Sports : Logue delivers opening night sweep at Benton County Speedway

Johnathon Logue has won many races in his career, but none had come at Benton County Speedway.

That all changed Sunday night when he made his first visit to victory lane at The Bullring. 

And then his second.

Logue took top honors in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars presented by Christie Door Company and followed that up by winning the main event for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds presented by Beatty Excavating.

While both races resulted in victories for Logue, the path he took was different in each.

At the drop of the green in the 15-lap Stock Car main, Logue left little doubt he was the man to beat. He quickly distanced himself from the pack to take the checkers by five seconds ahead of his nearest competitors in the caution-free event.

Kaden Reynolds made a late push to nip Casey Woken by mere thousandths of a second at the line for second. John Oliver Jr. ran fourth.

Logue also led at the on-set of the 20-lap Modified feature, however numerous cautions kept the field tight. Running the low side, he was pressured by numerous drivers, including Troy Cordes, who drew even with the leader running the high side.

First-year Modified driver Luke Bird closed late and challenged low, however Logue fought off all challenges to score his second feature win on the memorable night. Bird impressed with a second place run, while Joel Rust and Patrick Flannagan completed the top four.

Tony Olson continued his march toward the top of the list of Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod wins at The Bullring.

From his pole position start, Olson ran both high and low in search of the quickest route around the fast, smooth, quarter-mile oval. While he led, Brandon Tharp kept the leader in his sights as Joe Docekal and Ben Chapman worked through traffic.

Olson held off all challenges to score his 58th win in weekly racing history at The Bullring, two shy of Danny Dvorak's all-time leading 60 SportMod wins in Vinton. Tharp, Chapman and Docekal rounded out the top four.

Bradly Graham took opening night honors in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks presented by Vermedahl Trucking. That wasn't without a valiant effort from Joren Fisher to unseat him at the front of the pack.

The lead pair ran side-by-side and swapped the top spot throughout the last half of the feature until caution waved with three laps to go and Fisher sitting out front.

Graham took advantage on the restart and swept past Fisher to score the exciting win. Corey Vanderwilt ran third ahead of Jacob Floyd.

Lukas Rick made a late pass on Kolby Sabin to steal the win in the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts presented by iHeart Radio. Korey Lana and Stephen Randall completed the top four.

Michael Weber took the win in the INEX Legends presented by Legends.Direct. He fought off challenges from Jordan Miklas to earn his first Vinton win. Robby Morrison and Griffin McGrath ran third and fourth, respectively.

Bart Miller topped a special appearance by the American Iron Racing Series (A.I.R.S.). He ran away early and then held on in lapped traffic to secure the entertaining victory ahead of R.J. Lank, Owen Hayes and Tyler Maschmann.

Two nights of action highlight Memorial Day weekend Sunday and Monday, May 28-29 at The Bullring. All weekly divisions will be in competition on Sunday and will feature a $1,000 winner's share for the Modifieds and a $750-to-win event for the Northern SportMods.

Sunday's program will serve as the Prelude to the IMCA Modified anniversary race on Monday, May 29.

The Modifieds will race for $4,400 to win Monday to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the IMCA Modified and the SportMods will race for $1,800 to win in recognition of their 18 years of competition. Sport Compacts will also be part of Monday's anniversary special.

More details on the Memorial Day weekend events will be released this week. 

Stay up-to-date on all the action at The Bullring by visiting BCSBullRing.com or @BCSBullRing on Facebook.

All Benton County Speedway events in 2023 are broadcast live by IMCA.tv.