Independence Motor Speedway
August 18, 2012
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Wagner Wows ‘Em With Thrilling Win at Independence

by Ryan Clark
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (Aug. 18) – Although car counts traditionally drop at many tracks toward the end of the season, the highest count since opening night filled the pits Saturday at Independence Motor Speedway. It was the last Saturday of action prior to next week’s Budweiser Season Championships.

Greg Kastli appeared to be on his way to his first win of the season in the IMCA Late Model division until a late caution bunched the field and changed the complexion of that 25-lapper.

From his third row starting spot, Kastli made his way into second on the second lap, then swept past leader Greg Hunter three laps later. Running the low groove, Kastli powered away from the field and built nearly a straightaway advantage by the time Tyler Bruening worked past Dean Wagner for second with seven laps to go.

As Kastli led, Bruening slowly started to close the gap until the caution flag waved on lap 21, leaving Bruening and Wagner on Kastli’s rear bumper for the ensuing restart.

When racing resumed, Bruening battled Kastli down low while Wagner went to the top side of 3/8-mile oval. Wagner inched ahead at the line as the white flag waved with the lead trio battling in three-wide formation. Wagner pulled away to take the thrilling win ahead of Bruening. Kastli ran a close third at the line.

Adam Johnson continued his recent domination in the IMCA Modified division. From his fourth row starting spot, Johnson raced through traffic while Kevin Pittman and Shawn Ryan battled for the lead.

Johnson made his way into third at the five lap mark, then passed Ryan for second two laps later. On lap eight, Johnson flew by Pittman to take the lead then pulled away from the pack.

Johnson built over a straightaway advantage by the time he entered heavy lapped traffic in the waning laps. He patiently worked the backmarkers as he drove to his fourth consecutive win and his fifth in the last six weeks. Ryan and Pittman ran second and third. Points leader Mark Schulte ran a close fourth at the line.

Sean Johnson wrapped up title honors a week early in the IMCA Stock Car division. From a fifth row start, Johnson powered past Jason Hocken and John Emerson on the high side for the lead following a lap four caution. He pulled away from the pack to earn his seventh win of the year, locking up the points title in the process. Jarod Weepie came from the fourth row to finish second ahead of Hocken.

Vince Buchholz held the early lead in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. While Buchholz paced the field, Quinton Miller pressured and pulled even with the leader following a lap five caution.

The leaders ran in side-by-side formation until Miller was able to break free on the eighth circuit as he drove to his first win of the year. Buchholz ran second ahead of Justin Lichty. Justin Stander, who entered the night a point out of the lead, ran fourth. He took over the points lead after Benji Irvine blew an engine, relegating him to a 16th place finish.

Although time-shortened due to numerous caution flags, Joel Rust proved to be the class of the field in the IMCA SportMod feature. Rust pulled away at the drop of the green and on every ensuing restart until the event timed out with nine laps complete. Lucas Lundry finished second ahead of Jared Van Deest.

Steve Miedke took charge on the second of 10 laps to sail to victory in the IMCA Sport Compact feature. His third win in weekly racing this year, Miedke beat Merv Chandler and Adam Gates to the checkers.

Next Saturday, the six division champions will be crowed during Budweiser Season Championships. Only features will be run during the program, which will be lined up straight-up based on season point totals. Nostalgia cars will also be a part of that program. Gates open at 4 p.m. on August 25, with hot laps at 6 and championship racing to follow.

RESULTS
IMCA LATE MODEL
Feature – 1. 60 Dean Wagner (Evansdale); 2. 16 Tyler Bruening (Decorah); 3. 73 Greg Kastli (Waterloo); 4. 77A Jeff Aikey (Waterloo); 5. 45 Curt Martin (Independence); 6. 2P Jon Passick (Waterloo); 7. 9 Bobby Hansen (Center Point); 8. 99D Darrel DeFrance (Marshalltown); 9. 21M Luke Merfeld (Peosta); 10. 3X Chad Lerch (North Liberty); 11. 38S Dain Sires (Cedar Falls); 12. 7 Greg Hunter (Independence); 13. 85 LaVern Carey (Ionia); 14. 77 Dirk Hamilton (Jesup); 15. 83 Russell Hesse (Waterloo); 16. 88 Drew Johnson (Belle Plaine); 17. 21B Joel Brasch (Dunkerton); 18. 4 Leon Thomsen (Waverly); 19. 4D Rick Dralle (Waterloo); 20. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr. (Washburn); 21. 68 Tysus Pattee (Vinton).
First heat – 1. Martin; 2. Hamilton; 3. Hackwell; 4. Sires; 5. Merfeld; 6. Johnson; 7. Carey.
Second heat – 1. Hunter; 2. Passick; 3. Wagner; 4. Hansen; 5. Dralle; 6. Thomsen; 7. Lerch.
Third heat – 1. Bruening; 2. Pattee; 3. Kastli; 4. Aikey; 5. DeFrance; 6. Brasch; 7. Hesse.

IMCA MODIFIED
Feature – 1. 24R Adam Johnson (Independence); 2. 91 Shawn Ryan (Waterloo); 3. 26P Kevin Pittman (Waterloo); 4. 27M Mark Schulte (Delhi); 5. 10K Ronn Lauritzen (Jesup); 6. F7 Patrick Flannagan (Cedar Rapids); 7. 33D Scott Hogan (Vinton); 8. 11B Mike Burbridge (Delhi); 9. 93K Jeff Kriz (Waterloo); 10. 5R Bill Roberts Jr. (Burlington); 11. 3 Jason Schueller (Dubuque); 12. 41P Keith Pittman (Waterloo); 13. 75 Josh Sherbon (Cedar Falls); 14. 1J Jeff Streeter (Vinton); 15. 26 Luke Miller (Epworth); 16. 11 Timm Jensen (Dunkerton); 17. 80 Jerry Dedrick (Vinton); 18. 15 Josh Barta (Cedar Falls); 19. 01 Ed Thomas (Waterloo) DNS 64 Vern Jackson (Waterloo); DNS 5 Jason Morehouse (Evansdale); DNS 66 Terry Johnson (Waterloo).
First heat – 1. Schulte; 2. Kevin Pittman; 3. Jackson; 4. Keith Pittman; 5. Schueller; 6. Dedrick; 7. Jensen; 8. Miller.
Second heat – 1. A. Johnson; 2. Ryan; 3. Hogan; 4. Morehouse; 5. Sherbon; 6. Thomas; 7. Barta.
Third heat – 1. Kriz; 2. Flannagan; 3. Lauritzen; 4. Burbridge; 5. Roberts; 6. Streeter; 7. T. Johnson.

IMCA STOCK CAR
Feature – 1. 8R Sean Johnson (Independence); 2. 3 Jarod Weepie (Dunkerton); 3. JR3 Jason Hocken (Independence); 4. 87 John Emerson (Waterloo); 5. 3T Scooter Dulin (Cedar Rapids); 6. 15T Tim Helle (Garnavillo); 7. 77D Kirk Fauser (Clermont); 8. 4 Cory Tharp (Waterloo); 9. 15 Norman Chesmore (Rowley); 10. 11 Jesse Brown (Nashua); 11. 11J Jerome Jacoby (Waterloo); 12. 4JR Russell Damme Jr. (Waterloo); 13. 85 Bryce Carey (Nashua); 14. 17 Jason Niedert (Cedar Falls); 15. 22K Kevin Rose (Waterloo).
First heat – 1. Hocken; 2. Johnson; 3. Weepie; 4. Brown; 5. Fauser; 6. Rose; 7. Jacoby; 8. Niedert.
Second heat – 1. Emerson; 2. Chesmore; 3. Damme; 4. Helle; 5. Dulin; 6. Carey; 7. Tharp.

IMCA SPORTMOD
Feature – 1. 26J Joel Rust (Gundy Center); 2. 96 Lucas Lundry (Maynard); 3. 80J Jared Van Deest (Grundy Center); 4. 3R Danny Dvorak (Vinton); 5. 198 Sam Wieben (Dysart); 6. 14 Shane Ebaugh (Evansdale); 7. J2 Dave Schulze (Keystone); 8. 00 Jim Buhlman (Cedar Falls); 9. 29 Sean Vogt (Watkins); 10. 66E Cory Evans (Independence); 11. 28P Rick Paulson (Tripoli); 12. 39 Brian Hilbert (Independence); 13. 11 Bob Ebaugh (Raymond); 14. 9 Synjun Bauer (Prairie du Chien, Wis.); 15. 339 Kevin Hurst (Janesville); 16. 23W Robert Whalen (Nashua); 17. 6 Jim Aschenbrenner (Aplington); 18. 50H Steve Wimer (Toddville); 19. 93 Josh Burrell (Dysart); 20. S16 Kip Siems (Cedar Falls); 21. 25T Travis Peterson (Gladbrook); 22. 32Z Alex Zwanziger (Nashua); 23. 196 Ray Lundry (Maynard); 24. 63 Matt McCahen (Waterloo); 25. 21 Brennen Chipp (Waterloo); 26. 22H Curt Hilmer (Dysart); 27. 49 Brandon Smith (Rowley).
First heat – 1. Siems; 2. L. Lundry; 3. Zwanziger; 4. Peterson; 5. Hurst; 6. McCahen; 7. Evans; 8. Bauer; 9. Wimer.
Second heat – 1. Rust; 2. Paulson; 3. Buhlman; 4. Van Deest; 5. Aschenbrenner; 6. Vogt; 7. Wieben; 8. Burrell; 9. B. Ebaugh.
Third heat – 1. Hilbert; 2. Schulze; 3. R. Lundry; 4. Dvorak; 5. S. Ebaugh; 6. Hilmer; 7. Chipp; 8. Whalen; 9. Smith.

IMCA HOBBY STOCK
Feature – 1. 73 Quinton Miller (Independence); 2. 55 Vince Buchholz (Waterloo); 3. 166 Justin Lichty (Waterloo); 4. 67 Justin Stander (Vinton); 5. 26 Nathan Christie (Waterloo); 6. 45 Justin Wacha (Vinton); 7. 7B Jim Ball (Independence); 8. 77 Rod Grother (Cedar Rapids); 9. 5 Marcus Wayne (Independence); 10. 4T3 T.J. Mortenson (Independence); 11. 64 Jerome Wilson (Waterloo); 12. 58B Randy Byerly (Tipton); 13. 2 Nick Welch (Cedar Falls); 14. 8 Dave Wheeler (Fairbank); 15. 95 Matt Lundry (Oelwein); 16. 79 Benji Irvine (Cedar Falls); 17. 2P Cale Petersen (Dysart); 18. 14G Curt Graham (Tiffin); 19. 23 Justin Hanson (West Union); 20. 12OZ Gary Gates (Waterloo); 21. 64JR Jeremiah Wilson (Waterloo).
First heat – 1. Grother; 2. Christie; 3. Hanson; 4. Graham; 5. Lundry; 6. Gates; 7. Byerly.
Second heat – 1. Stander; 2. Wacha; 3. Wayne; 4. Jerome Wilson; 5. Jeremiah Wilson; 6. Wheeler; 7. Welch.
Third heat – 1. Lichty; 2. Miller; 3. Irvine; 4. Buchholz; 5. Petersen; 6. Mortenson; 7. Ball.

IMCA SPORT COMPACT
Feature – 1. 11 Steve Miedke (Shellsburg); 2. 2 Merv Chandler (Vinton); 3. 007 Adam Gates (Cedar Rapids; 4. 03 Neil Nabholz (Waterloo); 5. 111 A.J. Witten (Cedar Rapids); 6. 7 Dave Fangman (Marion); 7. 83 Travis Ross (Evansdale); 8. 57 Duayne Herb (Cedar Rapids).
Heat – 1. Miedke; 2. Chandler; 3. Fangman; 4. Gates; 5. Nabholz; 6. Herb; 7. Witten; 8. Ross.