VINTON, Iowa (May 22) – A margin of six hundredths of a second was all it took for Jeff Steenbergen to pocket $1,000 Sunday night at Benton County Speedway.
The Johnson Creek, Wis., native made the 3.5 hour tow pay off on a night the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars presented by Vermedahl Logistics offered a $1,000 winner’s share.
Starting on the front row alongside fellow Wisconsinite Luke Lemmens, Steenbergen was quick to move to the race lead when the green flag waved. He protected the bottom groove while Lemmens applied persistent pressure.
Lemmens briefly assumed command when Steenbergen attempted to extend his lead by moving to a higher line. Those efforts were unsuccessful, however he was able to regain the point returning to the low side a short time later.
As the lead pair battled, Dustin Vis, Eric Mahlik, Dylan Thornton and Kaden Reynolds gave chase. Lapped traffic bunched the field late and forced the field to search for a way around the leader in traffic.
As the checkers waved, Steenbergen held on for the victory by a margin of .061 second ahead of Lemmens. Dylan Thornton made a late run on the top side to take third ahead of Vis.
With the win, Steenbergen also earned qualifying eligibility for the B&B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational at September’s IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
Drew Janssen earned his first win at The Bullring in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds presented by 96.5 KISS Country. From a fourth row start, Janssen worked through traffic and into the lead just past the midway point of that 20-lapper.
Janssen raced to the impressive victory while Joel Rust, who started one row behind Janssen, made an impressive run to finish second. Mike Burbridge and Dylan Thornton completed the top four.
Joe Docekal made quick work of the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Christie Door Company. From his pole position start, Docekal built a 3.5 second lead before caution slowed action.
On the restart, Docekal picked up where he left off to drive victory, his first of the season. Tim Warner made a terrific run through traffic to score runner-up honors after starting 12th. Ben Chapman and Kyle Olson ran third and fourth, respectively.
Brett Vanous earned his first win of the year in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. Vanous motored around Jacob Floyd around midway through to race to victory ahead of Ryan Havel, Floyd and Matt Brown.
Lukas Rick won an entertaining Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature. He denied pressure from Steven Schmitz and then Corey Crispin to take the checkers. Crispin crossed the line second ahead of Jay Crabill and Blake Driscoll.
Parker Jones won an exciting 18-lap battle in the INEX Legends presented by Legends.Direct. Jones led early before briefly losing the top spot to Michael Weber. Jones then regained the point late and held off a hard-charging Jordan Miklas for his first win at The Bullring. Weber and Kacey Korsmo rounded out the top four.
Two big nights of racing are on tap next weekend as the track celebrates the anniversary of the IMCA Modified and SportMod divisions over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Weekly racing in the Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Sport Compact and Legends divisions, along with increased purse money in a Sunday special for the Modifieds and SportMods, will highlight the Anniversary Prelude event on May 29.
Modifieds and SportMods will be showcased Monday, May 30 during the anniversary special.
More details for the full weekend of racing are available at BCSBullRing.com or @BCSBullRing on Facebook.
Both Memorial Weekend events will be broadcast on IMCA.TV.