Brian Irvine has made the most of his limited number of appearances this season at Independence Motor Speedway. Entering Saturday night, he was two-for-two in the IMCA Stock Car division and finished the night with four wins in four events at the speedway.
Irvine topped the make-up mid-season championship feature and survived an early tire change to also win the regularly scheduled 18-lapper to sweep the night in the division.
Coming from a sixth row start, Irvine passed leader Justin Hanson on lap seven of the make-up feature and then won the event going away.
In the second feature, Irvine started outside of row six and made his way into second place in just three laps before a flat tire forced him to the pits. Following a quick tire change while the race was under caution, Irvine tagged the tail of the field for the restart.
From there, he made his way through the pack and around leader Jason Hocken with five laps to go to win in impressive fashion.
Irvine has won 35 Stock Car features in weekly racing history in Independence. He remains second on the Stock Car wins list at the speedway to Dan Trimble, who has 69.
Overall, Irvine has won 51 times in weekly action in Independence. He now sits fifth on the track's all-time wins list, one shy of Darin Duffy for fourth.
The Stock Car wins were Irvine's 12th and 13th during the month of July. He became the first driver to sweep a make-up feature and regular feature at the speedway since Tim Bartholomew accomplished the feat on season championship night in the Hobby Stock division in 1997.
Jeff Kriz entered the night with one Modified win to his credit - a victory he earned in Blue Grass around a decade ago. He earned his first Independence IMCA Modified win in the mid-season make-up event Saturday night.
Kriz led throughout the 20-lapper and fought off late pressure from Vern Jackson to take the milestone win.
With the victory, Kriz became the 83rd different IMCA Modified winner in weekly racing history at the speedway and the 15th to earn his first win during the month of July.
Fresh off his $10,000 win in the Aftermarket Nationals at Farley Speedway Thursday night, Troy Cordes took over the points lead with his win in the regularly scheduled IMCA Modified main.
Cordes raced from the seventh row and ran the top side around race-long leader Mike Burbridge to take control on the 17th of 20 laps. He pulled away to earn the victory, his second of the season, in impressive fashion.
Cordes ranks third on the track's wins list for Modifieds with 33 victories to his credit. Saturday's win was his 11th during the month of July. He has won multiple Modified features in 10 separate seasons on the Independence oval. Only Vern Jackson has more seasons with multiple Modified wins at the speedway. He has done it 11 times.
With 34 career wins in Independence (he also won a Hobby Stock feature in 1994), Cordes is now tied with Rick Wendling for ninth on the all-time list.
To answer a question posed by the Cordes crew, Irvine and Cordes have won on the same night 10 times in their careers in Independence. Two of those include when Irvine was competing in the IMCA Hobby Stock division.
Jenae Gustin made history in the IMCA Northern SportMods by becoming the first driver in the division to win three straight in Independence.
From a fifth row start, Gustin masterfully worked her way through traffic to steal the lead from Jacob Salisbury just past the midway point on her way to victory.
Gustin has won six times this season, including five times in the last six weeks. Her six career wins in Independence tie her with Austin Kaplan for fourth on the track's all-time list. She has a little bit of work to do to move up on that list - Josh Sherbon and Tyler Droste are tied for second and third with 12 wins apiece. But, hey, there are seven SportMod features left this season, including next week's mid-season make-up/double feature night.
Jon Passick led all 25 laps of the IMCA Late Model feature to earn his first win of the year. After building a huge early lead, John Emerson pressured late after coming from the 23rd starting spot. He came up just a couple of car-lengths short at the line, which allowed Passick to celebrate in victory lane.
Passick has earned four Late Model wins in weekly racing history in Indee, tying him for 34th on the all-time list. His victory was the earliest in the season Passick has ever won a Late Model feature at the speedway.
Matt White raced to his second win of the year in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. White drove the high groove to the lead and then held off pressure from Jamie Whitaker to take the checkers.
With two career Hobby Stock wins at the speedway, White is among 62 drivers with multiple wins in the division. He is tied for 48th on the division's wins list.
Tonight, it's off to Benton County Speedway in Vinton for a full, and I mean FULL, night of racing. Double features are also on tap tonight as last week's program was cut short due to rain. The completion of the already-started IMCA Northern SportMod feature will get the show started, followed by make-up features for IMCA Hobby Stocks, BCS Micro Mods and IMCA Modifieds. All of that will be followed by a complete program for all six weekly divisions for Gary's Auto Mid-Season Championships. I hope to see you there!
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