Irvine, Smith, Docekal, Auringer score opening night wins at Independence Motor Speedway
by Ryan Clark

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (April 21) - After a busy off-season that included the addition of over 70 loads of new clay on the 3/8-mile oval, a field of 100 cars signed in for opening night at Independence Motor Speedway. The new surface provided for exciting three and four-wide action as the speedway saw action for the first time in 2007.

In the I.M.C.A. stock car division, defending I.M.C.A. Super Nationals champion Brian Irvine took home the victory in perhaps the most exciting event of the night. At the start of the 20-lapper, Justin Temeyer quickly made his way to the front of the pack from a second row start. Irvine followed Temeyer through the field to settle into second from a fourth row start.

The leaders engaged in a bumper-to-bumper battle for a couple of laps before Irvine pulled to the low side of the race leader. The duo then ran side-by-side for numerous laps until Irvine edged ahead on the seventh lap. Irvine began to pull away while Tony Schimmels and Temeyer battled door-to-door for second as laps wound down.

On the 16th lap, Temeyer positioned himself ahead of Schimmels and went to work on cutting into Irvine's five car-length lead. Temeyer was able to reel in the race leader as laps wound down, but was unable to overtake Irvine as Irvine drove to the opening night win. Schimmels ran third.

Micheal Smith made his first trip to Independence pay off as the veteran driver from Marshalltown scored the season opening victory in the I.M.C.A. hobby stock division. Smith assumed command of the 15-lapper early as Rod Grother, Jamie Whitaker and Vince Buchholz did battle behind him.

Whitaker and Buchholz settled into second and third and then ran side-by-side to chase down Smith. The three engaged in a three-wide battle at the front of the pack until Smith settled into the lead for good near the end of the race. Smith took the checkers ahead of Buchholz and Grother.

In the B modified division, Jim Buhlman held the early lead of the 15-lapper. Buhlman paced the field while Joe Docekal worked through traffic from a third row start and settled into second on lap two. Docekal quickly chased down the leader and made his way out front on lap five. He cruised to the win ahead of Buhlman and Josh Sherbon.

To match his opening night effort at Benton County Speedway one week ago, J.D. Auringer was triumphant in the I.M.C.A. modified feature. Auringer, who started outside the front row, took charge at the drop of the green with Jerry Luloff in pursuit. Auringer led the entire event to take home the win ahead of Luloff and Troy Cordes.

Although the late model points season does not start until next weekend, 14 drivers were on-hand to tune in their machines. Dale Hackwell Jr. assumed the early lead of the 25-lapper with Curt Martin and Tyler Bruening running second and third.

Hackwell gave way to Martin on the fourth lap as Martin drove to the victory. Bruening passed Hackwell late to score runner-up honors. Hackwell finished third.

RESULTS
LATE MODEL
First heat - 1. 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 2. 7 Greg Hunter, Independence; 3. 8 Randy Wheeler, Cedar Falls; 4. 53J Joel Brasch, Dunkerton; 5. 14B Levi Benn, Dyersville; 6. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly; DNS Z1 Rick McGill, Independence.
Second heat - 1. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo; 2. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn; 3. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 4. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 5. 27 Travis Smock, Independence; 6. 68 Tysus Pattee, Vinton; 7. 4B Brian Lillie, Independence.
Feature - 1. Martin; 2. Bruening; 3. Hackwell; 4. Benn; 5. Wheeler; 6. Pattee; 7. Hunter; 8. Dedrick; 9. Brasch; 10. Passick; 11. Smock; 12. Thomsen; 13. Lillie; DNS McGill.

I.M.C.A. MODIFIED
First heat - 1. 78 Adam Bolin, Waterloo; 2. 71 Troy Cordes, Raymond; 3. 00 J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 4. 33D Scott Hogan. Vinton; 5. 4S Garry Stuber, Waterloo; 6. 6E Don Erger, Brandon; 7. 8 Tony Snyder, Sumner; 8. 02 Mike Gill, La Porte City.
Second heat - 1. 3 Max Corporon, Marion; 2. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 3. 14 Randy Trefz, Vinton; 4. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 5. 93 Craig Haupt, Sumner; 6. 111 Buster Pate, Hiawatha; 7. 8G George Cunha, Evansdale; 8. 23W Robert Whalen, Nashua.
Third heat - 1. 18 Jerry Luloff, Independence; 2. 85 Johnathan Thimmesch, Aurora; 3. 01 Ed Thomas, Waterloo; 4. 38 Dain Sires, Cedar Falls; 5. 13 Jim Schaefer, Waterloo; 6. 14B Shane Burbridge, Manchester; 7. 35 Rob Olson, Cedar Rapids.
Fourth heat - 1. 64 Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 2. 24R Adam Johnson, Independence; 3. 12X Brett Ladehoff, Marshalltown; 4. 83C Todd Conrad, Cedar Rapids; 5. 11 Timm Jensen, Dunkerton; 6. 01K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 7. 98 Jason Snyder, Dunkerton.
First B feature - 1. Hogan; 2. Flanngan; 3. Erger; 4. Haupt; 5. T. Snyder; 6. Pate; 7. Stuber; 8. Thimmesch; 9. Gill.
Second B feature - 1. Burbridge; 2. J. Snyder; 3. Olson; 4. Jensen; 5. Lauritzen; 6. Sires; 7. Schaefer; 8. Whalen; 9. Conrad.
A feature - 1. Auringer; 2. Luloff; 3. Cordes; 4. Corporon; 5. Jackson; 6. Betzer; 7. Flannagan; 8. Hogan; 9. Ladehoff; 10. Snyder; 11. Jensen; 12. Olson; 13. Trefz; 14. Burbridge; 15. Thimmesch; 16. Johnson; 17. Erger; 18. Thomas; 19. Haupt; 20. Bolin.

I.M.C.A. STOCK CAR
First heat - 1. 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; 2. 94 Steve Meyer, Grundy Center; 3. 21 Shane Manson, Manchester; 4. 8R Sean Johnson, Independence; 5. 00 Tony Schimmels, Readlyn; 6. 29A Jeff Adams, Bondurant; 7. 4Q Rick Quail, Waterloo; 8. 58I Eric Weber, Evansdale.
Second heat - 1. 56T Justin Temeyer, Independence; 2. 26 Brian Irvine, Oelwein; 3. JR3 Jason Hocken, Independence; 4. K38 Kenny Taylor, Strawberry Point; 5. 6X Bob Ahrendsen, Cedar Rapids; 6. 17 Jason Niedert, Fairbank; 7. 15 Norman Chesmore, Quasqueton; 8. 28X Chip Kohl, Marion.
Feature - 1. Irvine; 2. Temeyer; 3. Schimmels; 4. Chesmore; 5. Weepie; 6. Meyer; 7. Manson; 8. Adams; 9. Kohl; 10. Hocken; 11. Ahrendsen; 12. Quail; 13. Johnson; 14. Weber; 15. Taylor (DNS); 16. Niedert (DNS).

I.M.C.A. HOBBY STOCK
First heat - 1. 77 Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids; 2. 95X Micheal Smith, Marshalltown; 3. 35 Josh Irvine, Oelwein; 4. 55 Vince Buchholz, Cedar Falls; 5. 8 Bill Meyer, Sumner; 6. B62 Brandon Davis, Cedar Rapids; 7. 4 Russell Damme Jr., Waterloo; 8. 64JR Jeremiah Wilson, Waterloo; 9. 7B Jim Ball, Independence.
Second heat - 1. 62G Adam Gebel, Dysart; 2. 78 Matt Brown, Dysart; 3. 8T Perry Thomsen, Cedar Rapids; 4. 78.1 Dave Brissette, Dike; 5. 95 Jason Spece, Rowley; 6. 20B Matt Burmeister, Waterloo; 7. 24R Kevin Robinson, Dewar; 8. 2 Robert Quail, Waterloo.
Third heat - 1. 18 Chris Luloff, Independence; 2. 25 Jamie Whitaker, Nevada; 3. 73 Quinton Miller, Independence; 4. 24J John Meyer, Independence; 5. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 6. 20 Wes Stanek, Cedar Falls; 7. 12J Jeremy Floyd, Cedar Rapids; 8. 88S Joe Sprague, Independence.
First B feature - 1. Hilmer; 2. Robinson; 3. Ball; 4. Burmeister; 5. Meyer; 6. Wilson; 7. Floyd.
Second B feature - 1. Stanek; 2. Quail; 3. Damme; 4. Sprague; 5. Spece; 6. Davis.
A feature - 1. Smith; 2. Buchholz; 3. Grother; 4. Irvine; 5. Luloff; 6. Brown; 7. Hilmer; 8. Miller; 9. Stanek; 10. Gebel; 11. Thomsen; 12. Robinson; 13. Quail; 14. Burmeister; 15. Whitaker; 16. Ball; 17. Meyer; 18. Brissette; 19. Sprague; 20. Damme (DNS)

B MODIFIED
First heat - 1. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 2. 75 Josh Sherbon, Cedar Falls; 3. 24 Travis Brown, Cedar Rapids; 4. 86, Rod McDonald, Manchester; 5. 32 Chris Snyder, Evansdale; 6. 17 Dawn Krall, Waterloo; DNS 92 Craig Cordes, Cedar Falls.
Second heat - 1. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 2. 52R Marty Rouse, Grundy Center; 3. 25 Alan Wessels, Strawberry Point; 4. 35 Kyle Bentley, Fairbank; 5. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 6. 99 John Bates, Fairbank; 7. 95H Mary Handberg, Waterloo.
Feature - 1. Docekal; 2. Buhlman; 3. Sherbon; 4. Bentley; 5. Wessels; 6. Brown; 7. McDonald; 8. Rouse; 9. Olson; 10. Snyder; 11. Handberg; 12. Krall; 13. Bates; DNS Cordes.