VINTON, Iowa — Luke Verardi picked up his first sprint car victory Sunday night on the Benton County Speedway bullring. The Sprint Invaders tally was worth $2,000 for the driver of the Verardi Bros. Racing No. 28.
Verardi got the jump from the pole in the 25-lap main event. Devin Wignall, Paul Nienhiser and Chris Martin were in chase. Wignall used the cushion in turn four to take the lead on lap two, while Martin snagged third from Nienhiser.
Wignall led the charge on the cushion, while Verardi stayed within striking distance. On lap nine, Verardi made a move low in turn two to take back the point. Shortly after, Chase Richards spun in turn two to bring the only caution of the event.
Verardi led Wignall, Martin, Nienhiser and Riley Goodno back to green flag racing. Rubber was developing on the quarter-mile at that point, making passing hard in the late going. Nienhiser worked his way by Martin for third on lap 19 and then passed Wignall low in turn two for second coming for the white flag.
Verardi was cruising up front and raced to the checkers ahead of Nienhiser, Wignall, Martin and Chase Randall. Cody Wehrle, hard-charger Bret Tripplett, Goodno, Colton Fisher and J.J. Hickle rounded out the top 10.
“This is actually my first sprint car win,” said Verardi. “This is my second-year racing sprint cars. We started out in micro-sprints and quarter midgets starting out at five years old. This is a dream come true! To all you kids out there, hold onto your dreams, and just keep chugging. I was pretty committed to the bottom at first, and then saw (Wignall) get around me on top. I figured I ought to give it a try up there and it stuck. It just kept getting better and better, and obviously, rubber came into play at the end. I couldn’t ask for a better car.”
“It took rubber a little sooner than anticipated,” said Nienhiser. “It seemed like I was maybe able to save my tires a little better than the guys in front of me sliding around a little bit. There at the end, you could see we had some drive off. We were able to slip underneath (Martin) and (Wignall).”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 28, Luke Verardi, Taylorville, IL (1) 2. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (4) 3. 21, Devin Wignall, Altoona, IA (2) 4. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (3) 5. 9R, Chase Randall, Waco, TX (11) 6. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (10) 7. 99, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (16) 8. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (5) 9. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (6) 10. 78, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (7) 11. 2, Chase Porter, St. Joseph, MO (9) 12. 35, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (8) 13. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (17) 14. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (15) 15. 7c, Tony Shilling, Knoxville, IA (13) 16. 11T, Dugan Thye, Burlington, IA (19) 17. 8L, Tom Lenz, Marion, IA (18) 18. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (12) 19. 5, Gage Pulkrabek, Grand Forks, ND (14) 20. 4x, Chase Richards, Burlington, IA DNS – 7a, Jack Anderson, Newton, IA, 14, Aidan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA