It was finally a pleasant night to be sitting at a racetrack this past Friday night. We can't recall a past season when we have had to wait this long to shed so many layers. It was deemed the annual Cliff Chambers Memorial Race night at the Marshalltown Speedway which always means much to drivers who recall the gentleman who once promoted the speedway.
A special added class for the night was the Nostalgic racecar class. The nine cars in attendance were reminiscent of those from the '50's and '60's. Some were replicas of drivers from the past, one of which we noted was the #8 of Darrell Dake. Dake was a very successful driver from the Cedar Rapids area who raced for many decades, from the 50's to the 90's. He tried his hand at Daytona a couple of times and made the Daytona 500 field. We recall watching him many times on the dirt tracks in the area, usually running the marathon 200-300 lappers, and often in a convertible. On this night, it was the #00 1957 Chevy driven by John Schroyer taking the win. Schroyer was happy and appreciative in victory lane to have won on the night of his friend Cliff Chambers' memorial.
The Dwarf/Mod Lites saw their feature go flag to flag as they completed it in quick fashion. Joel Huggins wasted no time in getting to the front from his second row starting postion and then never relinquished that lead. Point leader Mike Morrill, starting in 10th position with the invert status, skillfully made his way through the traffic to come home in second behind Huggins. Third went to Colby Oberembt, fourth to Randy Bryan and fifth to Eric Hendrickson.
The Northern SportMods had 26 cars in attendance, and did not require a B Main tonight. The race did not start off in good shape, as the 9X of Austin Lucas would roll off of turn two on the start of the race. He was thankfully okay and appeared to have very little damage, as he rejoined the field at the tail. Jayme Duinink led the pack early until Brett Moffitt passed him for the lead. When the checkers were flown, it was Moffitt with the win. Jake Strayer and Geoff Olson managed to pass Duinink as they took second and third respectively and Duinink had to settle for fourth. Fifth went to Barnes City's Eric Flander.
The IMCA stock cars had 19 cars with three unable to start the feature race. Dave Atcher led the charge from his pole position in the early going. A red flag situation occurred during this race when Donnie Boucher rolled his car off of turn four. When action resumed, it found Lake City's Dustin Smith up front with Atcher chasing him. Meanwhile, Newton's Michael Jaennette and Kellogg's Clay Deppe were challenging each other for third and fourth. Smith got his first win of the year at Marshalltown, Atcher came home in the runner up spot, Deppe squeaked by Jaennette to take third and Jaennette getting fourth. Rounding out the top five was previous point leader Trent Murphy. It appears Smith has now taken over that point lead.
Modified racing at Marshalltown is such fun to watch! With the track in much better condition than last week...thanks to the crew for getting it in shape...the drivers were ready for an exciting feature race. Richie Gustin wasted no time in taking the lead and appeared to be on his way to a fairly easy win. However, bad luck would rear it's ugly head as he had to leave the track while leading, victim of we suspect, a broken motor. This put the 2X of Mike O'Lear to the top spot with Jimmy Gustin in a relentless pursuit. O'Lear persisted with his lead to come home to the flying checkers and on this night, Gustin had to settle for that runner up spot. Todd Conrad kept his car toward the front all race long and came home in third. Fourth went to young Joel Bushore and fifth to the 19J of Jay Schmidt. O'Lear exclaimed in victory circle that he was at the point of "just hang on" when earlier he and Jimmy Gustin had to squeeze by a lap car on the back stretch, and thankfully, were able to do so. O'Lear also said he had dropped a cyclinder but was able to run the topside, keep his momentum and see his way to the win.
The final feature of the night was the IMCA hobby stocks. It was refreshing to see their main event go flag to flag also. Crowd favorite, Jennifer Hulin led the charge from starting on the pole but point leader Devin Smith quickly ended that as he made the pass for the lead. Smith stretched out that lead in convincing fashion to see yet another checkered flag. Grinnell's Todd Reitzler came home in second, third went to Michael Murphy, fourth to Eric Knutson and fifth went to Eric Larson.
It was every so much more pleasant to watch the racing action under better weather and track conditions this week. Also very nice to have the program completed by 9:55 p.m. as Toby Kruse and his crew ran an efficient show. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all of the drivers for entertaining us fans. All of your hard work, time and effort is truly appreciated by fans who love the sport.
Don't forget that the "Boys of Summer" the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models are coming to the Marshalltown Speedway this coming Tuesday night, May 18th. Also on tap will be the IMCA Northern SportMods, the Dwarf/Mod Lites and the Karl Chevrolet dirt trucks. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:15 with racing action to begin at 7 p.m. Then it will be back to a regular night of racing again on Friday, May 21st. For more complete information check out http://www.marshalltownspeedway.com/. Happy racing!
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