By Ryan Clark
VINTON, Iowa (June 14) – J.D. Auringer continued his recent hot streak in a big way at Benton County Speedway.
The Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified driver earned his third win in eight days and pocketed $1,250 Sunday night by topping a 32-car field on Iowa Donor Network/Urbana 5 Memorial Night.
The win also placed Auringer on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot.
Outside front row starter Ronn Lauritzen paced the field while Auringer positioned himself on the top groove of the quarter-mile. Auringer made his way into second following a lap four restart and chased Lauritzen until a caution slowed action a final time on the 20th of 25 laps.
On the restart, Auringer worked beneath Lauritzen to steal the lead and pull away to victory. He also won the last two Saturday shows in Independence.
Mike Jergens made an impressive run from 10th to finish second ahead of Zach Less. Laurtizen ran fourth ahead of Scott Hogan, who started 22nd and qualified by winning a “B” feature.
Jarod Weepie hadn’t won in Vinton since August of 2002. He battled Damon Murty to the end to take top honors in the 18-lap IMCA Sunoco Stock Car headliner.
Weepie drove past Roger Ciesielski and Les Blakley for the lead on the third circuit while Murty raced the top groove into second two laps later. Weepie and Murty swapped the lead numerous times before Weepie powered past the low side of Murty for good with three laps to go on his way to a $700 payday.
Murty ran a close second ahead of Blakley, Norman Chesmore and Jerry Miles.
Benji Irvine beat Brian Happel to the line by inches to win a thriller in the 16-lapper for IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks.
Brett Vanous and Jeremiah Wilson shared time at the front of the pack until Happel took the lead following a lap six restart. Irvine was working the top groove into contention and restarted on Happel’s rear bumper on a lap 12 restart.
Happel ran the middle to top groove, however Irvine found room to the outside of the leader to steal the $750 win exiting turn four.
Nathan Ballard advanced 20 positions to finish third ahead of Justin Lichty and Wilson.
Tony Olson raced to his fourth local win of the year in the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods.
From his outside front row start, Olson assumed command at the drop of the green and led the 16-lap event in its entirety to take the checkers ahead of Sam Wieben and Matt Petrzelka. Lucas Lundry and Kurt Hogan completed the top five.
In addition to his $700 winner’s share, Olson earned a clean sweep of lap money and the top finishing crate award. Combined, Olson took home around $1,000 for his efforts.
Nearly 100 people signed up to be organ and tissue donors during the evening. The program was a memorial for the five youth killed in an April 9 traffic accident near Urbana and more than 120 cars ran in the inaugural event.
Feature Results
Modified – 1. J. D. Auringer, Waterloo; 2. Mike Jergens, Plover; 3. Zach Less, Manchester; 4. Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 5. Scott Hogan, Vinton; 6. Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 7. Darin Duffy, Urbana; 8. Tony Snyder, Readlyn; 9. Joel Rust, Grundy Center; 10. Joe Docekal, Dysart; 11. Josh Barta, Cedar Falls; 12. Ed Thomas, Waterloo; 13. Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 14. Dakota Hayden, Wilton; 15. Kaleb Bentley, Fairbank; 16. Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 17. Dennis Betzer, Central City; 18. Jerry Luloff, Independence; 19. Kyle Brown, State Center; 20. Richie Gustin, Gilman; 21. Josh Sherbon, Cedar Falls; 22. Mike Burbridge, Delhi; 23. David Brown, Kellogg; 24. Ryan Maitland, Denver; 25. Colby Heishman, Brooklyn; 26. Austin Bishop, Manchester.
First heat – 1. Docekal; 2. Flannagan; 3. T. Snyder; 4. Burbridge; 5. Heishman; 6. Hayden; 7. Dustin Smith, Taylor Ridge, Ill.; 8. Ben Chapman, Clarence.
Second heat – 1. Lauritzen; 2. Less; 3. Sherbon; 4. K. Brown; 5. Thomas; 6. Dedrick; 7. Jason Snyder, Dunkerton; 8. Bishop.
Third heat – 1. Jergens; 2. Luloff; 3. Duffy; 4. Barta; 5. Maitland; 6. Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 7. Bentley; 8. Robbie Schmuecker, Vinton.
Fourth heat – 1. Auringer; 2. Gustin; 3. D. Brown; 4. Cordes; 5. Rust; 6. Hogan; 7. Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 8. Betzer.
First B feature – 1. Hayden; 2. Chapman; 3. Smith; 4. Dedrick; 5. J. Snyder; 6. Bishop.
Second B feature – 1. Hogan; 2. Bentley; 3. Schmuecker; 4. Betzer; 5. Droste; 6. Jackson.
Track point provisionals – Bishop; Bentley; Dedrick; Betzer.
Stock Cars – 1. Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; 2. Damon Murty, Chelsea; 3. Les Blakley, Fairfield; 4. Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 5. Jerry Miles, Dubuque; 6. Roger Ciesielski, Waterloo; 7. Phil Holtz, Manchester; 8. Matt Brown, Marion; 9. Justin Stander, Shellsburg; 10. Nathan Wood, Sigourney; 11. Scooter Dulin, Cedar Rapids; 12. Tim Fobian, Dike; 13. Scott Pippert, Elberon; 14. Jared Daggett, Marshalltown; 15. Austin Evens, Independence; 16. Kevin Rose, Waterloo; 17. Erick Knutsen, Cedar Rapids; 18. Mike Galli, Urbana; 19. Russell Damme Jr., Waterloo; 20. Shane Ebaugh, Evansdale; 21. Lon Mercer, Urbana; 22. Duayne Herb, Hiawatha; 23. Curtis Roster, Vinton; 24. Cliff Gray, Waterloo; 25. Scott Beauregard, Brandon; 26. Chris Luloff, Independence.
First heat – 1. Galli; 2. Fobian; 3. Damme; 4. Stander; 5. Dulin; 6. Gray; 7. Luloff.
Second heat – 1. Murty; 2. Ciesielski; 3. Pippert; 4. Holtz; 5. Knutsen; 6. Rose.
Third heat – 1. Miles; 2. Chesmore; 3. Weepie; 4. Evens; 5. Roster; 6. Daggett; 7. Ebaugh.
Fourth heat – 1. Wood; 2. Brown; 3. Blakley; 4. Mercer; 5. Beauregard; 6. Herb.
Hobby Stocks – 1. Benji Irvine, Oelwein; 2. Brian Happel, Vinton; 3. Nathan Ballard, Marengo; 4. Justin Lichty, Waterloo; 5. Jeremiah Wilson, Waterloo; 6. Jamie Songer, Ankeny; 7. Justin Wacha, Vinton; 8. Adam Petrzelka, Norway; 9. Bill Bonnett, Knoxville; 10. Matt Brown, Dysart; 11. Brett Vanous, Quasqueton; 12. Marcus Wayne, Independence; 13. Scott Siems, Cedar Rapids; 14. Jake Keiser, Marengo; 15. Jacob Floyd, Cedar Rapids; 16. Brad Forbes, Waterloo; 17. Kyle Dulin, Brandon; 18. Zach Swanson, Waterloo; 19. Mike Kimm, Cedar Rapids; 20. Daniel Wauters, Iowa City; 21. Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids; 22. Cody Swanson, Waterloo; 23. Matt Pohlman, Keystone; 24. Kevin Derry, Indianola.
First heat – 1. Grother; 2. Floyd; 3. C. Swanson; 4. Forbes; 5. Dulin; 6. Dillon Million, Marshalltown; 7. Keiser; 8. Neal Miller, Waterloo.
Second heat – 1. Vanous; 2. Brown; 3. Z. Swanson; 4. Happel; 5. Kimm; 6. Pohlman; 7. Mike Wilson, Jesup.
Third heat – 1. Irvine; 2. J. Wilson; 3. Lichty; 4. Bonnett; 5. Petrzelka; 6. Randy Byerly, Tipton; 7. Wayne.
Fourth heat – 1. Wacha; 2. Songer; 3. Wauters; 4. Derry; 5. Siems; 6. Jason Cox, Maxwell; 7. Ballard.
B feature – 1. Pohlman; 2. Keiser; 3. Wayne; 4. M. Wilson; 5. Million; 6. Miller; 7. Cox; 8. Byerly.
Point provisionals – Ballard, Wayne.
Northern SportMods – 1. Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 2. Sam Wieben, Dysart; 3. Matt Petrzelka, Norway; 4. Lucas Lundry, Maynard; 5. Kurt Hogan, Vinton; 6. Ryan King, Montour; 7. Kyle Bentley, Independence; 8. Jake Murphy, Dubuque; 9. Jake Salisbury, Dunkerton; 10. Dakoda Sellers, Waverly; 11. Dawn Krall, Evansdale; 12. Troy Burkhart, Urbana; 13. Dan Drury, Eldora; 14. Austin Kaplan, Des Moines; 15. Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 16. Dave Schulze, Keystone; 17. Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 18. Ryan Coleman, Urbana; 19. John Schaefer, La Porte City; 20. Nate Smith, Cedar Falls.
First heat – 1. Dvorak; 2. Wieben; 3. Burkhart; 4. Hilmer; 5. Drury; 6. Sellers; DNS Smith.
Second heat – 1. Lundry; 2. Olson; 3. Bentley; 4. Petrzelka; 5. King; 6. Coleman; 7. Salisbury.
Third heat – 1. Kaplan; 2. Krall; 3. Schaefer; 4. Murphy; 5. Schulze; 6. Hogan.
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