Martin collects memorable win on opening night
Curt Martin won the IMCA Late Model season opener at Independence Motor Speedway on May 5. Martin also won his first-ever IMCA Late Model feature on the very same day 22 years ago. Curt Martin won his first IMCA Late Model feature 28 years ago today....May 5, 1984. Photo by Kyle Ealy
Tyler Bruening gets a little air during IMCA Late Model heat race action at the season opener at Independence Motor Speedway on May 5. Bruening would hang on to take the win. He would later finish second to Curt Martin in the feature. Photo by Kyle Ealy
Pole-sitter Bryan Klein took the lead at the drop of the green and quickly pulled away from the field. While Klein led, Tyler Bruening, who started outside the second row, worked on front row starter Joel Brasch for second. Bruening snuck past Brasch on the sixth circuit, then tried to reel in the leader.
With the help of lapped traffic, Bruening closd the gap by lap 11, then took over the top spot two laps later. Meanwhile, Martin was making a charge to the front from a fourth row starting spot.
Martin worked past Brasch on the 10th circuit, then closed in on the leaders as they battled through the backmarkers. Martin made his way beneath Klein on the 15th lap, then shot to the inside of Bruening three laps later to steal the top spot.
Martin survived a trio of late race cautions to take the memorable victory. It was his 93rd career win in weekly racing at Independence and his 14th in opening night action at the speedway. Bruening ran second ahead of Klein, Brasch and Justin Kay.
Mark Schulte led all but the first lap on his way to the win in the IMCA Modified feature. From his third row starting spot, Schulte rocketed through traffic and chased pole-sitter Todd Conrad at the completion of the first lap. He then shot to the inside of the leader to take charge one lap later.
Schulte led the final 19 laps to score the victory, his first-ever in weekly competition at Independence. Jerry King drove to a second place finish after a terrific battle with Troy Cordes for the runner-up spot. Cordes crossed the line in third ahead of Mike Burbridge and Ronn Lauritzen.
Phil Holtz came out on top in an exciting 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. He challenged a handful of drivers at the front of the field to take top honors.
Jason Hocken led the early going, swapping pole-sitter Dave Stricker for the lead over the first few laps, while Holtz closely pursued. All three drivers spent time at the front before Holtz took command for good on lap 14. Stricker ran second. Sean Johnson made an impressive run from an eighth row start to take third ahead of Norman Chesmore and Scooter Dulin, who also started deep in the field.
Austin Kaplan led wire-to-wire to score the opening night win in the IMCA SportMod division. Challenged early by second row starter Tyler Droste, Kaplan held off his pursuer each time around the 3/8-mile oval.
Droste, who ran both high and low in attempt to get a run on the leader, was the victim of a lapped car late in the event. When the backmarker checked up in front of the leaders, Kaplan checked up as well, leaving Droste with no where to go except spinning in turn two. He restarted at the tail and made a nice run through the field, but was unable to make his way back to the front.
Kaplan drove to the win, his sixth career weekly victory at Independence, ahead of Sam Wieben and Danny Dvorak. Alex Zwanziger and Matt McCahen completed the top five.
Benton County Speedway regulars Nathan Ballard and Scott Pippert put on a great show at the front of the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature field. Ballard, who started on the pole, took the early lead and was immediately challenged by Pippert.
Pippert, who spent time running both the high and low grooves, briefly took the lead a handful of laps into the event, then again late in the race, however Ballard proved too strong out front and pulled away at the end to take the win, his first ever in weekly racing at Independence.
Benji Irvine slipped beneath Pippert at the line to take second in his first race at Independence. Quinton Miller and Rod Grother completed the top five.
FEATURE RESULTS
IMCA LATE MODEL – 1. 45 Curt Martin; 2. 16 Tyler Bruening; 3. 25 Bryan Klein; 4. 21B Joel Brasch; 5. 15K Justin Kay; 6. 77A Jeff Aikey; 7. 2P Jon Passick, 8. 98 Travis Smock; 9. 68 Tysus Pattee; 10. 7 Greg Hunter; 11. 88 Drew Johnson; 12. 4D Rick Dralle; 13. 25P Kenny Pint; 14. 5W Scott Welsh; 15. 4 Leon Thomsen; 16. 0 Rory Metcalf; 17. 99 Luke Pestka; 18. 38S Dain Sires; 19. 60 Dean Wagner; 20. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr.
Mark Schulte of Delhi, Iowa, won his first-ever IMCA Modified feature at Independence on May 5. Photo by Kyle Ealy
IMCA MODIFIED – 1. 27M Mark Schulte; 2. 70 Jerry King; 3. 71 Troy Cordes; 4. 11B Mike Burbridge; 5. 10K Ronn Lauritzen; 6. 83C Todd Conrad; 7. 24R Adam Johnson; 8. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 9. 64 Vern Jackson; 10. 14B Shane Burbridge; 11. 75 Josh Sherbon; 12. T23 Tony Olson; 13. 91 Shawn Ryan; 14. 41P Keith Pittman; 15. 01 Ed Thomas; 16. 18 Jerry Luloff; 17. 80 Jerry Dedrick; 18. 19D Darin Duffy; 19. 1J Jeff Streeter; 20. 85 Johnathan Thimmesch; 21. 98 Jason Snyder; 22. 27 Jamie Johnson; 23. 11 Timm Jensen; 24. 57B Dennis Betzer.
Phil Holtz of Manchester, Iowa, won a thrilling IMCA Stock Car feature at Independence Motor Speedway over a stellar field of cars. Photo by Kyle Ealy
IMCA STOCK CAR – 1. 7H Phil Holtz; 2. 89B Dave Stricker; 3. 8R Sean Johnson; 4. 15 Norman Chesmore; 5. 3T Scooter Dulin; 6. 9E Austin Evens; 7. 94 Steve Meyer; 8. 83E Thomas Thompson; 9. 00 Tony Schimmels; 10. 3 Jarod Weepie; 11. 15T Tim Helle; 12. 8B Scott Beaurgeard; 13. JR3 Jason Hocken; 14. G1 Mike Padden; 15. 17 Jason Niedert; 16. 40 Austin Curtin; 17. 37C Roger Ciesielski; 18. 46 Cody Frerichs; 19. 31S Paul Shepherd; 20. 4JR Russell Damme Jr.; 21. 11 Jesse Brown; 22. 20 Dan Trimble; 23. 87 John Emerson; 24. 21 Joe Harken; 25. 11J Jerome Jacoby.
Austin Kaplan of Ankeny, Iowa, made it look easy in winning the IMCA SportMod feature at Independence on May 5. Photo by Kyle Ealy
IMCA SPORTMOD – 1. 1 Austin Kaplan; 2. 198 Sam Wieben; 3. 3R Danny Dvorak; 4. 32Z Alex Zwanziger; 5. 63 Matt McCahen; 6. 00 Jim Buhlman; 7. 29 Sean Vogt; 8. 96 Lucas Lundry; 9. J2 Dave Schulze; 10. 28P Rick Paulson; 11. 92 Tyler Droste; 12. 7M Matt Miller; 13. 72 Mike Hogencamp; 14. 39 Brian Hilbert; 15. 40J Jason Doyle; 16. K3 Kyle Olson; 17. 11M Mike Mitchell; 18. 49 Brandon Smith; 19. 14 Shane Ebaugh; 20. 25 Austin Moyer; 21. S16 Kip Siems; 22. 11 Bob Ebaugh; 23. 23W Robert Whalen; 24. 57G Rich Gerhold.
Nathan Ballard of Marengo, Iowa, held off the challenges of Scottie Pippert in the IMCA Hobby Stock main event at Independence Motor Speedway. Photo by Kyle Ealy
IMCA HOBBY STOCK – 1. 29 Nathan Ballard; 2. 79 Benji Irvine; 3. 47 Scott Pippert; 4. 73 Quinton Miller; 5. 77 Rod Grother; 6. 26 Nathan Christie; 7. 55 Vince Buchholz; 8. 67 Justin Stander; 9. 95 Matt Lundry; 10. 35B Shawn Kuennen; 11. 5 Marcus Wayne; 12. 25 Jamie Whitaker; 13. 45 Justin Wacha; 14. 64JR Jeremiah Wilson; 15. 09 Brad Forbes; 16. 20W Bruce Fraser; 17. 2 Nick Welch; 18. 7B Jim Ball; 19. 18 Chris Luloff; 20. 21 Jason Williams; 21. 64 Jerome Wilson; 22. 90 Lowell Potter; 23. 166 Justin Lichty; 24. 8X Brannan Bechen; 25. 14J Jacob Floyd; 26. 12J Jeremy Floyd.
