Independence Motor Speedway
June 23, 2012
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Smock takes IMCA Late Model checkers  at Independence

by Ryan Clark
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (June 23) – A strong field of 110 race teams filled the pit area for Dunlap Motors Night at Independence Motor Speedway. While one driver earned his first win of the season, another earned the first Independence win of his career.

Scott Welsh and Rory Metcalf led the IMCA Late Model feature to green, but it was second row starter Travis Smock who took the early lead in the 25-lapper. Smock quickly shot beneath the front row starters to assume command by the completion of lap one, then immediately pulled away from the field.

While Smock led, Tyler Bruening was working through the field from a sixth row starting spot, running the bottom groove into second place on lap six. By that time, however, Smock extended his advantage to a full straightaway. Bruening’s attempt to reel in the leader was assisted when the race’s only caution occurred for a spinning Metcalf on lap 10.

When racing resumed, Bruening again went to work on the low side of the speedway, but Smock pulled away from traffic to drive away to his first win of the season. Bruening held off a hard-charging Jason Rauen, who was driving Joel Callahan’s #40, to finish second.

Shawn Ryan left little doubt he was the man to beat in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. From his outside front row starting spot, Ryan launched into the lead leaving Todd Conrad to battle Ed Thomas for second. Conrad gained the second spot on lap two, but Ryan was already pulling away from the field.

As Ryan extended his advantage, points leader Mark Schulte went to work on the top side of the fast 3/8-mile oval. Schulte, who started in row five, settled into fourth after just four laps, then snuck by Jeff Streeter for third on lap nine. By that time, Ryan was a straightaway ahead of the field and working through lapped traffic.

With Ryan navigating the backmarkers, Schulte challenged to the outside of Conrad for second, eventually taking that spot with only four laps to go. Ryan, however, ran untouched out front as he drove to his first-ever win in weekly racing in Independence. Schulte ran second ahead of Ronn Lauritzen, who passed Conrad on the final circuit to take third.

Chris Luloff earned his fourth straight win in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, a feat that had not been accomplished in three years and one that had only been completed four other times in the 23-plus year history of the division in Independence.

Luloff made his way past Vince Buchholz to take the lead five laps into the event, then pulled away from the pack to score the victory. Buchholz ran second ahead of Jeremiah Wilson.

Tim Helle held the early lead in the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. He paced the field through a trio of cautions over the first five laps while Sean Johnson was running both high and low to the front from his sixth row starting spot.

Following the final caution on lap five, Johnson worked the top side around Jason Hocken, then shot to the low side of Helle to take the lead on lap seven. He drove away to victory, his third of the season, to extend his points lead. Hocken followed Johnson past Helle to take second.

Jim Aschenbrenner took the lead at the drop of the green in the 15-lap IMCA SportMod feature. He quickly pulled away from traffic, but three early cautions kept the field bunched together. In that time, Danny Dvorak worked his way into contention after starting in row six.

Dvorak made his way past Aschenbrenner for the lead on the sixth circuit, while Tyler Droste ran the low groove to the front. Droste reeled in Dvorak just past the midway point, then broke free for the lead with five laps to go. Droste went on to lead the remainder of the event to earn his second win in the last three weeks. Shane Ebaugh slipped past Dvorak on the final lap to steal second.

Steve Miedke earned the first-ever win at the speedway in the IMCA Sport Compact division. From his second row starting spot, Miedke made his way around front row starters Travis Ross and Brett Vanous to lead the 12-lapper in its entirety. Nathan Chandler and Merv Chandler chased Miedke to the checkers.

Next Saturday, June 30, is Budweiser Mid-Season Championship Night. All five weekly divisions will be lined up straight-up based on season point totals. No heat races will be run in those divisions. The Sport Compacts will return with another draw/redraw show and include both heats and a feature. Gates open at 4 p.m. with hot laps set for 6 and racing to follow.

RESULTS
IMCA LATE MODEL
Feature – 1. 98 Travis Smock (Independence); 2. 16 Tyler Bruening (Decorah); 3. 40 Jason Rauen (Farley); 4. 45 Curt Martin (Independence); 5. 73 Greg Kastli (Waterloo); 6. 2P Jon Passick (Waterloo); 7. 3X Chad Lerch (North Liberty); 8. 77A Jeff Aikey (Waterloo); 9. 5W Scott Welsh (Cedar Rapids); 10. 4D Rick Dralle (Waterloo); 11. 21B Joel Brasch (Dunkerton); 12. 60 Dean Wagner (Evansdale); 13. 88 Drew Johnson (Belle Plaine); 14. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr. (Washburn); 15. 25P Kenny Pint (Independence); 16. 4 Leon Thomsen (Waverly); 17. 0 Rory Metcalf (West Union); 18. 7 Greg Hunter (Independence); 19. 99 Luke Pestka (Robins).
First heat – 1. Bruening; 2. Kastli; 3. Brasch; 4. Welsh; 5. Lerch; 6. Pint.
Second heat – 1. Passick; 2. Metcalf; 3. Smock; 4. Martin; 5. Pestka; 6. Dralle.
Third heat – 1. Johnson; 2. Hackwell; 3. Aikey; 4. Rauen; 5. Hunter; 6. Wagner; 7. Thomsen.

IMCA MODIFIED
Feature – 1. 91 Shawn Ryan (Waterloo); 2. 27M Mark Schulte (Delhi); 3. 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup); 4. 83C Todd Conrad (Central City); 5. 1J Jeff Streeter (Vinton); 6. 18 Jerry Luloff (Independence); 7. 64 Vern Jackson (Waterloo); 8. 57B Dennis Betzer (Central City); 9. F7 Patrick Flannagan (Cedar Rapids); 10. 98 Jason Snyder (Dunkerton); 11. 24R Adam Johnson (Independence); 12. 41P Keith Pittman (Waterloo); 13. 75 Josh Sherbon (Cedar Falls): 14. 01 Ed Thomas (Waterloo); 15. 66 Terry Johnson (Waterloo); 16. 11 Timm Jensen (Dunkerton); 17. 5 Jason Morehouse (Evansdale); 18. 23B Brett Bumgardner (Hawkeye); 19. 85 Johnathan Thimmesch (Independence): 20. 11B Mike Burbridge (Delhi); DNS 96 Eric Tuttle (Vinton).
First heat – 1. Lauritzen; 2. Ryan; 3. Pittman; 4. Betzer; 5. T. Johnson; 6. Tuttle; 7. Thimmesch.
Second heat – 1. Schulte; 2. Conrad; 3. Streeter; 4. Jackson; 5. Luloff; 6. Jensen; 7. Morehouse.
Third heat – 1. A. Johnson; 2. Burbridge; 3. Snyder; 4. Thomas; 5. Flannagan; 6. Sherbon; 7. Bumgardner.

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature – 1. 8R Sean Johnson (Independence); 2. JR3 Jason Hocken (Independence); 3. 15T Tim Helle (Garnavillo); 4. 3T Scooter Dulin (Cedar Rapids); 5. 3 Jarod Weepie (Dunkerton); 6. 15 Norman Chesmore (Rowley); 7. 00 Tony Schimmels (Readlyn); 8. 8B Scott Beauregard (Center Point); 9. 4JR Russell Damme Jr. (Waterloo); 10. 4 Cory Tharp (Cedar Falls); 11. 11J Jerome Jacoby (Waterloo); 12. 17 Jason Niedert (Cedar Falls); 13. 9E Austin Evens (Independence); 14. 87 John Emerson (Waterloo); 15. 85 Bryce Carey (Nashua); 16. 7H Phil Holtz (Manchester); 17. K38 Kenny Taylor (Strawberry Point).
First heat – 1. Emerson; 2. Evens; 3. Chesmore; 4. Tharp; 5. Schimmels; 6. Carey; 7. Jacoby; 8. Holtz 9. Taylor.
Second heat – 1. Helle; 2. Niedert; 3. Dulin; 4. Weepie; 5. Hocken; 6. Johnson; 7. Damme; 8. Beauregard.

IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature – 1. 92 Tyler Droste (Waterloo); 2. 14 Shane Ebaugh (Evansdale); 3. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 4. 96 Lucas Lundry (Maynard); 5. 21 Brennen Chipp (Waterloo); 6. 198 Sam Wieben (Dysart); 7. J2 Dave Schulze (Keystone); 8. 49 Brandon Smith (Rowley); 9. 72 Mike Hogencamp (Waterloo); 10. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 11. 28P Rick Paulson (Tripoli); 12. 11M Mike Mitchell (Cedar Rapids); 13. 93 Josh Burrell (Dysart); 14. 39 Brian Hilbert (Independence); 15. 7Z Zac Becker (Waterloo); 16. 6 Jim Aschenbrenner (Aplington); 17. 25T Travis Peterson (Gladbrook); 18. 11 Bob Ebaugh (Raymond); 19. 50H Steve Wimer (Toddville); 20. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 21. B62 Brandon Davis (Robins); DNS 63 Matt McCahen (Waterloo).
First heat – 1. Aschenbrenner; 2. Ebaugh; 3. Lundry; 4. Ebaugh; 5. Wieben; 6. Buhlman; 7. Burrell; 8. Hilbert.
Second heat – 1. Hilmer; 2. Chipp; 3. Hogencamp; 4. Paulson; 5. Peterson; 6. Mitchell; DNS McCahen.
Third heat – 1. Droste; 2. Dvorak; 3. Smith; 4. Schulze; 5. Becker; 6. Davis; 7. Wimer.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature – 1. 18 Chris Luloff (Independence); 2. 55 Vince Buchholz (Cedar Falls); 3. 64JR Jeremiah Wilson (Waterloo); 4. 79 Benji Irvine (Cedar Falls); 5. 14G Curt Graham (Tiffin); 6. 67 Justin Stander (Vinton); 7. 258 Doug Laughridge (Vinton); 8. 26 Nathan Christie (Waterloo); 9. 95 Matt Lundry (Oelwein); 10. 64 Jerome Wilson (Waterloo); 11. 90 Lowell Potter (White Bear Lake, Minn.); 12. 20W Bruce Fraser (Manchester); 13. 7B Jim Ball (Independence); 14. 2 Nick Welch (Cedar Falls); 15. 25 Jamie Whitaker (Oelwein); 16. 8 David Wheeler (Fairbank); 17. 77 Rod Grother (Cedar Rapids); 18. 12OZ Gary Gates (Waterloo); 19. 58B Randy Byerly (Tipton); 20. 20B Matt Burmeister (Dunkerton); 21. 35B Shawn Kuennen (Hazleton); 22. 14J Jacob Floyd (Cedar Rapids); DNS 5 Marcus Wayne (Independence).
First heat – 1. Grother; 2. Buchholz; 3. Lundry; 4. Wheeler; 5. Stander; 6. Welch; 7. Gates; 8. Wayne.
Second heat – 1. Ball; 2. Jeremish Wilson; 3. Whitaker; 4. Laughridge; 5. Fraser; 6. Potter; 7. Christie; 8. Burmeister.
Third heat – 1. Irvine; 2. Luloff; 3. Graham; 4. Kuennen; 5. Jerome Wilson; 6. Floyd; 7. Byerly.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature – 1. 11 Steve Miedke (Shellsburg); 2. 22 Nathan Chandler (Norway); 3. 2 Merv Chandler (Vinton); 4. 35 Brett Vanous (Quasqueton); 5. 22T Travis Losenicky (Garrison); 6. 007 Adam Gates (Cedar Rapids); 7. 03 Neil Nabholz (Waterloo); 8. 83 Travis Ross (Evansdale).
Heat – 1. M. Chandler; 2. N. Chandler; 3. Vanous; 4. Miedke; 5. Ross; 6. Losenicky; 7. Gates; 8. Nabholz.