Lauritzen, Irvine, Gustin get fourth wins of the season at Independence Motor Speedway

 

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (June 14) – A trio of drivers each earned their fourth wins of the season during the seventh night of weekly points racing at Independence Motor Speedway. Another pair of drivers became the first to repeat in their respective divisions.

Ronn Lauritzen, Benji Irvine and Jenae Gustin made their fourth trips to the winner’s circle while Darren Ackerman and Paul Shepherd were the first to repeat in IMCA Late Model and IMCA Stock Car action.

Ed Thomas held the lead at the drop of the green in the 20-lap Performance Bodies IMCA Modified main. Thomas pulled away from traffic while Lauritzen ran the high groove from a fourth row starting spot.

Lauritzen settled into third place behind J.D. Auringer just before the caution flag waved on lap six.

On the restart, Lauritzen wasted little time working past the front-runners as he assumed command by the completion of lap seven. He and Auringer proceeded to pull away from traffic over the final half of the event.

Lauritzen fought off pressure from Auringer to earn his third win in the last four weeks and his fourth of the season. Auringer and Troy Cordes completed the top three.

Irvine also started in row four and quickly made his way through traffic in the 15-lapper for the IMCA Hobby Stocks.

Irvine found himself in the top five for a lap one restart and then rocketed to the front to assume the lead by the completion of lap two. He survived a number of mid-race cautions to take his fourth win of the year, his first since May 17. Points leader Shawn Kuennen raced from a ninth row start to finish second ahead of Jamie Whitaker.

The front of the pack wasn’t the place to be in the early going of the 15-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature. Cautions involving the front row starters on two separate occasions shook up the lineup and left Gustin at the helm on a lap three restart after she started the event from the fifth row.

Gustin pulled away over the remainder of the event to score her third win in the last four weeks and her fourth win in her last five appearances in Independence. Rod McDonald and points leader Danny Dvorak ran second and third.

Ackerman took the lead early and blew away the field in the 25-lap feature for the IMCA Late Models. From his front row starting spot, Ackerman pulled to a straightaway advantage by the time he encountered lapped traffic on the eighth circuit.

Despite the traffic, he maintained his sizable lead until the caution flag waved with four laps to go, placing veterans Curt Martin and Rick Wendling on his tail for the ensuing restart.

Ackerman checked out when racing resumed to score the dominant victory, his second of the year. Wendling got by Martin to finish second.

Shepherd earned his second IMCA Stock Car victory of the season. From a fifth row start, he assumed the lead from Phil Holtz following a lap seven caution and led the remainder of the 18-lapper to score the win ahead of Holtz. Norman Chesmore took over the points lead with his third place finish.

RESULTS IMCA LATE MODEL Feature – 1. Darren Ackerman, Readlyn; 2. 78 Rick Wendling, Hazleton; 3. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 4. 98 Jason Rauen, Farley; 5. 60 Dean Wagner, Evansdale; 6. 99 Luke Pestka, Robins; 7. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo; 8. 9 Bobby Hansen, Center Point; 9. 88 Drew Johnson, Belle Plaine; 10. 31 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 11. 70 Jerry King, Waterloo; 12. 32 Chris Snyder, Raymond; 13. 2 Rory Metcalf, West Union; 14. 8R Sean Johnson, Independence; 15. 83 Russell Hesse, Waterloo; 16. 77 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; 17. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn; 18. 73 Greg Kastli, Waterloo; 19. 21B Joel Brasch, Dunkerton; 20. 23 Jeramia Boynton, La Porte City; 21. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly; 22. 54 Wayne Hesse, Waterloo. First heat – 1. Passick; 2. Droste; 3. D. Johnson; 4. Wagner; 5. Metcalf; 6. R. Hesse; 7. Boynton; 8. Hackwell. Second heat – 1. Martin; 2. Pestka; 3. King; 4. Wendling; 5. S. Johnson; 6. Brasch; 7. Thomsen. Third heat – 1. Ackerman; 2. Hansen; 3. Rauen; 4. Kastli; 5. Snyder; 6. W. Hesse; 7. Hamilton.

IMCA MODIFIED Feature – 1. 10K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 2. 00J J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 3. 71 Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 4. 92 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 5. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 6. 01 Ed Thomas, Waterloo; 7. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 8. 20L Zach Less, Hopkinton; 9. 93K Jeff Kriz, Waterloo; 10. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 11. 64 Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 12. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 13. 5 Jason Morehouse, Evansdale; 14. 415 Josh Barta, Cedar Falls; 15. 24R Adam Johnson, Independence; 16. 10 Kaleb Bentley, Fairbank; 17. 17 Justin Buehler, Oelwein; 18. 75 Josh Sherbon, Cedar Falls; 19. 49 Mike Manson, Manchester; 20. 21 Brennen Chipp, Waterloo. First heat – 1. Less; 2. Droste; 3. Lauritzen; 4. Hogan; 5. King; 6. Flannagan; 7. Chipp; 8. Betzer; 9. Barta; DNS Morehouse. Second heat – 1. Johnson; 2. Jackson; 3. Cordes; 4. Auringer; 5. Thomas; 6. Buehler; 7. Sherbon; 8. Kriz; 9. Manson; 10. Dedrick.

IMCA STOCK CAR Feature – 1. 31S Paul Shepherd, Marengo; 2. 7H Phil Holtz, Manchester; 3. 15 Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 4. 6X Bob Ahrendsen, Cedar Rapids; 5. 22K Kevin Rose, Waterloo; 6. 87A Aaron Matthias, Fairbank; 7. 74C Cole Mather, Dundee; 8. 23 Justin Hanson, Waterloo; 9. 4JR Russell Damme Jr., Waterloo; 10. 15T Tim Helle, Garnavillo; 11. 4H Scott Hampton, Waterloo; 12. 38 Matt Brown, Marion; 13. 11J Jerome Jacoby, Waterloo; 14. 11 Jesse Brown, Nashua; 15. 67 Justin Stander, Shellsburg; DQ 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; DQ JR3 Jason Hocken, Independence. First heat – 1. Ahrendsen; 2. Weepie; 3. Stander; 4. Rose; 5. J. Brown; 6. Helle; 7. M. Brown; 8. Jacoby; DNS Hampton. Second heat – 1. Damme; 2. Hanson; 3. Holtz; 4. Shepherd; 5. Chesmore; 6. Mather; 7. Matthias; DNS Hocken.

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD Feature – 1. 19J Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown; 2. 86U Rod McDonald, Manchester; 3. 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 4. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 5. 4 Ryan Maitland, Waterloo; 6. 6 Jim Aschenbrenner, Aplington; 7. 339 Kevin Hurst, Janesville; 8. Sean Vogt, Watkins; 9. J2 Dave Schulze, Keystone; 10. 24R Kevin Robinson, Dewar; 11. 39 Brian Hilbert, Independence; 12. 36 Jacob Salisbury, Dunkerton; 13. 50H Steve Wimer, Toddville; 14. 21J Joe Harken, Waterloo; 15. 96 Lucas Lundry, Maynard; 16. CH19 Colby Heishman, Brooklyn; 17. 32Z Alex Zwanziger, Nashua; 18. S16 Kip Siems, Cedar Falls; 19. 35 Kyle Bentley, Independence; 20. 63 Matt McCahen, Waterloo; 21. 7D Dakoda Sellers, Vinton. First heat – 1. Maitland; 2. Harken; 3. McCahen; 4. McDonald; 5. Zwanziger; 6. Sellers; 7. Salisbury. Second heat – 1. Lundry; 2. Gustin; 3. Dvorak; 4. Heishman; 5. Wimer; 6. Buhlman; 7. Robinson. Third heat – 1. Siems; 2. Aschenbrenner; 3. Bentley; 4. Vogt; 5. Hurst; 6. Schulze; 7. Hilbert.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK Feature – 1. 79 Benji Irvine, Stanley; 2. 35B Shawn Kuennen, Hazleton; 3. 25 Jamie Whitaker, Oelwein; 4. 45 Justin Wacha, Vinton; 5. 5 Marcus Wayne, Independence; 6. 14C Leah Wroten, Independence; 7. 83W Matt White, Nashua; 8. T64 Jeremiah Wilson, Waterloo; 9. 357 Brett Vanous, Quasqueton; 10. 18X Dru Kueker, West Union; 11. 20B Matt Burmeister, Dunkerton; 12. 95 Matt Lundry, Oelwein; 13. 4P Matt Pohlman, Keystone; 14. 7B Jim Ball, Independence; 15. 58B Randy Byerly, Tipton; 16. 23 Chad Albert, Cedar Rapids; 17. 87M Milo Matthias, Cocoa, Fla. First heat – 1. Vanous; 2. Irvine; 3. Wroten; 4. Wayne; 5. Albert; 6. Lundry; 7. Pohlman; 8. Kueker; 9. Kuennen. Second heat – 1. Whitaker; 2. Wilson; 3. Wacha; 4. Byerly; 5. White; 6. Ball; 7. Matthias; 8. Burmeister.

Category: Independence, Iowa