A great field of 80 drivers signed in for Gary's Auto Mid-Season Championship action Sunday night at Benton County Speedway. Three of the five winners graced victory lane for the first time in 2012, one of whom made his first visit to the winner's circle in nearly seven years.
Brian Happel, who has been out of racing for a handful of years, took just four nights behind the wheel in his return (and only his second night in Vinton) to pilot his #46 to victory lane in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. From his pole position starting spot, Happel took command at the drop of the green with heavy pressure from Justin Wacha.
After the leaders swapped the top spot over the first two laps, Happel broke free on the third circuit, while a trio of competitors were working their way to the front. Jacob Keiser, Justin Stander and points leader Scott Pippert remained within striking distance as the leaders engaged in an exciting door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper battle at the front of the pack.
Happel held the point each time around the slick, fast quarter-mile, while Pippert worked his way into second on the low side of the speedway from his fifth row starting spot. As the white flag waved, Pippert pulled even with Happel and challenged over the final lap, however Happel drove the high side to victory by a car-length.
It was Happel's first win in Vinton since August 28, 2005. That span of 2,485 days between wins is the second longest span between Hobby Stock wins in track history. The longest? That mark is held by Pippert who went nine days shy of eight years between wins from 1999 and 2007.
The third Hobby Stock win of his career in Vinton, Happel is now tied for 33rd on the all-time list for the division, joining Cliff Tharp, Forrest Frost, Kris Walker and Rod Grother.
Mike Burbridge edged ahead of Dennis Betzer to take the lead on the first lap of the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature when caution slowed action prior to the completion of lap two.
On the restart, Burbridge held the point while Ronn Lauritzen worked his way past Betzer for second after starting in row three. The leaders remained unchanged until caution slowed the event one final time on the 14th circuit.
When racing resumed, Burbridge pulled away from the pack while Scott Hogan worked the low side into contention. Hogan made his way around Lauritzen for second one lap later, then started to reel in the leader before he slid off the high side of turns three and four in the waning laps. Burbridge held on to take the win, his first of the season and the fifth of his career in Vinton. His five Modified wins place him tied with Ed Thomas, Shawn Fisher and Tony Olson for 27th on the all-time list.
The seventh different Modified winner in eight weeks, Burbridge became the fifth straight different winner in the division.
Norman Chesmore led all 15 laps in the IMCA Stock Car main event to take his first win of the season. Chesmore ran the low groove and held off persistent challenges from Jason Deshaw to take the win, his first since July 18, 2010. The 13th Stock Car win of his career in Vinton, Chesmore now sits alone in fifth all-time after breaking out of a tie with Scooter Dulin in that category. Like the Modifieds, the Stock Cars have had five consecutive different winners.
Nathan Chandler continued his hot streak in the IMCA Sport Compact division. From the back of the 12-car starting pack, Chandler worked past Brad Chandler just three laps into the event. He proceeded to set sail through lapped traffic to take his sixth win of the season in weekly racing in Vinton. It was Chandler's 30th career win in the division in Vinton, extending his lead all-time to three wins over Gary Peiffer.
The caution-filled IMCA SportMod feature timed out when the yellow flag waved for the eighth time with 12 laps in the books. Despite the frequent yellows, Racer Hulin made a run from his fifth row starting spot to take the lead from Dave Schulze eight laps into the race. Hulin led the remainder of the event to take his second straight SportMod win.
Hulin became just the eighth driver in track history to record consecutive SportMod wins. Drew Fish was the last to record back-to-back SportMod wins, just over a year ago on May 29 and June 5, 2011. The sixth SportMod win of his career in Vinton, Hulin is now tied with Kurt Hogan for fifth on the all-time list.
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature - 1. 11B Mike Burbridge; 2. 10K Ronn Lauritzen; 3. 21K Kyle Brown; 4. 12D Joe Docekal; 5. 18 Jerry Luloff; 6. 8 Tony Snyder; 7. 57B Dennis Betzer; 8. 1J Jeff Streeter; 9. T23 Tony Olson; 10. 17 Dawn Krall; 11. 33D Scott Hogan; 12. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 13. 80 Jerry Dedrick; 14. 24 Travis Brown; 15. 7T Tim McBride; 16. 32 Chris Snyder; 17. 1X Steven Streeter; 18. 171 Buck Swanson; 19. 21 David Brown.
First heat - 1. Hogan; 2. Betzer; 3. C. Snyder; 4. T. Snyder; 5. Dedrick; 6. S. Streeter; 7. D. Brown.
Second heat - 1. J. Streeter; 2. K. Brown; 3. Luloff; 4. T. Brown; 5. Krall; DNS Olson.
Third heat - 1. Lauritzen; 2. Burbridge; 3. Docekal; 4. McBride; 5. Flannagan; 6. Swanson.
IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature - 1. 15 Norman Chesmore; 2. 21DE Jason Deshaw; 3. 7H Phil Holtz; 4. 99D Damon Murty; 5. 87 John Emerson; 6. 19J Jay Schmidt; 7. 31S Paul Shepherd; 8. 566 Jim Lynch; 9. 8 Curtis Roster; 10. 38 Rich Vogt; 11. 76 Mike Galli; 12. 4 Cory Tharp; 13. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.
First heat - 1. Chesmore; 2. Roster; 3. Holtz; 4. Lynch; 5. Deshaw; 6. Damme; 7. Shepherd.
Second heat - 1. Schmidt; 2. Murty; 3. Vogt; 4. Tharp; 5. Emerson; 6. Galli.
IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature - 1. 505 Racer Hulin; 2. J2 Dave Schulze; 3. 00 Jim Buhlman; 4. K3 Kyle Olson; 5. 22H Curt Hilmer; 6. 43 Creston Williams; 7. 198 Sam Wieben; 8. 3R Danny Dvorak; 9. 81 Jesse Belez; 10. S16 Kip Siems; 11. 63 Matt McCahen; 12. 28P Rick Paulson; 13. 10S John Schaefer; 14. 7D Dakoda Sellers; 15. 42L Lonnie Mercer; 16. 72 Mike Hogencamp; 17. 95 Mike McDonald; 18. 40J Jason Doyle; 19. 93 Josh Burrell; 20. 57G Rich Gerhold; 21. 11M Jody Mitchell; 22. T17 Tom Rawlins; 23. 29 Sean Vogt; DNS 3B Brian Anderson.
First heat - 1. Schaefer; 2. Burrell; 3. Paulson; 4. Belez; 5. Doyle; 6. Vogt; 7. Dvorak; DNS Anderson.
Second heat - 1. Schulze; 2. Hulin; 3. Siems; 4. Buhlman; 5. Wieben; 6. Sellers; 7. Gerhold; 8. Mitchell.
Third heat - 1. McDonald; 2. Mercer; 3. McCahen; 4. Olson; 5. Rawlins; 6. Williams; 7. Hogencamp; 8. Hilmer.
IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature - 1. 46 Brian Happel; 2. 47 Scott Pippert; 3. 07 Jacob Keiser; 4. 67 Justin Stander; 5. 78 Matt Brown; 6. 2P Cale Petersen; 7. 25 Doug Laughridge; 8. 26 Nathan Christie; 9. 77 Rod Grother; 10. 45 Justin Wacha; DNS 55 Vince Buchholz.
First heat - 1. Happel; 2. Wacha; 3. Brown; 4. Stander; 5. Pippert.
Second heat - 1. Keiser; 2. Grother; 3. Petersen; 4. Christie; 5. Laughridge; 6. Buchholz.
IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature - 1. 22 Nathan Chandler; 2. 26 Brad Chandler; 3. 11 Steve Miedke; 4. 36DD Gary Peiffer; 5. 22T Travis Losenicky; 6. 83 Travis Ross; 7. 57C Bill Whalen Jr.; 8. 03 Neil Nabholz; 9. 18J Jaycee Floyd; 10. 3S Craig Streeter; 11. 111 A.J. Witten; 12. 2 Merv Chandler; DNS 75S Dustin Sondag.
First heat - 1. Peiffer; 2. M. Chandler; 3. Ross; 4. Nabholz; 5. Witten; 6. N. Chandler.
Second heat - 1. B. Chandler; 2. Miedke; 3. Losenicky; 4. Streeter; 5. Floyd; 6. Whalen; DNS Sondag.
No comments:
Post a Comment