Sports : Gustin makes late pass for victory at Benton County Speedway

Jenae Gustin used a pass in the final corner to earn top Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod honors Sunday night at Benton County Speedway.

Tony Olson held the lead at the drop of the green in the 20-lapper before Clint Luellen took command following a lap five restart.

Meanwhile, Gustin was working through the field from a fifth row start and settled into second just past the midway point.

With Luellen navigating through slower traffic, Gustin was able to chip away at the lead in the waning laps.

Running the top side throughout the event, Gustin was forced to the low groove in traffic and was able to challenge Luellen for the lead late.

Gustin and Luellen went three-wide with a lapped car exiting four on the final circuit with Gustin able to inch ahead at the line to score the victory. Luellen ran second ahead of Colby Heishman.

Damon Murty earned his second straight win to start the season in the Ron-Da-Voo Lounge & Deli IMCA Stock Car division.

Jared Daggett and Jay Schmidt shared time out front while Murty advanced from row four and into a challenge for the lead just past the midway point of the 18-lapper.

Murty worked around Schmidt to steal the top spot on lap 10, but Schmidt continued to pester the leader until he faded in the final laps.

Murty drove to back-to-back wins to open the season for the third consecutive year on the Vinton quarter-mile. Schmidt and Scooter Dulin completed the top three.

Nathan Ballard also earned his second win in as many weeks in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock division.

Ballard assumed command from Justin Wacha on the fifth of 15 laps to drive to victory ahead of Austin Luellen and Wacha.

Joe Docekal earned his first win since 2013 in the Cassill Motors IMCA Modified division.

Docekal led early until Zach Less powered to the front on the fourth circuit. Docekal was able to sneak beneath Less to regain control at the midway point of the 20-lapper to take the win ahead of Patrick Flannagan and Scott Hogan.

Don Erger won his second straight BCS Micro Mod feature. Erger made his way past beneath Matt Post with two laps to go to score the victory ahead of Buster Pate and Post.

The Legends cars made a rare appearance in Vinton and it was Vince Bartolotta earning the win in that 12-lapper. Bartolotta raced to victory ahead of Warren Ropp and Matt Monteeth.

RESULTS

IMCA MODIFIED

Feature – 1. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 2. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 3. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 4. 21K Kyle Brown, Kellogg; 5. 20L Zach Less, Manchester; 6. 71C Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 7. 8 Tony Snyder, Readlyn; 8. 10K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 9. 4 Ryan Maitland, Denver; 10. 5B Austin Bishop, Manchester; 11. 26 Brian Irvine, Oelwein; 12. 14 Tom Hanson, Vinton; 13. 92 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 14. 1JR Ben Chapman, Clarence; 15. 21 Brennen Chipp, Waterloo; 16. 26J Joel Rust, Grundy Center; 17. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton.

First heat – 1. Less; 2. Rust; 3. Chapman; 4. Snyder; 5. Chipp; 6. Hanson.

Second heat – 1. Cordes; 2. Droste; 3. Hogan; 4. Docekal; 5. Lauritzen; 6. Dedrick.

Third heat – 1. Brown; 2. Flannagan; 3. Irvine; 4. Maitland; 5. Bishop.

IMCA STOCK CAR

Feature – 1. 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea; 2. 19J Jay Schmidt, Tama; 3. 3 Scooter Dulin, Cedar Rapids; 4. 15 Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 5. 4 Jerry Miles, Bernard; 6. 67 Justin Stander, Vinton; 7. 8 Curtis Roster, Vinton; 8. 89B Tim Fobian, Dike; 9. 22D Jared Daggett, Marshalltown; 10. 47 Scott Pippert, Elberon; 11. 74C Cole Mather, Fairbank; 12. 4JR Russell Damme Jr., Waterloo; 13. 14M Brian Mahlstedt, Ionia; 14. 76 Mike Galli, Urbana; 15. 8B Scott Beauregard, Brandon; 16. 42 Lon Mercer, Urbana; 17. 8E Mitchell Evens, Independence; 18. 5G Cliff Gray, Waterloo.

First heat – 1. Dulin; 2. Chesmore; 3. Miles; 4. Beauregard; 5. Fobian; 6. Evens.

Second heat – 1. Murty; 2. Stander; 3. Roster; 4. Daggett; 5. Mather; 6. Gray.

Third heat – 1. Schmidt; 2. Mahlstedt; 3. Damme; 4. Galli; 5. Pippert; 6. Mercer.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK

Feature – 1. 29 Nathan Ballard, Marengo; 2. 3A Austin Luellen, Minburn; 3. 45 Justin Wacha, Vinton; 4. 79 Benji Irvine, Oelwein; 5. 4P Matt Pohlman, Keystone; 6. 166 Justin Lichty, Waterloo; 7. 48 Adam Petrzelka, Norway; 8. 7B Jim Ball, Independence; 9. 77 Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids; 10. 14J Jacob Floyd, Cedar Rapids; 11. 35B Shawn Kuennen, Hazleton; 12. 85M Dillon Million, Marshalltown; 13. 24B Butch Lester, What Cheer; 14. 357 Brett Vanous, Quasqueton; 15. 81M Travis Merical, Marshalltown; 16. 14C Leah Wroten, Independence; 17. 71A Kyle Dulin, Brandon;

18. 42 Riley Songer, Ankeny; 19. 717 Zach Swanson, Waterloo; 20. 78 Matt Brown, Dysart.

First heat – 1. Million; 2. Irvine; 3. Pohlman; 4. Kuennen; 5. Dulin; 6. Petrzelka; 7. Floyd.

Second heat – 1. Luellen; 2. Ballard; 3. Vanous; 4. Swanson; 5. Lichty; 6. Songer; 7. Lester.

Third heat – 1. Wacha; 2. Brown; 3. Grother; 4. Ball; 5. Merical; 6. Wroten.

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD

Feature – 1. 19J Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown; 2. 3L Clint Luellen, Minburn; 3. CH19 Colby Heishman, Brooklyn; 4. 19R Damon Murty, Chelsea; 5. 22 Matt Petrzelka, Norway; 6. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 7. J2 Dave Schulze, Keystone; 8. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 9. 3T Tyler Soppe, Sherrill; 10. 3M Dave McCalla, Cedar Rapids; 11. T17 Tom Rawlins, Kellogg; 12. 17 Dawn Krall, Evansdale; 13. 199 Dave Burrell, Dysart; 14. 5 Jamie Ritter, Keystone; 15. 10 Lee Rouse, Atkins; 16. 80 Duane VanDeest, Grundy Center; 17. K3 Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 18. 6K Mike McNeal, Vinton; 19. 78 Chris Roney, Decorah; 20. 57R Ryan King, Montour; 21. 7SR Shawn Ritter, Keystone; 22. 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 23. 95 Mike McDonald, Cedar Rapids; 24. 6T Siraj Thomason, Montezuma; 25. 3 Trent Jochimsen, Cedar Rapids; 26. 80J Jared VanDeest, Holland; 27. B3 Russ Olson, Cedar Rapids.

First heat – 1. T. Olson; 2. S. Ritter; 3. Luellen; 4. McDonald; 5. King; 6. D. VanDeest.

Second heat – 1. Gustin; 2. Heishman; 3. K. Olson; 4. Petrzelka; 5. J. Ritter; 6. Burrell; 7. R. Olson.

Third heat – 1. Murty; 2. Soppe; 3. McCalla; 4. Roney; 5. Rawlins; 6. Dvorak; 7. Thomason.

Fourth heat – 1. Schulze; 2. Hilmer; 3. J. VanDeest; 4. Krall; 5. Jochimsen; 6. Rouse; 7. McNeal.

BCS MICRO MOD

Feature – 1. 6E Don Erger, Brandon; 2. 111 Buster Pate, Hiawatha; 3. 64 Matt Post, Walker; 4. 18 Jeff Davis, La Porte City; 5. 2C Brad Chandler, Cedar Rapids; 6. 00 Brody Willett, Alburnett; 7. 35 Jason Gorman, New Hampton; 8. 111A A. J. Witten, Cedar Rapids; 9. 16 Robby Decker, Waterloo; 10. 96 Troy Soiney, Mabel, Minn.; 11. 48 Carson Less, Manchester; 12. 71 Tristan Cordes, Dunkerton; 13. 75 Cole McNeal, Dysart; 14. 2 Brandon Maitland, Denver; 15. 1 Kaden Reynolds, Cedar Rapids; 16. 13 Scott Beaty, Urbana; 17. 5 Eli Hershberger, Mabel, Minn.

First heat – 1. Maitland; 2. Davis; 3. Post; 4. Pate; 5. Beaty; 6. Hershberger.

Second heat – 1. Erger; 2. Soiney; 3. Buhlman; 4. Witten; 5. McNeal; 6. Less.

Third heat – 1. Cordes; 2. Gorman; 3. Decker; 4. Reynolds; 5. Chandler.

LEGEND

Feature – 1. 6B Vince Bartolotta, Muskego, Wis.; 2. 77 Warren Ropp, Kalona; 3. 91 Matt Monteeth; 4. 80 Peeken Schneider, Davenport; 5. 16 Austin Slabaugh, Kalona; 6. 53 Keith Meyer, Cedar Rapids; 7. 6 Aaron Meyer, Cedar Rapids; 8. 51 Bryce Bailey, Cedar Rapids; 9. 74 Brock Haines.

Heat – 1. Monteeth; 2. Schneider; 3. Ropp; 4. Bailey; 5. Bartolotta; 6. K. Meyer; 7. A. Meyer; 8. Slabaugh; 9. Haines.