Sunday, June 26, 2011

Hogan, Dvorak, Pippert extend points leads at Benton County Speedway

A trio of points leaders added a little more cushion atop the standings on another exciting night at Benton County Speedway. IMCA Modified driver Scott Hogan and IMCA SportMod driver Danny Dvorak, along with Scott Pippert in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, all extended their leads by winning their respective features.

Track announcer Bucky Doren spent the weekend in Des Moines at his son's baseball tournament so he asked me to fill in for him Sunday night. While I've called a few races in Vinton over the years, this was my first time behind the mic there for a weekly show. It was a lot of fun, but that did take away from my note taking, so the following recap may lack just a bit in the accuracy (and substance?) department.

Outside front row starter Jerry Dedrick was looking for his second career win in the IMCA Modified feature just one week after his first trip to the winner's circle. He took command at the drop of the green and paced the field for the first two laps until the caution flag waved. A pileup that collected Scott Hogan and Brandon Banks forced those two to the tail for the following restart.

When racing resumed, Dedrick again took charge running the low groove of the speedway. That's when the deja vu settled in... Mike Burbridge and Patrick Flannagan pursued the leader by also running the low groove of the speedway. In nose-to-tail formation, those three drivers led the parade in the same fashion as they did one week ago.

Flannagan eventually worked beneath Burbridge to steal second, just a lap before Burbridge slowed and came to a stop with mechanical problems a short time later. By this time, Hogan worked back through traffic and found himself in fifth for the ensuing restart.

On the restart, Hogan motored around Ronn Lauritzen and Chris Snyder, then challenged Flannagan for second. He made the pass for second and then sped past Dedrick with only a few laps to go. Hogan then pulled away to score the victory, his fourth of the year. Dedrick, Joe Docekal and Lauritzen completed the top four. Banks made a great run through the field to come home fifth.

1. 33D Scott Hogan
2. 5 Jerry Dedrick
3. 12D Joe Docekal
4. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
5. 22 Brandon Banks
6. 25 Shawn Fisher
7. 32 Chris Snyder
8. 7 Todd Jensen
9. F7 Patrick Flannagan
10. 8 Tony Snyder

Danny Dvorak scored his sixth win of the season in the IMCA SportMod division after taking command from leader Racer Hullin midway through the 15-lapper.

At the drop of the green, Hullin went to work on front row starters Brian Anderson and Rick Paulson to take the early advantage. As Hullin led, Dvorak and Drew Fish worked through the field from midpack starts. Dvorak worked his way into contention on the low side as Fish ran the high groove. Around the midway point of the event, Dvorak worked around Hullin, then sped away to victory. Fish finished a close third.

1. 3R Danny Dvorak
2. 505 Racer Hullin
3. 3D Drew Fish
4. K0 Ken Kositzky
5. 00 Jim Buhlman
6. 80V Duane Van Deest
7. J2 Dave Schulze
8. K3 Kyle Olson
9. 22H Curt Hilmer
10. 3B Brian Anderson

From a fifth row starting spot, IMCA Hobby Stock points leader Scott Pippert made quick work of the field and broke into the top four just prior to a caution following the completion of the first lap. Only a couple of laps after the restart, he powered beneath Justin Wacha, Adam Streeter and Cale Peterson to assume command. Pippert never looked back as he drove to the dominating win.

1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 2P Cale Peterson
3. 45 Justin Wacha
4. 25 Doug Laughridge
5. 67 Justin Stander
6. 55 Vince Buchholz
7. 09 Brad Forbes
8. 07 Jacob Keiser
9. 4X Gary Pfantz
10. 12J Jeremy Floyd

Brett Mather held the early lead in the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. He paced the field until the caution flag waved just a couple of laps into the event. By that time, fourth row starter Justin Temeyer worked into the second position. Temeyer quickly challenged when racing resumed as he put his #56T to the inside of Mather's machine. Temeyer came away with the lead on the following lap as he drove away from the field to score the win. Damon Murty followed Temeyer to the front, but couldn't reel in the leader as he finished second.

1. 56T Justin Temeyer
2. 99D Damon Murty
3. 7H Phil Holtz
4. 09M Brett Mather
5. 6X Bob Ahrendsen
6. 8 Curtis Roster
7. 77 Andy Bryant
8. 3T Scooter Dulin
9. 46 Jeremy LaPlant
10. 76 Mike Galli

Bill Whalen Jr. took advantage of his outside front row starting spot to drive to his first win of the season in the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature. Whalen extended his advantage to over half of a straightaway and maintained that lead throughout the event while Merv Chandler and Nathan Chandler battled for second behind him. Merv eventually edged Nathan for second in that race-long tussle.

1. 00W Bill Whalen Jr.
2. 1 Merv Chandler
3. 22 Nathan Chandler
4. 2ND Brad Chandler
5. 8M Jacob McVay
6. 35 Brett Vanous
7. 51 Bryce Bailey
8. 07X Tyler Whalen
9. 22T Travis Losenicky
10. 57K Ross Kitner

It was another excellent night of racing on the smooth 1/4-mile. There was plenty of two, three and sometimes four-wide racing throughout the night that offered fans a great show. Thanks again to Bucky Doren for asking me to fill in tonight and to Mick Trier and Dana Benning for being okay with his evening's substitute!

Up next for me is the Deery Brothers Summers Series Red Dralle Memorial this Wednesday night at Independence Motor Speedway. Along with the $5,004-to-win 84-lap feature for the Late Models, the three-day Great American Stock Car Series will wrap up in Independence that evening for a $1,000 winner's share. Also competing will be IMCA SportMods for $500-to-win. Gates open at 4 p.m. with hot laps at 6:45 and racing at 7.

Prior to Wednesday's big race, I'll be compiling another Stats Blitz for Independence Motor Speedway. I hope to have that posted sometime tomorrow night. In addition, if you're friends with Independence Motor Speedway on facebook, I've made it a routine to post feature win milestones every Monday from that week in track history. Tomorrow will be no different as a whopping 50 milestone wins occurred this week in Independence Motor Speedway history. All 50 of those will be posted sometime Monday night.

That's all for tonight! I hope to see you Wednesday night at the Red Dralle Memorial!

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