Gustin holds off Hogan at Benton County Speedway

Richie Gustin battled Troy Cordes early, then held off Scott Hogan late to take the IMCA Modified win at Benton County Speedway on Sunday night. It was Gustin's second win in Vinton this season, his first coming during the Frostbuster special in April.

Cordes took the early lead from his outside front row starting spot while Gustin settled into third behind Mike Burbridge. Gustin snuck beneath Burbridge on lap three, then immediately went to work on Cordes. Gustin held the advantage at the line just prior to a trio of cautions on laps four and five.

When racing resumed, Gustin held the lead in the low groove, but was pressured by Cordes, who was running the top side. While the leaders battled, Scott Hogan entered the mix after starting in the fourth row.

After swapping the top spot for a couple of laps, Gustin assumed command on the seventh circuit while Hogan worked to reel in Cordes. Hogan made his way around Cordes at the 15-lap mark of the 20-lapper before the final yellow flag waved on lap 17.

On the final restart, Hogan went to work on the high side and pulled to within half of a car-length in the waning laps, but wasn't able to put together a strong enough run as Gustin drove to the win. Hogan and Cordes completed the top three.

John Emerson led throughout much of the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature, however the pressure he received from his competitors left him no room for error. Jason Deshaw worked the high side while Norman Chesmore ran down low as the top three cars ran within a car-length of each other throughout much of that event.

Deshaw took command just shy of the midway point and before the caution flag slowed the last half of the event a handful of times. Between cautions, Chesmore made his way into second with Scooter Dulin and Damon Murty in tow. Contact between the Chesmore and Dulin machines left Chesmore in the pits and Dulin at the tail of the field for a green, white, checkered restart while leaving Murty on Deshaw's rear bumper.

Murty worked the low side on the restart and emerged as the leader when the white flag waved. He held on over the final lap to take the exciting win ahead of Deshaw and Emerson.

Scott Pippert scored his fifth win in six nights of racing on the Vinton oval in 2012, but it took him half of the 15-lapper to put his #47 at the front of the pack.

Jacob Keiser and Doug Laughridge shared time at the front of the pack before Pippert made his way from a fifth row starting spot and into contention just prior to a lap six caution. Pippert took charge one lap after racing resumed to drive to the win ahead of Laughridge and Matt Brown.

Kyle Olson inherited the lead a few laps into the IMCA SportMod main event, then drove to the win in that 15-lapper. Front row starter Duane Van Deest held the early lead until mechanical problems sidelined him four laps into the race. Olson held the point on the ensuing restart and led the remainder of the event to take his first win of the season. Jim Buhlman and Danny Dvorak chased Olson to the checkers.

Adam Gates led the first two laps of the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature before Nathan Chandler took command three laps into that event. Chandler survived a late race caution to score the win, his third of the year in Vinton, over Steve Miedke and Bill Whalen Jr.

More of the blog continues below complete results from Sunday night.

RESULTS
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature - 1. 19G Richie Gustin; 2. 33D Scott Hogan; 3. 71 Troy Cordes; 4. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 5. 12D Joe Docekal; 6. 18 Jerry Luloff; 7. 10K Ronn Lauritzen; 8. 11B Mike Burbridge; 9. 22 Brandon Banks; 10. T23 Tony Olson; 11. 32 Chris Snyder; 12. 1J Jeff Streeter; 13. 171 Buck Swanson; 14. 17 Dawn Krall; 15. 1X Stephen Streeter; 16. 80 Jerry Dedrick; 17. 15D Dustin Johnson; DNS 01 Ed Thomas.
First heat - 1. Cordes; 2. Hogan; 3. Burbridge; 4. Snyder; 5. Swanson; 6. Luloff.
Second heat - 1. Docekal; 2. Gustin; 3. J. Streeter; 4. Olson; 5. Johnson; 6. Thomas.
Third heat - 1. Lauritzen; 2. Banks; 3. Flannagan; 4. Dedrick; 5. S. Streeter; 6. Krall.

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature - 1. 99D Damon Murty; 2. 21DE Jason Deshaw; 3. 87 John Emerson; 4. 77 Andy Bryant; 5. 19J Jay Schmidt; 6. 20B Andrew Burke; 7. 8 Curtis Roster; 8. 7H Phil Holtz; 9. 9E Austin Evens; 10. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.; 11. 76 Mike Galli; 12. 15 Norman Chesmore; 13. 3T Scooter Dulin; 14. 31S Paul Sepherd.
First heat - 1. Emerson; 2. Evens; 3. Chesmore; 4. Murty; 5. Dulin; 6. Damme; 7. Roster.
Second heat - 1. Deshaw; 2. Bryant; 3. Holtz; 4. Shepherd; 5. Schmidt; 6. Burke; 7. Galli.

IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature - 1. K3 Kyle Olson; 2. 00 Jim Buhlman; 3. 3R Danny Dvorak; 4. 81 Jesse Belez; 5. 22H Curt Hilmer; 6. 28P Rick Paulson; 7. J2 Dave Schulze; 8. 95 Mike McDonald; 9. 25T Travis Petersen; 10. 3B Brian Anderson; 11. 11S Bob Ebaugh; 12. 35C Casey Heil; 13. 80 Duane Van Deest; DNS 42L Lonnie Mercer; DNS 93 Josh Burrell.
First heat - 1. McDonald; 2. Hilmer; 3. Olson; 4. Paulson; 5. Anderson; 6. Schulze; 7. Petersen; 8. Burrell.
Second heat - 1. Buhlman; 2. Dvorak; 3. Van Deest; 4. Belez; 5. Mercer; 6. Ebaugh; 7. Heil.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature - 1. 47 Scott Pippert; 2. 25 Doug Laughridge; 3. 78 Matt Brown; 4. 19X August Bach; 5. 07 Jacob Keiser; 6. 67 Justin Stander; 7. 2P Cale Petersen; 8. 45 Justin Wacha; 9. 6 Randy Vandevegte; 10. 77 Rod Grother; 11. 09 Brayden Forbes; 12. 29 Nathan Ballard.
First heat - 1. Keiser; 2. Laughridge; 3. Grother; 4. Brown; 5. Vandevegte; 6. Ballard.
Second heat - 1. Stander; 2. Pippert; 3. Bach; 4. Wacha; 5. Petersen; 6. Forbes.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature - 1. 22 Nathan Chandler; 2. 11 Steve Miedke; 3. 00W Bill Whalen Jr.; 4. 35 Brett Vanous; 5. 8M Jacob McVay; 6. 22T Travis Losenicky; 7. 36DD Gary Peiffer; 8. 03 Neil Nabholz; 9. 75S Dustin Sondag; 10. 83 Travis Ross; 11. 3S Craig Streeter; 12. 07 Joe Goodenbauer; 13. 111 A.J. Whitten; 14. 9 Toby Denning; 15. 2 Merv Chandler; 16. 007 Adam Gates.
First heat - 1. Whalen; 2. Vanous; 3. Nabholz; 4. Losenicky; 5. Streeter; 6. Ross; 7. Sondag; 8. Goodenbauer.
Second heat - 1. N. Chandler; 2. McVay; 3. Gates; 4. M. Chandler; 5. Miedke; 6. Peiffer; 7. Whitten; 8. Denning.

Don and Aaron Burkey did another great job preparing the track for Sunday night's show. The track was thirsty this weekend after a number of days with minimal rain in the Benton County area and, although it dried out, there were multiple grooves throughout the night once again on the smooth and racy surface in Vinton.

It was nice to see former BCS promoter Larry Kemp in attendance tonight. He and wife Kathleen were in town visiting family and Larry snuck away to take in the show. With family in town, scorer Kevin Kemp asked at the track if I would fill in for him tonight. It was a tall order to fill Kevin's shoes, but it was nice to dust off the scoring pen on Sunday.

It was a bittersweet night at the track as it was one year ago on Monday, May 14, that I lost my father after a short battle with lung cancer. Between races, I took the chance to look around at the place he was so proud to call his second home. From the endless hours he spent working on the track, to the labor of love he put into helping promoter Mick Trier build the scoring tower, to all of the other projects he took on at the fairgrounds, it really made me proud to be a part of something so special. Yes, it was just another race night in Vinton, but to spend time at a place that my dad held so close to his heart will always mean so much more than the excitement any race can provide.

I was reminded tonight, as I am every time I'm at a race, that his passion for racing got me involved in the sport so many years ago. To be able to share that passion on Sunday nights at the track with my mom, brother and nephew makes those memories that much more special.

There are many nights when Mick, race director Dana Benning and I share our own memories of dad at the track. Along with the laughs, we've even shed a few tears on race night remembering all that he meant to the speedway and all that the speedway meant to him. I'm certain he's been looking down on us every Sunday night with a smile on his face.

Whenever I'm at a race track, I know he's right there with me to enjoy every moment. I miss you more every day, Dad. I love you!