It was a beautiful night for racing at the Marshalltown Speedway this past Friday night. By night's end, we would see history in the making, when a "new" Gustin was in Victory Lane for the very first time. The track stayed fast and smooth, but unfortunately, the yellow flags seemed to wave much too often.
An added class of the Micro Mini Sprints visited the track for the second time this year. We understand that the drivers love coming to the Marshalltown Speedway. Fourteen of the cars were checked into the pits. Since we are not familiar with the class (not sure where or IF they run anywhere on a regular basis in our area) but we do know that the winner was the 11B ride of Ben Woods.
Feature number two was the Dwarf/Mod Lite with their 15-lap main. The 95 of Mike Kennedy won for the third time this year. Second place went to point leader Tim Hennigar, starting from the 10th spot. Hennigar tried to reel in Kennedy but appeared to be having difficulty negotiating turn two at times. Following Hennigar for third was Ivan Guerra, fourth went to Mike Morrill and fifth was Josh May.
The IMCA Northern SportMods brought their rides to the track next. Jenae Gustin wasted no time in putting her 19J to the point spot by lap four. Tyler Droste made his move up to the second position before halfway, and at the same time, Cayden Carter and Scott Davis were moving up to the front runners as well. A yellow flag flew with just two laps to go, and no doubt, was not what Gustin was wanting to see. The Gustin family talent showed through though, as Jenae kept her cool, hit her marks, and won her very first A feature. It was a happy Jenae Gustin in Victory Lane and much of the grandstand gave her a standing ovation. Congratulations to Jenae on getting that very first feature win under her belt. We see many more coming to her down the line. Tyler Droste took the runner up spot followed by point leader Scott Davis for third after nipping fourth place finisher Cayden Carter on the final lap, and fifth was Carter's cousin in the #7, Carter VandenBerg. After the race, we noted some close post-race inspection going on in the tech area, but as far as we know, the results stood.
The IMCA Modifieds ran their 20-lap feature next. Yellows flew in this race too, plus one red flag situation that caused a lengthy stop in the action. That red flag was brought about when three cars were involved in an incident on the front chute. The cars involved were Jay Schmidt, Brett Ladehoff and visitor on the night from Hartford, the 15M of Jason Murray. Not knowing exactly what happened in the situation, we do know that Schmidt was against the frontstretch wall and ended up getting punted down the track into turn one from contact with one or both of the other cars, Ladehoff and Murray. Murray and Ladehoff came to a halt just past the flagstand. Murray had to be cut from his car (we heard his feet/legs were pinned) but he was alert and talking the entire time. He was transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure and hopefully, had no significant injuries. The car on the other hand, did not appear to fare well at all. The other two cars also had substantial damage. The incident happened with only four laps remaining with Jon Snyder taking the point position when action was restarted. Snyder took the win with Mike O'Lear in second, third went to Jimmy Gustin in his recent new ride, Ronn Lauritzen finished in fourth and Adam Larson returned to the Marshalltown Speedway after quite an absence, to finish fifth.
Things were shuffled a bit in their feature running order from the norm, with the IMCA Hobby Stocks next on the night. Clint Nelson led for nearly the entire 12-lap feature and took his first win at the speedway. Scott Durlin took second place, followed by Michael Murphy in third, Eric Knutson in fourth and rounding out the top five was point leader Devin Smith.
The IMCA Stock Cars ran last for the regular classes. The #2 of Dave Atcher took the lead by lap three, after starting sixth. Not surprisingly, point leader Dustin Smith came from 10th starting spot, to be on Atcher's tail by lap five! Smith made the pass for the lead on lap six and from then on, it was another easy victory.....what we believe was his sixth in a row at Marshalltown and eighth in all. No surprise that Smith is the point leader with that record. Damon Murty got by Atcher coming to the checkers, as they finished second and third. Fourth was Trent Murphy from Jefferson and fifth went to the "Flyin' Dutchman", Mike VanGenderen in the 57V. VanGenderen was testing the track for the upcoming Iron Man Challenge series for USRA stock cars which will be on the docket this coming Tuesday when the USMTS modifieds come to town.
An added event tonight at the track was the popular "Gamblers" race for the modified class. Drivers wishing to participate, tossed $50 each into the pot with the winner taking all. With eleven cars starting, the $550 was an enticing carrot dangling in front of the drivers. Jon Snyder made it a clean sweep for the night by winning the Gambler in easy fashion after taking the A main earlier.
How the season has flown, and next week at the Marshalltown Speedway will be Season Championship night. Joining the regular classes will be the Nostalgic Vintage cars running as well. This Tuesday night, the USMTS modifieds will come to the track with Nascar driver Kenny Wallace scheduled to be in attendance. Racing starts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday with the USRA Iron Man Challenge series for stock cars also racing. If you haven't seen these two classes run before, they WILL put on a show, so make plans to attend. Support classes running will be B-modifieds and the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks. It was announced that local driver Darrel DeFrance will be piloting one of the trucks. There will be more than a few tv crew and cameras around the track too. A dirt track documentary is being filmed as they follow the USMTS series from track to track. For more information and results from last night's racing, check http://www.marshalltownspeedway.com/ and also check http://www.usmts.com/ for information on their upcoming race. Until next time, happy racing!
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