The Marshalltown Speedway had a lot of rain prior to Friday night's racing, and the track did not behave very well in some instances. That didn't hinder three drivers who just keep racking up the wins though and two other drivers, won for the very first time at the high banks.
A little Quad racing was thrown in to add to the night's entertainment and they were first to the oval for their feature. It was appearing that one driver was going to have a clean sweep. Travis Brandt, who also races a Mod Lite, won his heat and was sailing easily ahead of his competition at the final lap. As he approached the finish line, his machine shut down, and Michael Rupe beat him to the checkers. Brandt coasted across the line in second.
The Mod Lites ran their 15-lap feature next. This race went green to checkers with Travis Stensland leading the entire way. Terry Brown, last week's winner, finished as the runner up, though a good distance behind the leader, Tim Hennigar was third, fourth went to Mike Morrill, and James May rounded out the top five. Charlie Brown had been running with the leaders until the final run to the checkers, but ended up on his lid at the top of turn four as the race completed. He was okay. This was Stensland's first win at the Marshalltown track.
The Hobby Stock 12-lap A main was a fight to the finish among several cars. When a yellow flew with just two laps remaining, it was the 3A of Austin Luellen, and the 5A of Tyler Pickett vying for the top spot. Behind them, it had been a three-wide battle between Eric Larson, Tyson Overton and Eric Stanton. An incident between Larson and Overton on the frontstretch, left them blocking the track and bringing out the yellow. When the green-white-checkered restart began, it was Luellen claiming the top spot, with Pickett in second, Stanton was third and visiting Kyle Parizek from Belle Plaine, was fourth. The final circuit found Luellen holding down that top spot to the checkers and the win. In the final wild scramble behind the leader, Eric Stanton sneaked around Pickett as they finished second and third. Parizek held on to finish fourth and Brice Udelhoven took fifth after starting 17th. This made it two in a row for Luellen at Marshalltown, his seventh for the season.
In the 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature, it was "Mighty Miss" Jenae Gustin taking the lead in turn two just after the green fell. Gustin, who started fourth, wasted no time in making her move to the front, and sailed off. However, it wasn't a done deal yet. By lap five, the #38X of newcomer Logan Scott out of Odebolt, Iowa, had moved into second from starting twelfth on the field, and was starting to pressure leader Gustin. A lap car was coming into play for the leaders, but it was Gustin sliding through like hot butter, but Scott had to hold up just a bit, allowing Gustin a bit of breathing room. Scott was able to catch Gustin again just a lap or two later, and was able to briefly take the lead. That all ended when the rough track caused him to slide up, he bounced through some bad ruts, smoke arose, and he had to exit the track. This put Gustin back in command the rest of the way to the checkers. Second place went to Sam Wieben. Wieben had fought hard with the front runners most of the race after starting eighth. Third was Kegan Scott, that we believe to be Logan Scott's brother and also from Odebolt. Scott started eleventh and had a good run for his first appearance at the track. Fourth was Clint Luellen, and talk about a run! Luellen had not finished his heat race, and was listed as 26th on the starting lineup. His #3L ride was picking off cars left and right on his run to the front of the pack. Fifth place finisher, Brett Lowry made up a lot of ground as well. Lowry started 27th and worked his way smoothly through the field for a top five finish. This was Jenae Gustin's third win in a row at Marshalltown and fifth over all for the season. She said in victory lane, that this was win #14 in total for the year.
Veteran racer, Jeff Wollam appeared to be on his way to visiting victory lane in the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Wollam took command from Robert Stofer at lap three after quite a battle. The battle continued even after cautions flew at laps four and six. Wollam held tight to his number one position as Stofer continued to try and find a way around him. Meanwhile, someone else had entered the picture. It was the familiar #35 of Donavon Smith. Smith, who patiently had worked the bottom of the track per usual, was now up to third and tightening the screws on second place runner Stofer. Stofer slammed the door shut on the bottom and after several attempts failed Smith down low, he moved to the top of the track. This worked for Smith, as he flew around Stofer and took over second place. The final couple of laps was tight, but Smith finally established the lead for good with two laps remaining. Smith took the checkers and the win, and Wollam had to be content with a runner up finish. Trent Murphy made his move in the final laps as well, getting around Stofer as they finished third and fourth in that order. Rounding out the top five, was Jay Schmidt, who brought back his snazzy Black Betty ride after she got a "face lift". Smith made it three in a row at the track and captured his eighth feature at Marshalltown this season.
After last week's marathon race in the Modified feature, it was great to see the 20-lap main go flag-to-flag....especially on the rough track. Jake Strayer got under polesitter Rod Clement and took the lead by lap one. From then on, Strayer kept that number one spot all the way to the checkers. There was battling going on behind him however, as point leader Ronn Lauritzen quickly got to second place and started his quest to catch the leader. Joel Rust also came calling for a top finish, getting to third by lap seven. Just before lap seventeen was scored, Rust was able to take over the runner up spot, getting around Lauritzen on the backstretch, but there was no catching Strayer. Strayer took the win, his first ever at Marshalltown and I believe only his second career Modified win over all. Rust held on to finish as the runner up, Lauritzen was third, Clement finished fourth and Scott Simatovich was fifth. Strayer, who had a short stint in a sprint car, returned to the Modified class this year, thanked his sponsors and especially his father for helping him.
The track was not kind last night, as cars seemed to bounce around in all classes, not only causing incidents on the track, but causing some mechanical issues as well. We were surprised at how much rain had fallen at Marshalltown during the week, as we had not had nearly as much. Next week, it will be another night of racing at the track, hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30. Just three nights of regular racing remains at Marshalltown, as the season is quickly winding down.
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