Jeff Waterman topped a field of 38 IMCA Modifieds to take home the first checkers of the season in the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour on Tuesday night at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. For Waterman, it was his second tour win, his first victory coming at Cresco Speedway in 2010.
Waterman drew well throughout the night, starting the night outside the front row of the first heat. That heat win left him as the first of 10 drivers to select a spoon for the redraw. He pulled the "1" out of the cup before anyone else had a shot at the pole position.
When the green flag waved in the 30-lapper, Waterman took command, leaving fellow front row starter Ryan Dolan to fall in behind him. Waterman consistently held a couple car-length advantage throughout the early stages while Richie Gustin and Dan Chapman worked to challenge Dolan.
Jimmy Gustin, who went to work on the high side of the speedway, took advantage of a pair of mid-race cautions and advanced into the top five after s fifth row start. Likewise, J.D. Auringer, who also started in the fifth row, ran the low groove into contention.
Following a pair of mid-race cautions, during one of which Dolan stopped in the middle of turns one and two, Auringer worked past Richie Gustin for second. Auringer then went to work cutting into Waterman's lead, which he built to a few car-lengths. Auringer reeled in the leader and pulled onto Waterman's rear bumper in the waning laps, but was unable to make a successful bid for the lead as Waterman led the event in its entirety to take the win.
Auringer crossed the line in second ahead of Richie Gustin. Mitch Morris made an impressive run through the field from a 10th row start after qualifying from a B feature to finish fourth. Likewise, B feature qualifier Mark Schulte came from the sixth row to drive to an impressive fifth place finish. (Complete results are listed below.)
In companion action, Jim Gillenwater made his first-ever trip to the Vinton quarter-mile pay off as he topped a field of 20 IMCA SportMods to earn the victory. From his outside second row starting spot, Gillenwater settled into the second position by the third lap behind leader Carter Vandenberg.
After pressuring the leader for a couple circuits, Gillenwater snuck beneath Vandenberg to steal the lead on the sixth lap to drive to the victory. Racer Hulin, who started in the fifth row, ran the high groove to the front to finish second ahead of Scott Davis. Vandenberg and Austin Kaplan completed the top five.
Scott Pippert led all 15 laps to take the win in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Pippert survived a pair of early caution periods and race-long pressure from John Watson to earn his fourth feature win on the Vinton oval this season. Doug Laughridge came from a fourth row start to finish third ahead of Matt Brown and Brad Forbes.
Merv Chandler took the lead at the drop of the green and led all 12 laps of the IMCA Sport Compact feature to take his first win in Vinton this season. Nathan Chandler pressured throughout the event, but settled for second. Andy Wagner challenged Nathan Chandler much the event, but came home third. Tyler Whalen, driving his father's #00W came home fourth ahead of Adam Gates.
Once again, the track stayed smooth all night, which provided for another good night of racing in Vinton. Although the top side didn't quite come in like it did on Sunday, it still provided plenty of side-by-side, multi-groove racing throughout the evening.
Up next for me is a return to Lee County Speedway in Donnellson this Friday as we try to get in our second night of weekly points racing. We'll do the same next Saturday in Independence before a return to Vinton next Sunday.
Complete results from Tuesday's Hawkeye Dirt Tour action are listed below. You can also check out the blogs from fellow Positively Racing writers Jeff Broeg, along with with Dick and Joyce Eisele. Kevin Trittien is still experiencing some computer problems so he won't have a report, although he was in attendance tonight and said he enjoyed the show. Have a great week and, as always, thanks for reading!
RESULTS
HDT MODIFIED
Feature (original starting position)
1. (1) 71W Jeff Waterman (Quincy, IL)
2. (9) 00J J.D. Auringer (Evansdale)
3. (4) 19G Richie Gustin (Marshalltown)
4. (19) 70 Mitch Morris (Eldridge)
5. (12) 27M Mark Schulte (Delhi)
6. (7) 21A Kelly Meyer (Big Rock)
7. (18) 12 Mark Elliott (Webster City)
8. (10) 19 Jimmy Gustin (Marshalltown)
9. (13) 33D Scott Hogan (Vinton)
10. (20) 8 Rich Smith (Davenport)
11. (14) 10M Jerry Mills (Garner)
12. (15) 7N Jay Noteboom (Hinton)
13. (6) 1 Dan Chapman (Clarence)
14. (24) 96 Larry Herring (Lone Tree)
15. (17) 64 Vern Jackson (Waterloo)
16. (23) 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup)
17. (2) 11D Ryan Dolan (Lisbon)
18. (21) 19D Darin Duffy (Hazleton)
19. (16) 37 Mike Jurgens (Plover)
20. (22) 57V Mike Van Genderen (Newton)
21. (3) 25X Jake Bowman (Maquoketa)
22. (5) 11B Mike Burbridge (Delhi)
23. (8) 10 Cayden Carter (Oskaloosa)
24. (11/DNS) 71 Troy Cordes (Dunkerton)
First heat (top 2 redraw) - 1. Jeff Waterman; 2. Dolan; 3. Hogan; 4. 01 Ed Thomas (Waterloo); 5. Herring; 6. 1JR Ben Chapman (Clarence); 7. K1 Kyle Krampe (Baxter); DNS 8 Rich Smith (Davenport).
Second heat - 1. R. Gustin; 2. Carter; 3. Van Genderen; 4. Cordes; 5. Elliott; 6. Duffy; 7. 21K Dan Klatt (Wheatland); 8. 55 Jacob Waterman (Milan, IL).
Third heat - 1. Burbridge; 2. Meyer; 3. Noteboom; 4. Jergens; 5. 11 Ray Cox Jr. (Maquoketa); 6. 36 Jeff Connor (Panora); 7. 57B Dennis Betzer (Central City).
Fourth heat - 1. J. Gustin; 2. Auringer; 3. Schulte; 4. 6 Jason Schoenberger (Russell, KS); 5. 17 Todd Dykema (Davenport); 6. 1W Al Wolfgram (Boone); 7. 02 Ben Traver (Lowden).
Fifth heat (top 6 advance) - 1. D. Chapman; 2. Bowman; 3. Jackson; 4. Mills; 5. 12D Joe Docekal (Dysart); 6. Lauritzen; 7. Morris; 8. 32 Rick Speck (Garwin).
First B feature - 1. Cordes; 2. Hogan; 2. Noteboom; 4. Jackson; 5. Morris; 6. Duffy; 7. Cox; 8. Schoenberger; 9. Herring; 10. Wolfgram; 11. Docekal; 12. Krampe; 13. Betzer; 14. Jacob Waterman.
Second B feature - 1. Schulte; 2. Mills; 3. Jergens; 4. Elliott; 5. Smith; 6. Van Genderen; 7. Lauritzen; 8. Traver; 9. Connor; 10. Speck; 11. Thomas; 12. Dykema; 13. Klatt; 14. B. Chapman.
Provisional feature starters - Lauritzen and Herring (based on final 2011 series standings)
IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature
1. 10 Jim Gillenwater
2. 505 Racer Hulin
3. 81D Scott Davis
4. 7 Carter Vandenberg
5. 1 Austin Kaplan
6. 7R Ryan Ashton
7. 7M Kurt Moeding
8. 00 Jim Buhlman
9. 22H Curt Hilmer
10. 777 Jamie Duinink
11. 3 Ryan Coleman
12. 28P Rick Paulson
13. 21R Randy Butterbrodt
14. 11 Bob Ebaugh
15. 26J Joel Rust
16. 36 Jason Mallicoat
17. 23JR Nick Roberts
18. K3 Kyle Olson (DNS)
19. 72 Mike Hogencamp (DNS)
20. 57G Rich Gerhold (DNS)
IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature
1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 4W John Watson
3. 25 Doug Laughridge
4. 78 Matt Brown
5. 09 Brad Forbes
6. 55 Vince Buchholz
7. 51D Dustin Filloon
8. 67 Justin Stander
9. 45 Justin Wacha
10. 29 Nathan Ballard
11. 4 Cory Tharp
12. 6 Randy Vandevegte
13. 2P Cale Petersen
14. 1S Greg Sweerin
15. 77 Rod Grother
IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature
1. 2 Merv Chandler
2. 22 Nathan Chandler
3. 21 Andy Wagner
4. 00W Tyler Whalen
5. 007 Adam Gates
6. 75 Louis Trachta
7. 111 A.J. Witten
8. 8M Jacob McVay (DNS)
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