Carter scores big win on Benton County Speedway’s Urbana 5 Race Night

Feature

After starting 21st, Brayton Carter raced all the way to the rich Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod checkers Sunday at Benton County Speedway. (Photo by Jim Wittke)

By Jerry Mackey

VINTON, Iowa (July 5) – One hundred and forty-seven drivers packed the pit area at the Benton County Speedway Bullring Sunday night for the Urbana 5 Memorial. The very special race night was run in memory of the five youngsters who perished in a tragic traffic accident in April of 2015; the kids were all avid race fans. 

The headliner of the night was the 25-lap Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod feature. With the lineup included past national and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s champi­ons, the Urbana 5 committee bolstered the winner’s share of the purse to $1,800. The ex­tra money brought a stout field of 30 SportMod drivers to The Bullring on Sunday night.

Joe Docekal took the lead from his outside front row start and led for several laps before a series of yellow flags allowed some of the heavy hitters time to work toward the front from deep in the field. 

Brayton Carter had started 21st and steadily worked to the front, taking the lead from Docekal late in the race setting up a thrilling ending. Current national point leader Cody Thompson started 17th, worked into second and threw a slide job at Carter coming to the checkers but was unable to make it stick, allowing Carter to get under the checkers first.

“I knew there would be cautions and if I just allowed myself to bide my time that I would be able to get to the front,” Carter said after adding his name to the impressive list of Urbana 5 winners. Thomp­son ran second ahead of Docekal. 

The $1,000 to win IMCA Modified feature belonged to Kollin Hibdon. While Hibdon led the race flag to flag from his outside front row start, it was anything but an easy win for the teenager from Pahrump, Nev.

Defending Side Biter Chassis North Central Region champion Tom Berry Jr. came all the way from the 14th position start to pressure Hibdon late in the race. Hibdon held off Berry by less than a car length at the finish line to earn the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot berth.  

His impressive run to the $1,000 IMCA Modified checkers Sunday Benton County Speedway put Kollin Hibdon in victory lane and on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. (Photo by Jim Wittke)

The IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event became a family affair once again as the Murtys put on another great show for the fans. The Urbana 5 trophy went to Damon Murty as he quickly got to the front and went on to score the win over his son Dallon.  

The IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks provided another entertaining feature event for the Urbana 5 special. Nathan Ballard fought off multiple challenges by Kaden Reynolds in scoring the hard-fought feature win.  

Racing will continue at The Bullring Sunday, July 12 with another program featuring all weekly divisions. Action will get underway at 5 p.m. 

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