If you're an IMCA Modified fan at both Benton County Speedway in Vinton and Independence Motor Speedway, you've had to absolutely love the last nine days. In the last two weeks of racing, both tracks have seen thrilling finishes, including last lap lead changes in all four feature events.
The trend continued Sunday night in Vinton.
Jerry Dedrick led the field to green in the 20-lap event with Joe Docekal in pursuit running the high side of the fast, smooth, quarter-mile. Docekal pulled alongside the leader on the third circuit and made his way into the top spot to take command a short time later.
Docekal continued to distance himself from the pack while Kyle Brown and Jerry Luloff advanced from deep in the field. That pair settled into second and third, respectively, at the midway point as they attempted to reel in Docekal.
While Docekal led, Luloff worked the low side of Brown for second and was able to steal that position with three laps to go. Entering turns one and two on lap 18, contact from Brown sent Luloff into a spin as the race's only caution slowed action with two laps remaining.
Since he was stopped on the track when the caution came out, Luloff was sent to the tail of the pack for the ensuing restart. Brown joined him after being penalized for questionable driving.
J.D. Auringer, who was running fourth at the time of the caution, pulled onto Docekal's rear bumper for the ensuing restart. Auringer chased the leader until he dropped to the low side of the speedway while Docekal remained committed to the high groove. Auringer pulled even to go two-wide with Docekal for the lead as they exited turn two on the final lap. The leaders raced side-by-side through the final set of turns before Auringer pulled ahead off the final corner to take the win, his first of the season. (stats and complete results below)
Norman Chesmore earned his second win in as many days in the IMCA Stock Car division. In the early going, it was points leader John Emerson in control after he inherited a front row starting spot following a pair of early cautions.
Emerson paced the field until Chesmore positioned himself to challenge for the lead three laps into the 15-lapper. Chesmore pulled to the inside of Emerson in the first set of turns to take command. Much like his win the night before in Independence, Chesmore ran the low groove to perfection to hold off Emerson for the victory.
Colby Heishman and Mike Hogencamp shared time at the front of the IMCA Northern SportMod feature before Danny Dvorak challenged for the lead a few laps into that 15-lapper.
Dvorak, who started outside of row five, worked the low groove into contention before making his bid for the lead on lap four. He pulled away and appeared to have the field covered until the caution flag waved late to set up a two-lap dash to the finish.
By the time the yellow waved, Nick Roberts and Joel Rust made their way through traffic and restarted directly behind the race leader. Dvorak went back to work on the low side when racing resumed and held off pressure from Roberts to take the win, his third of the season.
Justin Wacha added his name to the history books by earning his first career victory in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Wacha chased leader Matt Brown for one lap, then shot to the inside of Brown to steal the lead on the second circuit. He withstood a late charge from Brian Happel to earn the milestone victory.
Nathan Chandler continued his winning ways in the IMCA Sport Compact division. From his outside front row starting spot, Chandler took charge at the drop of the green and never looked back on the way to his fourth straight victory.
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Below are the latest stats and how Sunday's winners compare historically at Benton County Speedway. Complete results from Sunday night follow below.
By the Numbers
* J.D. Auringer - Sunday night's win was the first for Auringer in weekly points racing in Vinton since May 29, 2011. (Auringer did win the non-points Frostbuster event in Vinton on April 8, 2012.) For his career, Auringer has earned 12 Modified victories in weekly points competition at the speedway. Sunday's win moved him into a tie for 10th on the track's all-time list with Patrick Flannagan, Robbie Schmuecker and Tim McBride. Auringer became the seventh different Modified winner in eight nights of points racing this season. The record for the highest number of different Modified winners in a season? 11. There were that many different winners during the 2003, 2011 and 2012 seasons. While we still have a few more to go before even thinking of reaching that number, we still have 12 nights of weekly Modified points racing on the 2013 schedule. It is certainly within the realm of possibility.
* Norman Chesmore - For the first time in Chesmore's career, he swept features at Independence and Vinton in the same weekend, becoming the seventh driver in history to do so. Among those drivers, the feat has now been accomplished 19 different times. It was Chesmore's 16th career weekly points win in Vinton, leaving him in sole possession of fifth on the track's all-time list. His second win this season, Chesmore has now won multiple features in back-to-back seasons in Vinton for the first time in his career.
* Danny Dvorak - Dvorak earned his third victory of the season in the IMCA Northern SportMods, giving him an all-time division best 49 wins in weekly racing history at the speedway. He has now won at least three SportMod features in Vinton every year since the division was introduced there in 2005. Dvorak now has 14 wins during the month of June, more than any other calendar month. In fact, his 14 career wins during June matches Scott Hogan's 14 Modified wins during the month of May. No other driver has won more features in the same division in a single calendar month in track history.
* Justin Wacha - With his win Sunday night, Wacha became the 84th different Hobby Stock winner in weekly racing history in Vinton. He joined Paul Nagle and Andy Coffman as first-time winners in the division this season. Prior to the trio of new winners this season, it had been 647 days since the most recent first-time Hobby Stock winner - Cale Petersen on July 14, 2011. Wacha became the 21st Hobby Stock driver in track history to earn his first win during the month of June. The month of June has produced more first-time winners in the division than any other time of year. Through just eight nights of racing this season, Wacha became the sixth different Hobby Stock driver to reach the winner's circle. That number matches the total number of different Hobby Stock winners for the entire 2012 season. I guess we can refer to that as the Scott Pippert Effect.
* Nathan Chandler - For the second time in his career, Chandler has strung together four straight IMCA Sport Compact wins in Vinton. Not only did that match his personal best, it matched the all-time best for the division at the speedway. He will have a chance to extend that historic mark next Sunday. In fact, only three other drivers in track history have strung together five consecutive wins. They include Jack Mitchell, who won five straight Modified features in 1983; Danny Dvorak, who earned five straight SportMod wins in 2005; and Scott Pippert, who strung together five consecutive Hobby Stock wins in 2011. No driver has won more than five straight features in speedway history. Chandler can at least match it next Sunday. If he does get the job done during the next event in Vinton, it will be during the division's 150th feature at the speedway. For his weekly racing career in Vinton, Chandler has now earned 40 trips to the winner's circle in the division, the most all-time.
* Don Burkey - I know he didn't end the night in victory lane, but Don Burkey came out a winner Sunday. After a lot of negativity from folks who have never prepped a track, yet were never short on input, Don's long hours and hard work paid off Sunday night. The track was smooth, fast and provided excellent racing all night long. Enough dry days during a very wet spring finally provided Don the time he needed to get the track ironed in for a terrific show Sunday night. Yes, it was just one night, but he definitely has things going in the right direction. You can rest assured he will continue to devote himself to BCS, as he has done all year. Rather than complain about the surface and take the night off from the races like many may have chosen to do, Don only worked harder and spent more time getting the track race-ready for Sunday. Many folks are never short on criticism, but let's see how willing they are to thank him for a job well done. BCS Race Director Dana Benning said it best on the track's facebook page. If you have taken the time in the past to complain or question the effort in preparing the track, now is the time to leave a comment to thank Don for all the hard work he's put into making Sunday nights fun for all of us.
Next up for me is the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models / Karl Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds double-header Tuesday night at Cedar County Raceway in Tipton. This was an incredible show last year so make plans to attend if you haven't already marked it on your calendar. Details of that event are located in the flyer at the top of this page. Be sure to get to Tipton early. There wasn't an empty seat in the house last year!
RESULTS
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature: 1. 00 J.D. Auringer (Waterloo); 2. 12D Joe Docekal (Dysart); 3. 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup); 4. 71 Troy Cordes (Dunkerton); 5. 33D Scott Hogan (Vinton); 6. 80 Jerry Dedrick (Vinton); 7. 18 Jerry Luloff (Independence); 8. T23 Tony Olson (Cedar Rapids); 9. 21K Kyle Brown (Kellogg); 10. F7 Patrick Flannagan (Cedar Rapids); 11. 32 Chris Snyder (Raymond); 12. 7 Todd Jensen (Waterloo); 13. 77 Tim McBride (Denver); 14. 11B Mike Burbridge (Delhi).
Heat one: 1. Docekal; 2. Auringer; 3. Burbridge; 4. Cordes; 5. Olson; 6. Flannagan; 7. Snyder.
Heat two: 1. Hogan; 2. Dedrick; 3. McBride; 4. Lauritzen; 5. Luloff; 6. Brown; 7. Jensen.
IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature: 1. 15 Norman Chesmore (Rowley); 2. 87 John Emerson (Waterloo); 3. 99D Damon Murty (Chelsea); 4. 6X Bob Ahrendsen (Cedar Rapids); 5. 8 Curtis Roster (Vinton); 6. 8B Scott Beauregard (Center Point); 7. 47 Scott Pippert (Elberon); 8. 9E Mitch Evens (Independence); 9. 76 Mike Galli (Urbana).
Heat: 1. Beauregard; 2. Galli; 3. Emerson; 4. Chesmore; 5. Ahrendsen; 6. Evens; 7. Murty; 8. Roster; DNS Pippert.
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD
Feature: 1. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 2. 23JR Nick Roberts (Des Moines); 3. 26J Joel Rust (Grundy Center); 4. 72 Mike Hogencamp (Waterloo); 5. 10S John Schaefer (La Porte City); 6. 20 Brett Moffitt (Grimes); 7. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 8. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 9. J2 Dave Schulze (Keystone); 10. 15B Troy Burkhart (Urbana); 11. 7D Dakoda Sellers (Vinton); 12. 57R Ryan King (Marshalltown); 13. CH19 Colby Heishman (Brooklyn); 14. 3B Brian Anderson (Garrison); 15. K3 Kyle Olson (Cedar Rapids); 16. 0B Colby Oberembt (Adel); 17. 57K Ross Kitner (Dysart); 18. 115 Bob Ebaugh (Raymond); 19. 4 Ryan Maitland (Waterloo); 20/DNS 7P Jordan Peters (Des Moines).
Heat one: 1. Hogencamp; 2. Olson; 3. Buhlman; 4. Dvorak; 5. Moffitt; 6. Anderson; 7. Ebaugh.
Heat two: 1. Heishman; 2. Rust; 3. Schaefer; 4. Maitland; 5. Peters; 6. Hilmer; 7. Oberembt.
Heat three: 1. Burkhart; 2. Schulze; 3. Roberts; 4. Sellers; 5. King; 6. Kitner.
IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature: 1. 45 Justin Wacha (Vinton); 2. 46 Brian Happel (Vinton); 3. 18 Chris Luloff (Independence); 4. 78 Matt Brown (Dysart); 5. 17K Kyle Parizek (Belle Plaine); 6. 67 Justin Stander (Vinton); 7. 178X David Rieks (Eldora); 8. 14C Leah Wroten (Independence); 9. 09X Brad Forbes (Waterloo); 10. 11 David Castellano Jr. (Des Moines); 11/DNS. 51D Dustin Filloon (Toledo).
Heat: 1. Brown; 2. Wacha; 3. Stander; 4. Luloff; 5. Parizek; 6. Happel; 7. Wroten; 8. Forbes; 9. Castellano; 10. Filloon; DNS Rieks.
IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature: 1. 22 Nathan Chandler (Norway); 2. 2 Merv Chandler (Urbana); 3. 00W Bill Whalen Jr. (Riverside); 4. 22T Travis Losenicky (Garrison); 5. 111 A.J. Witten (Cedar Rapids); 6. 99J Jeremy Lerch (Vinton); 7. 9 Toby Denning (Mt. Auburn).
Heat: 1. M. Chandler; 2. N. Chandler; 3. Whalen; 4. Witten; 5. Losenicky; 6. Lerch; 7. Denning.
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