A good crowd was on hand at the Marshalltown Speedway Friday night, and a good car count as well...125 by my count. The Dirt Trucks were also in town due to the World Pork Expo going on at the State Fair grounds in Des Moines, and a few cars in the other classes that normally run there on Friday nights, came to play at the Highbanks of Marshalltown. A couple of thrilling finishes had the crowd on it's feet and two first time winners for 2013 took home trophies last night.
There were six IMCA Sport Compacts on hand last night, but it was still the same outcome that it has been the last three weeks prior....Merv Chandler took the checkers. Chandler passed Dave Moorman on lap two, never to look back. Moorman continued to challenge Chandler but to no avail, coming home in second. Third place was John Gill, fourth went to Toby Denning, fifth to Jeremy Lerch and Jim Alday was sixth.
The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks came next with eleven trucks strong. The red flag came out on lap two when Tony Moro rolled hard in turn two. He was okay. Bret Moyer continued his lead on the restart and held on to that top spot the full fifteen laps, taking the checkers. Brad Moyer finished second, Pat Fagen nosed out Carl Moyer as they went three and four, and Rick Clark rounded out the top five.
Mike Kennedy led the opening laps of the MADCRA Mod Lite feature, but by lap eight, Josh May came calling, grabbing the lead and sailing home to the win...his fourth in a row at Marshalltown. Following May up from their fifth row starting spots was Andy Hennigar in second. Third went to Eric Hendrickson, Charlie Brown was fourth and Randy Bryan, fifth.
I don't know what's been up the last couple of weeks with the IMCA Northern SportMods and their features, but it was beginning to look as if it was going to be another of the marathons we've been seeing. The first stoppage of the racing action came at lap two when Johnathan Logue and Mike Stark got together coming out of turn four, their cars ending up on the track just before the flagstand. Since there was a lot of fuel leaked in the incident, the track crew had to "light the match" and a huge blaze burned the fuel away before racing could resume. Three more cautions flew before the cars got up to racing speed but thankfully, that was the end of the yellow rag appearing. Clint Luellen held the lead by lap six but it was Austin Kaplan coming at a hard charge from his fifteenth starting spot and soon in the runner up position. Kaplan grabbed the lead on lap eleven and now Luellen was fighting off Travis Petersen as they ran second and third. Peterson slipped by for second and the chase was on to catch the leader. Kaplan held the advantage with a lap to go, but a slight slip up the track was all Peterson needed. Peterson sneaked by and took the win, beating Kaplan to the checkers. Luellen finished third, fourth went to Jared VanDeest and Ty Luellen finished in fifth. This was Peterson's second win at the track this year.
The IMCA Hobby Stock feature went to veteran racer Bill Bonnett. Bonnett, who started in row five, took the lead from Mitchell Thomas at lap five and never looked back after that, winning by a comfortable distance over second place Nick Murty who came from row six. Third was Austin Luellen, fourth went to Garrett Eilander who was driving a new hot rod, and fifth was Eric Stanton. Bonnett took the checkers for the first time this season.
The front row of the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature was held by Justin Temeyer (sporting a new car with the #8675309...made famous from a 1980's tune) but being scored as his familiar 56T no doubt, and Eric Brown. Temeyer held the opening laps as the leader, but by lap three, it was "Napa Jay" Schmidt putting his new car to the point, after its debut a week ago. Schmidt set sail on the topside as he extended his lead and flew home to the win. Steve Meyer battled by Derek Reimer as they went second and third. Fourth was Damon Murty from his twelfth starting spot, and Tracy Gienger was fifth.
It was an exciting finish in the IMCA Modified feature. Cayden Carter jumped to the lead immediately in the 20-lap affair, Ronn Lauritzen getting to second and up for the chase. Carter chose the topside of the track, Lauritzen his preferred low side. Those two would put on quite the show for several laps but joining in the fun soon were Jon Snyder and Jimmy Gustin. Those four cars were locked into a tight battle for positions, bringing the crowd to it's feet! Snyder snatched the lead as the other cars got shuffled around...Carter dropping briefly to fourth. A yellow came out at lap fifteen when Jimmy Gustin found himself in spin mode, and at that point, Carter had fought his way back into the lead, Snyder running second and Lauritzen in third. The final few laps were thrilling to watch, Snyder grabbing the lead back at lap seventeen, but the 18-year old Carter wasn't done yet! Carter took flight back on the topside and swung around Snyder and as the checkers flew, had a comfortable distance between himself and his competition. Snyder held on to second, third went to Luke Wanninger, fourth was Richie Gustin who made late race strides, and Ronn Lauritzen fought hard to keep fifth place.
Here's hoping Mother Nature is DONE with her antics for a good long while and race fans can enjoy their racing fix without her ire. Get out and find a race to attend and support our love of dirt track racing. Happy racing!
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