Racing action is always close up and personal at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton and seldom if ever fails to entertain. Sunday, April 9th, racing action certainly held up to that tradition with plenty of action packed, full contact racing in all divisions.
This was supposed to be the third of the IMCA Frostbuster Series of races in Iowa that I would have caught this week, but as everyone knows by now, with all the rain the schedule was modified considerably and Vinton would turn out to be the only race in the series that I would catch.
It was a spectacularly nice early Spring day on Sunday with only a gale force wind to temper things. Of course, this would just prove to be another challenge for Don Burkey and the track prep crew at Vinton, but they did their level best to lay down a good surface for the racers, and for the most part the track did hold up.
With the abbreviated schedule of races in the series this week, and by Sunday some of the far reaching competitors had to hit the road home, but there were still around twenty travelers that hung around for the concluding event, mostly from Wisconsin and North Dakota. About eighty cars were on hand in the four IMCA divisions to race for the extra money and point fund money that was available.
Touring the pits before the event, one of the last arrivals and quite a surprising one was the entry of Late Model standout Jeff Aikey. Aikey was in a MasterSbilt chassis by JMR in Fargo North Dakota. Over the weekend, at another track, I had heard that a goodly number of Iowa's best Late Model drivers are getting Modifieds this year as all the huge money races for that class have caught their eye. Many of these cars are coming from North Dakota's Jay McDonald who builds both Modifieds and Late Models that are run with much success by many of the best drivers in the northern regions. Most of these cars are also running with the claim motor option which is a little surprising in this crate dominated division. However, the success of people like Justin Kay in the Modified class has caught the attention of many of the other Late Model drivers.
One of the many great selling points of Vinton is that once they start racing, they run a very fast show and get people on the road home at a decent hour. Even with extra cars to sign in and hot lap, they were ready to start racing just a few minutes after 5 pm and the first feature took to the track by 6:15 pm. They were on track to get done really early but several time consuming pileups in the mains saw them run just a little longer than expected.
The track was heavy, especially in turns one and two but it stayed quite smooth for most of the show. Later, the first turn did start to dig up some, and special attention was paid to that early a few times during brief breaks the rest of the night. Still, given how uncooperative the weather has been recently in this area, it could have been a lot worse. It is ironic that under normal circumstances, I would head South early in the racing season to see smooth tracks while my local area would struggle for a few weeks solving the problems wrought by another brutal Winter. This year it is just the opposite. Challenging tracks have been the norm in Iowa so far while in my home area, the tracks have been nice and smooth, making the local drivers smile.
The pattern for the night was set early when in only the second race of the night on the track, Josh McBurnie and Tony Olson participated in a very entertaining, lane swapping and slide job delivering heat race that had the crowd hooting. Feature racing action would just enhance that theme.
The Modified feature, the last event on the schedule, would leave the fans talking as they exited the grandstand, always something appreciated by the promoter when fans decide whether they will return again next week. The main saw at least three different leaders while there was also plenty of position passing farther back in the pack. Patrick Flannagan was the early leader and he battled mightily before Kyle Brown took over the top spot.
Meanwhile, Johnny Scott, winner of one of the previous events this week and a somewhat surprising entry, was working his way forward. Scott started twelfth but he stuck to the low groove and gradually worked his way into contention . Once he got to second, things got very interesting as he and Brown battled for the top spot. A late race yellow set up a four lap sprint to the finish and when Brown gave Scott the slightest of opening, Johnny jumped on it. There was plenty of contact as the two battled it out with Scott taking the decision. Brown was not pleased about the outcome and said so but Scott was the one posing in victory lane. Johnny had an interesting night as after a heat race encounter with Flannagan, they were seen "discussing" things in the infield after that event.
The Stock Car feature was shaping up as a dandy too with Angel Munoz taking the early lead until he was caught by Damon Murty. The two premier drivers battled it out for the lead with a whole host of other good drivers racing just behind them. Unfortunately, while battling in heavy traffic in turn one following a restart, Murty got sideways and much of the field being collected behind him. Top drivers like Munoz, Jr. Karcz, Norman Chesmore, Devin Snellenberger, Scooter Dulin, Tyler Muirhead and John Oliver were all involved. Some were knocked out of the race while others had to go to the back of the pack.
Jay Schmidt inherited the lead and held off a charge from Brown for the win. Schmidt admitted that he caught a break in victory lane while Brown came all the way from seventeenth to second after being DQ'd following his heat race.
The Sport Mod feature was the only one that didn't go right down to the wire as Tyler Soppe started on the pole and drove away from the field. There was only a first lap yellow followed by nineteen green flag laps and no one had anything for Soppe.
There was plenty of drama in the Hobby Stock feature. I was happy to see August Bach return after his vicious flip at Memphis in March and after starting on the pole, it looked like he might pull off the win. Nathan Ballard would have something to say about this though, as he moved to the high side of the track and came screaming to the front. However, just as he was ready to make a move to take the lead, he rolled a tire off the rim which ended his shot.
Bach was back in front and again, it looked like he might take the win. This time it was Eric Stanton that put on the pressure after starting sixth and just as the battle for the lead heated up, this time it was Bach that rolled a tire off the rim. Stanton inherited the lead and he then drove home for the win.
Other than the few typical glitches on opening night like a pa system that made the tower sound like they were speaking from a submarine to us, it was a smoothly run program. The final checkered waved before 8 pm, a godsend for people like me that were looking at a long drive home. Thanks to Mick Trier for his hospitality and Mike VG for running off a tight show. The timing was just right also as it wasn't far North of Waterloo before I ran into thunderstorms with wild lightning which I then had to deal with the rest of the trip.
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