It was a packed and over flowing pit as well as the fullest grandstand we've seen this year, for the Sunday night Hogan Memorial race at the Benton County Speedway. This show has grown over the years, and just goes to show how respected the honorees of the show, Dick and Janet Hogan were in the community and Iowa's racing circle. Their son, Scott, carries on the Hogan racing tradition and pilots the 33D IMCA Modified.
Five classes competed on the night--all with a draw/redraw format. The first to run was the IMCA Sport Compacts, the winner being Steve Miedke with a dominating victory. Things were a little wild before the race really got into a racing rhythm. Drivers seemed to be impatient and for a while, we were wondering if we had misunderstood just what the race was paying! Following the winner to the finish line was Brad Chandler, Merv Chandler, Brett Vanous and Neil Nabholz.
The Hobby Stocks took to the track next. Doug Laughridge and Vince Buchholz drew the front row. Buchholz's night ended after the first lap when he exited into the infield, with apparent mechanical issues.
It was no surprise to see local favorite Scott Pippert rise to the top and soon be challenging leader Laughridge for the lead. He quickly got that lead, and pulled away by a comfortable margin, taking the win.
Laughridge finished in second, Brian Happel was third, fourth went to Justin Stander and Rodney Grother in his traditionally "patriotic" car, finished fifth.
The Northern SportMod's was a yellow flag fest. Tyler Droste got to the front quickly from starting back in the sixth row, due in part to cars starting in front of him being eliminated due to mishaps. Nothing to be taken away from the young man though, as he drove his machine skillfully to the front early on and motored home to the feature win. Racer Hulin put his #505 to the topside of the track and made it work to capture the runner up spot. Third went to Kurt Moeding, who also started well back in the pack, fourth was Jim Buhlman and Danny Dvorak rounded out the top five.
The Stock Cars ran 15-laps for their feature. The race was red flagged early when Damon Murty got caught up in a situation at the bottom of turn two, barrel rolled, and another car, I believe Scooter Dulin, launched up over him. Both drivers were okay, but Murty's car was done, and towed off with a dangling front end among other damages. It had been the rear end dangling just a few days prior! Not a good Holiday week for the Chelsea driver. Andy Bryant took flight early to lead the pack, choosing the top of the oval. A driver who has been having a successful season as of late, John Emerson would have none of that, and passed Bryant to take over the top spot. Emerson took the win, followed by Bryant in second and Norm Chesmore was a close third. Jason DeShaw finished fourth and Phil Holtz, the track point leader was fifth.
Now it was time for the 40-lap main attraction of the evening. A great field of 41 cars checked into the pits. After two B mains, whittling the field down to 24 cars, three provisionals were added...two drivers tops in points at the track that had not qualified--Scott Hogan and Ronn Lauritzen, and a former winner of the Hogan Memorial, Timm Jensen. The top twelve finishers from the heats got to chose a card for their starting position. The #1 position went to car #1, Dan Chapman--the Flyin Embalmer out of Clarence, Iowa. Kyle Krampe drew the outside pole.
After a moving 4-wide parade lap, the field prepared for the green flag, which was scheduled for a mandatory pit stop at lap 20. Chapman held the lead early but Gilman driver, Richie Gustin came calling quickly. It seemed just when the racing got started, another yellow flag reared it's ugly head, and the cars were slowed for another, and a resulting restart situation. Chapman was still in charge after several of those early "yellow rags", but Gustin made the successful pass for the lead along about lap six or seven. Behind him, Kyle Krampe, Chapman, JD Auringer and Mike VanGenderen were coming strong. Oops...another yellow! Those restarts situations can really mix things up at times, and at the 20 lap halfway mark when the cars were stopped on the front stretch for their pit stop, the running order was Gustin, Chapman, Jerry Luloff, Cayden Carter and Krampe. During the five minute pit stop, the most attention was to the right rear and fuel.
The man on the move in the second half of the race was the 10K of Ronn Lauritzen! Lauritzen, who was one of the "Tail End Charlie" provisionals had made it up to 8th spot and applying more pressure. His great run would end when he exited into the infield with but a handful of laps remaining. Those final few laps would not go caution free--two more yellows flying before all was finally said and done. Gustin was still in charge, Chapman and Luloff behind him. The race would end with Gustin getting the victory. Chapman and Lulloff retained second and third, Joe Docekal powered by a couple of cars the final lap to finish in fourth and young Cayden Carter from Oskaloosa, took his ride to the fifth place.
It was right at 11:30 before that final checkered flag fell. There was a lot of racing to be seen on the night however, and with 127 race cars packing the pits, the huge crowd saw what they came to see. For more views on the night's racing be sure and check out fellow PR blogger's Jeff Broeg and Ryan "Numbersman" Clark's thoughts on the Positively Racing site. We were happy to be enjoying our night among a number of fellow racing friends--it always makes a race more enjoyable for us--plus, enjoyed meeting a couple of new fans who happened to know who we were that take in our view here at this site. We are always glad to meet any of you, so be sure and introduce yourselves anytime. Until next time, get out and find a race to attend!
Happy racing!
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