The race for the championship in a couple of divisions continues to heat up at Independence Motor Speedway. Following Saturday night action, a mere two points separate the leaders in the IMCA Hobby Stock division while a four point margin is all that remains at the top of the IMCA Modified standings.
In the Modified division, Adam Johnson continued his recent dominance by winning that 20-lapper going away. Johnson took the point from race-long leader Josh Sherbon on the seventh circuit, then cruised to his third win in four weeks and division-leading fourth victory of the year. Sherbon, in his first year in the division, drove to his best finish by crossing the line in second.
Johnson has now earned 12 career Modified wins in weekly racing in Independence. That places him alone in ninth on the all-time list. He sits one victory behind Duane Van Deest and Steve Droste, who are tied for seventh.
Johnson earned back-to-back wins at the speedway for the first time in his career, becoming one of only 20 Modified drivers in speedway history to accomplish that feat. Next week, he will look to become just the eighth Modified driver to win three straight features in Independence.
All-time, Johnson now has 16 career wins in weekly racing history on the Indee oval. When including his Hobby Stock and Pro Stock wins from earlier in his career, Johnson ranks tied for 29th all-time with Danny Dvorak, Darren Ackerman and Larry Portis.
Curt Graham led wire-to-wire in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature to earn his first-ever win on the Independence oval. Graham started in the third row, quickly worked his way to the front, then survived numerous stoppages to take the milestone win ahead of a hard-charging Scott Pippert and Benji Irvine.
Justin Stander entered the night as the division's points leader and passed more cars than anyone to hold his spot atop the standings. After drifting off the high side of turn four and bringing out the caution on the first lap, Stander tagged the tail of the 23-car field on the restart. He made his way through the pack to an impressive fourth place finish. By virtue of that finish, Stander held a two-point margin over Irvine to end the night.
For Graham, he became the 90th different Hobby Stock winner in track history and the second first-time winner in as many weeks. Graham joined Stander, Irvine and Nathan Ballard as first-time Hobby Stock winners this season. The four newcomers to victory lane is the most in a season for the division since six drivers earned their first wins in 2007.
Tyler Droste raced from the fourth row to challenge for the lead late in the IMCA SportMod feature. Droste worked past Travis Peterson for the lead just a couple of laps before that feature timed out. Peterson crossed the line in second, however he was disqualified following post-race inspection. That moved Sam Wieben to second in the final run-down ahead of Brennen Chipp. It was Droste's fourth win in just five appearances this season.
The 12th win of his career in Independence, Droste is now tied for second on the division's all-time wins list at the speedway with Josh Sherbon. He is now just one win behind Danny Dvorak at the top of that list. His 12 career wins at the speedway put Droste in a tie for 52nd all-time with Forrest Frost, Keith Braun, Tyler Bruening and Vince Buchholz.
Travis Smock took his second straight win in the IMCA Late Model division. From his fourth row starting spot, Smock made his way into second just prior to a lap three caution. One lap following the restart, Smock worked past Dirk Hamilton for the lead, then held off Curt Martin, Tyler Bruening and the caution flag to earn the win.
Smock became the 22nd Late Model driver in track history to earn back-to-back wins in weekly points racing. Only Curt Martin, Gary Crawford, Ed Sanger and Rick Wendling have won three straight in Independence and Smock looks to join that elite list next weekend. The last time a Late Model driver won three-in-a-row in Independence was when Curt Martin did it in a stretch from July 10-24, 2004.
The fifth career Late Model win for Smock in Independence, he is now tied for 27th on the all-time list with Dale Hackwell Jr., Les Verly, Rick Dralle and Terry Neal.
From a third row starting spot, John Emerson raced to the lead after just two laps of the IMCA Stock Car feature. Points leader Sean Johnson worked into second on the seven lap mark, then tried both high and low to get past the leader. Emerson proved to be too fast on the low groove as he drove to his fourth win of the season, all in the last seven weeks. He now sits tied with Damon Murty, Dave Stricker and Tony Schimmels for 14th on the all-time list.
Merv Chandler and Steve Miedke raced much of the 10-lap IMCA Sport Compact feature in side-by-side formation. The lead pair pulled away from the pack and swapped the lead numerous times in that event before Chandler lunged ahead at the line to take the win. While Chandler won a draw/redraw special for the Sport Compacts earlier this season, Saturday night's win was his first in points competition in Independence since he won the IMCA Modified feature on May 26, 1984.
Sunday night, racing action resumes at Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the Ron Tharp Memorial. The Vinton native, who was a popular Hobby Stock driver throughout much of his career, passed away unexpectedly prior to the start of the 2012 season.
After tonight's show in Vinton, I'll put together month-ending Stats Blitzes for both Independence and Vinton. I hope to have those posted Monday and Tuesday nights. I hope to see you in Vinton tonight!
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