After making the decision at 4:30 pm i got in my car and headed to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for Hawaiian and Fuzzy Friends Night at the Races. The racing would prove to be hot and and heavy all night long, fans would leave the races on their toes.
The first feature of the night was IMCA Sport Compacts 12 lap feature saw caution come out before a lap as completed for debris on the frontstretch. When the race got going it was Craig Streeter taking the early lead but Nathan Chandler would work his way up and take the lead from Streeter on lap 3. Chandler would then experience some mechanical troubles on lap 5 giving the lead back over to Streeter. Streeter's lead again would be short lived as racing veteran Merv Chandler would make the pass for the lead on lap 7. It appeared as if Merv Chandler was going to take the win but the lap traffic would slow him down and would allow Steve Miedke to catch up to Chandler. On the last lap, Miedke would make the pass on Chandler coming off of turn 4 to take the win. Brett Vanous, Bill Whalen Jr. and Streeter rounded out the top 5.
In the IMCA Hobby Stock feature it was Justin Wacha taking the lead on lap 1 and then just after 1 lap was completed the red flag would come out. It appeared that Matt Brown got a little loose made contact with Adam Streeter, Streeter then slid up made light contact with Brian Happel, Streeter then made contact with Dustin Filloon before Bruce Fraser made contact with Streeter. Brown's car would end up on his side and it appeared all drivers would be okay. When the race got back going it was Happel taking the lead from Wacha because Wacha was black flagged for excessive smoke. Happel would lead but slide up the hill opening the door for Chris Luloff and Luloff would make the pass for the lead on lap 11. Happel wouldn't give up as he would try to get back by Luloff but fall short by a bumper at the line. Scott Pippert, August Bach and Doug Laughridge finished 3rd through 5th.
Up next the IMCA SportMods feature and it was John Schaefer taking the early lead but then a caution would come out on lap 3 when Russ Olson and Danny Dvorak got together in turn 4. On the restart, Schaefer would have to deal with Tom Rawlins and Curt Hilmer and it was Rawlins leading lap 4 but Hilmer would take the lead on lap 5. Despite a caution on lap 14 that forced a green-white-checkered finish it was Curt Hilmer crossing the finish line first. Rawlins was 2nd, Kyle Olson was 3rd, Mike McDonald was 4th and Schaefer was 5th.
The IMCA Stock Cars feature would see "Stormin" Norman Chesmore lead the first lap but just barely as he was in a 3 wide battle for the lead with Phil Holtz and Jay Schmidt. Holtz would grab the lead away from Chesmore on lap 2 but then the caution came out as Curtis Roster would go off the top side of turn 4. When the race resumed again it was Holtz but Holtz would have to deal with Jay Schmidt, Schmidt would make several attempts to get by Holtz but it was Holtz taking the win. Schmidt was 2nd, Jarod Weepie in Dave Stricker's car was 3rd, Jason De Shaw was 4th and Chesmore was 5th.
Final Feature of the night was the IMCA Modifieds 20 lap feature and before a single lap was completed the caution would come out twice. Once the racing got going it was Tony Olson leading lap 1 but then Mike Burbridge would take the lead on lap 2. The 3rd race caution came out on lap 4 for a couple of cars in turn 1. Burbridge would then have to worry about Jerry Luloff as they would get in a battle for the top spot, Luloff would take the lead on lap 10 then Burbridge would get back in the lead on lap 11. Two laps later it was Lulofff taking the lead back but then 3 more cautions ould come out on lap 14, 16 and 17. Luloff would hold off any challenges by Burbridge and Scott Hogan. Hogan would get by Burbridge for 2nd, Burbridge was 3rd, Ronn Lauritzen was 4th and Joe Docekal was 5th.
Racing will return Thursday Night at Benton County Speedway for the Benton County Fair Races featuring the IMCA Hobby Stocks, IMCA SportMods, IMCA Sport Compacts and Nostalgia Cars. Friday Night Race'em or Wreck 'em, Saturday Night Jerry Stanley Memorial Demoliton Derby and Sunday Night Ron Tharp Memorial.
IMCA Sport Compacts
Feature: 1. 11 Steve Miedke; 2. 2 Merv Chandler; 35 Brett Vanous; 4. 00W Bill Whalen Jr.; 5. 3s Craig Streeter; 6. 83 Travis Ross; 7. 71 Kimberly Abbott; 8. 57 Duayne Herb; 9. 03 Neil Nabholz; 10. 23 Corbin McCombs; 11. 22 Nathan Chandler; DNS: 111 AJ Whitten
Heat #1: N. Chandler, Vanous, Abbott, Streeter, Herb, McCombs
Heat #2: Miedke, M. Chandler, Whalen, Nabholz, Ross, Whitten
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Feature: 1. 18 Chris Luloff; 2. 46 Brian Happel; 3. 47 Scott Pippert; 4. 19x August Bach; 5. 25 Doug Laughridge; 6. 07 Jacob Keiser; 7. 55 Vince Buchholz; 8. 2P Cale Petersen; 9. 45 Justin Wacha; 10. 77 Rod Grother; 11. 78 Matt Brown; 12. 51D Dustin Filloon; 13. 20W Bruce Fraser; 14. 76S Adam Streeter, DNS: 7J Gabe Phelps
Heat #1: Luloff, Pippert, Streeter, Bach, Filloon, Buchholz, Grother, Petersen
Heat #2: Keiser, Brown, Happel, acha, Fraser, Phelps, Laughridge
IMCA SportMods
Feature: 1. 22H Curt Hilmer; 2.T17 Tom Rawlins; 3. K3 Kyle Olson; 4. 95 Mike McDonald; 5. 10S John Schaefer; 6. J2 David Schulze; 7. 00 Jim Buhlman; 8. 28P Rick Paulson; 9. 42L Lonnie Mercer; 10. 7D Dakoda Sellers; 11. 42C Larry Clausen; 12. 72 Mike Hogencamp; 13. 3R Danny Dvorak; 14. B3 Russ Olson; 15. 16K Brandon Morris; DNS: 15B Troy Burkhart; 93 Josh Burrell; 3B Brian Anderson; 81 Jesse Belez
Heat #1: Hilmer, Dvorak, Clausen, Schaefer, K. Olson, Sellers, Morris
Heat #2: McDonald, Paulson, Hogencamp, Mercer, Burrell, Buhlman
Heat #3: Schulze, Rawlins, R. Oslon, Burkhart, Anderson
IMCA Stock Cars
Feature: 1. 7H Phil Holtz; 2. 19J Jay Schmidt; 3. 89 Jarod Weepie; 4. 21DE Jason De Shaw; 5. 15 Norman Chesmore; 6. 77 Andy Bryant; 7. 76 Rick Galli; 8. 8 Curtis Roster; 9. 4JR Russell Damme; DNS: 87 John Emerson
Heat: Roster, Bryant, Schmidt, Chesmore, Holtz, Galli, De Shaw, Weepie, Damme, Emerson
IMCA Modifieds
Feature: 1. 18 Jerry Luloff; 2. 33D Scott Hogan; 3. 11B Mike Burbridge; 4. 10K Ronn Lauritzen; 5. 12D Joe Docekal; 6. 80 Jerry Dedrick; 7. 36H Joe Haresky; 8. 1XX Tom Hanson; 9. 26 Luke Miller; 10. 14B Shane Burbridge; 11. 21K Kyle Brown; 12. T23 Tony Olson; 13. 17 Dawn Krall; 14. 15D Dustin Johnson; 15. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 16. 92 Shawn Bistline; 17. 57B Dennis Betzer; 18. 1J Jeff Streeter; 19. 8 Tony Snyder; DNS: 21 David Brown; 96 Eric Tuttle
Heat #1: Lauritzen, Hogan, Dedrick, Streeter, Betzer, Haresky, Tuttle
Heat #2: Docekal, Luloff, Flannagan, Visline, Johnson, D. Brown, S. Burbridge
Heat #3: Olson, M. Burbridge, K. Brown, Krall, Snyder, Hanson, Miller
