Although Adam and Sean Johnson had each spent a fair amount of time in victory lane, the brothers had never won features on the same night in front of their hometown fans at Independence Motor Speedway - until Saturday night. After Sean dominated the IMCA Stock Car feature, Adam made an impressive run through the field to survive the time-shortened IMCA Modified main.
A nice field of 109 race teams signed in to the pit area, matching season highs in the Modified and Hobby Stock divisions for McDonald's Night at the Races.
Pole sitter Tim Helle held the early lead in the 15-lap Stock Car feature as Sean Johnson worked the low groove into contention from a fourth row start. Mike Padden made his way around Helle for the lead on lap two as Johnson continued his charge toward the front. Johnson slipped beneath Helle and Roger Ciesielski for second after just three laps and then made his way past Padden for the lead one lap later.
As Johnson led, Justin Temeyer was making his way through the field after starting in the fifth row. Temeyer worked into second just shy of the midway point. Temeyer uncharacteristically spun out on the low side of turn two one lap later, ending his bid for the win. Johnson skated away to score his division-leading fifth win of the season. Ciesielski ran second ahead of Kirk Fauser and Dave Stricker. Points leader Jarod Weepie completed the top five. It was Johnson's 13th win in his Stock Car career at Independence. The victory pulled him to within a single victory of Norman Chesmore for seventh on the all-time wins list.
Ed Thomas and Keith Pittman provided an entertaining battle at the front of the IMCA Modified feature while three and four-wide racing was common throughout the front half of the 23-car field. The pair swapped the lead over a trio of cautions that plagued the first five laps. As they battled, Adam Johnson worked through the field from a sixth row start, settling into second just prior to the lap five stoppage.
Johnson shot to the low side of Thomas when racing resumed to take command. He then held off the persistent challenges of Mike Burbridge to score his second win of the season in an event that timed out after 13 laps. Burbridge ran second ahead of Jerry King and Shawn Ryan. Points leader Jerry Luloff, who was forced to qualify through the B feature, made a nice run through traffic to come home fifth after starting 18th. It was Johnson's sixth trip to the winner's circle in the Modifieds at Independence, tying him for 22nd on the all-time list with Corey Dripps, Craig Haupt, Garry Stuber, J.D. Auringer and Todd Jensen.
Quinton Miller added another hometown name to the list of winners as the Independence driver topped the IMCA Hobby Stock division. It was outside front row starter Shawn Kuennen who led the field to green in the 15-lapper. Kuennen paced the field as Miller quickly challenged from his second row start.
Miller dropped to the low side of Kuennen exiting turn two on the fifth lap to snare the lead. He survived a pair of late cautions to score the victory, his first of the season. Jamie Whitaker ran second ahead of Chris Wiltse, who edged Rod Grother by a bumper at the line for third. August Bach came home fifth. Points leader Vince Buchholz was black-flagged midway through the event after his #55 was displaying substantial amounts of smoke. His DNF allowed Wiltse to close to within two points of the division lead.
For Miller, it was the sixth win of his career at Independence, moving him into a tie for 13th on the all-time list with Chris Schares, Rod Grother, Tim Bartholomew and Todd Temeyer. It also marked the fifth consecutive season with a feature win for Miller. He joins Justin Lichty as the only drivers with the longest such current streak in the division.
A 12-car pile-up in the IMCA Late Model feature turned the line-up upside down after the lap five stoppage. Entering turn three on that circuit, a couple of the front-runners got together, which created a chain reaction throughout the field, forcing red flag conditions. When the dust settled, all drivers were okay, and only two were unable to continue - Dean Wagner and Joel Brasch.
To show how the pile-up affected the running order, Darren Ackerman brought out the caution on the previous lap for a solo spin. He restarted at the tail of the 25-car field for that restart. For the restart on the following lap, however, he realigned tenth.
Luke Pestka, who started outside of row two, quickly made his way to the front and out of harm's way. He took charge on the first lap and never looked back to take his second career win at Independence, his first since August 9, 2008. Tyler Bruening and Travis Smock, who were involved in the lap five melee, worked their way back through the pack for respective second and third place finishes. Luke Merfeld ran fourth ahead of division rookie Rory Metcalf.
Ray Lundry ran the high side around leader Danny Dvorak to drive to his first IMCA SportMod win of the season. From his fourth row start, Lundry ran the top groove to perfection as he challenged for the lead a handful of laps into the 15-lapper. He swept past Dvorak just past the midway point to drive to the victory. Tyler Droste, who was penalized four spots for jumping a restart midway through the event, made a nice run through the field to come home second ahead of Dvorak. Josh Sherbon and Lucas Lundry completed the top five.
The third SportMod win of Lundry's career, he is now tied with Chris Luloff and Lucas Lundry for fifth on the all-time list at Indee.
Last night's show completed the July schedule for this season at Independence. As time allows this week, I'll try to get the latest Stats Blitz compiled and posted. Tonight, it's back to Benton County Speedway in Vinton for its weekly show. Then, on Thursday night, I'm scheduled to head to Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., for the next installment of the Corn Belt Clash Late Model Series.
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