Murty scores Marion Cottrell Memorial win at Benton County Speedway

It's not often you see Damon Murty start on the pole at Benton County Speedway. It's even less frequent to see him drive to a hard fought win from that position, but that's exactly what took place during the Marion Cottrell Memorial event for the IMCA Stock Cars at Benton County Speedway on Sunday night.

The draw/redraw points race for the Stock Car division is held annually to honor the late Vinton resident who had a lifelong involvement with local racing. The special event did not disappoint those in attendance.

Sixteen Stock Cars signed in to compete on the night and it was second heat winner Murty drawing the #1 chip for the 20-lap feature. Murty was pressured early by fellow front row starter John Emerson before Murty assumed command.

Norman Chesmore, who started inside of row two, challenged to the inside of the leader when Murty went to work on the top groove. That pair worked side-by-side while Phil Holtz was running the bottom groove into contention from his third row start. Those three ran in that order until the first caution of the event waved on lap five.

On the restart, Holtz worked the low side past Chesmore, then shot to the inside of Murty to engage in a wheel-to-wheel battle at the front of the pack. Holtz inched ahead of Murty at the line to lead lap seven, then settled into the top spot while Murty remained glued to his rear bumper.

Murty tried to make a move on the outside of Holtz before dropping to the inside of the leader in turn two on lap 11. He snuck past Holtz until Holtz came back on the low side. Holtz inched ahead of Murty at the line on lap 14, however the caution flag waved, negating the pass.

On the final restart, Murty remained glued to the tires on the low side of the speedway. He held off Holtz to take the exciting win. Holtz ran second ahead of a hard-charging Jason Deshaw, who started in the fifth row. Scooter Dulin, who deserves much of the credit for putting together the event in honor of his late grandfather, made a terrific run from the sixth row to come home fourth.

The IMCA Modified division has provided thriller after thriller every week in Vinton. Sunday night was no exception.

Pole-sitter Troy Cordes took the lead at the drop of the green with Ronn Lauritzen and Richie Gustin in tow. Through three early cautions, Cordes maintained the point while Gustin worked both high and low to make a pass on Lauritzen. Gustin shot to the inside of Lauritzen and made his pass for second just prior to a lap seven caution.

Cordes led the field back to green with Gustin in pursuit. Gustin worked the low side while Cordes worked up top. Gustin made his way under the leader on lap nine and took over the top spot shortly before Cordes slipped off the high side of turns three and four, ending his run.

While Gustin took charge, Scott Hogan came charging through traffic from his fourth row starting spot to take second a short time later. He quickly reeled in the leader, pressuring Gustin from the low side.

Gustin held the point as the leaders worked their way through a myriad of lapped cars. Hogan chased Gustin through the backmarkers to the finish, but was unable to mount a charge as Gustin escaped with the win, his second straight in Vinton. Patrick Flannagan made a late pass to steal third from Jerry Luloff.

Danny Dvorak earned his second win in as many days in the IMCA SportMod division. Following his Saturday night win at Independence, Dvorak passed Duane Van Deest as the flying green waved to take his third win of the season on the Vinton quarter-mile.

Pole-sitter Van Deest took the lead at the drop of the green while Dvorak weaved through traffic from a fourth row starting spot. Dvorak was challenging for the lead on the high side of Van Deest when the third and final yellow flag of the event waved on lap three.

Following the restart, Dvorak remained glued to Van Deest's rear bumper and tried both high and low to make his bid for the lead. Not wanting to show his nose and reveal his line, Dvorak sat in waiting until the flying green waved to work his way around Van Deest. Dvorak led the final two laps on his way to victory.

Scott Pippert rolled to his third straight IMCA Hobby Stock victory in Vinton and his sixth overall at the speedway this season.

Pippert came from a fourth row start before settling into the top three in just four laps. He ran past Jacob Keiser on the low side to steal second before setting his sights on race-long leader Rod Grother.

Running side-by-side for a number of laps, Pippert escaped with the lead on the 10th lap to drive to the win. He put a lapped car between himself and Grother at the line to ensure the victory. Keiser ran third.

Nathan Chandler chased Merv Chandler for the first four laps of the IMCA Sport Compact feature before putting his #22 at the front of the pack on lap five. Nathan led the remainder of that 12-lapper to take the win. Merv Chandler ran second, nearly a straightaway ahead of Steve Miedke.

It was another smooth, efficient program in Vinton. While the first green flag waved shortly before the 6 o'clock hour, the final checkered flag waved at 7:53. Reminder to BCS fans: the starting times will be pushed back 30 minutes for the rest of the season, starting next week. Gates will open at 4:30, hot laps at 6, with racing to follow.

Track photographer Scott Tjabring was absent tonight due to other engagements, however (by chance) Kyle Ealy (with Ealy, we'll just call it "dumb luck") was on-hand to take some photos. You can check out his work at www.autoracingindependent.com. Thanks to Kyle for providing the pics included in the results listed below! Does this mean I owe you, Kyle?

Up next for me is a trip to Marshalltown Speedway on Tuesday night for the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models. Hope to see you there!

RESULTS
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature - 1. 19G Richie Gustin; 2. 33D Scott Hogan; 3. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 4. 18 Jerry Luloff; 5. 12D Joe Docekal; 6. 91 Shawn Ryan; 7. 21K Kyle Brown; 8. 22 Brandon Banks; 9. 01 Ed Thomas; 10. 1J Jeff Streeter; 11. 80 Jerry Dedrick; 12. 10K Ronn Lauritzen; 13. 171 Buck Swanson; 14. 14B Shane Burbridge; 15. 17 Dawn Krall; 16. 1X Stephen Streeter; 17. 7T Tim McBride; 18. 96 Eric Tuttle; 19. 71 Troy Cordes; 20. T23 Tony Olson.
First heat - 1. Brown; 2. McBride; 3. Docekal; 4. Hogan; 5. Banks; 6. Burbridge; DNS Dedrick.
Second heat - 1. Cordes; 2. J. Streeter; 3. Luloff; 4. Olson; 5. Swanson; 6. S. Streeter; 7. Tuttle.
Third heat - 1. Lauritzen; 2. Gustin; 3. Flannagan; 4. Ryan; 5. Thomas; 6. Krall.

Joe Docekal (12D) runs the low groove while Tim McBride runs the top side in IMCA Modified heat race action. 
(Kyle "Typos Make Me Giggle" Ealy photo)

Even the family dog was on-hand to celebrate Richie Gustin's win in the IMCA Modified feature. 
(Kyle "It Ain't Easy Bein' Me" Ealy photo)

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature - 1. 99D Damon Murty; 2. 7H Phil Holtz; 3. 21DE Jason Deshaw; 4. 3T Scooter Dulin; 5. 31S Paul Shepherd; 6. 19J Jay Schmidt; 7. 15 Norman Chesmore; 8. 9E Austin Evens; 9. 8 Curtis Roster; 10. 87 John Emerson; 11. 76 Mike Galli; 12. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.; 13. 20B Andrew Burke; 14. 83E Thomas Thompson; 15. G1 Mike Padden; 16. 17 Jason Niedert.
First heat - 1. Shepherd; 2. Emerson; 3. Schmidt; 4. Roster; 5. Deshaw; 6. Dulin; 7. Niedert; 8. Galli.
Second heat - 1. Murty; 2. Chesmore; 3. Burke; 4. Holtz; 5. Thompson; 6. Evens; 7. Damme; 8. Padden.

Andrew Burke (20B) and Damon Murty (99D) race for position in IMCA Stock Car heat race action. 
(Kyle "It's Shake 'N Bake and I Helped" Ealy photo)

Damon Murty celebrates his Marion Cottrell Memorial IMCA Stock Car feature win.
(Kyle "Because Socks with Sandals Just Looks Cool" Ealy photo).

IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature - 1. 3R Danny Dvorak; 2. 80 Duane Van Deest; 3. 00 Jim Buhlman; 4. K3 Kyle Olson; 5. 95 Mike McDonald; 6. J2 Dave Schulze; 7. 22H Curt Hilmer; 8. 16K Brandon Morris; 9. 777 Jamie Duinink; 10. 28P Rick Paulson; 11. 35C Casey Heil; 12. 93 Josh Burrell; 13. 42L Lonnie Mercer; 14. 11M Jody Mitchell; 15. 3B Brian Anderson.
First heat - 1. Van Deest; 2. McDonald; 3. Olson; 4. Buhlman; 5. Duinink; 6. Morris; 7. Anderson; 8. Mitchell.
Second heat - 1. Dvorak; 2. Schulze; 3. Paulson; 4. Burrell; 5. Heil; 6. Hilmer; 7. Mercer.

Danny Dvorak earned his second IMCA SportMod win of the weekend. 
(Kyle "Make Love, Not War" Ealy photo)

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature - 1. 47 Scott Pippert; 2. 77 Rod Grother; 3. 07 Jacob Keiser; 4. 78 Matt Brown; 5. 55 Vince Buchholz; 6. 2P Cale Petersen; 7. 25 Doug Laughridge; 8. 1S Greg Sweerin; 9. 09 Brayden Forbes; 10. 99 Erick Knutsen; 11. 45 Justin Wacha.
First heat - 1. Keiser; 2. Buchholz; 3. Brown; 4. Wacha; 5. Knutsen; 6. Sweerin.
Second heat - 1. Grother; 2. Pippert; 3. Petersen; 4. Laughridge; 5. Forbes.

Bucky Doren interviews "unbeatable" IMCA Hobby Stock driver Scott Pippert for the sixth time in victory lane this season.  
(Kyle "I'll Show You Who 'Dat" Ealy photo)

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature - 1. 22 Nathan Chandler; 2. 2 Merv Chandler; 3. 8M Jacob McVay; 4. 11 Steve Miedke; 5. 57C Brad Chandler; 6. 36DD Gary Peiffer; 7. 83 Travis Ross; 8. 9D Dan Schmidt; 9. 75S Dustin Sondag; 10. 111 A.J. Witten; 11. 35 Brett Vanous.
First heat - 1. Miedke; 2. Peiffer; 3. McVay; 4. Ross; 5. Schmidt; 6. Witten.
Second heat - 1. M. Chandler; 2. N. Chandler; 3. Vanous; 4. B. Chandler; 5. Sondag.