Auringer wraps up Frostbuster week with IMCA Mod win in Vinton

JD Auringer ended the five day Frostbuster swing in thrilling fashion on Sunday with a wire-to-wire win in a caution-free IMCA Modified feature at Benton County Speedway.

From his pole-position start, Auringer pulled ahead of outside starter Dan Ratajczak at the drop of the green. Glued to the bottom of the slick, smooth 1/4-mile oval, Auringer put some breathing room between himself and the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, Richie Gustin dropped to the low side, as well, after starting outside of row number two, and ducked beneath Ratajczak on the second circuit. Gustin held onto second place for much of the event, but was unable to cut into Auringer's lead.

Troy Cordes went to work a groove above the leaders and slowly made his way into contention. He snuck past Ratajczak on the eighth circuit, then dropped to the low side to reel in Gustin. As he closed on Gustin, Ratajczak closed back on him for a terrific three-car battle for position while Auringer ran unchallenged out front.

With five laps to go, Auringer's lead started to dwindle as he encountered lapped traffic. This allowed the trio of pursuers to close the gap. Also working his way into contention was Ken Schrader, who was sitting in fifth after starting in the fourth row.

Gustin was able to put the nose of his #19G to the inside of Auringer as the field completed the white flag lap, but was unable to make his way around the leader through the backmarkers. In the meantime, Ratajzcak closed and took over second, but Auringer sealed the deal on the thrilling win. The other front-runners jockeyed for position over the final circuit with Schrader coming home third ahead of Gustin and Cordes.

Track announcer Bucky Doren had a clock on the race and it took just a whisker under eight minutes (7:59, to be exact) to complete the event.

IMCA MODIFIED
1. 00J JD Auringer
2. 73 Dan Ratajczak
3. 9 Ken Schrader
4. 19G Richie Gustin
5. 71 Troy Cordes
6. 8 Kyle Strickler
7. 27M Mark Schulte
8. 08 John Whitman
9. 12 Mark Elliott
10. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
11. 71W Jeff Waterman
12. 12D Joe Docekal
13. 58 Marcus Yarie
14. 4K Kyle Kudick
15. 33D Scott Hogan
16. 66X Jared Siefert
17. 70 Mitch Morris
18. 01 Ed Thomas
19. 27 Jamie Johnson
20. 11 Ray Cox Jr.
21. 66 Bob Heffer
22. F7 Patrick Flannagan
23. 19R Todd Reed
24. 24R Adam Johnson

The finish was even closer in the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. When all was said and done, Jason Deshaw, the new driver of the Dominator Chassis house car, came out victorious in only his second night behind the wheel in his new ride.

Pole-sitter Dave Stricker led the first time around the speedway before Deshaw stuck the nose of his #21DE to the inside of the race leader on lap two. Following the completion of that lap, third and fourth-running Dave Stricker and Scooter Dulin got together on the back stretch to bring out the caution with those two drivers sent to the tail for the restart.

When racing resumed, JC Howell pressured for the lead as all of the front-runners ran the preferred low groove of the speedway. Last week's winner, Damon Murty, opted for one lane higher and started picking off drivers one-by-one before making it into the top four at the midway point of the event.

Murty continued to work the middle lane to the front, working into a battle with Howell with five laps remaining as both drivers had Deshaw in their sights. Although Murty made his way around Howell for second, his bid for the win came up half of a car-length short at the line, leaving Deshaw in victory lane for the second time in his career at Vinton. Ironically, Deshaw stated his first Stock Car win at Vinton a few years ago also came after starting inside the second row. Jeff Mueller, who challenged for the lead late in the event, came home third.

IMCA STOCK CAR
1. 21DE Jason DeShaw
2. 99D Damon Murty
3. 77M Jason Mueller
4. 31S Paul Shepherd
5. 9E Austin Evens
6. 00 Luke Lemmens
7. 89B Dave Stricker
8. 87 John Emerson
9. 3T Scooter Dulin
10. 20B Andrew Burke
11. 29 Matt Greiner
12. 103 JC Howell
13. 76 Mike Galli
14. 15 Norman Chesmore
15. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.
16. 22 Jamie Suchocki
17. 83E Thomas Thompson

Austin Kaplan was in the right place at the right time during the caution-filled IMCA SportMod feature. He led the final two laps to take the win in an event that saw a lot of action at the front of the pack for the entire 15-lap distance.

On the start, pole-sitter Curt Hilmer took charge and pulled a few car-lengths ahead of Nick Roberts, who burst into second after starting in the third row. Roberts tried to work both the low and middle grooves, but was unable to cut into Hilmer's advantage. Meanwhile, Kip Siems settled into the third spot and challenged Roberts for second. Contact between those two drivers at the midway point sent Roberts into a spin, causing a pile-up behind the leaders.

For the ensuing restart, Roberts and all cars stopped on the track were sent to the tail, leaving Siems on Hilmer's rear bumper for the restart. When the green flag waved, Siems worked his way around the top side of Hilmer to steal the lead. He held the point until he suffered transmission problems exiting turn two in the waning laps. As Siems limped out of the corner, Hilmer had no where to go and was forced to slow behind him, allowing Kaplan to skate by for the lead. Kaplan led the final two circuits to take the win ahead of Danny Dvorak and Dave McCalla. Roberts rebounded nicely from his mid-race mishap to come home fourth ahead of Hilmer.

IMCA SPORTMOD
1. 1 Austin Kaplan
2. 3R Danny Dvorak
3. 3 Dave McCalla
4. 23JR Nick Roberts
5. 22H Curt Hilmer
6. 72 Mike Hogencamp
7. K3 Kyle Olson
8. 00 Jim Buhlman
9. 63 Matt McCahen
10. 26J Joel Rust
11. 40J Jason Doyle
12. 8C Rob Czarapata
13. 10 Mike Knapp
14. S16 Kip Siems
15. M11 Jody Mitchell
16. 11 Al Sweerin
17. J2 Dave Schulze
DNS 95 Mike McDonald
DNS 42L Lonnie Mercer
DNS 3B Brian Anderson

Scott Pippert continued his dominance in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. The winner of over a dozen features at the speedway last season, Pippert earned his second straight trip to the winner's circle to begin 2012. From his pole-position start, Pippert cruised in the 15-lapper to take the checkers over a straightaway ahead of Justin Lichty.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 166 Justin Lichty
3. 2P Cale Petersen
4. 45 Justin Wacha
5. 78 Matt Brown
6. 25 Doug Laughridge
7. 77 Rod Grother
8. 09 Brayton Forbes
DNS 64JR Jeremiah Wilson

Likewise, Jacob Ellithorpe led the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature in its entirety. Ellithorpe blew away the field by a margin similar to Pippert's as he sailed to the win ahead of Merv Chandler.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
1. 72 Jacob Ellithorpe
2. 2 Merv Chandler
3. 11 Steve Miedke
4. 00W Bill Whalen Jr.
5. 18J Jaycee Floyd
6. 41 Jason Freeman
7. 8M Jacob McVay
8. 12X Duane Herb
9. 83 Travis Ross
10. 35 Brett Vanous
11. 07 Joe Goodenbaur
12. 9 Jeremy Lerch
13. 18E Chad Bilner
14. 22 Nathan Chandler
DNS 12B B. Bielenberg
DNS 12 Mitch Bielenberg
DNS 007 Adam Gates

Sunday night was a great way to end the five-day marathon of Frostbusters. Although the steady strong winds made it difficult to keep moisture in the track, Don Burkey and his son, Aaron, did a tremendous job on track prep this week. The track was smooth as silk all night and provided for a great night of racing.

Unveiling a new look on his car tonight was IMCA SportMod driver Curt Hilmer. The second generation driver is the son of local legend Bob Hilmer, who had a very successful Late Model career back in the '60s and '70s. To honor his dad, who attends the races every Sunday night in Vinton, Curt put together some old newspaper clippings from the glory days of his dad's successful career. Joe and Travis at Wrap'd Up Designs created an incredible looking wrap consisting of those clippings. Since this site is having trouble with photo uploads tonight, head on over to Action Track Photos to check out Curt's #22H and all of the other action from Vinton Sunday night.

Next week in Vinton, there will be a special 50/50 raffle to help support the North Benton Ambulance Service, the folks who provide ambulance service for every event at the speedway. They currently have two ambulances, however only one of them contains a Lucas Device, which provides automatic CPR and is a time and life saver in emergency situations. Each unit costs around $12,000 so the fans of the speedway will be asked to show their support of the individuals who sacrifice their Sundays to provide emergency help at the speedway. If you don't attend the races, but would still like to send a donation, their address is: North Benton Ambulance, 704 W. 4th St., Vinton, IA 52349.

My next race is scheduled for this Friday, April 13, at Lee County Speedway. It will be the season-opener on the 3/8-mile and my first night behind the mic in Donnellson. The season kicks off with a $1,000-to-win IMCA Modified special and will also include IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA SportMods, IMCA Hobby Stocks and IMCA Sport Compacts. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m., with hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30. I hope to see you there!