Gustin Edges Droste & Lauritzen for HDT Win at Benton County [VIDEO]

Richie Gustin Jr. grabbed a thrilling XSAN Hawkeye Dirt Tour win over Tyler Droste and Ronn Lauritzen at Vinton's Benton County Speedway on August 18, 2014.

Vern Jackson (Waterloo, IA) took the lead when the thirty-lap IMCA Modified main event came to life.  Tyler Droste (Waterloo, IA) applied heavy pressure, but Jackson would hold him off in the early stages of the race.

Behind the side-by-side battle for the lead, Richie Gustin Jr. (Gilman, IA), Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup, IA), and Joe Docekal (Dysart, IA) began drawing closer to the lead duo.  Eventually it was a five car battle for the win.

In the closing stages of the race, Droste put himself into the lead. Gustin and Lauritzen came knocking on the door.  Gustin would eventual slipped by and raced on to the win.  Droste finished second with Lauritzen third.  Jackson and Docekal rounded out the top five.

Video Highlights courtesy of XSAN.tv via Facebook

HAWKEYE DIRT TOUR IMCA MODIFIEDS:
Feature: 1. 19G Richie Gustin, Gilman; 2. 92 Tyler Droste, Waterloo; 3. 10K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 4. 64 Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 5. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 6. 10M Jeremy Mills, Garner; 7. 00J J. D. Auringer, Waterloo; 8. 21K Kyle Brown, Kellogg; 9. 57V Mike Van Genderen, Newton; 10. 26J Joel Rust, Grundy Center; 11. 99 Jess Sobbing, Glenwood; 12. 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa; 13. 71W Jeff Waterman, Quincy, Ill.; 14. 17R Derek Reimer, Marshalltown; 15. 71 Troy Cordes, Dunkerton; 16. 48J Jacob Murray, Hartford; 17. 20L Zach Less, Hopkinton; 18. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 19. 9 Tyler Groenendyk, Oskaloosa; 20. 81 Jesse Belez, Marengo; 21. 12X Trent Jackson, Marshalltown; 22. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids.

Heat One (four redraw): 1. Auringer; 2. Gustin; 3. Brown; 4. Rust; 5. Waterman; 6. Reimer; 7. Cordes; 8. Sobbing.

Heat Two: 1. Docekal; 2. Mills; 3. Groenendyk; 4. V. Jackson; 5. Less; 6. Murray; 7. T. Jackson.

Heat Three: 1. Droste; 2. Flannagan; 3. Lauritzen; 4. Van Genderen; 5. Hogan; 6. Belez; 7. Carter.

IMCA STOCK CAR:
Feature: 1. 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea; 2. 47 Scott Pippert, Elberon; 3. 15 Norman Chesmore, Rowley; 4. 67 Justin Stander, Shellsburg; 5. 76 Mike Galli, Urbana; 6. 3 Ryan Coleman, Vinton; 7. 62G Adam Gebel, Cedar Falls; 8. 8E Mitchell Evens, Independence.

Heat: 1. Murty; 2. Chesmore; 3. Stander; 4. Galli; 5. Pippert; 6. Coleman; 7. Gebel; 8. Evens.

IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD:
Feature: 1. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 2. S16 Kip Siems, Cedar Falls; 3. 198 Sam Wieben, Dysart; 4. K3 Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 5. 15B Troy Burkhart, Urbana; 6. 19J Jenae Gustin, Marshalltown; 7. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 8. 1 Austin Kaplan, Ankeny; 9. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 10. J2 Dave Schulze, Keystone; 11. 22 Matt Petrzelka, Norway; 12. 15N Ross Neal, Marion; 13. 30 Joey Schaefer, Waterloo; 14. 199 Dave Burrell, Dysart; 15. 57R Ryan King, Montour; 16. 3R Danny Dvorak, Vinton; DNS/17. CH19 Colby Heishman, Brooklyn.

Heat One: 1. Buhlman; 2. Wieben; 3. Burkhart; 4. K. Olson; 5. T. Olson; 6. Petrzelka; 7. Burrell; 8. Neal; 9. Kaplan.

Heat Two: 1. Hilmer; 2. Gustin; 3. Heishman; 4. Siems; 5. Schaefer; 6. Schulze; 7. King; 8. Dvorak.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK:
Feature: 1. 45 Justin Wacha, Vinton; 2. 07 Jacob Keiser, Marengo; 3. 46 Brian Happel, Vinton; 4. 4P Matt Pohlman, Keystone; 5. 1 Scott Siems, Cedar Rapids.

Heat: 1. Keiser; 2. Happel; 3. Pohlman; 4. Wacha; 5. Siems.