There was a chill in the air for racing last night at the Marshalltown Speedway. It was the first of two nights for their annual Havoc on the Highbanks. The track will hosts the second night of a whole new program again tonight with the Dirt Trucks and the IMCA Sport Compacts joining the Hawkeye Dirt Tour IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Northern SportMods, IMCA Stock Cars and the Mod Lites.
The Mod Lite feature kicked off the first of the feature events. After Andy Hennigar led the opening lap of the 15-lap race, it was the red #6 of Mike Morrill taking the helm. Hennigar hung close to Morrill's back bumper was never able to do better. Morrill took the win...and as usual, gave away his pretty impressive trophy to a lucky young fan. Hennigar took the runner up spot, third went to Troy Hudson with Mike Kennedy close on his heels for fourth, and fifth went to Paul Nagle...a name we have not heard in a few years but no stranger to the racing scene from a few years back when he piloted a hobby stock. He was in the #20 machine usually piloted by Jeff Stensland.
The Northern SportMods raced for 20-laps in their feature event. The two front row starters, Curtis VanDerWal---a driver we see at the Southern Iowa Speedway weekly and who had a successful year running that big old "Monster Half-Mile"---and Marshalltown Speedway's 2012 track champion, Racer Hulin, battled for the lead in the opening laps. Hulin established the lead when a nifty move involving lap traffic led to his decision to opt for the outside line and from there on, sailed on to a comfortable win. Ty Luellen made the pass on VanDerWal as they captured second and third places. Randy Roberts took fourth and Carter VandenBerg rounded out the top five.
The 15-lap Hobby Stock feature started 27 cars---maybe not a good thing--- as it saw more than it's share of yellow flags waving. The winner, John Watson didn't let anything bother him on his way to the checkers however. Weekly racer at Marshalltown, Scott Pippert worked his way through the pack from starting back in the sixth row, to capture a second place finish, as he made the late race pass on Devin Smith scored in third. Fourth and fifth spots went to Justin Lichty and Chris Luloff; two Independence Speedway regulars.
The IMCA Stock Cars did what the Hobby Stocks couldn't. They went 20-laps caution free. Sean Johnson had little trouble winning the feature as he led by lap one and sailed to the win. Donavon Smith got to the second spot and the chase was on but he could do no better. The two front runners sliced through the lap traffic easily as they went 1-2. Third went to Chris Wiltse a regular at the I-35 Speedway in Mason City, fourth was Marshalltown's own Jeff Wollam with a good run, and Jay Schmidt came from waaaay back in the starting field to finish in fifth.
The Hawkeye Dirt Tour feature came next for their 30-lap main event. The point lead was held by Jeremy Mills going into the night, with a slim 6 point lead over Jay Noteboom. Just 12 points out of the lead was Mark Elliott. The starting field was completed by two B mains and two provisional HDT regular drivers not qualifying, Ryan Dolan and Mark Schulte, filled out the starting grid.
You would have thought in the early going that having a camera on the car may have offered an advantage
as Darin Duffy and Mark Elliott circled the track at the front of the pack with their camera's hoisted up top. The only yellow flag flew at lap 10 and on the ensuing restart, Jay Noteboom who had been riding in third, made the pass on Elliott to take over second. From then on, it was the two guys up front, Duffy and Noteboom putting on the show. The two diced back and forth for the lead in the closing laps. Noteboom chose the outside line and made it work as he out lasted Duffy to take the win. Third went to Jon Snyder who got by Elliott in fourth. Randy Havlik rounded out the top five.
The fans all got their money's worth in that one! It was an awesome race and not only that, now finds the points battle going into tonight tied at 404 between Jay Noteboom and Jeremy Mills who garnered a 7th place finish. Not too far behind is Mark Elliott...9 points out.
Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 with racing to commence at 7 p.m. tonight. Dress warm as the temperatures are predicted to dip to the freezing mark late. Happy racing!
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