Twice as nice, Lichty earns second hobby stock win in two weeks at Independence Motor Speedway
by Ryan Clark

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (July 14) – One week ago, Justin Lichty drove to his first career win in the I.M.C.A. hobby stock division. Saturday night, he proved that victory was no fluke as he made his second consecutive trip to the winner’s circle at Independence Motor Speedway.

At the start of the 15-lapper, pole-sitter Russel Damme brought out an early caution flag, allowing second row starter Lichty to restart the event from the point.

Lichty took advantage of his good fortune and shot into the lead when racing resumed. Dave Wheeler, Jeremiah Wilson and Adam Gebel gave chase while veteran Vince Buchholz worked through the field from a fifth row start.

By the midway point, Lichty continued his advantage by a few car-lengths as Buchholz entered a wheel-to-wheel battle with Wheeler for second. Buchholz stole the position away with only a few laps remaining, but could not run down the leader as Lichty drove to back-to-back wins. Buchholz, Wilson and Wheeler completed the top four.

Joel Brasch looked strong throughout the first half of the I.M.C.A. late model 25-lapper and appeared to be on his way to his first career win when lapped traffic ended his run.

Brasch quickly took charge from his outside front row starting position and extended his lead to nearly a straightaway as Travis Smock, Levi Benn and Dirk Hamilton pursued.

His followers cut into Brasch’s lead when the pace setter entered lapped traffic on the 10th lap. Ducking to the inside of backmarker Chuck Lewis as the field entered the front straightaway, Lewis bobbled and turned into the race leader, forcing Brasch to the pits with a flat tire.

Benn, who worked around the high side of Smock at approximately the same time as Brasch’s misfortune, took over the lead. He continued to run the high groove and pulled away from his competitors as Curt Martin was working through traffic from a sixth row start.

Martin, also running the high groove, worked around Smock a few laps later and went to work on running down Benn. Unable to reel him in, Benn held on to score his first career win in the division. Martin and Luke Goedert, the other sixth row starter, completed the top three.

Also working the high side of the speedway, I.M.C.A. modified rookie Dain Sires was in search of his first-ever win in the division. From a pole position start, Sires drove into the lead at the drop of the green while Troy Cordes and Jerry Luloff worked through the field.

From a fifth row start, Cordes made his way into second after only three laps and points leader Luloff followed suit one lap later.

Cordes worked the low groove while Sires ran high as the leaders entered a side-by-side battle at the front of the pack. Although he was able to pull alongside the leader, Cordes was not able to take the edge exiting the turns.

Cordes continued to challenge on the low side and was able to stay even with Sires as the leaders went down the back straightaway on the 17th circuit. Exiting turn four, Sires pushed, allowing Cordes to take away the position with laps winding down in the 20-lapper.

Moving to the high side, Cordes drove away to the win, his first of the season, ahead of Luloff and Vern Jackson. Sires finished fourth.

After opening the season with four straight wins, Joe Docekal entered what turned into a five-week drought in the B modified division. That streak came to a close in thrilling fashion as Docekal returned to the winner’s circle.

Russell Hesse was the early leader in the 15-lap event until Jim Buhlman stole the top spot a handful of laps into the event. Buhlman maintained his stay out front while Josh Sherbon worked the low groove of the speedway.

With only three laps remaining, Sherbon shot to the inside of Buhlman to take the lead just before the yellow flag was displayed. By that time, Docekal worked into third place after starting deep in the field.

Prior to the race’s final caution period two laps later, Docekal worked his way around Buhlman to settle into second, forcing a two-lap sprint to the checkers.

When the race resumed, Docekal worked around Sherbon to drive to the win, his fifth of the season. Buhlman ran second ahead of Kyle Bentley and Sherbon.

Another five-time winner this season, Brian Irvine made it look easy in the I.M.C.A. stock car division. From a second row start, Irvine worked his way into the lead and never looked back to drive to the impressive victory.

A five, six and sometimes seven-car battle ensued behind Irvine in a thrilling fight for second. In the end, Steve Meyer secured the position and earned runner-up honors at the stripe ahead of Sean Johnson.

Racing resumes this Wednesday night as the Climate Seal Insulation Indee Open Series kicks off the 149th Buchanan County Fair. Late Models, modifieds and stock cars will be competing. Gates open at 4 p.m., hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 and racing is set to begin at 7.


RESULTS

I.M.C.A. LATE MODEL

First heat – 1. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo; 2. 44 Luke Goedert, Holy Cross; 3. 70 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; 4. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly; 5. 33 Chuck Lewis, Coggon; 6. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 7. 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah.

Second heat – 1. 21B Joel Brasch, Dunkerton; 2. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn; 3. 73 Greg Kastli, Waterloo; 4. 88 Drew Johnson, Belle Plaine; 5. 68 Tysus Pattee, Vinton; 6. 53 Darren Ackerman, Waterloo; 7. C10 Darin Burco, Independence.

Third heat – 1. 14B Levi Benn, Dyersville; 2. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 3. 4D Rick Dralle, Waterloo; 4. 27B Travis Smock, Independence; 5. 8 Randy Wheeler, Cedar Falls; 6. 4B Brian Lillie, Independence.

Feature – 1. Benn; 2. Martin; 3. Goedert; 4. Smock; 5. Hackwell; 6. Ackerman; 7. Hamilton; 8. Kastli; 9. Dralle; 10. Burco; 11. Pattee; 12. Passick; 13. Johnson; 14. Thomsen; 15. Wheeler; 16. Brasch; 17. Lewis; 18. Lillie; 19. Dedrick (DNS); 20. Bruening (DNS).



I.M.C.A. MODIFIED
First heat – 1. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 2. 00 J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 3. 01 Ed Thomas, Waterloo; 4. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 5. 1ST Bret Hamilton, Flat Rock, Va.; 6. 75 Kelly Pestka, Marion; 7. 8 Tony Snyder, Sumner; 8. 85 Johnathan Thimmesch, Aurora; 9. 23W Robert Whalen, Nashua.

Second heat – 1. 93K Jeff Kriz, Waterloo; 2. 71 Troy Cordes, Raymond; 3. 24R Adam Johnson, Independence; 4. 18 Jerry Luloff, Independence; 5. 12X Brett Ladehoff, Marshalltown; 6. 13 Jim Schaefer, Waterloo; 7. 93 Craig Haupt, Sumner; DNS 83C Todd Conrad, Cedar Rapids.

Third heat – 1. 64 Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 2. 3 Max Corporon, Marion; 3. 38 Dain Sires, Cedar Falls; 4. 98 Jason Snyder, Dunkerton; 5. 14 Randy Trefz, Vinton; 6. 11 Timm Jensen, Dunkerton; 7. 96 Derrick Reedy, Evansdale; 8. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton.

First B feature – 1. Hamilton; 2. Hogan; 3. T. Snyder; 4. Reedy; 5. Schaefer; 6. Trefz; DNS Conrad.

Second B feature – 1. Pestka; 2. Ladehoff; 3. Haupt; 4. Thimmesch; 5. Whalen; 6. Jensen.

A feature – 1. Cordes; 2. Luloff; 3. Jackson; 4. Sires; 5. Hogan; 6. J. Snyder; 7. Ladehoff; 8. Auringer; 9. Johnson; 10. Betzer; 11. Haupt; 12. Thomas; 13. Reedy; 14. Hamilton; 15. Thimmesch; 16. T. Snyder; 17. Flannagan; 18. Pestka; 19. Kriz; 20. Corporon (DNS).



I.M.C.A. STOCK CAR

First heat – 1. 8R Sean Johnson, Independence; 2. 26 Brian Irvine, Oelwein; 3. 21 Shane Manson, Manchester; 4. 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; 5. 94 Steve Meyer, Grundy Center; 6. 99L Lon Mercer, Urbana; 7. 8B Scott Beauregard, Center Point.

Second heat – 1. JR3 Jason Hocken, Independence; 2. 15 Norman Chesmore, Quasqueton; 3. 58 Dave Stricker, Waterloo; 4. 19 Darin Duffy, Hazleton; 5. 00 Tony Schimmels, Readlyn; 6. 17 Jason Niedert, Fairbank.

Feature – 1. Irvine; 2. Meyer; 3. Johnson; 4. Weepie; 5. Chesmore; 6. Duffy; 7. Stricker; 8. Schimmels; 9. Hocken; 10. Niedert; 11. Manson; 12. Mercer; 13. Beauregard.



I.M.C.A. HOBBY STOCK

First heat – 1. 35 Josh Irvine, Oelwein; 2. 64JR Jeremiah Wilson, Waterloo; 3. 55 Vince Buchholz, Cedar Falls; 4. 4 Russel Damme Jr., Waterloo; 5. 20B Matt Burmeister, Waterloo; 6. 2 Robert Quail, Waterloo; 7. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 8. 73 Quinton Miller, Independence.

Second heat – 1. 166 Justin Lichty, Waterloo; 2. 77 Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids; 3. 78 Matt Brown, Fairbank; 4. 8W Dave Wheeler, Fairbank; 5. 86H Steve Higham, Cedar Rapids; 6. 19 Greg Jones, Aplington; 7. 20 Wes Stanek, Buckingham.

Third heat – 1. 88S Joe Sprague, Independence; 2. 62G Adam Gebel, Dysart; 3. 7B Jim Ball, Independence; 4. 12J Jeremy Floyd, Cedar Rapids; 5. 1S Greg Sweerin, Evansdale; 6. 20W Bruce Fraser, Manchester; 7. 8 Bill Meyer, Sumner.

Feature – 1. Lichty; 2. Buchholz; 3. Wilson; 4. Wheeler; 5. Miller; 6. Gebel; 7. Stanek; 8. Grother; 9. Ball; 10. Sprague; 11. Floyd; 12. Quail; 13. Meyer; 14. Burmeister; 15. Brown; 16. Fraser; 17. Hilmer; 18. Jones; 19. Irvine; 20. Higham; 21. Damme; 22. Sweerin.



B MODIFIED
First heat – 1. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 2. 35 Kyle Bentley, Fairbank; 3. 52R Marty Rouse, Grundy Center; 4. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 5. 57 Josh Steere, New Hartford; 6. 92 Craig Cordes, Cedar Falls; 7. 32 Chris Snyder, Evansdale; 8. 2C Rob Coleman, Center Point; 9. 5 Jared Otis, Center Point.

Second heat – 1. 95H Mary Handberg, Waterloo; 2. 83 Russell Hesse, Waterloo; 3. 25 Alan Wessels, Strawberry Point; 4. 75 Josh Sherbon, Cedar Falls; 5. 24 Travis Brown, Cedar Rapids; 6. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 7. 26 Joel Cox, Waterloo; DNS 24R Kevin Robinson, Dewar.

Feature – 1. Docekal; 2. Buhlman; 3. Bentley; 4. Sherbon; 5. Cordes; 6. Rouse; 7. Steere; 8. Hesse; 9. Olson; 10. Wessels; 11. Otis; 12. Coleman; 13. Handberg; 14. Snyder; 15. Brown; 16. Cox; DNS Robinson.