Bruening, Weepie score close victories in Mid-Season Championships at Independence

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (June 29) – Great racing that led to a number of close finishes highlighted Budweiser Mid-Season Championship action Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway.

The program, which featured a unique qualifying format, pitted the top points earners through the first half of the season in head-to-head competition in their heat races. Drivers were inverted based on total points for heat lineups and the order they finished their qualifiers was how they lined up for the feature events.

Outside front row starter Curt Martin paced the field at the drop of the green in the 25-lap IMCA Late Model feature. Martin led while Jon Passick gave chase and points leader Tyler Bruening challenged from his third row starting spot.

Bruening worked past Dean Wagner for third on lap three, then chased the leaders until Passick worked the low side past Martin for the lead just after the midway point. Caution slowed action one lap later, which placed Bruening to the outside of Martin for the ensuing restart.

When the green flag waved, Bruening pulled ahead of Martin, then swept to the outside of Passick to steal the lead on the 16th circuit. Darren Ackerman, who started seventh, entered the mix and made his way into third by the time the final caution flag waved on lap 18.

Bruening took charge when racing resumed while Ackerman powered to the outside of Passick for second. Bruening quickly built a sizable lead, however Ackerman trimmed that deficit and pulled onto the leader’s rear bumper as the white flag waved.

Ackerman dropped to the inside to challenge for the lead exiting turn four on the final lap, however Bruening held on to take the exciting win, his fifth of the season. Wagner crossed the line third ahead of Passick.

A thrilling multi-car battle at the front of the IMCA Stock Car feature kept fans on their feet for the entire 18 laps of that event. Front row starters Jason Hocken and Jarod Weepie battled out front early with Norman Chesmore, Tim Helle, John Emerson and Sean Johnson in close pursuit.

Weepie managed to maintain the lead while his challengers battled in two and three-wide formation directly behind him. Following those race-long battles for position, Emerson worked to the outside of Weepie in the late stages while Hocken ran the low side. Weepie held off all pressure to lead the event in its entirety to score the win by less than a car-length over both drivers. Emerson crossed the line in second ahead of Hocken.

Chris Luloff made a late race pass on points leader Benji Irvine to take the win in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Pole-sitter Irvine showed the way early while Luloff positioned himself to challenge after starting in the third row.

Luloff made his way into second following a lap two restart, then chased Irvine around the bottom of the fast, smooth oval until the 10-lap mark. At that time, Luloff snuck beneath Irvine to steal the lead while Nathan Ballard joined the leaders in a three-car breakaway. Ballard drove the low side past Irvine for second at the line, however Luloff drove to the victory, his fourth of the season.

Ronn Lauritzen continued his recent hot streak by topping the IMCA Modified division. Lauritzen, who has now won two straight in Independence, also won last weekend in Vinton and Friday night in Marshalltown, giving him four straight wins in weekly racing.

Lauritzen, who won the “fast heat” qualifier, raced into the lead at the drop of the green from his pole position starting spot in the 20-lap feature. He quickly pulled away from traffic while Vern Jackson ran second.

A quartet of cautions slowed action throughout the first half of the event, however Lauritzen distanced himself from the field each time the green flag waved. He led the race in its entirety to take the win a near-straightaway ahead of Jackson. Scott Hogan ran third ahead of Patrick Flannagan.

Brennen Chipp earned his third win of the points season and fourth victory overall in Independence in the 15-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature. After Danny Dvorak and Kip Siems each shared time at the front of the pack, Chipp worked past Curt Hilmer for the lead following a lap 12 restart. He led the remainder of the event to score the victory ahead of Lucas Lundry, who made his way past Hilmer for second at the stripe. Points leader Alex Zwanziger ran fourth.

Adam Gates scored his sixth straight win and seventh of the season in the 12-lap IMCA Sport Compact main. From a second row starting spot, Gates took command by the completion of the first lap, then drove away in dominant fashion to take the win ahead of Zach Marmann. Travis Ross ran third and points leader Merv Chandler was fourth.

Next up at the speedway is a visit from the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models this Tuesday, July 2. IMCA SportMods and IMCA Hobby Stocks will also compete in a draw/redraw event for State, Regional and National points. Gates open at 5 p.m., with hot laps at 6:45 and racing to follow.

For the latest speedway news, log on to www.independencemotorspeedway.com.   RESULTS IMCA LATE MODEL Feature – 1. 16 Tyler Bruening (Decorah); 2. 53 Darren Ackerman (Readlyn); 3. 60 Dean Wagner (Evansdale); 4. 2P Jon Passick (Waterloo); 5. 45 Curt Martin (Independence); 6. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr. (Washburn); 7. 77A Jeff Aikey (Cedar Falls); 8. 77 Dirk Hamilton (Jesup); 9. 1 Rick Dralle (Waterloo); 10. 88 Drew Johnson (Belle Plaine); 11. 4C Chad Lerch (Cedar Rapids); 12. 73 Greg Kastli (Waterloo); 13. 25X John Emerson (Waterloo); 14. 38S Dain Sires (Cedar Falls); 15. 83 Russell Hesse (Waterloo); 16. 21B Joel Brasch (Dunkerton); 17. 7 Greg Hunter (Independence); 18. 4 Leon Thomsen (Waverly); 19. 99 Luke Pestka (Robins); 20. 35 Curran Beckler (Tiffin); 21. 2 Rory Metcalf (West Union); 22/DNS. 98 Travis Smock (Independence); 23/DNS. 30 Justin Diercks (Davenport). First heat – 1. Aikey; 2. Metcalf; 3. Lerch; 4. Hesse; 5. Brasch; 6. Smock; 7. Diercks; DNS Emerson. Second heat – 1. Sires; 2. Hamilton; 3. Beckler; 4. Dralle; 5. Pestka; 6. Hunter; 7. Thomsen. Third heat – 1. Wagner; 2. Martin; 3. Passick; 4. Johnson; 5. Bruening; 6. Hackwell; 7. Ackerman; 8. Kastli.

IMCA MODIFIED Feature – 1. 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup); 2. 64 Vern Jackson (Waterloo); 3. 33D Scott Hogan (Vinton); 4. F7 Patrick Flannagan; 5. 71 Troy COrdes (Dunkerton); 6. 27M Mark Schulte (Delhi); 7. 24R Adam Johnson (Independence); 8. 92 Tyler Droste (Waterloo); 9. 01 Ed Thomas (Waterloo); 10. 91 Shawn Ryan (Waterloo); 11. 93K Jeff Kriz (Waterloo); 12. 00J J.D. Auringer (Waterloo); 13. 12T Ty Glass (Cedar Rapids); 14. 5 Jason Morehouse (Evansdale); 15. 11 Timm Jensen (Dunkerton); 16. 171 Buck Swanson (Waterloo); 17. 9M Ben Metcalf (Evansdale); 18. 49 Mike Manson (Manchester); 19. 26P Kevin Pittman (Waterloo); DNS 98 Jason Snyder (Dunkerton). First heat – 1. Swanson; 2. Manson; 3. Glass; 4. Jensen; 5. Metcalf; 6. Morehouse. Second heat – 1. Hogan; 2. Pittman; 3. Ryan; 4. Johnson; 5. Kriz; 6. Thomas; DNS Snyder. Third heat – 1. Lauritzen; 2. Jackson; 3. Flannagan; 4. Cordes; 5. Schulte; 6. Droste; 7. Auringer.

IMCA STOCK CAR Feature – 1. 3 Jarod Weepie (Dunkerton); 2. 87 John Emerson (Waterloo); 3. JR3 Jason Hocken (Independence); 4. 15 Norman Chesmore (Rowley); 5. 15T Tim Helle (Garnavillo); 6. 7H Phil Holtz (Manchester); 7. 8R Sean Johnson (Independence); 8. 87X Travis Shipman (Mason City); 9. 11 Jesse Brown (Nashua); 10. 37C Roger Ciesielski (Waterloo); 11. 00 Tony Schimmels (Readlyn); 12. 17R Derek Reimer (Marshalltown); 13. 22K Kevin Rose (Waterloo); 14. K38 Ken Taylor (Strawberry Point); 15. 12 Cole Mather (Fairbank); 16. 11J Jerome Jacoby (Waterloo). First heat – 1. Holtz; 2. Shipman; 3. Reimer; 4. Rose; 5. Schimmels; 6. Ciesielski; 7. Taylor; 8. Mather. Second heat – 1. Hocken; 2. Weepie; 3. Helle; 4. Chesmore; 5. Emerson; 6. Brown; 7. Johnson; 8. Jacoby.

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD Feature – 1. 21 Brennen Chipp (Waterloo); 2. 96 Lucas Lundry (Maynard); 3. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 4. 32Z Alex Zwanziger (Nashua); 5. 86U Rod McDonald (Manchester); 6. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 7. 4 Ryan Maitland (Waterloo); 8. 339 Kevin Hurst (Janesville); 9. J2 Dave Schulze (Keystone); 10. 43 Creston Williams (Atkins); 11. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 12. 29 Sean Vogt (Watkins); 13. S16 Kip Siems (Cedar Falls); 14. 93 Josh Burrell (Dysart); 15. 114 Mike Nielsen (Evansdale); 16. 7D Dakoda Sellers (Vinton); 17. 21J Joe Harken (Waterloo); 18. 9 Scott Williams (Atkins); 19. 39 Brian Hilbert (Independence); 20. 14 Shane Ebaugh (Evansdale); 21. 7 Dave Fangman (Marion); 22. 49 Brandon Smith (Waterloo). First heat – 1. Burrell; 2. McDonald; 3. Smith; 4. Fangman; 5. Hilbert; 6. C. Williams; 7. S. Williams. Second heat – 1. Hurst; 2. Schulze; 3. Vogt; 4. Maitland; 5. Sellers; 6. Harken; 7. Nielsen. Third heat – 1. Siems; 2. Dvorak; 3. Buhlman; 4. Hilmer; 5. Chipp; 6. Zwanziger; 7. Lundry; 8. Ebaugh.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK Feature – 1. 18 Chris Luloff (Independence); 2. 29 Nathan Ballard (Marengo); 3. 79 Benji Irvine (Cedar Falls); 4. 35B Shawn Kuennen (Hazleton); 5. 45 Justin Wacha (Vinton); 6. 25 Jamie Whitaker (Oelwein); 7. 7B Jim Ball (Independence); 8. 73 Quinton Miller (Independence); 9. 07 Jacob Keiser (Marengo); 10. 8 Dave Wheeler (Fairbank); 11. 95 Matt Lundry (Oelwein); 12. 10MW Mike Wilson (Jesup); 13. 58B Randy Byerly (Tipton); 14. 14J Jacob Floyd (Cedar Rapids); 15. 90T Chris Moore (Fairfax); 16. 55 Vince Buchholz (Waterloo); 17. 12J Jeremy Floyd (Cedar Rapids); 18. 20B Matt Burmeister (Dunkerton); 19. 18X Dru Kueker (West Union); 20. 57 Malena Betzer (Cedar Rapids); 21. 21J Jonathan Juett (Belle Plaine); 22/DNS. 67 Justin Stander (Vinton); 23/DNS. 35 Brett Vanous (Quasqueton). First heat – 1. Keiser; 2. Jacob Floyd; 3. Betzer; 4. Juett; 5. Jeremy Floyd; 6. Moore; 7. Kueker. Second heat – 1. Ballard; 2. Miller; 3. Wheeler; 4. Byerly; 5. Burmeister; 6. Lundry; 7. Wilson; 8. Vanous. Third heat – 1. Irvine; 2. Kuennen; 3. Wacha; 4. Whitaker; 5. Luloff; 6. Ball; 7. Buchholz; 8. Stander.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT Feature – 1. 007 Adam Gates (Marion); 2. 7X Zach Marmann (Elkader); 3. 83 Travis Ross (Waterloo); 4. 2 Merv Chandler (Urbana); 5. 111 A.J. Witten (Cedar Rapids); 6. 2K Derek Ihde (Fayette); 7. 99J Jeremy Lerch (Vinton). Heat – 1. Marmann; 2. Chandler; 3. Gates; 4. Ross; 5. Ihde; 6. Lerch; 7. Witten.

Category: Independence, Iowa