As it has done all season, Benton County Speedway provided race fans with another great night of racing on the 1/4-mile oval.. For the second consecutive week, the IMCA Modifieds offered a three-car battle to the wire while Austin Kaplan came from the back of the pack to score the IMCA SportMod win.
At the start of the 20-lap Modified feature, Patrick Flannagan took the lead as the second row starter slid beneath pole-sitter Jerry Dedrick to lead the first lap. Joe Docekal, who started outside of the third row, used the bottom groove to motor into second after just two laps.
As Flannagan paced the field, Docekal remained close while Mark Schulte battled Tony Olson and Jerry Luloff for third. Trying both high and low, Schulte reeled in the leaders while Docekal remained glued to Flannagan's rear bumper. Just prior to the midway point, Schulte gained ground on the high side, pulling alongside Docekal for second with Luloff in tow. The top three remained unchanged when the second and final caution flag waved on lap 11.
On the restart, Flannagan continued to set the pace as Schulte and Docekal both dropped to the low side. Docekal worked below Luloff for third with just a handful of laps remaining as Schulte powered beneath Flannagan for the lead.
Flannagan held onto the point as Docekal rocketed beneath Schulte for second. Those two continued to battle until the white flag lap. On the back stretch of the final lap, Docekal swept beneath the Flannagan as Schulte ran up top. The leaders entered the final set of turns three-wide before Docekal pulled ahead of Schulte coming out of four. Docekal inched ahead to the outside of Flannagan to score the exciting win. Schulte ran a close third.
Entering the night, Scott Hogan held a 36-point lead over Luloff in the division's standings. By virtue of Hogan's sixth place finish and Luloff's 11th place run, Hogan will take a 41-point lead into the final night in two weeks, unofficially locking up the track title.
IMCA Modified
1. 12D Joe Docekal
2. F7 Patrick Flannagan
3. 27M Mark Schulte
4. 25 Shawn Fisher
5. 17X Mike Krall
6. 33D Scott Hogan
7. 32X Chris Snyder
8. 5 Jerry Dedrick
9. 111 Buster Pate
10. 7S Robbie Schmuecker
Despite the fact that seven caution flags destroyed the first six laps of the IMCA SportMod feature (and it was beyond ugly), it turned out to be one of the best races of the night.
At the drop of the green (the first one, when there were no laps in the books and gas tanks were full), outside front row starter Brian Anderson took the lead. Anderson led through four cautions on lap three (that's right, four cautions on a single lap), that slowed the field. During the first of those cautions, Austin Kaplan exited to the pits. Fortunately for Kaplan, he had forever and a day to repair his machine as his competitors were thoughtful enough to annihilate each other to bring out three more yellows before lap four could be scored.
Following that fourth caution, Drew Fish wiggled to the low side of Anderson for the lead. Anderson took the bait, allowing Fish to swim past for the top spot. By this time, Kaplan was already back into the top 12 of what was left of the original 24-car starting feel. By surprise, the fifth caution flag of the event waved on lap five with Fish leading the school and Anderson and Danny Dvorak in tow. Kaplan was sitting in seventh.
Following two more (that's seven total) caution flags by the end of six laps, the racing began at the front of the pack. Kaplan went to work on the high side, while Fish, Anderson and Dvorak worked low. Kaplan motored around the outside of Dvorak and Anderson to settle into second one lap later. He then put his viewfinder on Fish's #3D.
Kaplan quickly reeled in Fish when the leader encountered lapped traffic on the 11th circuit. Kaplan moved to the low side, seeking shallower waters as he amde his bid for the read. Kaplan took over the top spot as the flying green waved on his way to the win.
IMCA SportMod
1. 1 Austin Kaplan
2. 3D Drew Fish
3. 3B Brian Anderson
4. 00 Jim Buhlman
5. 3R Danny Dvorak
6. J2 Dave Schulze
7. 18J Jake Strayer
8. 17 Dawn Krall
9. 95 Mike McDonald
10. 81 Jesse Belez
Billy Grimm led throughout much of the 15-lap IMCA Hobby tock main event. Grimm paced the field through two caution periods in the first seven laps while Brad Forbes stayed close. Just past the midway point, Forbes made his way below Grimm for the lead, ending Grimm's fairytale run. Forbes went on to score the win ahead of a halrd-charging Rod Grother and Scott Pippert.
IMCA Hobby Stock
1. 09 Brad Forbes
2. 77 Rod Grother
3. 47 Scott Pippert
4. 22 Billy Grimm
5. 6 Randy VandeVegte
6. 78 Matt Brown
7. 76S Adam Streeter
8. 16 Wes Stanek Jr.
9. 115 Nate Sweerin
10. 25 Doug Laughridge
A wild rollover slowed the early stages of the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature when Neil Nabholz got upside down in turns three and four on lap three. While Nabholz walked away uninjured, the three drivers leading the pack failed to slow their 4-cylinder rocketships when the red flag waved, resulting in their disqualifications.
With leaders Travis Losenicky, Brett Vanous and Bill Whalen Jr. gone from the event, Cale Peterson inherited the lead. He held the point until Nathan Chandler worked below him on the back stretch on the ensuing restart. Chandler went on to win the event with Merv Chandler and Gary Peiffer competing the top three.
IMCA Sport Compact
1. 22 Nathan Chandler
2. 1 Merv Chandler
3. 36DD Gary Peiffer
4. 48 Chuck Fullenkamp
5. 3 Dallas Chandler
6. 69 William Michel
7. 45 Justin Wacha
8. 2P Cale Peterson
9. 02R Travis Ross
10. 07 Joe Goodenbauer
Paul Shepherd survived four caution periods and repeated pressure from Curtis Roster to score the victory in the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Shepherd earned his first win in the division since July 8, 2007.
IMCA Stock Car
1. 31S Paul Shepherd
2. 8 Curtis Roster
3. 09M Brett Mather
4. 15 Norman Chesmore
5. 6X Bob Ahrendsen
6. 22K Kevin Rose
7. 76 Mike Galli
8. 56T Justin Temeyer
9. G1 Mike Padden
10. 9E Austin Evens
Thanks again to Mick and crew for another entertaining night back home in Vinton. Mick, be sure to note the time stamp of this entry - before 10 p.m.! Gotta love holiday weekends to give me a little more motivation to get my work done.
This was night #53 for me this year and, after six days in Boone this coming week, I'll be one race short of my 60-race goal for the season. I think I may need to raise my goal to 65 because I look to hit a few more specials in September and maybe October.
While many people covering the events in Boone will have various results and reports, I plan to focus my blog on the local guys who make the two-hour trek to central Iowa. If you're a fan of some of the drivers who race at Independence during the weekly battles of the regular season, I hope to bring race night-by-race night reviews of their week at Super Nationals. See you in Boone!
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