Night number two of three for the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out came to Marshalltown on Tuesday night. It was a hot one for fans and drivers alike. There was certainly no lack of great racing though, as three classes provided exciting finishes and had the crowd on it's feet.
IMCA Sport Compacts ran for 8-laps in their feature event, kicking off the night's main event action. Dallas Chandler, who was making his first appearance at the track, was leading past the halfway mark. That would be when brother Nate Chandler, also a first timer at the track, would make the pass for the lead, keeping it the rest of the way for the win. Third was Bill Whalen, Jr. from Riverside--yet another first timer--fourth went to Merv Chandler, father to Dallas and Nate, and David Moormann rounded out the top five.
The Mod Lite class only had eight cars, one unable to even start the heat race due to fuel pump problems. That driver, Josh May would tag the field for the feature. By lap three, May was on the tail of leader Randy Bryan, and looking for more. May made the pass into the lead and would then pull away and take the win.
Mike Kennedy made the pass around Bryan in the last few laps, as they finished second and third in that order. Fourth went to Jason Whitehead and fifth was Dusty Masolini.
The IMCA Northern SportMods had $1,000 to the winner on the line. The 20-lap feature put Cory Rose and Sam Wieben on the front row after the redraw. The first few laps were hectic and produced three-wide racing for the lead--Wieben, Rose, and second row starter Tony Dunker. Dunker, out of Quincy, Illinois had shown his muscle in the heat race, and wasn't about to change that now. Dunker took the lead but soon had another challenger coming fast and furiously in Scott Davis. The two raced close for several laps until Davis finally established the point position; Dunker still waiting in the wings. Davis and Dunker were putting on a show with close, clean racing; Davis maintaining the lead. The last corner was the fatal bite for Davis when Dunker made the pass out of turn four coming to the checkers, and snatching the win. Davis had to settle for the runner up, third was Sam Wieben. Racer Hulin stuck his #505 up topside and advanced from about mid-pack to take fourth over Carter VandenBerg in fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran a 15-lapper tonight. Scott Pippert got to the front early and would stretch it out for a comfortable lead. Brandon Pruitt had taken over second place and was on a quest to make up ground. A yellow flew at lap twelve, putting Pruitt to restart right behind the leader. The final laps were tight, Pippert continuing to maintain his lead, However, again that fateful last corner pass came to be, as Pruitt powered by Pippert coming to the checkers, nabbing the win in the last few feet. Tyler Pickett finished in third, fourth was Bryce Udelhoven and Garrett Eilander was fifth.
Now it was time for the "Star of the Show", the 30-lap IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out! Thirty-seven cars had checked in to the pits, and were whittled down to 24 cars through two B mains. The 24-car starting field put on one of the best four-wide salutes we've seen...nearly perfect formation. Sean Johnson and Abe Huls were the lucky redraw recipients of the front row. The action halted as soon as it began when several cars spun as they were about to take the green flag. This called for a complete restart, with the cars involved, heading to the tail. One of those involved was Brian Irvine, the hot shoe out of Oelwein. When the race finally got underway, Sean Johnson took command and was running strong; pulling away from the field. As he cruised along, Abe Huls established the second spot after shaking off the challenges of Steve Meyer. As the race wore down, we noticed a couple of cars making great advances through the field and coming strong. One of those was Donavon Smith who had battled his way up to third place...and, who was that in fourth? It was Brian Irvine! Irvine, had sliced his way up through the rest of the field, hiking that left front in his usual style, and was looking for more. The final few laps were awesome racing! Leader Johnson was frantically trying to hold off Smith's challenge for the lead, Irvine had made it into third and now Trent Murphy threw his hat into the ring! Smith shot past Johnson for the lead and then Irvine took the number two spot. The white flag flew with Smith in first and hoping for that $1,000 win. Then---here once again comes that final lap jinx! Irvine made the pass on Smith, and took the money! Following Smith in third was Sean Johnson, Trent Murphy came from qualifying through a B to capture fourth, and Abe Huls, Carthage, Illinois, took fifth. It was such a fitting race that is called the "Stock Car Shoot Out"!!
We head to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa tonight for the third and final night of the IMCA Stock Car Shoot Out. We look forward to more exciting action as the Stock Cars never seem to fail at putting on one of the best shows around on the big ole Monster Half-Mile. It's an early start at Osky with hot laps scheduled for 5:30 and races to follow. Stick around for the fireworks display too to top off your 4th of July! Happy racing!
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