It had been a long time coming, but Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway, Joel Rust finally rolled into Victory Lane for the first time in his IMCA Modified ride. All other classes saw repeat winners on the year.
The Mod Lites had an early race incident that halted their 15-lap feature when then leader Justin Rankin turned it sideways in corner four. Travis Stensland was unable to avoid contact and took the brunt of the hit, ending his night. Joe Glick inherited the lead when the racing picked back up. Glick had Charlie Brown and Josh May quickly on his tail and by lap eight, it was May taking over the point position. From there on, he pulled away, winning by a comfortable margin over second place Charlie Brown. Glick finished third, Mike Kennedy was fourth and Jason Whitehead was fifth. May, who won for the seventh time, stretched his point lead. May has a busy weekend ahead, as he is getting married Saturday, racing Saturday night at Boone, and at Stuart on Sunday.
The IMCA Northern SportMod feature began with fourth place starter Curt Hilmer taking the lead on lap one. Sam Wieben fought past him to snap up the lead on lap seven but coming on the topside was Jared VanDeest with a full head of steam! VanDeest took the top spot at lap ten and would then hold it to the checkers and the win. Wieben, who started eighth, held the runner up spot, third was seventh place starter Brandon Williams, fourth went to Travis Peterson, who started ninth and eleventh place starter, Jake McBirnie, rounded out the top five. VanDeest came from tenth starting spot, to claim his second win in as many weeks, and his fourth of the season. He is the point leader in the SportMod division.
The 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature was called back on the start when the 3X of Craig Lovig found himself off the backstretch and sitting in the weeds. When things did get started, Tim Barber was the driver in charge, leading the pack. By lap four, Grinnell's Gene Nicklas had flown to the lead and brought Eric Stanton along with him to run second. The two ran nose-to-tail for several laps, Nicklas in command. On lap ten, Stanton nosed to the underside of Nicklas as they entered turn two, and slid up the track, forcing Nicklas to take evasive moves to prevent disaster. This put Stanton in the lead, and last week's winner, Garrett Eilander moved to second, Nicklas falling to third. Stanton then held on to take the win. Eilander claimed second, Nicklas was third, fourth went to early leader Tim Barber and Gary Pfantz was fifth. Stanton won for the third time at Marshalltown, increasing his large point lead. In the post race interview, Stanton said he had a coolant leak, spewing water on his front tires.
Eighteen laps of IMCA Stock Car racing came next. Young Nick Thelen led the troops in the opening laps. As the cars approached the starter's stand for lap four, the bumping and rubbing, sent Michael Jaennette up into the front stretch wall, showing the grandstand his underside, the scoring stand the top of his car. Thankfully, he got hold of his ride without any worse disaster happening. The yellow came out, he retired to the pits for a tire change, tagged the starting field, but with a bad right front wheel. The restart now had Tyler Pickett in the lead, Donavon Smith had already made his way into second place from starting ninth, and Todd Reitzler was running third. Reitzler moved to the lead quickly, and Smith followed him into second place. From there on, it was pretty much a two-car race as Reitzler set his ride on the topside, and Smith chose his usual bottom of the track. Reitzler maintained his momentum on the topside, keeping the lead, as Smith plugged steadily away on the bottom. Smith's determination paid off with four laps left in the 18-lap event---taking the top spot away from Reitzler. Smith held the lead to take the win. Reitzler finished as the runner up, Steve Meyer was third, fourth went to Tyler Pickett and Robbie Merkel came from tenth starting spot, to round out the top five. Smith stretched his point lead with his seventh win of the year, including back-to-back wins.
The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature completed the night's racing with a caution free feature. Jake Strayer quickly moved his #18J ride to the front from starting in row three, and wheeled it away. At the halfway mark, Joel Rust was running a distant second but began his quest, reeling in the leader. The closing laps found Rust doing just that, taking over the lead and putting his ride in the winner's circle for the first time in the Modified class. Strayer finished in second, Scott Simatovich took third place, fourth went to Brandon Leeman and Trent Jackson finished fifth.
Rust was a happy camper in Victory Lane. He has been struggling with his new Harris ride, but finally got the monkey off his back with the win. This is his first win in the Modified class at Marshalltown, after his move up from the SportMod class a year or so ago.
A glance at the point race in the Modified division, still shows a tight battle. Jimmy Gustin, who brought out his newly wrapped ride last night, keeps his point lead with 542 points, while two drivers are just seven points behind, Ronn Lauritzen and Josh Gilman. This is really the only closely contested point race at the track this year.
All you Late Model fans, mark your calendars! The next two weeks, August 14 and 21, the IMCA Late Models join the regular five classes at Marshalltown. They are always a treat to watch on the high-banks. Hot laps are 6:50 and racing at 7:30.
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