Three points leaders extended their advantages atop the standings during a special points race Thursday night at Benton County Speedway. The draw/redraw show, which kicked off grandstand entertainment for this year's Benton County Fair, ended with Danny Dvorak, Scott Pippert and Nathan Chandler celebrating in victory lane.
Pole-sitter Sam Wieben took the lead at the drop of the green in the 15-lap IMCA SportMod feature. He paced the field while Danny Dvorak, who started outside of Wieben, pursued the leader. Dvorak shot to the inside of Wieben to take the lead at the line on lap two, then pulled away from the pack.
Wieben was able to close back in on the leader as Dvorak encountered slower traffic late in the event. Dvorak held on by a couple of car-lengths to take the win, his seventh victory in points racing at the speedway this season. For Dvorak, it was his 45th career SportMod win in points racing history on the Vinton oval. The SportMods ran their entire program without a single caution Thursday.
After holding on to a fourth place finish with a flat tire in his heat race, Doug Laughridge redrew the pole position for the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. He quickly took charge at the drop of the green and was over half of a straightaway ahead of his nearest competitor when he suffered another flat tire five laps into that event. Laughridge spun and forced a caution, which left Justin Wacha in the lead for the restart.
Wacha paced the field back to green with points leader Scott Pippert on his rear bumper. Running the top side, Wacha held off Pippert's pressure until Pippert inched ahead at the 10-lap mark. He survived a late caution to take the win, his eighth of the season in weekly racing. Wacha held on for a season-best second place run. Pippert has now won 43 career Hobby Stock features in points racing history in Vinton, just five shy of all-time leader Vince Buchholz.
Merv Chandler held the early lead in the IMCA Sport Compact feature. While Chandler led, Gary Peiffer, Nathan Chandler and Steve Miedke joined the leader in a four-car breakaway at the front of the pack.
The leaders ran in tight formation, jockeying for position, until Nathan Chandler worked the low side to the front on lap six. He pulled away from the pack to take the victory. Chandler's eight wins in weekly racing this season tops his previous all-time high of seven, which he earned each of the last two years. Chandler now leads the division's all-time list with 32 career points wins in Vinton.
RESULTS
IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature - 1. 3R Danny Dvorak; 2. 198 Sam Wieben; 3. J2 Dave Schulze; 4. K3 Kyle Olson; 5. 00 Jim Buhlman; 6. 10S John Schaefer; 7. 3B Brian Anderson; 8. 11 Al Sweerin; 9. 93 Josh Burrell; 10. 22H Curt Hilmer; 11. T17 Tom Rawlins; 12. 28P Rick Paulson; DNS 42L Lon Mercer; DNS 7D Dakoda Sellers.
First heat - 1. Hilmer; 2. Schaefer; 3. Paulson; 4. Schulze; 5. Anderson; 6. Rawlins; DNS Mercer.
Second heat - 1. Dvorak; 2. Wieben; 3. Olson; 4. Burrell; 5. Buhlman; 6. Sweerin; DNS Sellers.
IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature - 1. 47 Scott Pippert; 2. 45 Justin Wacha; 3. 07 Jacob Keiser; 4. 55 Vince Buchholz; 5. 09X Brad Forbes; 6. 2P Cale Petersen; 7. 46 Brian Happel; 8. 77 Rod Grother; 9. 78 Matt Brown; 10. 25 Doug Laughridge; 11. 6 Randy Vandevegte.
First heat - 1. Forbes; 2. Pippert; 3. Brown; 4. Happel; 5. Petersen.
Second heat - 1. Wacha; 2. Keiser; 3. Grother; 4. Laughridge; 5. Buchholz; 6. Vandevegte.
IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature - 1. 22 Nathan Chandler; 2. 2 Merv Chandler; 3. 11 Steve Miedke; 4. 83 Travis Ross; 5. 3S Craig Streeter; 6. 03 Neil Nabholz; 7. 57 Duayne Herb; 8. 111 A.J. Witten; 9. 36DD Gary Peiffer.
Heat - 1. N. Chandler; 2. Miedke; 3. Peiffer; 4. M. Chandler; 5. Streeter; 6. Ross; 7. Herb; 8. Nabholz; 9. Witten.
Thursday night was a lot of fun working with a rookie in the flagstand. Former (and I say this only because he is not currently racing) IMCA Modified driver Shawn Fisher was the chief starter for Thursday's show. He did a fantastic job waving the sticks Thursday night and admitted that the perspective from the flagstand was entirely different than on the race track. I think he would agree that wearing a headset and radio instead of a helmet for at least one night would show his fellow racers just how different things are on the other side of a racing program. Awesome job, Shawn!
Tomorrow, I'm planning on making the trip to Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the IMCA Modified special, then return to Independence Motor Speedway on Saturday for another night of weekly points racing. Sunday, it will be back to Vinton to close out the 2012 Benton County Fair with weekly points racing in all five divisions. Bonus money will be added to each division as part of the Ron Tharp Memorial.
Thanks for reading!
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