The pits were packed and over flowing last night at Marshalltown with over 210 race cars. The fans came out in full force as well. A freak accident involving the flagman could have been much worse than it turned out and a last lap incident in the modified feature changed the complexion of the finish. Winners were all from central Iowa with Sully, Laurel, Gilman and Chelsea taking home the trophies.
The IMCA hobby stock feature was a good show upfront with leader Donovan Nunnikhoven from Sully, and Lake City's Devon Smith putting on the show for the fans. Smith would end up by giving it just a bit too much effort at the very end, slip back several positions, and hand second spot over to Scott Pippert. Nunnikhoven took the win, with Pippert,(who had started mid-pack in the starting lineup after qualifying through a B feature) chasing him to the checkered flag and the runner up spot. Third was Vince Bucholz, Devin Smith recovered to capture fourth, and Nebraska's Adam Armstrong took fifth.
After getting the IMCA Northern SportMods whittled down through three B mains, from 50 plus cars to 24, their 18-lap feature was up next. Laurel's Racer Hulin drew the lucky #1 starting pill with Wisconsin's Rob Charapata along side. Hulin had little trouble in fending off any challengers throughout the race, and took the trophy home. Nick Roberts finished second, third was former Super National's champion Tracy Wassenberg from Wisconsin, fourth went to Andy Tiernan and defending IMCA national champion from Wichita, Kansas, Bryan LaRiviere, after recovering from an early race incident, finished in fifth. As a note, Hulin had been racing at Des Moine's Frostbuster the night before and was caught up in an on-track incident leaving his ride with a bent frame. Announcer Jeremy Fox, told the crowd that Hulin's crew worked all night on the car, stripping it down and with two tractors and probably log chains, got the car back to racing fitness. That's Iowa racer's ingenuity!
The IMCA stock cars ran a 20-lap feature with Brandon Czarapata, Wisconsin driver, and Sean Johnson, Independence, Iowa, starting 1 and 2. However, the Chelsea Charger, Damon Murty, threw his hat into the ring early, taking flight on the topside and into the lead, with Johnson and Czarapata in hot pursuit. Those three would remain the same with Murty taking the victory over Johnson in second, and Czarapata in third. Fourth went to Brian Irvine, who flew through the pack, and Jay Schmidt rounded out the top five.
With 70 plus modifieds on hand tonight, it took three B mains to get the starting field down to 24 cars. Richie Gustin and South Sioux City, Nebraska's Ricky "Racer" Stephan sat on the front row. Stephan took command from the drop of the green with Gustin and Darin Duffy trying to chase him down. Stephan was looking to take the victory, but on the last lap, Stephan and Duffy got together in turn two, sending Stephan spinning, but with Duffy continuing on. This would set up a green-white-checkered finish, with Duffy and Stephan going to the tail on the restart. Richie Gustin was the happy recipient of the lead now, and he would keep it to the checkers flying. Veteran NASCAR driver, Kenny Schrader from Concord, NC, and Kyle "The Highside Tickler" from Mooresville, NC scored second and third respectively. Jay Noteboom took fourth and Mark Elliott was fifth.
Racing was completed shortly after the midnight hour, and now it will be on to Boone Speedway tonight, for night four of the Frostbuster series. Sunday at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, will complete the 5 race series. As a reminder, racing starts at 5 p.m. tonight in Boone, and Vinton has racing scheduled for 4 p.m.
A scary incident mentioned earlier happened during one of the modified heats, when flagman Albert "Pep" Wolfgram was hit by a deck lid. He was in obvious pain when he came out of the flagstand, and the EMTs rushed to his assistance. It was announced later that he had suffered a dislocated shoulder and a gash in the neck and was being treated at the hospital. I would say he was very, very lucky that it was nothing more serious. Jerry VanSickle jumped into the flagstand and continued with the flagging duties the remainder of the night, and Jeremy Fox, with assistance from Ryan Clark, took over the microphone. I also mentioned previously, that all of tonight's winners were from a central Iowa location and have now discovered they all came from under 40 miles of the Marshalltown Speedway. Good job, local guys!
The regular season at the Marshalltown Speedway gets underway next Friday night, April 13. The season is underway race fans, so get out and find a race in your area to attend. Happy racing!
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