The first feature up on the night was the 20 lap IMCA Modifieds, with Kevin Pittman and Vern Jackson on the front row. Just as the green flag was waved the caution light would come on, as Jason Morehouse spun off the track in turn 2. The following restart saw Jerry King, Justin Buehler and Adam Johnson get together in turn 4 to bring the yellow light back on. On the third attempt of a start Jackson would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Pittman and Mark Schulte. Jackson then held the top spot until lap 10, when Ronn Lauritzen slipped under him to take over the lead. After the completion of the lap, Buehler would spin in turn 4 and collected Jason Snyder to bring out the caution. Lauritzen jumped back out front on the restart, with Jackson working to hold back Schulte. The action up front was slowed once again on lap 13, as Tyler Droste spun in turn 2 and collected the cars of J.J. Scott and Ryan DeShaw. On the restart Jamie Johnson would spin off turn 4 to bring the yellow light back on. The third attempt of a restart saw Lauritzen move back out front, with Schulte edging Jackson at the line for second. But the final caution of the event would slow the action on lap 15, as DeShaw spun in turn 3. On the restart Lauritzen moved back out front and then pulled away over the final 5 laps to claim his first win of the season at the track. Schulte held on for 2nd, J.D. Auringer came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Scott Hogan was 4th, with Droste recovering from his spin on lap 13 to finish in 5th.
Up next was an exciting 18 lap IMCA Stock Car feature, with Jerome Jacoby and Jesse Brown leading the field to the drop of the green flag. Brown would jump out front on lap 1 over Jason Hocken and Tim Helle. But the first of three cautions in the event would come out on lap 2, as Jacoby spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Brown moved back out front, with Hocken and Helle battling for the second spot. Norman Chesmore, who started 7th, quickly worked his way to the front to grab the lead on lap 4. Just as the action up front was starting to heat up the second caution of the race would come out on lap 5. Helle, who was running 4th, spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Chesmore would jump back out front on the restart, but now had Sean Johnson, who started 13th, and John Emerson, who started 9th, close behind. Johnson jumped to the top of the track to grab the lead on lap 7 by inches, but Chesmore would come back on the bottom to lead lap 8 by inches. Johnson again used the top of the track to lead lap 9 by inches, with Chesmore coming back on the bottom to lead lap 10 by inches. A third driver, Emerson, entered the battle to make it three wide on lap 11. Emerson drove under Chesmore and Johnson to grab the lead on lap 11. The three car battle up front came to an end on lap 12, as Reggie Rema spun in turn 4 to bring out the caution. On the restart Johnson jumped to the outside of Emerson to grab the top spot away on lap 13. Emerson wouldn't give up as he worked the bottom of the speedway to grab the lead away on the white flag lap. Emerson then held off a last lap challenge of Johnson to pick up the win. Johnson settled for 2nd, Chesmore was 3rd, Justin Temeyer came from 10th to finish in 4th, with Helle recovering from his lap 5 spin to come back to finish in 5th.
A.J. Witten and Mike Tedesco led the field to the green in the 12 lap IMCA Sport Compact feature. But just as the green flag was waved the yellow light would come on, as Travis Ross spun down the front stretch. Under the caution Witten had troubles and had to pull his machine into the pits, moving Zach Marmann up to the pole for the restart. On the restart Dakota Schroyer, who started 7th, quickly moved to the front to grab the lead on lap 1 over Tedesco and Adam Gates. Schroyer's lead would only last for 2 laps, as Gates went by on lap 3 to take over the top spot. A caution on the completion of lap 3 would slow the action, as debris down the front stretch would cause the yellow light to come on. Gates jumped back out front on the restart, with Merv Chandler, who started 6th, moving into second and Mitchell Balik taking over third. Just as Gates started to pull away from the field, the final caution of the event would appear on lap 5. Schroyer would come to a stop off of turn 4 to bring the yellow light on. Once again Gates moved back out front on the restart and then pulled way over the final 7 laps to pick up the easy win. Chandler was 2nd, Balik was 3rd, Jeff Dvorak came from 8th to finish in 4th, with Marmann holding on for 5th.
The 15 lap IMCA SportMod feature was up next, with Joel Rust and Brian Hilbert leading the field to the green. Rust would take advantage of his front row start to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Kevin Hurst and Brennen Chip, who started 7th. While Rust was pulling away from the field, Austin Kaplan, who started 12th, was working his way to the front. Just as Kaplan worked his way into second, the first caution of the race would come out to help bring Rust back to his front bumper. Casey Heil would come to a stop off of turn 2 to bring the yellow light on. On the restart Lucas Lundry would spin down the backstretch and collected the car of Hilbert to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw Rust move back out front, with Kaplan now challenging him for the top spot. Rust worked the bottom of the track over the final 10 laps, as Kaplan tried the low side in turns 1 and 2 and the top side in 3 and 4 to get around Rust. But Rust was able to hold him off to pick up the win. Kaplan settled for 2nd, Kip Siems came from 9th to finish in 3rd, Alex Zwanziger started 11th and finished in 4th, with Chip coming home in 5th.
Brett Vanous and Matt Lundry made up the front row for the 15 lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature, with Vanous grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Justin Wacha and Lundry. Vanous would only lead 2 laps, as Benji Irvine, who started 11th, moved up quickly to grab the top spot on lap 3. After the completion of lap 3, Lundry, who was running 4th spun off turn 4 and collected Chris Luloff to bring out the first caution of the race. On the restart Irvine moved back out front, with Justin Lichty and Wacha battling for second. While Irvine was pulling away from the battle for second, Nathan Ballard, who started 23rd, Jamie Whitaker, who started 8th, and Quinton Miller, who started 21st, were working there way towards the front. Just as Ballard started to put pressure on Irvine for the lead, the last caution of the race appeared on lap 12. Lichty's run up front came to an end, as he came to a stop in turn 3 while running 5th. Irvine grabbed the lead on the restart, with Whitaker over taking Ballard for second. Coming to the white flag Whitaker would jump to the top of the track coming out of turn four to edge Irvine at the line for the lead. Whitaker then held him off on the final lap to pick up the win. Irvine settled for 2nd, Miller over took Mallard on the final lap to finish in 3rd, Mallard was 4th, with Justin Stander coming from 9th to round out the top 5.
The final feature of the night was the 25 lap IMCA Late Models, with Greg Hunter and Luke Pestka on the front row. Hunter would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Pestka and Luke Merfeld. A caution on the completion of lap 1 would slow the field, as Jim Aschenbrenner spun in turn 3 and collected the car of Keith Kiernan to bring out the yellow. On the restart Hunter jumped back out front, with Merfeld working to hold back Darren Ackerman, who started 7th. After the completion of lap 2 another caution would slow the action, as Leon Thomsen spun in turn 2 and collected the cars of Aschenbrenner and Kiernan. Hunter once again jumped out front on the restart, with Ackerman over taking Merfeld for second. Ackerman would jump to the top of the track on lap 5 to take over the top spot from Hunter. Then the final caution of the race would appear on the completion of lap 5, as Curran Beckler spun in turn four and collected the car of Kelly Pestka. On the restart Ackerman moved back out front, with Hunter working to hold back Merfeld. Ackerman would pull away over the final 20 laps to pick up his first win since 2011, as he took the 2012 season off to battle colon cancer. Merfeld held on for 2nd, Tyler Bruening came from 11th to finish a close 3rd, Dale Hackwell Jr. was 4th, with Pestka holding on for 5th.
Notes from Indy: 28 SportMods, 26 Hobby Stocks, 25 Modifieds, 22 Late Models, 14 Stock Cars and 13 Sport Compacts made up the 128 cars signed in on the night......Jeff Kriz started the Modified feature in 14th and passed 6 cars to take home an 8th place finish....Kerry King recovered from his first lap crash to come back up to finish in 9th....Racer Hulin came from 17th to finish in 11th....Ed Thomas passed 10 cars from his 22nd starting spot to finish in 12th....Timm Jensen came from 25th to finish in 13th....Vern Jackson, who was running 4th until lap 17 when he pulled off with mechanical troubles, was credited with 15th....Kevin Pittman lost an engine on lap 6, while running 3rd, and was credited with 22nd....After a wreck in the heat race Chris Snyder was unable to make repairs for the feature and was a DNS......Reggie Rema, who started the Stock Car feature in 14th, recovered from his lap 12 spin to finish 9th....Jason Niedert was unable to make repairs to his machine after a heat race wreck and was a DNS for the feature......Travis Losenicky started the Sport Compact feature in 9th and worked his way up to finish in 6th....Derek Ihde came from 11th to finish in 7th....Arthur Schott started 13th and finished 9th......Troy Bauer started the SportMod feature in 16th and passed 9 cars to take home a 7th place finish....Matt McCahen passed 10 cars from his 19th place starting spot to finish in 9th....Sean Vogt finished 11th after starting in 15th....Scott Thomas came from 20th to finish in 15th....Bob Ebaugh finished 17th after starting in 22nd....Mike Nielsen came from 23rd to finish in 19th......Justin Hanson came from 26th in the Hobby Stock feature, after being disqualified in his heat, and passed 19 cars to take home a 7th place finish....Shawn Kuennen came from 20th to finish in 9th....Jeremy Floyd started 22nd and took home a 14th place finish....Mike Wilson started 19th and finished in 15th....Nathan Christie lost a right front tire in his heat race and was unable to get his machine fixed for the feature....Brayton Boyer was disqualified from his heat race and was able to get his car fixed, so he was a DNS for the feature......Stephan Kammerer started the Late Model feature in 12th and passed 6 cars to finish in 6th....Rory Metcalf finished 13th after starting in 18th....Dirk Hamilton came from 21st to finish in 17th....Joel Brasch had troubles in hot laps and was a DNS for both his heat and feature.
I can't think Ryan Clark and the entire crew for the great hospitality last night at the Independence Motor Speedway. But I am not sure they would like me to return, as last year I made three visits there and each time they had some difficulties keeping the show moving. Then the same thing happened last night, which means I must have a jinx on that place! LOL
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