Sports : Brian’s Views from the Grandstands – Benton County Speedway – Mother’s Day

Welcome to another weekly recap of Brian’s Views from the Grandstands from Benton County Speedway.  111 cars were on hand for racing in the 5 weekly classes of race cars. The first feature was the IMCA Hobby Stocks.  21 cars started the main event, with Randy Vandevengte taking the initial lead for the outside pole.  While leading the initial lap, Vandevengte spun in turn 4 in front of field.  Fortunately, nobody got into him and Max Leonard took over the lead.  On lap 10, last week’s winner Rod Grother passed Leonard.  The very next lap, would see the scariest wreck of the night as Wes Stanek, Jr lost a motor in turn 4 and was slowing on the frontstretch, Vandevegte failed to clear the Stanek car and hooked the left rear, sending Randy onto his side.  On the white flag lap, Scott Pippert made his way around Grother and took the feature win.  Grother finished in second with Matt Brown, Eric Stanton, and August Bach the unofficial top 5.  Stanton’s motor was claimed after the feature race by the 17k car.  Heat race winners were: Stanton, Grother, and Steve Higham. Next up was the IMCA Sport Compacts with 22 cars starting the 12 lap feature.  Nathan Chandler took the early lead from his outside second row starting position and held on to take the feature win.  Bill Whalen, Jr, Brad Chandler, Gary Peiffer, and Justin Wacha were the unofficial top 5.  Heat race winners were:  Whalen, Jr, Nathan Chandler, and Brett Vanous. The third feature up was the IMCA Sport Mods and an incredible 36 cars showed up to do battle.  With the large car count, track officials decided to run two A-Features paying the same points and money instead of a couple of B-Mains.  Both features were dotted with multiple cautions for minor spins which cause both to reach the time limit.  Chris Luloff won the first feature with Danny Dvorak, Drew Fish, Rod McDonald, and Curt Moeding the unofficial top 5.  The second A feature was won by Austin Kaplan, with Jim Buhlman, 26, 08, and Jesse Belez the top 5.  Heat race winners were Buhlman, Moeding, Curt Hilmer, and Kurt Hogan. Next up was the IMCA Stock Cars with 13 cars on hand tonight.  Missing from the show was Damon Murty.  Paul Shepherd took the early lead from the pole position start.  The biggest caution of this race occurred when Phil Holtz, Scooter Dulin, and Jason Deshaw got together.  Deshaw’s night was done.  Shepherd still held the lead until Norman Chesmore made his way under Shepherd with 2 laps to go.  Chesmore held on for the victory, with Justin Temeyer, Bob Ahrendson, Curtis Roster, and Jim Schaefer rounding out the top 5.  Heat race winners were Shepherd and Chesmore. The final feature was the IMCA Modifieds.  18 cars were on hand tonight.  John Thimmesch took the early lead from the pole position.  The first caution flew for Patrick Flannigan, who lost power while in third place.  Brian Krall lost a motor during this caution.  Scott Hogan made his way around Thimmesch a few laps later and went on to score the feature win.  Richie Gustin finished in second with Troy Cordes, Ron Lauritzen, and Max Corporon completing the top 5.  Heat race winners were Thimmesch, Flannigan, and Gustin.     I’ve received a lot of positive feedback regarding driver of the week and tough break of the week, so I will try to do this each week. My driver(s) of the week is(are)-  All of the Moms out there (without them we wouldn’t be here to enjoy the sport we all love) Tough break of the week – Randy Vandevegte   Thanks again for reading and tune in next week for another, Views from the Grandstands.