Monday, August 15, 2016

Van Deest Steals SportMods at Benton County Speedway

Sunday Night it was back to the Benton County Speedway for a great night of racing action and yes there was other options including the rescheduled Night of 10,000 Stars in Britt or the USMTS Casey's Cup Race in Mason City. The races in Vinton did not disappoint the fans in attendance despite the low car count.

Curt Hilmer and Scott Beatty led the field to the green in the 12 lap BCS MicroMods feature and it was Hilmer taking advantage early. Hilmer knew that Don Erger was not far behind and he was right because on lap nine, Hilmer encounter issues on the front stretch allowing Erger to take the lead over. Erger led the remaining laps to take the win ahead of Cole McNeal, Dallon Murty, Matt Post and Beatty.

Only nine IMCA Modifieds checked in for their 20 lap feature and it was Scott Hogan grabbing the top spot from his outside second row starting spot. Hogan held off Patrick Flannagan and Ronn Lauritzen most of the way until lap 18 when Flannagan took the top spot away, Lauritzen got by Hogan for second on lap 19. Flannagan took the win with Lauritzen in second and Hogan in third. Tony Snyder was fourth and Kaleb Bentley was fifth.

Justin Ginther started outside row one of the 15 lap IMCA Hobby Stocks feature and by the end of lap one he was in position number one. That was short lived though as Leah Wroten took the lead away on lap two. Wroten held of challenges from Brett Vanous but it was Matt Brown that she had to worry about as Brown too kteh lead away on lap eight. Brown and Nathan Ballard took the top two spots away from Wroten and by lap ten, Ballard took the lead away from Brown. Ballard went on take the win ahead of Justin Wacha, who got by Brown for second with two to go. Vanous and Wroten finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Curtis Roster grabbed the early lead in the IMCA Stock Cars 18 lap feature but it was track point leader Norman Chesmore taking the lead away on lap seven. Chesmore held off Roster and Scott Pippert until the caution came out on lap 14 for Travis Van Straten on the front stretch. Chesmore would hold off the late race challenges from Pippert and Nathan Wood to extend his point lead. Pippert, Wood, Jared Daggett and Justin Stander rounded out the top five.

Final feature of the night was the 16 lap IMCA Northern SportMods feature and just like he did in the MicroMods, it was Curt Hilmer taking the top spot but by lap four, he saw Matt Petrzelka begin to battle for the lead. Petrzelka took the lead away only to see the caution come out twice on lap six. First caution was for Kyle Olson in turn four and then on the restart for Mike McDonald in turn one. Petrzelka was out front leading until Jared Van Deest, making his first appearance at BCS in 2016 well worth it as he would take the win ahead of Petrzelka. Tony Olson worked back up to finish third after a changing a flat tire, Gage Neal was fourth and Danny Dvorak was fifth.