After a many year absence, Late Models returned to action Sunday night at Benton County Speedway for a draw/redraw special. Luke Pestka hopes he doesn't have to wait quite that long before they're included again. (complete results follow)
Ten IMCA Late Models signed in to compete on the fast, smooth quarter-mile and outside front row starter Rick Dralle led the field to green. He showed the way while Pestka was working the low side from his second row starting spot.
Pestka battled Dean Wagner for position early while Chad Lerch also positioned himself to challenge. Pestka raced the low side to pull even with Dralle a handful of laps into the event while Lerch and Wagner battled side-by-side for third. Meanwhile, Todd Cooney was getting dialed in on the high groove from his fourth row starting spot.
Pestka cleared Dralle for the lead on lap eight while Cooney made his way into the top five. Cooney chased Wagner into the top three on the 13th circuit by the time Pestka extended his advantage to a near straightaway.
With Pestka down low, Cooney slowly cut into the lead on the top side and made a late surge in the waning laps. Although Cooney closed to within a couple of car-lengths, Pestka held on for victory. Following a lap one caution, the field reeled off 19 green flag laps to complete the race.
All weekly divisions competed for Mid-Season Championship honors Sunday night. A pair of Saturday night's winners in Independence made it two wins in two days Sunday. Ronn Lauritzen topped the IMCA Modified main event for the second straight day while John Emerson did the same in the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature.
It was Tony Olson showing the way at the drop of the green in the Modified 20-lapper. He worked the top side while Kyle Brown closed in on him running the low groove. They ran in that formation until caution slowed action twice following the completion of lap four.
On the second restart, Olson slowed to the high side and went to the pit area, which allowed Brown to take over the lead with Lauritzen on his rear bumper. Brown paced the field for two laps until Lauritzen pulled beneath him exiting turn two on lap seven. Lauritzen took over the point and led the remainder of the event to take the win.
It was the second win of the season in Vinton for Lauritzen and the seventh of his career on the quarter-mile. It was his third career win during the month of June. He is now tied for 21st on the track's all-time Modified list with Dave Burrell, Joe Docekal and Rich Krafka.
Lauritzen became the 14th Modified driver in history to sweep Independence and Vinton on the same weekend and the first to do it since Jerry Luloff on August 15-16, 2009. The 14 Modified drivers who have swept both tracks on the same weekend have done it a combined 24 times.
Emerson also doubled-up in the Stock Cars. After his Independence win Saturday night, Emerson worked the low side into contention from his second row start on Sunday, finding himself in second after one lap.
One lap later, Emerson ran the bottom groove to the inside of Mike Galli in turn three. The two came together with Emerson emerging with the lead and Galli in the pit area with a flat left front tire. Emerson went on to hold off Scott Pippert to take the victory.
The win was Emerson's third of the season in Vinton and his fourth career victory at the speedway. He now ranks tied for ninth all-time on the BCS Stock Car wins list with Cliff Gray, Jarod Weepie and Paul Shepherd.
It was the third weekend sweep this season for Emerson at Independence and Vinton and the fourth of his career. He tied Dan Trimble on that list and now sits two weekend sweeps between all-time leader Justin Temeyer.
The script was flipped in the IMCA Northern SportMods compared to Saturday night's finish in Independence. Joel Rust, who won Saturday night's feature, settled into third place just prior to a lap three caution. When the green flag waved again, Rust drove the low side past Mike McDonald for second on lap six. He made the same move on leader Mike Hogencamp one lap later to assume command.
While Rust led, Austin Kaplan was working his way through traffic from an 11th place starting spot. Kaplan settled into third right before the caution flag waved with two laps to go. When racing resumed, Kaplan ran along the outside of Rust, however Rust held the point at the white flag. Kaplan worked the top side exiting turn two on the final lap, then dove beneath Rust down the back stretch to take the lead. Kaplan held on over the final half of a lap to take the exciting victory. He finished second to Rust Saturday night in Indee.
The win was the 25th of Kaplan's weekly racing career in Vinton and his first since the Thursday, July 14 Benton County Fair race in 2011. Since that victory in 2011, Kaplan also won the April 8, 2012, non-points Frostbuster special at the speedway. His 25 career SportMod wins in Vinton rank second all-time.
First-year IMCA Hobby Stock driver Leah Wroten led the field throughout much of that 15-lapper. Wroten, running the high groove, fought off pressure from Brian Happel early before Kyle Parizek gained ground midway through the event.
Exiting turn four on lap 10, contact between Parizek and Wroten sent Wroten into a spin, forcing the caution flag. Wroten restarted at the tail for being stopped when the caution waved and Parizek joined her for his involvement in the incident.
Chris Luloff inherited the point for the restart and he led the remaining five laps to earn his third win of the season. Luloff now has 20 career Hobby Stock wins in weekly racing history at the speedway, which ranks him third on the all-time list.
Event sponsor and IMCA Sport Compact driver Gary Peiffer led that division's 12-lapper at the drop of the green. From his pole position start, Peiffer powered into the lead and paced the field while Brad Chandler worked his way into second from a fourth row starting spot.
Chandler closed the gap to under a car-length when the leaders encountered lapped traffic in the first set of turns on lap seven. Peiffer attempted to work the top side of the backmarkers, but ran out of room and drifted off the track, allowing the field to pass. Chandler took over the lead and held on for the remainder of the race to take the win, his second of the season. For his career, Chandler now has 10 Sport Compact wins in Vinton, tying him for fourth all-time with Steve Miedke.
Next Sunday night is Fuzzy Friends Hawaiian Night and the rescheduled Albert Auto Night. Individuals are asked to bring supplies for the local animal shelter. Bringing supplies will enter you in a drawing to win a gas grill. A limbo contest is also scheduled and everyone is invited to wear their best Hawaiian outfit to the races.
Also, Albert Auto is awarding an extra $25 to each heat race winner next Sunday. In addition, all feature winners will be awarded monster-sized trophies and a T-shirt cannon will launch roughly 200 shirts into the stands for the fans in attendance.
If you haven't been to Vinton lately, the racing has been great, the track has been smooth and fast and Sunday night will almost certainly offer something for everyone. Gates open at 4 p.m., hot laps are at 6 and racing follows!
Next up for me is a trip to western Iowa to Buena Vista Raceway in Alta this Tuesday for the next installment of the 2013 Karl Performance Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds.
Have a great week!
RESULTS
IMCA LATE MODEL
Feature: 1. 99 Luke Pestka (Robins); 2. 30 Todd Cooney (Des Moines); 3. 60 Dean Wagner (Evansdale); 4. C4 Chad Lerch (Cedar Rapids); 5. 7 Greg Hunter (Independence); 6. 1 Rick Dralle (Waterloo); 7. 89 Tom Pestka (Maquoketa); 8. 77 Dirk Hamilton (Jesup); 9. 9 Bobby Hansen (Vinton); 10/DNS. 31 Chad Cooney (Des Moines).
Heat one: 1. Lerch; 2. T. Cooney; 3. Hansen; 4. T. Pestka; 5. Hamilton.
Heat two: 1. L. Pestka; 2. Wagner; 3. Hunter; 4. Dralle; 5. C. Cooney.
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature: 1. 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup); 2. 12D Joe Docekal (Dysart); 3. 00J J.D. Auringer (Waterloo); 4. 12T Ty Glass (Cedar Rapids); 5. 21K Kyle Brown (Kellogg); 6. 18 Jerry Luloff (Independence); 7. 80 Jerry Dedrick (Vinton); 8. 71 Troy Cordes (Dunkerton); 9. F7 Patrick Flannagan (Cedar Rapids); 10. 77 Tim McBride (Denver); 11. 7 Todd Jensen (Waterloo); 12. 81 Jesse Belez (Marengo); 13. 11B Mike Burbridge (Delhi); 14. T23 Tony Olson (Cedar Rapids).
Heat one: 1. Dedrick; 2. Lauritzen; 3. Auringer; 4. Cordes; 5. McBride; 6. Belez; 7. Burbridge.
Heat two: 1. Flannagan; 2. Olson; 3. Luloff; 4. Docekal; 5. Brown; 6. Jensen; 7. Glass.
IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature: 1. 87 John Emerson (Waterloo); 2. 47 Scott Pippert (Elberon); 3. 15 Norman Chesmore (Rowley); 4. 8 Curtis Roster (Vinton); 5. 8B Scott Beauregard (Center Point); 6. 76 Mike Galli (Urbana).
Heat: 1. Chesmore; 2. Pippert; 3. Emerson; 4. Galli; 5. Beauregard; 6. Roster.
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD
Feature: 1. 1 Austin Kaplan (Des Moines); 2. 26J Joel Rust (Grundy Center); 3. 95 Mike McDonald (Cedar Rapids); 4. 72L Brett Lowry (Montezuma); 5. 10S John Schaefer (La Porte City); 6. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 7. 44G Brady Graham (Brooklyn); 8. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 9. J2 Dave Schulze (Keystone); 10. 57R Ryan King (Montour); 11. 11M Mike Mitchell (Cedar Rapids); 12. 7D Dakoda Sellers (Vinton); 13. 57K Ross Kitner (Dysart); 14. 72 Mike Hogencamp (Waterloo); 15. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 16. 23JR Nick Roberts (Des Moines); 17/DNS. 3B Brian Anderson (Garrison); 18/DNS. 115 Bob Ebaugh (Raymond).
Heat one: 1. Hogencamp; 2. Schulze; 3. Rust; 4. Sellers; 5. Roberts; 6. Ebaugh.
Heat two: 1. Buhlman; 2. Graham; 3. Mitchell; 4. Lowry; 5. Kitner; 6. King.
Heat three: 1. McDonald; 2. Kaplan; 3. Anderson; 4. Schaefer; 5. Dvorak; 6. Hilmer.
IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature: 1. 18 Chris Luloff (Independence); 2. 46 Brian Happel (Vinton); 3. 79 Benji Irvine (Cedar Falls); 4. 67 Justin Stander (Shellsburg); 5. 78 Matt Brown (Dysart); 6. 14C Leah Wroten (Independence); 7. 21 Jonathan Juett (Belle Plaine); 8. 17K Kyle Parizek (Belle Plaine); 9. 07 Jacob Keiser (Marengo); 10. 45 Justin Wacha (Vinton).
Heat one: 1. Brown; 2. Parizek; 3. Irvine; 4. Juett; 5. Wacha.
Heat two: 1. Luloff; 2. Happel; 3. Keiser; 4. Wroten; 5. Stander.
IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature: 1. 2ND Brad Chandler (Cedar Rapids); 2. 22 Nathan Chandler (Norway); 3. 2 Merv Chandler (Vinton); 4. 36DD Gary Peiffer (Troy Mills); 5. 111 A.J. Witten (Cedar Rapids); 6. 22T Travis Losenicky (Garrison); 7. 00W Bill Whalen Jr. (Riverside); 8. 07X Joe Goodenbaur (Garrison); 9. 9 Toby Denning (Mt. Auburn); 10/DNS 99J Jeremy LErch (Vinton).
Heat one: 1. Peiffer; 2. M. Chandler; 3. B. Chandler; 4. Witten; 5. Whalen.
Heat two: 1. Losenicky; 2. Goodenbaur; 3. Denning; 4. Lerch; DNS N. Chandler.
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