The slimmest of margins separated Todd Cooney and John Emerson atop the IMCA Late Model Sunday Series standings entering the final night of action at Benton County Speedway.

IMCA Late Model Sunday Series Finale
IMCA Late Model Sunday Series Finale
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As such, it stands to reason it took all 25 feature laps to remove all doubt in determining the series champion.

Cooney held a one point edge over Emerson entering the ninth and final series tilt and, based on the tie breakers in place, unless he won the feature Emerson had to beat Cooney by at least two positions on the track to steal championship honors.

Done and done.

Emerson chased pole sitter Charlie McKenna for the first six laps before assuming command on the next circuit and just prior to the race’s only caution. Cooney, who started outside of McKenna, worked past him on the restart while Ryan Dolan raced the top side into contention.

Dolan, the winner of two of the first three series events held in Vinton this season, slid past Cooney and quickly chased down Emerson. Dolan assumed command with six laps to go, however Emerson remained committed to the low groove and stayed in close pursuit.

Emerson rallied and surged ahead of Dolan as the white flag waved en route to victory, clinching the series title in the process. Darren Ackerman made his way around Cooney late to steal third.

National title contender Tony Olson won for the eighth time in Vinton and for the 27th time overall this season in the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod division.

Olson, who locked up track championships with feature wins at Davenport and Independence earlier in the weekend, took the lead on the third circuit of Sunday’s feature. He started to pull away from traffic while Danny Dvorak raced through the field and settled into second.

Dvorak reeled in the race leader and was able to steal the top spot when Olson bobbled in turns one and two. A caution, however, negated the pass and left Olson at the helm for a restart with five laps remaining.

Olson drove away from the field when racing resumed to score the win in the 16-lapper ahead of Dvorak and Sam Wieben.

Nathan Ballard and Justin Wacha have battled at the top of the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock standings all season and they did the same on the track for top honors in that division’s 15-lapper.

From a fourth row start, Ballard quickly raced the low side into contention and took the lead after the completion of just one lap. Wacha chased him to the front as the lead pair pulled to a straightaway advantage over the field.

Wacha was able to slide beneath Ballard to snare the lead on lap six, however Ballard dialed in his No. 29 on the top side and resumed command four laps later. Ballard led the remainder of the 15-lapper to record his ninth win of the season. Wacha ran second ahead of Matt Pohlman.

Troy Cordes raced from a row five starting spot and into the lead after just seven of 20 laps in the Cassill Motors IMCA Modified main. Cordes took the top spot from Mike Burbridge and drove away from the pack to score the win, his third of the year.

Tony Snyder held off Scott Hogan for runner-up honors. Cordes, who started the night with a two point lead over Hogan, will have a four point advantage entering season championship night.

In only his second night behind the wheel of a new-to-him IMCA Sunoco Stock Car, Justin Temeyer raced to his first local win since last season. Temeyer took the lead away from Kevin Rose on the sixth of 16 laps and then held off pressure from Damon Murty to score the win. Scott Pippert ran third.

Don Erger raced to his eighth BCS Micro Mod victory of the season. Erger took the checkers ahead of Robby Decker and Tristan Cordes.

Racing action will take a break the next two weekends due to the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, which will be held Sept. 7-12 at Boone Speedway. Action returns to the Vinton quarter-mile one more night this season for the Salute to Soldiers Season Championships on Sept. 20.

Contributed By: Ryan Clark

BENTON COUNTY SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY SERIES & WEEKLY RACE RESULTS
VINTON, IA
AUGUST 30, 2015

IMCA LATE MODEL SUNDAY SERIES:
Feature – 1. 87 John Emerson, Waterloo; 2. 51 Ryan Dolan, Lisbon; 3. 53 Darren Ackerman, Readlyn; 4. 30 Todd Cooney, Des Moines; 5. 78 Rick Wendling, Hazleton; 6. 24 Scott Fitzpatrick, Wheatland; 7. 22 Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake; 8. 32 Robert See, Pleasant Hill; 9. 15C Curt Schroeder, Newton; 10. 70 Jerry King, Waterloo; 11. 77 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; 12. 44 Mark Hurst, Denver; 13. 5W Scott Welsh, Cedar Rapids; 14. 32X Chris Snyder, Raymond; 15. 60 Ben Seemann, Waterloo; 16. 199 Dave Burrell, Dysart; 17. 99D Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown.

First heat – 1. Ackerman; 2. King; 3. Cooney; 4. McKenna; 5. See; 6. Fitzpatrick; 7. DeFrance; 8. Snyder; 9. Burrell.

Second heat – 1. Dolan; 2. Emerson; 3. Seemann; 4. Wendling; 5. Schroeder; 6. Hamilton; 7. Welsh; 8. Hurst.

 

IMCA MODIFIED:
Feature – 1. 71C Troy Cordes, Denkerton; 2. 8 Tony Snyder, Readlyn; 3. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 4. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 5. 20L Zach Less, Manchester; 6. 11X Tom Berry, Medford, Ore.; 7. 4 Ryan Maitland, Denver; 8. 11B Mike Burbridge, Delhi; 9. 21 Brennen Chipp, Waterloo; 10. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 11. 2 Brandon Maitland, Denver; 12. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 13. CH19 Colby Heishman, Brooklyn; 14. 7SR Shawn Ritter, Keystone; 15. 14 Tom Hanson, Vinton; 16. 10 Kaleb Bentley, Fairbank.

First heat – 1. Hanson; 2. Cordes; 3. Less; 4. Dedrick; 5. Burbridge; 6. R. Maitland; 7. Berry; 8. Chipp.

Second heat – 1. Hogan; 2. Snyder; 3. Docekal; 4. Heishman; 5. B. Maitland; 6. Bentley; 7. Ritter; 8. Flannagan.

 

IMCA STOCK CAR:
Feature – 1. 7M Justin Temeyer, Independence; 2. 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea; 3. 47 Scott Pippert, Elberon; 4. 15 Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 5. 11 Jesse Brown, Nashua; 6. 22K Kevin Rose, Waterloo; 7. 8 Curtis Roster, Vinton; 8. 18 Chris Luloff, Independence; 9. 67 Justin Stander, Shellsburg; 10. 22D Jared Daggett, Marshalltown; 11. 76 Mike Galli, Urbana; 12. 8B Scott Beauregard, Brandon; 13. 89B Tim Fobian, Dike.

First heat – 1. Brown; 2. Chesmore; 3. Rose; 4. Roster; 5. Fobian; 6. Beauregard.

Second heat – 1. Murty; 2. Temeyer; 3. Luloff; 4. Stander; 5. Pippert; 6. Galli; 7. Daggett.

 

IMCA HOBBY STOCK:
Feature – 1. 29 Nathan Ballard, Marengo; 2. 45 Justin Wacha, Vinton; 3. 4P Matt Pohlman, Keystone; 4. 48 Adam Petrzelka, Norway; 5. 78 Matt Brown, Dysart; 6. 96R Jamie Songer, Ankeny; 7. 14C Leah Wroten, Independence; 8. 717 Zach Swanson, Waterloo; 9. 24T Tyler Ollendieck, Tripoli; 10. 23 Andrew Torkelson, Lisbon; 11. 14J Jacob Floyd, Cedar Rapids; 12. 357 Brett Vanous, Quasqueton; 13. 77 Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids.

First heat – 1. Wacha; 2. Songer; 3. Ollendieck; 4. Swanson; 5. Brown; 6. Torkelson; 7. Wroten.

Second heat – 1. Ballard; 2. Petrzelka; 3. Pohlman; 4. Floyd; 5. Grother; 6. Vanous.

 

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD:
Feature – 1. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 2. 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 3. 198 Sam Wieben, Dysart; 4. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 5. K3 Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 6. 339 Kevin Hurst, Janesville; 7. J2 Dave Schulze, Keystone; 8. 15B Troy Burkhart, Urbana; 9. 22 Matt Petrzelka, Norway; 10. 7D Dakoda Sellers, Waverly; 11. 99 Erick Knutsen, Cedar Rapids; 12. 17 Dawn Krall, Evansdale; 13. 5JR Jami Ritter, Keystone; 14. 10 Lee Rouse, Atkins; 15. 6K Mike McNeal, Vinton; 16. 11M Mike Mitchell, Cedar Rapids.

First heat – 1. Dvorak; 2. Hilmer; 3. Sellers; 4. Schulze; 5. Knutsen; 6. Hurst; 7. McNeal; 8. Mitchell.

Second heat – 1. Wieben; 2. T. Olson; 3. Burkhart; 4. Krall; 5. K. Olson; 6. Rouse; 7. Ritter; 8. Petrzelka.

 

BCS MICRO MOD:
Feature – 1. 6E Don Erger, Brandon; 2. 16 Robby Decker, Waterloo; 3. 71 Tristan Cordes, Dunkerton; 4. 18 Jeff Davis, La Porte City; 5. 64 Matt Post, Walker; 6. 17 Brady Kohrs, Independence; 7. 51 Cole McNeal, Dysart; 8. 13 Scott Beaty, Urbana; 9. 43 Brett Knapp, Waukon.

Heat – 1. Decker; 2. Cordes; 3. McNeal; 4. Davis; 5. Beaty; 6. Kohrs; 7. Erger; 8. Knapp; 9. Post.

 

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