Emerson sweeps the weekend, extends points lead in Vinton

John Emerson has been enjoying his recent weekend getaways. Apparently, the IMCA Stock Car driver has standing reservations for one in victory lane.

For the second straight weekend, Emerson won the Stock Car feature in Vinton after taking the win at Independence Motor Speedway the night before. Doing so, he became the first driver in history to earn weekend sweeps at the two tracks in back-to-back weeks.

Emerson’s drive to the front Sunday night was similar to that of his previous wins – by getting out front early. From a second row start, Emerson powered into second by the completion of the first lap, then made his way around Curtis Roster to assume the lead by the end of lap two. Emerson proceeded to drive away from the field to notch the victory, a straightaway ahead of Roster.

The third Stock Car win of his career in Vinton, Emerson is now tied for 12th on the all-time list with Doug Otto, Richard Quail, Sean Johnson, Steve Meyer and Tom Schmitt. Emerson joined Damon Murty, Justin Temeyer, Curtis Roster, Dan Trimble, Phil Holtz, Brian Irvine and Steve Meyer as the only Stock Car drivers to win features in consecutive weeks in Vinton.

With the win, Emerson added to his lead in the standings and now sits seven points ahead of Scott Pippert.

Danny Dvorak also earned his second win of the season in the IMCA Northern SportMod division. Dvorak started outside of the fourth row and made his way into fourth by the time the caution flag waved on lap two.

Tom Rawlins led the field back to green while Dvorak raced past Ryan King for third and settled in behind Mike McDonald. Dvorak followed McDonald until the sixth circuit, then worked around Rawlins for the lead one lap later.

Dvorak survived a pair of late cautions to take the win ahead of a hard-charging Joel Rust. Rust, who started 19th, drove a terrific race through traffic to earn his third straight top-two finish. He remains the only driver in the division with top-five finishes every night this season.

The win was Dvorak's 48th in weekly racing history in the division in Vinton, the most all-time. He has now won at least two features in each of the nine seasons the SportMods have competed at the speedway. It was his 10th win during the month of May.

Another all-time feature wins leader in his division, Nathan Chandler earned his second straight IMCA Sport Compact victory and his third of the season. Chandler quickly worked to the front from his second row starting spot to win that 12-lapper going away.

The 38th win of his career in weekly racing in Vinton, Chandler now owns six separate strings of at least two straight wins. It was his 10th win during the month of May.

Richie Gustin took command on the third lap of the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature to drive to victory. Gustin held off the repeated challenges of Mike Burbridge to take the win, his first of the season in Vinton.

The victory was the fifth of Gustin's weekly racing career on the quarter-mile. He now ranks tied for 30th with Ed Thomas and Shawn Fisher on the division's all-time list. Four of his five wins have come during the month of May. While Gustin won the non-points Frostbuster event in early April, his win Sunday night was one day shy of a year after his most recent weekly points win in Vinton (May 20, 2012).

Gustin's victory also kept alive the streak of different winners to start the season. In six nights of racing, there have been six different winners in the division. That mark is one shy of the record, which was set in 1994 and matched in 2003.

Brandon Banks got upside down in the Modified feature when his #22 slipped off the high side of turn three. It was an unusual looking rollover as it seemed to float off the top of the corner, then came to rest on its top. Reports from the pits after the races indicated the damage was primarily involved sheet metal. Banks walked away uninjured.

Brian Happel broke the streak of different winners in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Entering the night, five different drivers had made their way to victory lane in as many nights. Happel changed that trend by leading all 15 laps of Sunday night's feature.

The win was the fifth for Happel in Vinton, tying him for 23rd on the division's all-time list with Brian Irvine, Chad Koch, Jacob Keiser, Nathan Ballard and Nick Murty.

A lot of specials are planned for next weekend's Memorial Day holiday. I will be in Independence Friday night for the Open Wheel Shootout, featuring the first-ever visit of the Brockway Mechanical & Roofing Sprint Invaders Series. The event will also host Modifieds and SportMods. Saturday, it will be back to Independence for the fourth night of points racing in all six weekly divisions

On Sunday, it's back to Benton County Speedway for Albert Auto Night. Like last year, the folks from Albert Auto are ponying up extra cash for all heat race winners that night, along with what are billed MONSTER trophies for the feature winners. In addition, the T-shirt cannon will be kept busy as an estimated 200 shirts will be launched into the stands. Following Sunday's races, the band Eight Hours South will be performing a live concert in the pit area, all courtesy of Albert Auto.

Monday, I'm scheduled to head to Boone Speedway for the annual Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models event. I'll provide recaps from those events so keep your browser open and ready next weekend. Better yet, make the time to get out and spend some of your holiday weekend supporting a local track!

Have a great week!

RESULTS
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature: 1. 19G Richie Gustin (Marshalltown); 2. 11B Mike Burbridge (Delhi); 3. 00J J.D. Auringer (Waterloo); 4. 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup); 5. 80 Jerry Dedrick (Vinton); 6. 18 Jerry Luloff (Independence); 7. 12D Joe Docekal (Dysart); 8. 7 Todd Jensen (Waterloo); 9. 171 Buck Swanson (Waterloo); 10. 33D Scott Hogan (Vinton); 11. F7 Patrick Flannagan (Cedar Rapids); 12. T23 Tony Olson (Cedar Rapids); 13. 71 Troy Cordes (Dunkerton); 14. 21K Kyle Brown (Kellogg); 15/DNS. 22 Brandon Banks (Washington).
Heat one: 1. Gustin; 2. Hogan; 3. Auringer; 4. Docekal; 5. Dedrick; 6. Swanson; 7. Banks; 8. Cordes.
Heat two: 1. Olson; 2. Flannagan; 3. Burbridge; 4. Luloff; 5. Brown; 6. Lauritzen; 7. Jensen.

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature: 1. 87 John Emerson (Waterloo); 2. 8 Curtis Roster (Vinton); 3. 47 Scott Pippert (Elberon); 4. 15 Norman Chesmore (Rowley); 5. B25 Shane Richardson (Morning Sun); 6. 6X Bob Ahrendsen (Cedar Rapids); 7. 8B Scott Beauregard (Center Point); 8. 76 Mike Galli (Urbana); 9. 19J Jay Schmidt (Tama).
Heat: 1. Pippert; 2. Emerson; 3. Chesmore; 4. Galli; 5. Roster; 6. Richardson; 7. Beauregard; 8. Ahrendsen; 9. Schmidt.

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD
Feature: 1. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 2. 26J Joel Rust (Grundy Center); 3. 21 Brennen Chipp (Waterloo); 4. T17 Tom Rawlins (Kellogg); 5. 10S John Schaefer (La Porte City); 6. 57R Ryan King (Marshalltown); 7. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 8. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 9. J2 Dave Schulze (Keystone); 10. 7D Dakoda Sellers (Vinton); 11. K3 Kyle Olson (Cedar Rapids); 12. 3B Brian Anderson (Garrison); 13. 72 Mike Hogencamp (Waterloo); 14. 7P Jordan Peters (Des Moines); 15. 4 Ryan Maitland (Waterloo); 16. 19J Jenae Gustin (Marshalltown); 17. 95 Mike McDonald (Cedar Rapids); 18. CH19 Colby Heishman (Brooklyn); 19. 57K Ross Kitner (Dysart); 20. 23JR Nick Roberts (Des Moines); 21. 44G Brady Graham (Brooklyn).
Heat one: 1. Dvorak; 2. Gustin; 3. Olson; 4. Rawlins; 5. Anderson; 6. Hogencamp; 7. Rust.
Heat two: 1. Schaefer; 2. Roberts; 3. Schulze; 4. King; 5. Chipp; 6. Graham; 7. Kitner.
Heat three: 1. McDonald; 2. Hilmer; 3. Sellers; 4. Buhlman; 5. Heishman; 6. Peters; 7. Maitland.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature: 1. 46 Brian Happel (Vinton); 2. 18 Chris Luloff (Independence); 3. 45 Justin Wacha (Vinton); 4. 67 Justin Stander (Vinton); 5. 17K Kyle Parizek (Belle Plaine); 6. 07 Jacob Keiser (Marengo); 7. 78 Matt Brown (Dysart); 8. 23 Andrew Torkelson (Lisbon); 9. 09 Brayden Forbes (Waterloo); DNS. 10J Gabe Phelps (Vinton).
Heat: 1. Happel; 2. Wacha; 3. Stander; 4. Parizek; 5. Brown; 6. Keiser; 7. Luloff; 8. Torkelson; 9. Forbes; DNS Phelps.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature: 1. 22 Nathan Chandler (Norway); 2. 2 Merv Chandler (Urbana); 3. 00W Bill Whalen Jr. (Riverside); 4. 30 Shawn Cooney (Des Moines); 5. 99J Jeremy Lerch (Vinton); 6. 36DD Gary Peiffer (Troy Mills); 7. 9 Toby Denning (Mt. Auburn). 
Heat: 1. N. Chandler; 2. Whalen; 3. Peiffer; 4. M. Chandler; 5. Cooney; 6. Lerch; 7. Denning.