Sports : Stanek gets first win Vinton; Week 2 was first points race of season here

By Brian Bries

Welcome to the first “Brian’s Views from the Grandstands” in 2010. Last night was the first points race at Vinton in the chase to crown the 2010 Season Champions. It was announced that 108 cars checked into the pits tonight to due battle amongst the 5 classes of cars. This first week was brought to you by West Edge Auto Salvage. Temps were in the upper 60s and a great night of action was in store. I had both of my boys with me so some of the report may be spotty. The first feature of the night was the IMCA Sport Compacts and 20 cars were on hand to do battle. The first caution flew early as Neil Nabholz lost a hub and a few others were collected including the 75 and 11 cars. 15 cars restarted the feature as I didn’t know for sure who all headed to the pits at this time. When racing resumed Dallas Chandler held the point from his pole starting position. On lap 3, Brett Vanous passed Chandler for the lead and never looked back. The unofficial top 5 was Vanous, Dallas Chandler, Merv Chandler, last year’s track champion Gary Peiffer, and Chuck Hanson. Vanous was Dq’d in post race inspection from what I was told giving Dallas his first feature win I believe. Dallas was driving the 22 car that Nathan Chandler drove last year. Heat race winners were Travis Losenicky and Cody Swanson. Next up was the IMCA Stock Cars. 13 cars were on hand tonight as Jason Deshaw took the early lead from the pole position start. By lap 5 Deshaw had a pack of hungry wolves behind him in Scooter Dulin and Justin Temeyer. On lap 11 Damon Murty made his way by Deshaw and went on the score the victory. Deshaw finished second with Bob Ahrendson, Dulin, and Curtis Roster rounding out the top 5. Heat races were won by Temeyer and Murty. The Sport Mods were up next for their feature 32 cars checked in tonight. It would take 2 B Mains to fill out the field. Tyler Droste took the early lead from the pole. A few minor cautions would bunch up the field with Austin Kaplan taking the win. Danny Dvorak finished second with Kurt Hogan, Rod McDonald and Droste completing the top 5. Heat race winners were Jim Buhlman, Kaleb Bentley, Dvorak, and Kaplan. Aric Becker and Drew Fish won the “B” Mains. The IMCA Hobby Stocks were up next and 19 cars started the feature event. 26 cars checked in at the pit gate. Wes Stanek lead the race flag to flag from the front outside starting, but it wasn’t easy as Shawn Anderson (78) was all over him trying to complete a pass. Wes noted that this was his first feature win here in victory lane. Anderson finished second with Brad Forbes, Matt Brown, and 7B rounding out the top 5. Heat race winners were Scottie Pippert, Brown, and Nick Murty. The “B” Main winner was 19. Finally the last race up was the “Knights of Thunder”, (my term for the class) IMCA Modifieds. 18 modifieds were on hand tonight with Joe Docekal taking the early lead from the pole position. On lap 7 Richie Gustin was able to get by Docekal and went on to score the feature win. Docekal finished second with Jerry Luloff, Scott Hogan, and Max Corporan rounding out the top 5. Heat race winners were Brian Krall and Patrick Flannigan.

Note: Vinton is no longer running the 2-man class due a lack of support. I thought the races were great for the first night out and not too many tempers flew. Everyone kept the shiny side up and I was surprised to see Norman Chesmore out for the feature after the hard lick he took to the passenger side during the heat race. Also my own personal drivers of the week is a tie between Dallas Chander and Wes Stanek for their first feature wins at Vinton. Tough break award goes to Dawn Krall and Tony Olson who both broke during hot laps.