Scott Pippert standing in IMCA Hobby Stock victory lane and Mother Nature doing a dance around Benton County, yet somehow managing to miss the little 1/4-mile oval on the south side of Vinton... Ahh, yes, just another Sunday night at Benton County Speedway.
Although it's been a few weeks since Scott Pippert last visited the winner's circle at Benton County Speedway, the Elberon hot shoe once again found himself celebrating in victory lane on Sunday night. Including the Frostbuster event in early April, Pippert is now batting .500 as he's won four times in eight nights of racing at Vinton this season. Contrary to Pippert's success, Mother Nature's threatening ways came up short once again on Sunday night. Despite rainy weather in the area (forecast details and promoter Mick Trier's apparent deal with the man upstairs to follow), only once have the elements prevailed during the regular season, that being on April 17.
At the start of the IMCA Hobby Stock main event, outside front row starter Nathan Christie was in search of his first win as he shot past pole-sitter Russell Damme Jr. for the early lead. Christie put a few car-lengths on the field while a terrific battle for second ensued behind him.
Jacob Keiser and Rod Grother first did battle for the runner-up spot with Keiser holding the advantage until Grother inched ahead around the outside just prior to the race's only caution on lap four. On the restart, Vince Buchholz used the low groove to sweep past Keiser from his fourth place restart position as the trio engaged in an exciting battle for second.
Meanwhile, Pippert was working through the field from a sixth row start and into contention a few moments later. He worked beneath Damme to enter the top five on the sixth lap, then set his sights on the leaders. Running the high groove, Pippert made his way around Buchholz at the midway point of the event just as Grother slid beneath Christie for the lead.
Just two laps later, Pippert powered between Christie and Keiser to take second place as the field made its way into turn one. Pippert then went to work on chasing down Grother as the leaders exited turn two. He worked to the low side of the leader on lap 12 to take command. Pippert led the remainder of the 15-lapper to take the impressive win.
1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 77 Rod Grother
3. 07 Jacob Keiser
4. 55 Vince Buchholz
5. 67 Justin Stander
6. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.
7. 166 Justin Lichty
8. 17K Kyle Parizek
9. 4X Gary Pfantz
10. 25 Doug Laughridge
Pole-sitter Johnathan Thimmesch held the early lead in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. At the drop of the green, fellow front row starter Mike Burbridge dropped in behind the leader as the two ran nose-to-tail for two laps. As the leaders made their way off of turn four to complete lap three, Burbridge shot to the inside of Thimmesch to take command. He held the point until the race's only caution on lap eight.
On the restart, Burbridge pulled away from the field while Dustin Crear worked to hold off Scott Hogan and Shawn Fisher for third. Hogan and Fisher had a fantastic battle for fourth for a number of laps with Hogan working the high groove and Fisher down low. Hogan made his way around Fisher and Crear, then moved to the low side of the speedway to challenge Thimmesch while Burbridge extended his lead to a straightaway.
Hogan worked the low side of Thimmesch until he was able to make the pass on lap 13. Fisher followed Hogan's line past Thimmesch one lap later. In just three laps, Hogan pulled to within a car-length of Burbridge, a straightaway ahead of the pack. Hogan's late charge came up short at the line, however, as Burbridge held on at the checkers to score the win. Fisher ran third ahead of Tony Olson, who had another great run (check out the Independence results from Saturday night) by finishing fourth after starting in the sixth row.
1. 11B Mike Burbridge
2. 33D Scott Hogan
3. 25 Shawn Fisher
4. T23 Tony Olson
5. 85 Johnathan Thimmesch
6. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
7. 2AC Dustin Crear
8. F7 Patrick Flannagan
9. 32 Chris Snyder
10. 22 Brandon Banks
Damon Murty earned his second win of the season in the IMCA Stock Car division. Murty, who started outside of the fourth row, made his way into the top four after only two laps. As Murty worked through the field, Andy Bryant paced the field with Scooter Dulin in tow.
Dulin made the pass for the lead working the low side of Bryant on the fifth lap as Murty followed him to the front. Murty quickly slipped beneath Dulin in turn two and came away with the advantage down the back stretch. Murty survived a pair of late cautions to take the win. Bob Ahrendsen made his way past Dulin late in the race to earn an impressive runner-up finish. Norman Chesmore also snuck past Dulin late to take third.
1. 99D Damon Murty
2. 6X Bob Ahrendsen
3. 15 Norman Chesmore
4. 3T Scooter Dulin
5. 56T Justin Temeyer
6. 287 John Emerson
7. 77 Andy Bryant
8. 9E Austin Evens
9. 10 John Schaefer
10. 31S Paul Shepherd
During qualifying heat races, Drew Fish made it known that his goal was to make it to IMCA SportMod victory lane in consecutive weeks. After three-wheeling his way to the front of his heat race in dominating fashion, Fish showed there was a little more grease in the fryer (yes, I went there) as he filleted (uh huh, one more time) the field in the 15-lap feature.
Following a pair of cautions prior to the completion of the first lap, Fish powered to the low side of the speedway and rocketed past a school (even puns are better in threes) of cars into the lead by the end of lap one. He built a straightaway advantage over Ken Kositzky by the time he entered lapped traffic on the ninth circuit. Although Kositzky cut into the huge gap as Fish nibbled (eh, what's one more) through the backmarkers, Fish had plenty of (and for good measure...) wiggle room as he motored to the win, his second straight.
1. 3D Drew Fish
2. 0K Ken Kositzky
3. 3R Danny Dvorak
4. 1 Austin Kaplan
5. 00 Jim Buhlman
6. 505 Racer Hullin
7. 28P Rick Paulson
8. 42M (Didn't get a name, your guess is as good as mine)
9. K3 Kyle Olson
10. J2 Dave Schulze
Nathan Chandler took command on the second lap of the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature to drive to the victory in convincing fashion. Bryce Bailey, who failed to qualify for the invert out of his heat, made a great run through the field to finish second after starting 14th.
1. 22 Nathan Chandler
2. 51 Bryce Bailey
3. 36DD Gary Peiffer
4. 35 Brett Vanous
5. 1 Merv Chandler
6. 15 Ross Neal
7. 007 Adam Gates
8. 22T Travis Losenicky
9. 52 (Not a clue here, either. For all I know, it's the same guy who drove the 42M SportMod, but I doubt it)
10. 00W Bill Whalen Jr.
Notes: IMCA Modified driver Joe Docekal entered the night second in points, 15 back of Scott Hogan. Unfortunately for Docekal, contact from another driver while the feature was already under caution left Docekal with a flat tire. Since the race went caution-free from that point, Docekal was unable to return, leaving him with a finish toward the back and digging him a deeper hole in the standings... Norman Chesmore, who had a similar deficit to Justin Temeyer just a couple weeks ago, is finding himself back in the hunt in that division's standings. Last week's DNF by Temeyer and Chesmore's third place run tonight pulled Chesmore back to within a single point of the lead... BCS Race Director Dana Benning had a "come to Jesus" meeting with the IMCA Sport Compact drivers prior to the races. That division, which must secretly pay roughly half-a-million to win, has had its share of "aggressive" driving in recent weeks. The drivers must have taken Benning's scolding to heart as the quality of driving in tonight's feature was much improved... A few of the BCS regulars were noticeably absent tonight, including Stock Car driver Curtis Roster, SportMod driver Kurt Hogan and Hobby Stock drivers Brad Forbes and Nathan Ballard. Despite their lack of attendance, a stout field of 90-plus signed into the pits.
As I mentioned earlier, it seems to never rain in Vinton on Sunday... well, at least not after the races start, anyway. Great job to Mick Trier and crew for running an efficient program even though the rain on the radar didn't seem to hit the area tonight. As track announcer Bucky Doren referred to it during a chat in the tower, Benton County Speedway is part of the "Trier Triangle" as the rain always comes up missing in Vinton on Sundays. I took it upon myself to be track meteorologist tonight, constantly refreshing the radar on my BlackBerry. At first, it looked as though the rainy area split into two lines bypassing Vinton both to the north and to the south. Eventually, one line of storms appeared to heading straight for Vinton. In an eerie turn of events, every time the rain approached Vinton, it simply disappeared from the radar. I'm not sure what Mick has worked out with Mother Nature, but whatever it is, I hope he can extend his order for another three months of dry Sundays. Also, RACEceiver radio man Mike Van Genderen earned his keep tonight. He had cars shuffling on and off the track at a steady clip throughout the night to ensure the show would dodge any potential raindrops. It's the fastest I've seen him move since I last saw him in a race car last fall!
Prior to heading to Vinton tonight, I had a chance to speak with my neighbor, Alice Klingfus, wife of former Late Model driver Roger Klingfus. She seemed shocked when I told her I mentioned Roger's name last week at the races in Independence. May 28, 1977, was Roger's last win at Indee, 34 years to the day of last Saturday night's program. Even she refers to him as an "old-timer"!
Tonight marked the end of five consecutive race days for me. After 90 races, 1,004 laps of green flag action, 24 features and over 930 miles on the odometer, it's time to adjust to the real world for a few days. There's nothing on my racing calendar for the week until Saturday night for the next weekly show at Independence. See you then!
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