Sports : Brian's View from the Grandstands: Aug. 22, at BCS

Welcome to another action packed "Views from the Grandstands" from the birthplace of the IMCA modified, Benton County Speedway.

A total of 98 cars were on hand Sunday night.
First up was the Hobby Stocks. 21 cars were on hand tonight with Steve Higham the early race leader. Higham would maintain the lead most of the race as the caution flew 6 different times for minor incidents. On the last lap with the crowd cheering wildly, Brad Forbes made a move to the outside and took the close victory. Higham finished second with Justin Stander, Al Sweerin, and Scott Pippert the top 5. Heat races were won by: Pippert, Sweerin, and Kyle Parizek.
Next up was the Sport Compacts. 18 cars started the feature with Steve Meidke building up a huge lead from his outside pole starting position. Meidke has probably had the worst luck of any driver at Vinton recently. As he was going through turns 3 and 4 his car lost power allowing Gary Peiffer to snatch away the win. Last week Meidke was in 2nd place when he lost a right front tire. Brett Vanous finished in second with Meidke, Jamie Witham, and Nate Chandler rounding out the top 5. Heat races were on by Bill Whalen Jr, Merv Chandler, and Nate Chandler.
The sport mods were the next class to take to the track. 29 Sport mods were on hand to determine which 24 cars would start the A main. Kyle Olson took the early lead, but was then passed on the 2nd lap by Dave Schulze. Schulze had some problems in turn 2 which handed over the lead to Kurt Hogan. Everyone was running tight to the bottom as there didn't appear to be much of a groove on the top side. Hogan would go on to take the checkers followed by Danny Dvorak, Jim Buhlman, Ken Kositky, and Austin Kaplan. Heat races were won by Buhlman, Dvorak, Olson, and Hogan.

The B mains were won by Kositsky, and Doug Smith.
Next up was the Stock Cars. 15 cars started the A main. Paul Shepherd was the early leader and looked to maybe take the feature win as everyone was tight to the bottom. Justin Temeyer had other plans as he jumped way under Shepherd in turn 3 as both cars made hard contact with Shepherd getting the worst end of it with a broken left front wheel. Temeyer would go on to take the win. Phil Holtz finished in second with Damon Murty, Brett Mather, and Bob Ahrendson the top 5.

Heat races were won by Murty and Temeyer.
The final race up was the Modifieds. 15 cars were on hand tonight. Brian Krall was the early leader. Around lap 7, Joe Docekal made his way around Krall for the lead. Everyone was running tight on the bottom. Docekal went on to score the victory. Jerry Luloff finished in second followed by Krall, Scott Hogan, and Pat Flannagan. Heat races were won by Tony Olson and Hogan.

Okay boys and girls, soapbox time.

Last night seemed a little squirrelly from some of the fans and a few heated discussions broke out.

One revolved around a fan trying to tell the flagman who's car a specific part came off of. Please let the officials do their job.

Another fan in the grandstands noted to security that they could not see parts of the track due to the zealousness of the few that sit in front every week. It is great to see fans that are that excited for their drivers, but maybe a little consideration for those sitting in the general area would be nice for once.

I am glad that neither of my young boys were there, as they would have heard an impressive list of 'F' bombs and seen too many middle fingers flying.