Three first-time winners top opening night at Independence Motor Speedway

admin | April 27, 2014

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (April 26) – Of the 103 drivers signed in for opening night, three who had never previously won at Independence Motor Speedway ended the evening in victory lane.

Joel Callahan redrew the pole position for the 25-lap IMCA Late Model feature and quickly pulled away from the field when the green flag waved. Callahan maintained a straightaway lead over his nearest pursuer despite heavy lapped traffic.

Callahan’s lead disappeared when a lap 21 caution flag bunched the field and placed Tyler Bruening on his rear bumper for the ensuing restart. Callahan pulled away when racing resumed, notching his first win on the Independence oval. Bruening finished second ahead of Drew Johnson.

Shawn Ritter topped a field of 28 IMCA Northern SportMods to earn his first win in Independence. Ritter raced into the lead at the drop of the green and maintained the point through a pair of early cautions in that 15-lapper

When racing resumed for the final time on lap four, Ritter pulled away from the pack and beat Danny Dvorak to the checkers to score the milestone win. Jason Doyle finished third.

Troy Hovey held off early pressure from Blake Cole and then Norman Chesmore and Jarod Weepie late to earn his first win at the speedway in the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature.

Hovey took the early lead while Cole remained within striking distance. Mechanical problems sidelined Cole with five laps to go, allowing Chesmore and Weepie the opportunity to contend for the lead. Hovey denied all challenges to score the win ahead of Chesmore. Weepie finished third.

Ronn Lauritzen took the early lead in the Performance Bodies IMCA Modified feature and held off a hard-charging Scott Hogan to earn the opening night win in that 20-lap event.

Hogan made his way around Joe Docekal for the runner-up spot following a late restart, but Lauritzen proved to be too strong on his way to victory. Hogan and Docekal completed the top three.

Defending IMCA Hobby Stock track champion Benji Irvine raced to his second straight season opening win.

From a third row starting spot, Irvine quickly worked past Jacob Keiser for second and then chased leader Marcus Wayne before taking the top spot on lap five. Irvine pulled away from the field to take the win in the 15-lapper ahead of Keiser and Shawn Kuennen.

RESULTS
IMCA LATE MODEL
Feature – 1. 40 Joel Callahan, Dubuque; 2. 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 3. 88 Drew Johnson, Belle Plaine; 4. 73 Greg Kastli, Waterloo; 5. 51 Ryan Dolan, Lisbon; 6. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo; 7. 2 Rory Metcalf, West Union; 8. 99 Luke Pestka, Robins; 9. 53 Darren Ackerman, Readlyn; 10. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 11. 31 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 12. 70 Jerry King, Waterloo; 13. 12 Ron Klein, Sherrill; 14. 60 Dean Wagner, Evansdale; 15. 11 Lyle Klein, Sherrill; 16. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly; 17. 32 Chris Snyder, Raymond; 18. 5W Scott Welsh, Cedar Rapids; 19. 87 John Emerson, Waterloo; 20. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn; 21. 77 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; DNS 83 Russell Hesse, Waterloo; DNS 21B Joel Brasch, Dunkerton.
First heat – 1. Hackwell; 2. Johnson; 3. Pestka; 4. Dolan; 5. R. Klein; 6. L. Klein; 7. Snyder; 8. Hesse.
Second heat – 1. Ackerman; 2. Callahan; 3. Bruening; 4. Wagner; 5. Kastli; 6. Welsh; 7. Thomsen; 8. Brasch.
Third heat – 1. Passick; 2. Hamilton; 3. King; 4. Metcalf; 5. Martin; 6. Droste; 7. Emerson.

IMCA MODIFIED
Feature – 1. 10K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 2. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 3. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 4. 71 Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 5. 92 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 6. 00J J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 7. 64 Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 8. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 9. 26J Joel Rust, Grundy Center; 10. 19D Darin Duffy, Urbana; 11. 27M Mark Schulte, Delhi; 12. 98 Jason Snyder, Dunkerton; 13. 24R Adam Johnson, Independence; 14. 5 Jason Morehouse, Evansdale; 15. 10 Kaleb Bentley, Fairbank; 16. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 17. 75 Josh Sherbon, Cedar Falls; 18. 93K Jeff Kriz, Waterloo; 19. 01 Ed Thomas, Waterloo.
First heat – 1. Droste; 2. Auringer; 3. Hogan; 4. Duffy; 5. Flannagan; 6. Bentley; 7. Betzer; 8. Rust; DNS Sherbon.
Second heat – 1. Johnson; 2. Cordes; 3. Lauritzen; 4. Docekal; 5. Jackson; 6. Snyder; 7. Schulte; 8. Kriz; 9. Thomas; DNS Morehouse.

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature – 1. 476X Troy Hovey, Decorah; 2. 15 Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 3. 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; 4. 17 Jason Niedert, Evansdale; 5. JR3 Jason Hocken, Independence; 6. 37C Roger Ciesielski, Waterloo; 7. 22K Kevin Rose, Waterloo; 8. 15T Tim Helle, Garnavillo; 9. 4 Jerry Miles, Dubuque; 10. 4JR Russell Damme Jr., Waterloo; 11. 6X Bob Ahrendsen, Cedar Rapids; 12. 87A Aaron Matthias, Fairbank; 13. 67 Justin Stander, Shellsburg; 14. 7C Blake Cole, Nashua; 15. 11 Jesse Brown, Nashua; 16. 11J Jerome Jacoby, Waterloo.
First heat – 1. Ciesielski; 2. Chesmore; 3. Cole; 4. Damme; 5. Niedert; 6. Matthias; 7. Ahrendsen; 8. Brown; 9. Miles.
Second heat – 1. Stander; 2. Helle; 3. Weepie; 4. Hovey; 5. Rose; 6. Hocken; 7. Jacoby; DNS 15A (No driver information).

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD
Feature – 1. 7SR Shawn Ritter, Keystone; 2. 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 3. 40J Jason Doyle, Cedar Rapids; 4. 96 Lucas Lundry, Maynard; 5. CH19 Colby Heishman, Brooklyn; 6. 198 Sam Wieben, Dysart; 7. 32Z Alex Zwanziger, Nashua; 8. S16 Kip Siems, Cedar Falls; 9. J2 Dave Schulze, Keystone; 10. 4 Ryan Maitland, Waterloo; 11. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 12. 49 Brandon Smith, Quasqueton; 13. 339 Kevin Hurst, Janesville; 14. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 15. 199 Dave Burrell, Dysart; 16. 24R Kevin Robinson, Dewar; 17. 80 Steve Ansel, Bellevue; 18. 7 Dave Fangman, Marion; 19. 7D Dakoda Sellers, Vinton; 20. 39 Brian Hilbert, Independence; 21. 63 Matt McCahen, Waterloo; 22. 19J Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown; 23. 57R Ryan King, Montour; 24. 15B Troy Burkhart, Urbana.
B feature (8 transfer) – 1. Wieben; 2. Ansel; 3. Hilmer; 4. Smith; 5. Hilbert; 6. Maitland; 7. Burrell; 8. Fangman; 9. 36 Jacob Salisbury, Dunkerton; 10. 21J Joe Harken, Waterloo; 11. 15N Ross Neal, Marion; 12. 50H Steve Wimer, Toddville.
First heat – 1. Doyle; 2. Lundry; 3. Schulze; 4. Hurst; 5. Neal; 6. Burrell; 7. Wimer.
Second heat – 1. Zwanziger; 2. Burkhart; 3. Ritter; 4. King; 5. Ansel; 6. Hilmer; 7. Fangman.
Third heat – 1. Siems; 2. Sellers; 3. Dvorak; 4. Robinson; 5. Wieben; 6. Harken; 7. Salisbury.
Fourth heat – 1. Gustin; 2. McCahen; 3. Heishman; 4. Buhlman; 5. Hilbert; 6. Smith; 7. Maitland.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature – 1. 79 Benji Irvine, Stanley; 2. 07 Jacob Keiser, Marengo; 3. 35B Shawn Kuennen, Hazleton; 4. T64 Jeremiah Wilson, Waterloo; 5. 5 Marcus Wayne, Independence; 6. 45 Justin Wacha, Vinton; 7. 95 Matt Lundry, Oelwein; 8. 14C Leah Wroten, Independence; 9. 7B Jim Ball, Independence; 10. 23 Chad Albert, Cedar Rapids; 11. 87M Milo Matthias, Cocoa, Fla.; 12. 31 David Balik, Fort Atkinson; 13. 20B Matt Burmeister, Dunkerton; 14. 25 Jamie Whitaker, Oelwein; 15. 357 Brett Vanous, Quasqueton; 16. 46 Brian Happel, Vinton; DNS 19D James Sheldon, Marion.
First heat – 1. Wilson; 2. Happel; 3. Keiser; 4. Whitaker; 5. Kuennen; 6. Balik; 7. Vanous; 8. Matthias; 9. Ball.
Second heat – 1. Irvine; 2. Wacha; 3. Wayne; 4. Lundry; 5. Wroten; 6. Albert; 7. Burmeister; DNS Sheldon.

Category: Independence, Iowa