A packed grandstand was on-hand to watch a full pit area of cars do battle Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway. An impressive field of 128 cars, the largest car count at the speedway since May 15, 2010, competed in the last weekend leading up to next Saturday's Budweiser Mid-Season Championships (more on that later).
It was an emotional trip to victory lane for IMCA Late Model driver Darren Ackerman. Ackerman, who missed the 2012 season to fight and beat colon cancer, earned his first win in Independence since June 4, 2011.
Ackerman raced his way from a fourth row starting spot past Greg Hunter for the lead just prior to a lap five caution. He then pulled away from the pack and lost the field in lapped traffic to score the victory.
It was Ackerman's 17th career win in weekly racing history at the speedway, placing him alone in ninth on the division's all-time list at Independence. He sits three wins behind Hunter for eighth. Ackerman has now won at least one Late Model feature in 10 different seasons at the speedway, dating back to his first win in 2001. Seven of his 17 wins have come during the month of June, which is at least two more than any other month.
Ronn Lauritzen made his way to the front just prior to a mid-race caution in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. Lauritzen, who chased Vern Jackson for the first nine laps, powered past Jackson, then survived a trio of cautions to earn his first win of the season in Independence. With the win, Lauritzen became the fourth straight different winner in the division.
Lauritzen has won four times in weekly racing history at the speedway in the Modifieds. That ties him with Dan Bohr, Don Erger, Jason Snyder, Jeff Barkdoll, Justin O'Brien and Mike Krall for 31st on the all-time list. Lauritzen has now won features in four of the last five seasons, including one each in the last three years at Independence. It was his second career win during the month of June at the speedway.
The IMCA Stock Cars put on another incredible show in that division's 18-lap feature. A total of six lead changes, including multiple laps of three-wide battles out front, kept fans on their feet.
Jesse Brown, Norman Chesmore, Sean Johnson and John Emerson each spent time at the front of the pack before Emerson worked the low side past Johnson to take the lead as the white flag waved. Emerson went on to score the win, his fifth of the season in Independence and ninth overall this year.
The ninth win of his career in Independence, all within the last 378 days, put Emerson into a tie with Chris Wessner for ninth of the track's all-time Stock Car wins list. It was his fourth career win during the month of June. Also the winner last week, Emerson now has three separate winning streaks of at least two wins at the speedway. His longest winning streak is three races, which he accomplished during the first three weeks of this season.
Three divisions were racing for increased purse money following the rainout of the Entry Level Extravaganza earlier this month. SportMods paid $500-to-win, Hobby Stocks $300 and Sport Compacts $200. The increased purse brought out a a great field of cars in each of those divisions.
Joel Rust dominated much of the 15-lap IMCA Northern SportMod main event. After a lap 10 caution bunched the field and made his straightaway lead disappear, Austin Kaplan applied pressure when racing resumed. Kaplan worked both high and low to get the edge on Rust, however Rust held on to lead the event in its entirety to take the win.
It was Rust's fourth career SportMod win in weekly racing history in Independence. He now ranks sixth on the division's all-time list. The win came in just his second night in a new car after Rust's previous car received heavy damage during a mishap in Webster City a week ago.
Jamie Whitaker won a thriller in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Points leader Benji Irvine appeared to be the guy to beat when he took control on the third lap. A late caution, however, bunched the field and allowed Whitaker to challenge to the outside. Whitaker cleared Irvine at the line to take his first win in Independence since his season championship victory on August 28, 2010.
Whitaker now owns five Hobby Stock wins in Independence, tying him for 19th on the all-time list with Bret Dage, David Rice, Doug Otto, Jerry Luloff, Justin Temeyer, Kevin Hoehne, Lon Gadow and Rick Suckow.
Adam Gates earned his fifth straight win in the IMCA Sport Compact division. Gates followed Dakota Schroyer for a pair of laps before Gates made his way to the front in the first lead change during feature action in the division this season. Gates led the remainder of the event in dominant fashion to score the victory.
Gates now owns six wins in seven weeks this season. His six wins lead the all-time list for the division in Independence. A win next week would tie Gates with Jack Mitchell, Dan Trimble and Larry Portis for the most conseuctive wins in track history. Mitchell established the record by earning six straight Modified wins in 1984. Trimble and Portis later matched his mark in the Stock Car division.
Next Saturday is Budweiser Mid-Season Championships at the speedway and we're introducing a new qualifying format for the event. For obvious reasons, many people don't like the traditional line-ups based straight-up on point totals, while others dislike a regular night of qualifying.
This year, we are going to run heat races, but we're going to invert them based on point totals and not stagger the line-ups. This means the top points earners through the season so far will be inverted and compete head-to-head in the same heat race. They will line-up in the feature the same way they finish their heat. The "fast" heat drivers will be locked into the front starting spots for their features, the "middle" heat drivers the middle of their features and competitors in the "slow" heat will start at the back of the features. This way, the fans will get their money's worth with the same number of races, but the drivers who feel they've earned the opportunity to start up front will still have that opportunity. The only caveats are that each driver needs to be checked in by the time lineups are made and they also must take the green flag in their respective qualifiers to be locked into their heat's qualifying block for the feature. If a driver is late to the track, there are no guarantees they will make the heat they would otherwise be scheduled to run and they may have to wait for the feature and start at the tail. Likewise, if they miss their heat entirely, they will start from the fail of the feature.
In effect, each of the six divisions will run a pole dash, inverted on point totals, that includes the top drivers in points. I AM STOKED! It promises to be a great night so be sure to join us next Saturday! Then, on Tuesday, July 2, the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models makes its first of two scheduled visits this year to Independence. Details of that event are available in the flyer at the top of this page. A press release detailing Mid-Season Championships will be sent Monday and the Deery release will be sent later this week.
Prior to all that, however, it's back to Benton County Speedway in Vinton tonight. Not only is it Gary's Auto Mid-Season Championships, but Late Models are scheduled to compete, as well. The skies are looking brighter in Vinton as I type this, so make plans to come to Vinton tonight for another night of great racing! The races, as they say, ARE ON!
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