Three repeat winners at Marshalltown

It was looking to be a much more pleasant night for racing at Marshalltown on Friday evening with temperatures hovering at the 70 degree mark. Mother Nature just had to throw a bit of a curve in the evening's festivities though as raindrops halted the racing action for a short period of time.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature found the first of three repeat winners from last week back in victory lane. Josh May and Mike Morrill put on an exciting race for the fans with May running the top and Morrill trying to get the advantage on the bottom. At the finish line, May took the repeat win with Morrill a very close second. Third went to Andy Hennigar, Joel Huggins was fourth and Dusty Masolini took the fifth spot.

The IMCA Northern SportMods had 30 cars in attendance, requiring a B Main. Justin Severance took that win. Nick Roberts was leading the race when raindrops began to fall hard enough to halt the racing. Thankfully, the delay was short and racing resumed without having to pull the cars from the racing surface.

When action resumed, it didn't take long for young Caden Carter to put his #10 machine to the point with Beau Kaplan following him into second place. Carter was pulling away when another caution flag flew and upon the restart, his car went up in smoke. This put Kaplan at the helm with Kyle Brown on his tail. It was a thrilling finish when Brown made the pass on the final lap to take the checkers. Brown came from 13th starting spot to get the win, Kaplan had to settle for second, third went to another young driver, Tyler Droste, fourth to Racer Hulin, and fifth to Scott Davis.

A driver making his first appearance for 2011 at the Marshalltown Speedway, put his car in the winner's circle in the IMCA stock car class. Oelwein, Iowa's Brian Irvine brought his plain black ride to the track and won going away at the checkers. The early battle was between Jay Schmidt leading, and Michael Jaennette as Schmidt ran the topside and Jaennette opted for the bottom. The race was red flagged when Trent Murphy, running in third, rolled his car off of turn three. He was okay. Irvine took the checkers with Schmidt in second, third went to Donavon Smith who also made his first trip to Marshalltown, fourth to Michael Jaennette, and fifth to Kevin Rose.

Sixteen IMCA modifieds started their A feature with only young Canadian driver, Riley Emmel not making the call. This race was looking to be a runaway early as Todd Shute rocketed to the lead. Shute would then suddenly exit the track between turns three and four with what appeared to be a mechanical issue. Jon Snyder was the man at the helm as racing resumed with last week's winner, Adam Larson hotly in pursuit.
Larson made his move around Snyder for the lead and Jimmy Gustin also nabbed a postion as he maneuvered around Snyder for the runner up spot. When the checkers flew, it was Adam Larson getting back-to-back wins with Gustin in second, Snyder in third, David Brown garnered a fourth place finish, and rounding out the top five was Joel Bushore.

The night ended with the running of the IMCA hobby stock feature. This would find the third driver getting a back-to-back win as Eric Knutson grabbed the checkered flag for the second week in a row. Knutson pulled away after he got into the lead but it was four-wide battling behind him at times. When things got shook down, it was Scott Durlin making it to second, third went to Trent Murphy, fourth to Donovan Nunnikhoven and fifth to Kevin Fee.

Racing action will continue at the Marshalltown Speedway again next Friday night with racing scheduled to start at 7:30. It will be the annual Cliff Chamber's Memorial night in honor of a former promoter of the track. For more information and results, check www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Happy racing!