The IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models came to town on Tuesday night at the Marshalltown Speedway. It was a pleasant night to be watching the big beasts on the highbanks for their annual visit to the track. A couple of spectacular roll overs came during their B main event--making my heart skip a beat. The Mod Lite's and the IMCA Northern SportMods were also on the program, adding to the night's racing.
The Mod Lite feature went 12-laps. Josh May scooted off to the lead from his pole starting spot, stretching his lead from the pack. That would end when a yellow flag flew, and the field got bunched up on the restart. Mike Morrill had been flying through the field from starting back in eighth, and was pedaling hard to catch up to the leader and was now running a distant second. The yellow was no doubt welcomed by Morrill, as it put him tucked in right behind the leader at the drop of the green. Morrill took full advantage of that situation, and soon grabbed the lead from May. Morrill would then motor on to the win. May was looking to take the runner up position, but as they approached the checkered flag, May was off power, allowing Andy Hennigar and Dusty Masolini to slip past him for positions second and third. May rolled across the finish line in fourth and Bryan Zehm took fifth.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had 22 cars on hand for their 20-lap main event. It was Jenae Gustin shooting to the lead early, wheeling her ride around the track as if she owned it. Most of the race was further back in the pack with Eric Elliott, Austin Kaplan and Racer Hulin duking it out for second through fourth. A restart with five laps remaining led to an interesting finish when Hulin got to second place, closed on Gustin, but was unable to make it anything more than a fleeting interesting attempt on the leader. Jenae Gustin took the win, Hulin having to settle for the runner up spot on this evening. Third went to Austin Kaplan, Eric Elliott was third and Joel Rust--recent high school grad--rounded out the top five.
There were twenty-seven IMCA late models in attendance for their playtime on Tuesday night. Two scary incidents in the B main event, made for some heart-skipping moments! The first incident happened just as the cars took the green flag. Veteran driver Curt Martin was on the bad end of this deal. Martin flipped his car right on the front chute and Jeff Mitirsin leaped up and over him. Thankfully, Martin was okay, but no doubt a bit sore this morning. He mentioned that he had had neck surgery a year ago, so was hoping this had not done any damage.
When the action got back under way in the consy race, it was soon to bring another scary moment. Jeff Mitrisin (driving the 5J car that we have noted was last piloted by TJ Criss) was riding the high line. He had been able to tag the field from the earlier Curt Martin incident. Running high, he then caught a hole in turn one, or possibly broke something, resulting in some violent rolls, ending up over the banking. Thankfully, he too was okay. It's not often we see a late model roll, but two in the same race, was way too many!
The 50-lap Deery Brothers race capped off the night. Earlier, the top 12 qualifiers were brought to the frontstretch for a fun "draw for starting position" card game. It was not only a fun deal, but gave the fans a great opportunity to SEE the drivers who drive the cars. After a bit of fun when the drivers were given an opportunity to give away their card to another driver, it was later-arriver to the track, Bryan Klein keeping his card, no one snatching it away, and getting that top starting spot. Andy Eckrich would give his card away to local favorite Richie Gustin, and get the outside pole. Andy's brother, Denny would also give his card away to Tyler Bruening, and get the #3 starting spot, but Bruening didn't fare too bad, as he ended up with the #4 spot.
It's always fun to see a 4-wide salute of the cars, but when the late models do it, and especially on the quarter-mile track situated so close to the grandstands, it's a thrill! When the green dropped, Andy Eckrich led Klein on the first lap, but soon brother Denny was into second. From there on it was a race between the brothers. Denny managed to slip by Andy and into the lead as the laps counted down. They snaked through traffic skillfully, no incidents causing a halt to the action, and the brothers finishing one-two. Following the Eckrich boys was veteran Jeff Aikey in third, Tyler Bruening in fourth and Michael Murphy, Jr. in fifth. Who would have thought the 50-lap contest would have gone flag-to-flag. The only near-miss incident we even noticed was when Dean Wagner, in his UNI Panther's car slipped off the track coming out of turn two. He was able to gather it back and the action continued without stoppage.
The action was completed by 9:20 p.m., allowing the fans an early mid-week departure for home. We enjoyed our night at the races as we shared it with fellow PR colleagues, Jeff Broeg and Kevin Trittien, and Ryan Clark, who was stationed in the infield scoring/announcing stand. He was able to throw in a few quips on the PA too. Thanks to the Foxman for the shout out to Positively Racing again too!
It will be right back at a race track for us tonight as we had down the road to Osky. The Southern Iowa Speedway will have Dick Berggren's Speedway Illustrated representatives on hand tonight to gather information for an upcoming article in their publication. Happy racing!
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