Murtys sweep stock car and hobby stock divisions at Benton County Speedway
by Ryan Clark

VINTON, Iowa (Aug. 12) - Although they were the last two drivers to arrive at the speedway, Damon and Nick Murty made up for lost time as they each piloted to feature wins at Benton County Speedway.

In the I.M.C.A. stock car 15-lapper, Damon Murty made his way past pole-sitter Ron Tharp on the second lap to take the lead. As he paced the field, Curtis Roster followed him to the front and settled into second three laps later.

Roster reeled in the leader running the low groove while Paul Shepherd gave chase and eventually entered the mix near the midway point. Roster pulled to the low side of Murty with a handful of laps remaining as the leaders raced side-by-side at the front of the pack with Shepherd right behind them.

Roster inched ahead on lap 10, however Murty powered back to the front on the high side of the 1/4-mile oval on the next lap. Murty led the final four laps and held on to take the victory by half of a car-length. Shepherd was sidelined with a flat tire with only one lap to go, allowing Richard Quail to finish third.

Al Sweerin held the early advantage in the 15-lap I.M.C.A. hobby stock main event. From a second row start, Sweerin worked his way to the front on the first circuit and quickly pulled away from the field. As Sweerin led, Josh Irvine made his way through traffic from a fourth row starting spot and settled into second after only four laps.

Irvine quickly cut into Sweerin's lead and was able to take over the point on lap eight as Nick Murty was charging through the field from a sixth row start. Running the low groove, Murty worked under Irvine with only five laps to go to take the lead. Irvine remained on the high side of Murty and powered ahead to lead the next two circuits. He gave away to Murty one final time on lap 13 when a flat tire ended Irvine's run.

Murty led the remainder of the event to score the win ahead of Matt Brown and Nathan Ballard.

John Burbridge and Tom Hanson battled early at the front of the 20-lap I.M.C.A. modified feature. Hanson took over the top spot from the pole-sitter on the third circuit and paced the field as Scott Hogan was making a charge through the field.

Hogan settled into second place on the fifth lap, just prior to the race's only caution. When racing resumed, Hogan shot to the inside of Hanson to take the lead as Jerry Luloff started a run toward the front.

As Hogan was pulling away from the field, Luloff worked his way into second on lap 12 and started to cut into his lead. As the leaders encountered lapped traffic, Luloff was able to quickly reel in the leader as he made a pass for the lead with three laps to go. Luloff led the final three circuits to take the victory over Hogan and Hanson.

Shane Ebaugh led all 15 laps of the I.M.C.A. sportmod feature to take his first win of the year. From his outside front row start, Ebaugh shot into the lead at the drop of the green. He then fought off the challenges of Danny Dvorak to score the win. Kyle Olson finished third.

Doug Laughridge also led from green to checkers as he picked up the victory in the I.M.C.A. sport compact feature. Laughridge held off heavy pressure from Gary Peiffer and Jena Barthelmes to take the exciting win.

The team of Ben Beer and Ryan Coleman assumed command on lap two of the 10-lap cruiser feature to drive to victory. Doug Steggall and Mitch Lewis chased the lead pair to the checkers.

RESULTS
I.M.C.A. MODIFIED
First heat - 1. 14H Tom Hanson, Vinton; 2. 14B John Burbridge, Delhi; 3. 6 Don Erger, Brandon; 4. 17 Brian Krall, Readlyn; 5. 24 Shane Krafka, Dysart; 6. 7 Todd Jensen, Waterloo; 7. 56 Heath Kusel, Belle Plaine.
Second heat - 1. 12T Ty Glass, Cedar Rapids; 2. 18 Jerry Luloff, Independence; 3. 14 Randy Trefz, Vinton; 4. 111 Buster Pate, Hiawatha; 5. 12W Don Wharton, Central City; 6. 3X John Schaefer, La Porte City; 7. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids.
Third heat - 1. 00 J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 2. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 3. 35 Rob Olson, Cedar Rapids; 4. 71 Troy Cordes, Raymond; 5. 069 Mike Krall, Waterloo; 6. 92 Shaun Bistline, Marengo; 7. 7S Robert Schmuecker, Vinton.
Feature - 1. Luloff; 2. Hogan; 3. Trefz; 4. Cordes; 5. Olson; 6. Burbridge; 7. Glass; 8. Kusel; 9. Flannagan; 10. M. Krall; 11. Erger; 12. Jensen; 13. Pate; 14. Bistline; 15. Krafka; 16. Trefz; 17. Schmuecker; 18. Auringer; 19. Schaefer; 20. B. Krall (DNS); 21. Wharton (DNS).

I.M.C.A. STOCK CAR
Heat - 1. 75 Ron Tharp, Vinton; 2. 8 Curtis Roster, Vinton; 3. 26 Brian Irvine, Oelwein; 4. 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea; 5. 15 Norman Chesmore, Quasqueton; 6. 31S Paul Shepherd, Marengo; 7. 4Q Richard Quail, Waterloo; 8. 22 Kevin Rose, Waterloo; 9. 17 Jason Niedert, Fairbank; 10. 99LM Mike Galli, Urbana.
Feature - 1. Murty; 2. Roster; 3. Quail; 4. Irvine; 5. Chesmore; 6. Niedert; 7. Rose; 8. Galli; 9. Shepherd; 10. Tharp.

I.M.C.A. HOBBY STOCK
First heat - 1. 67 Justin Stander, Vinton; 2. 78 Matt Brown, Dysart; 3. 115 Nathan Sweerin, Waterloo; 4. 29 Nathan Ballard, Marengo; 5. 2 Robert Quail, Waterloo; 6. 09 Brad Forbes, Waterloo; 7. 70R Ron Phelps, Vinton.
Second heat - 1. 77 Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids; 2. 35 Josh Irvine, Oelwein; 3. 11 Al Sweerin, Waterloo; 4. 8M Ed Murray, Waterloo; 5. 20B Matt Burmeister, Waterloo; 6. 99JR Nick Murty, Chelsea; 7. 47 Scotty Pippert, Elberon.
Feature - 1. Murty; 2. Brown; 3. Ballard; 4. Grother; 5. A. Sweerin; 6. Forbes; 7. Stander; 8. N. Sweerin; 9. Burmeister; 10. Irvine; 11. Phelps; 12. Pippert; 13. Murray; 14. Quail.

I.M.C.A. SPORTMOD
First heat - 1. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 2. 35 Kyle Bentley, Fairbank; 3. 3 James Kuhn, Urbana; 4. 7R Michael Roster, Vinton; 5. 8 Brad Iverson, Grinnell; 6. 45B Jeremy Berstler, Fairfax; 7. 18 Doug Smith, Center Point; 8. 15B Troy Burkhart, Center Point.
Second heat - 1. 45 Danny Dvorak, Vinton; 2. 14 Shane Ebaugh, Evansdale; 3. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 4. 23 Dan Higdon, Vinton; 5. K3 Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 6. 5o Jared Otis, Center Point; 7. 49 Justin Hempstead, Manchester.
Feature - 1. Ebaugh; 2. Dvorak; 3. K. Olson; 4. Buhlman; 5. Bentley; 6. Otis; 7. Higdon; 8. Iverson; 9. Hempstead; 10. Roster; 11. T. Olson; 12. Burkhart; 13. Berstler; 14. Smith; 15. Kuhn.

I.M.C.A. SPORT COMPACT
Heat - 1. 74 Jeremy Heim, Marion; 2. 25 Doug Laughridge, Garrison; 3. 36DD Gary Peiffer, Troy Mills; 4. 48J Jena Barthelmes, Marion; 5. 07 Joe Goodenbaur, Garrison; 6. 3 Mike Mitchell, Fairfax; 7. 25M Mandy Fisher, Garrison.
Feature - 1. Laughridge; 2. Peiffer; 3. Barthelmes; 4. Heim; 5. Goodenbaur; 6. Fisher; 7. Mitchell.

CRUISER
Heat - 1. M-00 Mike Mitchell/George Lewis, Cedar Rapids; 2. 6H Dustin Choplick/Jamie Choplick, Atkins; 3. 07 Jacob Keiser/Harley Schumacher, Marengo; 4. 19 Ben Beer/Ryan Coleman, Urbana; 5. 9-11 Doug Steggall/Mitch Lewis, Cedar Rapids; 6. 81 Jesse Belez/Steven Keiser, Marengo; 7. 37 John Kruse/Michael Kimm, Cedar Rapids.
Feature - 1. Beer/Coleman; 2. Steggall/Lewis; 3. Kruse/Kimm; 4. Belez/Keiser; 5. Keiser/Schumacher; 6. Mitchell/Lewis; 7. Choplick/Choplick.