After two and-a-half inches of rain fell overnight Friday into Saturday morning, it was anyone's guess if the races would go on as scheduled Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway. Anyone's guess, unless you were Todd Summers and Darin Burco. The promoters surveyed the moisture early Saturday and were confident they could get the track in shape for that night's program. Following the help of the drivers, who assisted in track packing efforts prior to the show, fans were treated to a great night of racing Saturday.
MODIFIED
Darin Duffy took command of the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature after leader Mike Burbridge stopped due to rearend problems midway through the race. Duffy then held off a hard-charging Troy Cordes to earn the victory, his second in as many weeks.
For Duffy, it was his 39th career Modified win in weekly racing history at Independence, tying him with Vern Jackson atop that list. Saturday marked the first time Duffy led or shared that position since June 4, 2011. It was also the seventh time in his career that he earned back-to-back wins in the division, the most all-time in the Mods at the speedway. He has also had three additional stretches of three straight wins in his career at Indee.
The win was Duffy's 49th career trip to the winner's circle in weekly racing at Independence, moving him to within a single victory of Greg Kastli for fourth on the overall all-time wins list at the speedway.
SPORTMOD
Danny Dvorak also won for the second straight week, taking the lead following a lap eight caution in the IMCA SportMod feature. For Dvorak, it was his 11th career SportMod win at Indee, one shy of Josh Sherbon atop the all-time list.
It was the first time in Dvorak's SportMod career at Indee that he won in consecutive weeks, becoming just the fifth driver in division history to win back-to-back features. The last time Dvorak won two straight features at the speedway was in May of 1998 in the Hobby Stock division.
Combined with his three Hobby Stock wins at Independence, Dvorak moved into a tie for 35th on the all-time wins list at the speedway, with 14 career feature wins.
STOCK CAR
Sean Johnson earned his second win of the season in the IMCA Stock Car division. He worked around the high side of Norman Chesmore in turn four on the final lap to drive to the victory, the 19th of his career at Independence. The win moved him into sole possession of third place all-time in the division. He now sits 12 wins behind Brian Irvine for second in that category.
It was the third career win in the month of May for Johnson, who has now won multiple Stock Car features in a season for the fourth time in his career.
The win moved Johnson into a tie for 24th on the all-time wins list at Independence. He now sits two wins behind Chris Luloff, Greg Hunter, Kevin Pittman and Red Dralle, who are tied for 20th in all-time weekly wins at Indee.
LATE MODEL
Dean Wagner drove to his sixth career victory in the Late Model division at Independence, holding off a furious challenge from Greg Hunter at the end of that 25-lapper. Wagner, whose wins span nearly 23 years, moved into a tie with Dale Stolte for 28th in career Late Model wins at the speedway.
It was Wagner's second career win in the month of May, his first victory this early in the season since he won on opening night (May 1) in 2004.
HOBBY STOCK
Nathan Ballard passed Jim Ball Jr. late to score the win in the IMCA Hobby Stock 15-lapper. It was Ballard's second win of the season at Independence, his first coming on opening night. Ballard became the 58th Hobby Stock driver to earn multiple career wins at the speedway and just the 23rd driver to win multiple features the same year of his first win in the division.
The month of May has come to a close at Independence, which means the first installment of the monthly Stats Blitz will be posted in the near future. After a trip to Benton County Speedway in Vinton tonight, I'm heading to Boone Speedway tomorrow for the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models special. I plan to work through the numbers Tuesday evening and post the Indee Stats Blitz that night. On Wednesday, I hope to post the first Stats Blitz of the season for Benton County Speedway.
Just a reminder, starting next Saturday night the race program at Independence will start one half hour later. Gates will still open at 4 p.m., however hot laps will be pushed back to 6 p.m. with racing at 6:30 for the remainder of the season.
I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend! See you at the races!
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