Sports : Brian's Veiws from the Grandstands 5/24/10

Welcome to another episode of Brian's Veiws from the Grandstands.  It was a warm and windy night with 99 cars on hand to battle in the 5 IMCA classes.
The first feature was the IMCA Sport Compacts.  20 cars were on hand tonight with Bryce Bailey taking the early lead from the outside 2nd row.  1 caution for the 94J of Justin Eiben would not deter Bailey from taking his first ever feature victory at Vinton.  Bailey was followed to the stripe by Dallas Chandler, Nathan Chandler, Gary Peiffer, and Merv Chandler the unofficial top 5.  Heats were won by M Chandler, N Chandler, and Bailey.
Next up was the IMCA Hobby Stock class.  19 cars started the feature event.  The first caution flew on the very first lap as Greg Sweerin spun in turns 3 and 4 causing a multi-car pileup in turn 4.  Current points leader Eric Stanton was involved in this accident as well as Matt Brown, August Bach, and Adam Streeter.  Scott Pippert was the early leader as the second caution would fly on lap 3 when Kyle Parizek shot up the track in turn 4 and collected Steve Higham and Sweerin.  Two other minor single car cautions would fly during the event, but Pippert would still hold the point and go on to win the feature.  Vince Bucholz who was using Joe Sprague's car finished in second.  Brad Forbes, Max Leonard, and Wes Stanek were the unofficial top 5.  Heat races were won by Pippert, Doug Laughridge, and Streeter.
The IMCA Sport Mods were next on the docket with 21 cars answering the call.  On the very first lap, Dawn Krall, who started near the front, spun on the backstretch.  Fortunately none of the drivers hit her, as the driver door was exposed.  Ken Kositsky would take over the early lead.  Four other cautions would slow the field down with inside 4th row starter Joel Rust passing Kositsky on lap 4 and went on to take the win.  Austin Kaplan finished second with Kurt Hogan, Danny Dvorak, and Kisitsky rounding out the top 5.  Heat races were won by Dvorak, Rust, and Hogan.
Next up were the "Knights of Thunder" IMCA Modifieds.  18 cars answered the call as Jonathan Thimmesch took the early lead.  Tony Olson then passed the Thimmesch machine for the lead on lap 3, but Olson's lead would be short lived as Troy Cordes made his way around Olson two laps later.  With 14 laps completed both Thimmesch and Richie Gustin pulled off the track with issues.  Cordes would go on to take the victory and the $100 bounty that Mick Trier posted on Scott Hogan.  Hogan started near the back of the pack after failing to qualify through the heat race.  Hogan finished in second with Max Corporon, Olson, and Mark Schulte the unofficial top 5.  Heat races were won by Thimmesch and Schulte.
The final feature was the Marion Cottrell Memorial IMCA Stock Car feature.  For those that do not know Mr. Cottrell, he is the grandfather of Scooter Dulin and raced one of the first oroginal modified drivers.  He was also instrumental in developing the current pit area.  (the old pit area was in the turn 4 area)  15 cars were on hand to do battle.  Scooter Dulin actually was using number 71 on the side of his car in honor of Mr. Cottrell.  Curtis Roster blew a motor before the start of the feature.  Nathan Wood took the early lead from the pole and briefly gave it up to Justin Temeyer just past the halfway point.  Two laps later Wood would get back around Temeyer.  On the last lap Temeyer got back under Wood and took teh checkers at the stripe.  Wood finished in second with Phil Holtz, Dulin, and Jason Cook the unofficial top 5.  Heat races were won by Jeff Mueller and Cook.
Thanks for reading and we'll do it all over again next week at the birthplace of the IMCA Modified.