Welcome to Heartland Motorsports.com                                                                                                                           Welcome to Heartland Motorsports.com

Family reunion follows Hogan’s Memorial win

VINTON, Iowa (July 11) – For a fourth time, a Hogan family reunion was held in and all around victory lane.

Scott Hogan won Sunday’s Hogan Memorial IMCA Modified feature at Benton County Speedway. His name is already on the mid-season championship event plaque for checkered flag runs in 1995, 2005 and 2006 and as was the case with his three previous wins, the hometown driver was joined by dozens of family members and friends in the post-race celebration.

“Winning this race the first time was the best of the four but it never gets old. Not at all,” Hogan said after the last of the victory lane pictures were taken. “This is always one of the biggest races for me to win. It means a lot to me.”

The event is held in memory of Hogan’s parents Dick and Janet. Along with the winner’s $1,250 share of the feature purse, he earned another $1,400 in lap money, plus a $250 bonus for leading the race when the 40-lapper was stopped for a mandatory caution at halfway, making for a $2,900 payday.

Richie Gustin Jr. did time up front and chased Hogan most of the night, running with a broken left front tie rod that had him three-wheeling around the track much of the second half of the 16^th annual contest.

After crossing the stripe virtually side by side at the end of the 31^st lap, Gustin fell back a couple car lengths and brought out the final caution after slowing to a stop on the front stretch on lap 35.

Tim Murty took up the challenge from that point but couldn’t make up the distance and had to settle for second. Troy Cordes, Jay Schmidt and Jerry Luloff completed the top five.

Cordes moved up 18 spots from his starting position, but the $450 in hard charger money went to defend­ing race winner and sixth place runner Michael Long, a plus 20 after taking a provisional and starting last in the field.

Tim Stevens drew the pole start and led the first three circuits before giving way to Gustin.

The convincing winner of the season opening Frostbuster special at Vinton in April, Gustin moved to the front on lap four with Hogan close behind. The front pair pulled away from the rest of the pack before Hogan edged ahead as lap 12 was scored.

Lapped traffic came into play and Hogan got some breathing room when Gustin was slowed by a backrun­ner before the midway break.

Gustin continued his pursuit when the race resumed, getting the lead back by the width of his bumper on lap 31.

He’d be unable to maintain the pace, however, and the rest of the race belonged to Hogan. Murty had taken over third after back-to-back cautions on lap 26; after Gustin exited, Cordes was settled into third and Long was briefly in fourth before giving way to Schmidt and Luloff.

Schmidt had started 14^th, Luloff seventh.

Gustin pocketed an additional $50 for each of the nine laps he was scored in front. Stevens, who exited early with mechanical problems, got $150 in lap money.

Also winning feature events were Curt Hilmer in the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods, Damon Murty in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Jacob Keiser in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Brad Chandler in the Mach-1 Sport Compacts.

Feature Results

Modifieds – 1. Scott Hogan, Vinton; 2. Tim Murty, Tama; 3. Troy Cordes, Raymond; 4. Jay Schmidt, Tama; 5. Jerry Luloff, Independence; 6. Michael Long, Quincy, Ill.; 7. Ricky Stephan, South Sioux City, Neb.: 8. J.J. Wise, Manly; 9. Mark Schulte, Delhi; 10. Landon Cassill, Fairfax; 11. Joe Docekal, Dysart; 12. Brian Krall, Readlyn; 13. Mike Weikert, Muscatine; 14. Johnathan Thimmesch, Independence; 15. Richie Gustin Jr., Gilman; 16. Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 17. Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 18. Max Corporon, Marion; 19. Dennis Betzer, Central City; 20. Adam Johnson, Independence; 21. Jason Murray, Hartford; 22. Chris Snyder, Dunkerton; 23. Ed Thomas, Waterloo; 24. Dan Chapman, Clarence; 25. Tim Stevens, Cedar Rapids; 26. J.D. Auringer, Evansdale.

Stock Cars – 1. Damon Murty; 2. Jason Deshaw; 3. Justin Temeyer; 4. Thomas Thompson; 5. John Schaefer; 6. Norman Chesmore; 7. Bob Ahrendsen; 8. Kendall Arp; 9. Richard Quail; 10. Phil Holtz; 11. Scooter Dulin; 12. Jeff Mueller; 13. Mike Galli; 14. Curtis Roster.

Hobby Stocks – 1. Jacob Keiser; 2. Wes Stanek Jr., Buckingham; 3. Brad Forbes; 4. Doug Laughridge; 5. Vince Buchholz; 6. Justin Stander; 7. Rod Grother; 8. August Bach; 9. Russell Damme Jr.; 10. Josh Bly; 11. Frank Auen; 12. Matt Brown; 13. Josh Burrell; 14. Al Sweerin; 15. Scott Pippert; 16. Kyle Parizek; 17. Adam Streeter.

Northern SportMods – 1. Curt Hilmer; 2. Dave Schulze; 3. Mike McDonald; 4. Jason Doyle; 5. Bryan Rodman; 6. Austin Kaplan; 7. Shane Ebaugh; 8. Joel Rust, Grundy; 9. Danny Dvorak; 10. Jim Buhlman; 11. Jesse Belez; 12. Kurt Hogan; 13. Tim Zeman; 14. Dawn Krall; 15. Sean Vogt; 16. Ken Kositzky; 17. Joel Cox; 18. Doug Smith; 19. Drew Fish; 20. Brandon Morris; 21. Rick Paulson 22. Kyle Olson; 23. Rod McDonald; 24. Cody Moore; 25. Tim Swope Jr. 

Sport Compacts – 1. Brad Chandler; 2. Nathan Chandler; 3. Gary Peiffer; 4. Dallas Chandler; 5. Neil Nabholz; 6. Steve Miedke; 7. Jim Hanson; 8. Joe Goodenbauer; 9. Ross Kitner; 10. Jacob McVay; 11. Paul Seabrooke;  12. Travis Losenicky;  13. Justin Wacha; 14. Cody Swanson; 15. Dustin Stansberry; 16. Kevin Franks; 17. Brett Vanous; 18. Merv Chandler; 19. Bill Whalen Jr.; 20. Dustin Sondag.