Stanek made his way around Sweerin for second. Justin Stander, who started outside of the third row, slid back in the pack early, but worked his way back into contention running the high side. He made a return to the top six just before the caution flag waved again on the 10th lap.

The field continued to jockey for position until the final caution flag waved with just two laps to go. On the final restart, Higham maintained the point, but was heavily pressured by both Sweerin and Forbes. The leaders found themselves in a three-wide battle for position entering turn three on the final lap with Forbes powering ahead exiting turn four. He covered the field over the final circuit to take the exciting win. Higham held on to second at the line while Stander ran the high groove around Sweerin to take third.

IMCA Hobby Stock
1. 09 Brad Forbes
2. 86H Steve Higham
3. 67 Justin Stander
4. 11 Al Sweerin
5. 47 Scott Pippert
6. 16 Wes Stanek Jr.
7. 55 Vince Buchholz
8. 19X August Bach
9. 77 Rod Grother
10. 78 Matt Brown

Brad Forbes (09) battles for position with August Bach (19X) and Vince Buchholz (55) during the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Forbes took the lead as the white flag waved to drive to the win. (all photos courtesy of Scott Tjabring/ Action Track Photography/ http://www.actiontrackphotos.com/)

Steve Miedke held the early lead in the IMCA Sport Compact 12-lapper. He quickly extended his lead over the field while Jamie Witham battled Brett Vanous for second. Gary Peiffer, who started deep in the field in row six, powered his way into the top four after just two laps.

With Miedke pulling away to over a straightaway lead, Peiffer worked on getting around Witham and Vanous. Running the low groove, Peiffer eventually made his way into second just past the midway point before taking on the task of running down the leader.

Miedke, slowed by lapped traffic late in the race, saw his advantage quickly disappear as Peiffer cut his lead down to just a few car-lengths in a lap's time. Miedke's lead vanished altogether when he slowed in turn four of the final lap with mechanical problems. This allowed Peiffer to skate to his outside and take the win off the final corner. (And also proved luck wasn't on your side through the first two features if your first name was Steve.) Vanous made his way to second at the line while Miedke held on for third.

IMCA Sport Compacts
1. 36DD Gary Peiffer
2. 35 Brett Vanous
3. 11 Steve Miedke
4. 52 Jamie Witham
5. 22 Nathan Chandler
6. 02 Merv Chandler
7. 3 Dallas Chandler
8. 45 Justin Wacha
9. 00W Bill Whalen Jr.
10. 22T Travis Losenicky

Gary Peiffer (36DD) works below Bill Whalen Jr. (00W) during the early stages of the IMCA Sport Compact feature. Peiffer added to his points lead by making the trip to victory lane.

Celebrating his 39th birthday "again", IMCA SportMod driver Kurt Hogan scored the victory in a little bit less dramatic of fashion. Kyle Olson paced the 24-car field for the first lap before Dave Schulze was able to work around him on lap two. Hogan, who started inside of row three, worked beneath Olson for second before the yellow flag waved on lap three.

On the restart, Schulze's lead was short-lived as Hogan quickly worked his way past him before mechanical problems forced an early end to Schulze's night. Hogan proceeded to motor away from the field while Danny Dvorak mastered the low line, making his way into second on lap six after starting in the middle of the pack.

The leaders started to separate themselves from the field as Dvorak kept Hogan within his sights. Dvorak challenged low a couple of times, however Hogan pulled away from his counterpart until he came upon lapped traffic late in the event.

With laps winding down and Hogan navigating the backmarkers, Dvorak quickly closed the gap. His efforts, however, came up short at the line as Hogan drove to the win.

IMCA SportMod
1. MR09 Kurt Hogan
2. 45 Danny Dvorak
3. 00 Jim Buhlman
4. 0K Kent Kositzky
5. 1 Austin Kaplan
6. 3D Drew Fish
7. 22H Curt Hilmer
8. 26J Joel Rust
9. K3 Kyle Olson
10. 86 Rod McDonald

Kurt Hogan (MR09) celebrated his birthday by scoring the victory in the IMCA SportMod feature.

Justin Temeyer made a quick run through the pack in the IMCA Stock Car feature, then proved that patience was a virtue as he drove to the feature win, extending his points lead in the process.

Front row starters Brett Mather and Paul Shepherd swapped the top spot prior to the event's only yellow flag on lap two. Shepherd, who restarted out front, continued to pace the field while Temeyer was working through traffic from a fifth row start.

Temeyer swept beneath Phil Holtz and Mather as the leaders navigated through turns three and four on lap five to settle into second at the start-finish line. Shepherd, who was also running the low groove, forced Temeyer to play follow the leader for a number of laps.

Temeyer was finally able to work below Shepherd just past the midway point of the event to snare the lead. He led the final seven circuits to take the win ahead of Holtz and Damon Murty. Shepherd was forced to an early exit with damage to the left front of his #31S.

IMCA Stock Car
1. 56T Justin Temeyer
2. 7H Phil Holtz
3. 99D Damon Murty
4. 09M Brett Mather
5. 6X Bob Ahrendsen
6. 3T Scooter Dulin
7. 15 Norman Chesmore
8. G1 Mike Padden
9. 76 Mike Galli
10. 8 Curtis Roster

Justin Temeyer (56T) works the low side of Damon Murty (99D) and John Schaefer (10) early in the IMCA Stock Car feature. Temeyer made his way to the winner's circle for the second consecutive week in the division.

Just over a month ago, IMCA Modified driver Joe Docekal earned his first career win in the division at Vinton. Proving there must be something in the water of his hometown of Dysart, Docekal notched the third win of his career just 35 days after his first one. (In addition to his milestone win on July 18, Docekal scored the win in Vinton on July 25.)

Docekal, who started inside of row two for the evening's finale, chased pole-sitter Brian Krall for the first handful of laps in the 20-lapper. Docekal found just enough room to sneak beneath Krall on the fourth corner of the sixth lap to take the lead.

Docekal extended his advantage until he came upon lapped traffic on the 11th circuit. He survived the backmarkers to score the victory over a hard-charging Jerry Luloff and Krall.

IMCA Modified
1. 12D Joe Docekal
2. 18 Jerry Luloff
3. 17 Brian Krall
4. 33D Scott Hogan
5. F7 Patrick Flannagan
6. 27M Mark Schulte
7. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
8. T23 Tony Olson
9. 41P Keith Pittman
10. 5 Jerry Dedrick

Joe Docekal (12D) takes the low side past Shawn Fisher (25) and Tony Olson (T23) on his way to the IMCA Modified win. Docekal earned his third career win in the division, his first two coming just last month.

One shy of 100 cars signed into the pits tonight for an outstanding program on an equally great surface. It was my 10th visit to Vinton this season and the racing has been fantastic all season. Some nights, a person can only hope for one or two good finishes with quality racing throughout the pack at any track they visit. Tonight in Vinton, as always, all of the divisions provided action throughout their events, whether it was racing for the lead or for position farther back. Of note, if you were busy watching Docekal leading the Modified feature (arguably the least "dramatic" of the five), you missed a heck of a battle between Tony Olson and Ronn Laurtizen in the middle of the pack for seventh. The show Brian Krall and Scott Hogan put on for third was equally as impressive.

This was race night #47 for me. I hope to make Wednesday's Corn Belt Clash Late Model Series event at Tipton #48. Hope to see you there!