Vinton, IA (Sunday, April 21, 2019) - My three night racing weekend came to an end on Easter Sunday, as I made the trip northwest to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, Iowa for their season opening event. Seven classes were on the card for the night, including the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA SportMods, IMCA Hobby Stocks, Legend Cars, Micro Mods, and Sport Compacts. The Stock Car and Modified features were the final two races to take to the track on the night, and those two alone were well worth the price of admission.
First up on the night was the 10 lap Micro Mod feature, with only five cars signing in for the night. Cole McNeal and Russ Olson drew the front row for the event, with McNeal grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Shawn Fisher and Olson. Fisher would follow in McNeal's tire tracks the entire race, but without any mistakes by McNeal there was no way of getting around him. As McNeal led all 10 laps to picked up the win. Fisher was 2nd, Olson was 3rd, Joren Fisher was 4th, with Matt Post completing the top 5.
Up next was the 15 lap IMCA Hobby Stocks, with thirteen of the fourteen coming to the track. Michael Kimm and Jake Benischek led the field to green. But it was third place starter Jacob Floyd who jumped out into the lead on lap 1 over Kimm and Bill Bonnett. The action up front was slowed for the first time on lap 2, as Trenton Neuhous spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart, Brett Vanous, who started 8th, slipped under Floyd coming off turn 4 to take over the top spot. Three laps later, lap 6, the second and final caution of the race slowed the action. This time a tire was clipped in turn 1 and pushed onto the track to bring out the yellow. Vanous moved back out front on the restart, with Bonnett edging Floyd at the line for the runner up spot. While Vanous pulled away, Bonnett, Floyd, Kimm, and Matt Brown, who started 10th, battled to see who would finish second thru fifth. Without another caution there was no catching Vanous, who cruised to an easy win. Floyd won the battle for 2nd, Bonnett was 3rd, Floyd was 4th, with Brown rounding out the top 5.
Ryan Mech and Dave McCalla led the field of sixteen Legend Cars to green, in their 20 lap feature. But just as the green flag waved the red light came on, as Edward Farrington got upside down in turn 1 and collected Dan Mech and Mike Mueller to bring out the red. All driver's climbed from their cars okay. On the original restart Ryan Mech jumped out to lead lap 1 over Drew Papke, who started 5th, and McCalla. Ryan Mech held the top spot until lap 3, when Papke slipped under him to grab the lead. Papke then tried to pull away from the field, but Ryan Mech would close the gap late in the race. Ryan Mech would run out of laps to challenge Papke for the lead, as Papke went on to take the checkered flag. Mech settled for 2nd, Terry Sahr was 3rd, Kevin Korsmo came from 9th to finish in 4th, with Ryan Sullivan finishing in 5th after starting in 11th.
Sixteen out of the eighteen Sport Compacts that signed in came to the track next for their 14 lap feature, with Adam Gates and Levi Heath drawing the front row. Gates took advantage of his draw to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Luke Benischek and Heath. The action up front was slowed for the first and only time, when #99 (sorry didn't catch the name) stopped in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Gates moved back out front, with Benischek and Heath close behind. Coming off turn 4 to complete lap 5, Benischek was able to get under Gates to edge him at the line by inches to take the top spot. Benischek then started to pull away, until he entered lapped traffic on lap 10. This would allow Gates to close in on him, but Gates would run out of laps to challenge Benischek. As Benischek held on to claim the win. Gates settled for 2nd, Mitchell Bunch started 7th and overtook Heath on the final lap to get 3rd, Heath was 4th, with Travis Losenicky coming from 12th to come home in 5th.
The 18 lap IMCA SportMod feature took to the track next, with only twelve of the sixteen cars signed in taking the green flag. Brady Hilmer and James Roose were scheduled to lead the field to green, but when Hilmer was a scratch this would move Tony Olson to the pole position. Tony Olson took advantage of this move by grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Ryan King and Danny Dvorak. The action was slowed on lap 2, when Zach Vasey went over the track in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Tony Olson jumped back out front, with Kyle Olson, who started 7th, and Ben Chapman close behind. One lap later, lap 5, Vasey spun in turn 2 to bring out his second yellow to end his night. Tony Olson once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Kyle Olson and Chapman following. Kyle Olson would stay in Tony Olson's tire tracks, waiting for Tony to slip off the bottom so he could take advantage. But Tony Olson never made the mistake Kyle was looking for, as he led all 18 laps to pick up the win. Kyle Olson was 2nd, Chapman was 3rd, Dvorak was 4th, with Joe Docekal starting 8th and finishing 5th.
Jay Schmidt and Dan Trimble drew the front row for the 18 lap IMCA Stock Car feature, with sixteen of the seventeen making the call for the event. On the drop of the green flag Schmidt jumped out front to lead lap 1 over Trimble and John Oliver Jr., who started 5th. While Schmidt worked the bottom of the track, Trimble would try the top to get the lead away. But on lap 12 Trimble slipped over the track in turn 4 and before he came back onto the track he fell back to 10th. One lap later, lap 13, Tyler Travis spun in turn 4 to bring out the one and only caution of the race. On the restart Schmidt held the top spot, with Damon Murty, who started 9th, using the top of the track to edge out Oliver Jr. for the runner up spot. Schmidt, stayed glued to the bottom of the track, that was until lap 16 when he slipped high off tun 2, which allowed Murty to shoot under him going down the backstretch. Murty wasn't able to wrestle the bottom from Schmidt coming off turn 4 for the white flag, so he went to the top going into turn 1. At the same time Oliver Jr. went to the middle, as Schmidt, Oliver Jr. and Murty came off turn 2 three wide. The three would enter turn 3 three wide, with Schmidt and Oliver Jr. coming off turn 4 battling for the win, while Murty slipped to high and went over the track. Schmidt would edge Oliver Jr. out at the line to claim the win. Scooter Dulin took advantage of Murty getting to high off 4 to come around to get 3rd, Murty came back on the track to finish 4th, with Brian Mahlstedt finishing 5th after staring in 8th.
Seventeen of the eighteen IMCA Modifieds came to the track for the final race of the night, with Kyle Brown and Troy Cordes leading the field to the green in the 20 lap event. Brown would grab the lead on lap 1 over Corey Dripps and Cordes. The action up front was slowed for the first time on lap 5, when Mike Burbridge, who was running 6th, spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Brown moved back out front, with Dripps, and Jeff Aikey, who started 14th (more about why he started so far back coming up later), close behind. Dripps would enter turn 3 to come and complete lap 9, and then slid up in front of Brown coming off turn 4 to take over the top spot. Over the next 5 laps Dripps and Brown would swap slid jobs at each of the race track, with Dripps leading each lap. The battle up front would slow for the second and final time, when Stephen Streeter spun in turn 4 on lap 15 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Aikey went thru the middle of Dripps and Brown coming off turn 4 to lead lap 16. Aikey would hold off challenges from Dripps and Brown over the final laps to pick up the win. Brown was able to clear Dripps for 2nd, Joel Rust came from 8th to finish in 4th, with Brennan Chipp coming home in 5th.
Notes from Vinton: The final checkered flag waved at 7:45 PM, which put everyone back on the road home early on a Sunday night......Dave Eberle started the Legend feature in 15th and finished 6th....Tim Fredericks finished 8th after starting in 13th....Michael Carter came from 16th to finish in 10th......Andrew Swailes started the SportMod feature in 14th and finished 8th......Kevin Rose started the Stock Car feature in 13th and finished 7th....Bob Ahrendsen had troubles after the heat that forced his to scratch from the feature......Jeff Aikey was leading heat race number 2 when he slowed down the backstretch on the white flag lap. This would allow the next 4 cars to go by him, and before he realized the race wasn't over he fell back to fifth, one spot out of the redraw. He would admit in his post race interview that the driver made a mistake in the heat race, by thinking he took the checkered instead of the white flag. He would redeem himself by driving from 14th to the win....Jared VanDeest, who moved up from the SportMod class into the Modified class for 2019, was scheduled to start the Modified feature in 6th. But he would elect to start at the rear. He then drove up to a 6th place finish. Scott Hogan started 17th and finished 7th....Patrick Flannagan had troubles after the heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature.
Thank you to Mick Tier, Mike VanGenderen and the entire staff at the Benton County Speedway for the hospitality!! It sure was nice getting back on the road home by 8 PM, especially for somebody who has a 2.5 hour drive home and has to get up at 5:15 in the morning to go to work!
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