Scott Pippert had won twice in his career in the IMCA Hobby Stock division at Independence Motor Speedway. Saturday night, he earned his first win at the speedway in the IMCA Stock Car division.
After battling Kevin Rose throughout much of the 18-lapper, Pippert pulled ahead at the checkers to score victory and earn $500 in the Showcase Saturday event for the division.
Rose led early while Pippert raced from the fourth row. A couple caution periods kept the field bunched as the two front-runners battled over the final half of the event. They swapped the lead over the final three circuits before Pippert inched ahead in the final lap to secure the victory.
With the win, Pippert joined Jesse Brown as first-time Independence Stock Car winners this season. All-time there have been 48 different Stock Car winners in weekly racing in Indee. Pippert became the 10th driver in the division to earn his first win during the month of August.
Former Stock Car and now IMCA Late Model driver John Emerson also found victory lane Saturday night in that division's 25-lapper. Emerson took the lead from Rory Metcalf just prior to a lap 10 caution and then pulled away to score the easy win, his third of the season.
Emerson's three Late Model wins in Independence place him in a tie with nine other drivers for 39th on the division's all-time wins list at the speedway. He became the first Late Model driver since Chad Lerch in 2009 to earn at least three wins during the season of his first win in the division.
No stranger to victory lane throughout his career, IMCA Modified veteran Troy Cordes continued his recent dominance in that 20-lap feature. Cordes worked through traffic from the sixth row and found himself in third place when the caution flag waved on lap 14.
On the restart, Ronn Lauritzen and Cordes swept past leader Vern Jackson to settle into first and second. Running the high side, Cordes chased Lauritzen until the final lap to score the win, his fourth of the year. He and Lauritzen have each won four times through 13 weeks this season.
Cordes, who has won each of the last two weeks in thrilling fashion on the final lap, has won three of the last four Modified features in weekly racing at the speedway and four of the last six. He also won the July 24 Hawkeye Dirt Tour event at the speedway.
Only once in his four feature wins in weekly racing this season has Cordes taken the lead prior to lap 17. He has led a total of six laps in his last three victories.
All-time, Cordes' 35 career wins in weekly racing history at the speedway place him third on the all-time list. He has 93 career IMCA sanctioned wins in the Modified division.
A win next week would make three straight victories, something Cordes has done once in his career in Independence - he won the final three features of the 2006 season. With a third straight win, Cordes would join Jack Mitchell and Darin Duffy as the only Modified drivers in track history with multiple three-race winning streaks.
Jenae Gustin continues to make history of her own in the IMCA Northern SportMod division. After starting in the middle of the pack, Gustin worked the low side past Lucas Lundry to take the lead with three laps to go on the way to her seventh win of the season.
Gustin tied Tyler Droste for the most SportMod wins in a single season in Independence history. Droste won seven times in 2011.
With seven SportMod wins in weekly racing history in Independence, Gustin now ranks alone in fourth on the all-time list. Droste and Josh Sherbon are next on the list - they are tied for second and third with 12 wins apiece.
Three-wide battles at the front of the pack were common throughout the IMCA Hobby Stock feature. In fact, while the leaders were battling three-wide, there was a three-wide battle for fourth right behind them for a lap or two in the 15-lap thriller.
Justin Wacha was the first to break free from the pack midway through that feature before Brian Happel chased him down and took control late. Happel appeared on his way to victory when a lapped car spun in front of the leaders in turn four on the final circuit. With the caution flag in the air, a green, white, checkered finish was in store.
On the restart, Happel led with Benji Irvine in close pursuit. The front-runners ran in close formation until contact from Irvine sent Happel sideways exiting turn four on the final lap. Irvine crossed the line first and Happel collected himself to come home second.
Irvine was disqualified for questionable driving and Happel was awarded the victory, his first in Independence since June 11, 2005.
With the win, Happel became the 64th different Hobby Stock driver in track history to earn multiple wins in the division.
A couple of questions came up following the races concerning the ruling on Irvine in the Hobby Stock feature. For the few of you who asked, here is an explanation:
The first question related to the questionable driving call on Irvine since Happel was able to regroup and rally to finish second. What happened after the contact that got Happel sideways was irrelevant. It was the contact itself that led to the call.
A similar situation happened on the final lap of the IMCA Stock Car feature in turn three. One driver turned the driver in front of him and was called for questionable driving. The only difference was that the incident in the Stock Car feature was in the middle of the pack and subsequently involved many more cars than only the two competitors involved in the initial contact.
There was a lot more damage to many more cars in the Stock Car feature, however that was just a result of where it happened and was not relevant to the questionable driving call. The call was made based on the initial contact.
I doubt the handful of people who asked me about it would have had the same question if the incident in the Hobby Stock feature resulted in more cars involved than just Irvine and Happel. Were cars damaged or destroyed in the incident in the Hobby Stock feature? No, but that was not the determining factor in the call that was made.
The other question was the penalty that was assessed. Again, the calls were made the same in both cases. Both drivers were scored last of all drivers who started their respective features.
A former Late Model driver stopped to ask why Irvine wasn't only penalized with a second place finish. The call was questionable driving and was consistently enforced based on that call - last place points and money.
As I told the former driver, track officials don't decide what happens and I think that gets lost in the shuffle much of the time. It's the action on the track that determines where the drivers are scored. Officials only enforce the rules and make judgment calls at the time incidents occur, but it's based on what happens on the race track.
In short, the call would have been made the same regardless who was involved and regardless who crossed the line first. It was the point of contact that was the basis of the call.
Having just made the same call less than 30 minutes prior during the Stock Car feature, there was no other call to make when the same thing happened in the Hobby Stock feature. Everyone wants consistency and fairness and that is what we felt we applied to the incidents in question Saturday night. We will continue with that approach over the final two weeks of the season.
Sunday night, it's back to Benton County Speedway for another night of weekly points racing. The weather forecast continues to look promising tomorrow, so I hope to see you there.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for reading!
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