First time winners at Marshalltown

Friday evening, August 7th, saw us at our "home track", the Marshalltown Speedway. Several area tracks were not racing on this night, which brought some visiting drivers to the speedway.
There would be first time winners and a track that was not the norm due to the rain which had fallen earlier; over 3/4 of an inch according to promoter Toby Kruse.

The Dwarf/Mod-Lite feature saw the x50 of Joel Huggins sitting up front along side Josh May. Huggins would lead the entire race to take home another victory in his recent very successful run. Josh May was able to hold off Mike Morrill for second. Coming from back in the pack to take fourth was the 57 of Tim Hennigar, and fifth was visiting driver Jason Masengarb in the car #30.


The tractors were brought out several times during the course of the night as a ridge was building up in the corners and they tried to keep it knocked down. The SportMod feature would see a nasty roll right out of corner one by the 22H of Curt Hilmer; no doubt due to the ridge that kept forming. Thankfully he was okay. About the time the SportMods were brought to the track for their feature, we were checking radar, and seeing some spots just popping up in the area. We were crossing our fingers that the show would get in. The Northern SportMod feature began with Shawn Simotivich on the pole and Dysart, Iowa driver Bryan Rodman beside him in the 08. Rodman jumped to the lead as Kyle Brown in the 21 would make his presence known as he tried to reel him in for most of the race. Neil Follett and Scott Davis made an interesting race for third and fourth behind the leaders and point leader, Kevin Sather made his way up through the field to get in the mix of front runners. At the checkers, it would be a new winner in Victory Lane as Bryan Rodman took home the trophy for the night. Following him to take second was Kyle Brown, third was Neil Follett in a hard fought battle over fourth place finisher Scott Davis, and rounding out the top five was Kevin Sather. In Victory Lane, Rodman said it was his first career win and his previous experience in racing had been with golf carts! Congratulations to first time winner Bryan Rodman.

The IMCA stock cars were up next and it saw veteran Tommy Thompson sitting on the pole along side rookie Trevor Titus. Thompson would lead early but it wasn't long until the 60 of Clay Deppe made the pass for the lead. Deppe had misfortunes later as he retired to the pits and the Chelsea Charger, Damon Murty took over the number one spot. Making his way from back in the field to follow Murty to the number two spot, was point leader, Dustin Smith. Smith would make the pass into first spot as he fought with Murty and take home his 8th regular season win of the season at the speedway. Murty was runner-up, Michael Jaennette had a nice run into third place, Rob Schneider was fourth and fifth went to Eric Flander.

Sprinkles began to fall as the modifieds ran their A feature. Leading the race at first was Tim Stevens who would bobble on the backstretch and David Brown would take the lead. Brown, on only his second night out in his new Harris chassis, would lead a few circuits battling with Brett Ladehoff and Tim Murty. Murty squirted to the lead after a caution and Ladehoff would follow into second. No doubt, Murty was anticipating a repeat win from last week, but tonight it was the "Mighty Mopar" of Scott Simatovich taking home the win as he was able to pass Murty.
Simatovich got his first win and Murty had to settle for runner-up. Third was Ladehoff with a nice run on the night, fourth went to Vinton's Scott Hogan and fifth was visiting driver, Randy Havlik.

The hobby stock feature brought another first time winner to Victory Lane as the 20E car of Eric Elliott finished in first. He had to fight off Jennifer Hulin who came home in second. No doubt, that first elusive win for her will be coming soon. All the ladies in the stands are hoping to see her in Victory Lane as promoter Toby Kruse has promised $2 off for all ladies admission price the following week. Third went to Mike Vibbard who drove a steady race, fourth to Michael Murphy and fifth to Todd Reitzler

The final event for the night was the stock car King of the Hill contest. Sprinkles continued to fall as the cars competed. First round saw Todd Kearney best Rob Schneider. Donnie Bown won over Steve Meyer next. Damon Murty, having drawn a "bye" then went up against Kearney and Murty would win. The final challenge was Murty versus Bown with Murty winning the crown for King of the Hill.

Mother Nature tried again to oust the action at Marshalltown Speedway, but to no avail. Next week will be "cardboard racers" for added entertainment for the fans. Youngsters will construct cardboard cars of their favorite driver and the driver will footrace for the finish line. Make plans to attend. Happy racing.