Cordes, Murty, Gustin go back-to-back at Benton County Speedway

Three drivers who have been on a roll everywhere they have competed this season made their way to victory lane Sunday night at Benton County Speedway. It was the second straight trip to victory lane for all three drivers on the Vinton quarter-mile. (complete results follow)

In the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature, pole-sitter Jerry Dedrick held the early lead. Dedrick maintained the point through the first six circuits until Troy Cordes made the move of the night in turns one and two.

After crossing the line in fifth to complete lap six, Cordes rocketed to the low side of the corner to make his way past Dennis Betzer and Patrick Flannagan to take third. Exiting turn two, he swept to the outside of Mike Burbridge and Dedrick to take the lead going down the back stretch. Cordes quickly pulled away and then survived a late restart to take the win, his fifth of the year.

Cordes has five wins in a single season five times in his career in Vinton, but for the first time since 2009. He is the first Modified driver to win five times in a season since Scott Hogan did it in 2010. Cordes has won 13 times in the month of July and has 91 career IMCA sanctioned Modified victories.

Cordes, also the winner last week, has won back-to-back features in Vinton nine times in his career. He also scored two straight wins earlier this season. He has never won three straight at the speedway.

With Sunday night's victory, Cordes has 44 Modified wins in weekly racing history at the speedway, which ties him with Scott Hogan for the most all-time. Hogan has held or shared the wins lead since tying Jack Mitchell at the top of the list on May 10, 2009. His 1,904 days at the top of the list is the second most to Mitchell. Sunday night marked the first time Cordes has shared the wins lead.

To make next Sunday even more interesting, it will be the 500th Modified event in weekly racing history at the speedway. That dates back to the first-ever IMCA Modified feature on June 2, 1979 and includes all unsanctioned weekly Modified events from 1992-2000. Hogan and Cordes have won a combined 88 of 499 points races for Modifieds in track history - 17.6%. Impressive.

Since July 21, 2002, the date Cordes earned his first Modified win at the speedway, there have been 226 weekly points races for Modifieds in Vinton. Hogan had already earned 10 wins by that date so the two have won a combined 78 times in the last 226 events - a whopping 34.5%. Incredible.

Will the tie be broken by one of those drivers next Sunday night or will they remained locked at the top after night #500?

In the IMCA Stock Car division, Damon Murty settled for the top groove in that 25-lap feature. After starting in row five, Murty made his way into third on the fifth lap behind leader Michael Peterson and Justin Stander.

With the leaders working the low groove, Murty slid to the top groove and slowly reeled in the frontrunners. He edged past Stander on lap eight and then went to work on Peterson. Murty pulled alongside the leader a short time later as the two ran wheel-to-wheel for a couple of circuits.

A lap 12 caution slowed action with Murty at the helm. He paced the field when racing resumed to record his second straight victory and fifth win of the year.

With the victory, Murty owns a division-leading 66 Stock Car wins in Vinton. He has won at least five times every season for six straight years. Murty has also won consecutive events nine times in his career in Vinton and two of those times he won three straight. Eleven of his 66 wins have come in July.

Like Cordes, Murty's first Vinton win in a Stock Car came on July 21, 2002. Including the night they celebrated their first wins in Vinton, the two drivers have won on the same night 13 times.

Last Thursday, Jenae Gustin earned her first Vinton win in the IMCA Northern SportMod division during a points special for the Benton County Fair. It took her just a few days to pick up win number two.

Gustin worked past leader Kyle Olson on a lap two restart and pulled away from the pack until caution slowed action just past the midway point of the 15-lapper. She pulled away from Tony Olson when racing resumed to take the victory.

Gustin, the 49th different SportMod winner in weekly racing history at the speedway, is just the 10th driver to win consecutive features. She is one of 29 drivers with multiple Vinton wins and finished the night tied for 20th on the division's wins list at the track. Gustin, along with Troy Burkhart in 2007, are the only SportMod drivers in track history to sweep both Benton County Fair events in the same season.

Four different SportMod drivers have won multiple features so far this season. That is the most since six drivers (a division record in Vinton) won multiple times in 2011.

In what many considered the most exciting race of the night, Kyle Parizek earned his second win of the season in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature.

Parizek worked past front row starters Matt Brown and Justin Wacha at the drop of the green before an early caution slowed action. On the restart, Parizek showed the way while Benji Irvine made his way into third.

The lead pair engaged in a battle for the lead while Brown raced his way back into contention. The trio ran nose-to-tail and door-to-door for multiple laps until Brown caught the leaders with just a few laps to go.

At that time, the leaders entered a terrific three-wide battle for the lead over the course of multiple laps with Irvine leading at the stripe as the flying green waved. Working beneath Irvine in the middle groove, Parizek powered ahead with one lap to go and held on at the stripe for the thrilling win.

Parizek, who has won nine times in weekly racing history in Vinton, finished the night tied with Todd Temeyer for 16th on the all-time list. He has won multiple features in four of the last five seasons. Five of Parizek's wins have come in July.

Gary Peiffer led all 10 laps to score the victory in the IMCA Sport Compact division. The win was the first for Peiffer in Vinton since season championship night in 2012 and was the 29th of his career at the speedway. He sits second to Nathan Chandler in all-time wins.

Like Peiffer, Don Erger led the entire distance in the 10-lapper for the BCS Micro Mods. Erger has won four of the division's eight events this season.

Todd Cooney blew by Curt Schroeder on lap five and dominated the final 15 circuits to win the IMCA Late Model feature. In three visits to the speedway this season as part of the IMCA Late Model Sunday Series, Cooney has won twice.

RESULTS
IMCA MODIFIED
Feature: 1. 71 Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 2. 11B Mike Burbridge, Delhi; 3. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 4. 10K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 5. 00J J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 6. 20L Zach Less, Hopkinton; 7. 81 Jesse Belez; 8. 8 Tony Snyder, Readlyn; 9. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 10. 4 Ryan Maitland, Waterloo; 11. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 12. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 13. 14 Tom Hanson, Vinton; 14. 7 Todd Jensen, Waterloo; 15. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 16. 77 Tim McBride, Denver; 17. 98 Jason Snyder, Dunkerton; 18. 21 Brennen Chipp, Waterloo.
Heat one: 1. Chipp; 2. T. Snyder; 3. Lauritzen; 4. Burbridge; 5. Hogan; 6. Hanson.
Heat two: 1. Less; 2. Betzer; 3. Docekal; 4. Cordes; 5. Belez; 6. McBride.
Heat three: 1. Flannagan; 2. Auringer; 3. Dedrick; 4. Maitland; 5. J. Snyder; 6. Jensen.

IMCA LATE MODEL
Feature: 1. 30 Todd Cooney, Des Moines; 2. 77A Jeff Aikey, Cedar Falls; 3. 60 Dean Wagner, Evansdale; 4. 22 Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake; 5. 19 John Emerson, Waterloo; 6. 70 Jerry King, Waterloo; 7. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo; 8. 1 Rick Dralle, Waterloo; 9. 32 Curtis Glover, Des Moines; 10. 23 Paul Conrad, Colo; 11. 5 Scott Welsh, Cedar Rapids; 12. 15C Curt Schroeder, Ames.
Heat one: 1. King; 2. Aikey; 3. Cooney; 4. Schroeder; 5. Dralle; 6. Wagner.
Heat two: 1. Passick; 2. Emerson; 3. McKenna; 4. Conrad; 5. Glover; 6. Welsh.

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature: 1. 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea; 2. 1X Micheal Peterson, Montezuma; 3. 15 Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 4. 67 Justin Stander, Shellsburg; 5. 19J Jay Schmidt, Tama; 6. 14 Shane Ebaugh, Evansdale; 7. 62G Adam Gebel, Cedar Falls; 8. 8 Curtis Roster, Vinton; 9. 171 Buck Swanson, Waterloo; 10. 74C Cole Mather, Dundee; 11. 8B Scott Beauregard, Brandon; 12. 76 Mike Galli, Urbana; 13. 8E Mitchell Evens, Independence; 14. 76X Chad Siems, Shellsburg; 15. 47 Scott Pippert, Elberon; 16. 31S Paul Shepherd, Marengo.
Heat one: 1. Roster; 2. Beauregard; 3. Murty; 4. Stander; 5. Ebaugh; 6. Swanson; 7. Siems; 8. Evens.
Heat two: 1. Peterson; 2. Gebel; 3. Shepherd; 4. Chesmore; 5. Pippert; 6. Mather; 7. Schmidt; 8. Galli.

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD
Feature: 1. 19J Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown; 2. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 3. 72L Brett Lowry, Montezuma; 4. K3 Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 5. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 6. 7SR Shawn Ritter, Keystone; 7. 1 Austin Kaplan, Ankeny; 8. J2 Dave Schulze, Keystone; 9. 30 Joey Schaefer, Waterloo; 10. 95 Mike McDonald, Cedar Rapids; 11. 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 12. 22 Matt Petrzelka, Norway; 13. 57R Ryan King, Montour; 14. 339 Kevin Hurst, Janesville; 15. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 16. 7D Dakoda Sellers, Vinton; 17. 10S John Schaefer, La Porte City; 18. 17 Dawn Krall, Evansdale; 19. 6K Lee Rouse, Atkins; 20. 15B Troy Burkhart, Urbana; 21. 199 Dave Burrell, Dysart; DNS/22. 95J Jason Hall, Grinnell; DNS/23. 42L Lon Mercer, Urbana.
Heat one: 1. T. Olson; 2. Krall; 3. McDonald; 4. Hilmer; 5. Kaplan; 6. King; 7. Petrzelka; 8. Rouse.
Heat two: 1. Burkhart; 2. Dvorak; 3. Joey Schaefer; 4. Ritter; 5. Buhlman; 6. Hurst; 7. John Schaefer; 8. Mercer.
Heat three: 1. Gustin; 2. K. Olson; 3. Burrell; 4. Lowry; 5. Schulze; 6. Sellers; 7. Hall.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature: 1. 17K Kyle Parizek, Belle Plaine; 2. 79 Benji Irvine, Stanley; 3. 78 Matt Brown, Dysart; 4. 46 Brian Happel, Vinton; 5. 4P Matt Pohlman, Keystone; 6. 55 Vince Buchholz, Tama; 7. 29 Nathan Ballard, Marengo; 8. 45 Justin Wacha, Vinton.
Heat: 1. Wacha; 2. Brown; 3. Ballard; 4. Irvine; 5. Parizek; 6. Happel; 7. Pohlman; 8. Buchholz.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature: 1. 36DD Gary Peiffer, Troy Mills; 2. 00W Bill Whalen Jr., Riverside; 3. 3S Craig Streeter, Vinton; 4. 73B Andrew Bieber, Independence; 5. 321 Drew Nickell, Cedar Rapids; DNS 007 Adam Gates, Marion.
Heat: 1. Peiffer; 2. Bieber; 3. Streeter; 4. Whalen; 5. Nickell; 6. Gates.

BCS MICRO MOD
Feature: 1. 6E Don Erger, Brandon; 2. 2 Brandon Maitland, Waterloo; 3. 71 Tristan Cordes, Dunkerton; 4. 111 Buster Pate, Hiawatha; 5. 18 Jeff Davis, La Porte City; 6. 111A A.J. Witten, Cedar Rapids; DNS 00 Brody Willett, Alburnett.
Heat: 1. Erger; 2. Pate; 3. Cordes; 4. Maitland; 5. Davis; 6. Witten; 7. Willett.