There were a lot of hardy fans at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night...enduring the cold and the wind, to witness the second of four Frostbuster specials. After being postponed from last week, Marshalltown kicked off the first of the remaining three races---Boone Saturday night, and Vinton on Sunday.
There were 120 cars checked into the pits...by my count, 32 IMCA SportMods, 31, IMCA Modifieds, 28 IMCA Hobby Stocks, 20 IMCA Stock Cars, and 9 Mod Lites. Drivers from several states made the trip to the high banks at Marshalltown. Among those was the current IMCA Modified national point leader, Lance Mari from Imperial, California.
The Mod Lites ran their feature first and after all was said and done, the familiar face of Josh May was back in the winner's circle. May led the race from start to finish, crossing under the checkers well ahead of second place Randy Bryan. Third went to Mike Morrill, fourth was Charlie Brown, and Bryan Zehm rounded out the top five.
Up next were the IMCA Northern SportMods. Their B main was won by Ethan Braaskma. The 20-lap feature win went to Randy Roberts. Roberts took over the lead from Tyler Soppe before the half way mark, and never relinquished it. Finishing a close second was Dysart's Sam Wieben. Soppe held on to finish third. Fourth went to seventh place starter, Carter VandenBerg, and Jake McBirnie came from tenth starting spot, to take fifth.
Nathan Ballard led the early field of Hobby Stocks in their 15-lap feature contest. As Ballard led the pack, one car swung to the top of the track, Dustin Elliott and was making it work. Elliott took over the number one spot at lap six, and kept it the remaining way for the win. Second place finisher, Eric Stanton, who had destroyed his race car at Oskaloosa back on March 30 in the first Frostbuster, was in a different car. Stanton came from starting sixth to make an attempt at passing the leader in the closing moments, but fell short and had to be content with second place. Benji Irvine was third, Derek Hodges took fourth and John "The Mayor" Watson, was fifth after starting thirteenth on the field.
The closest finish of the night was in the 20-lap IMCA Stock Car class. It did not start well, when a quagmire of cars piled up between corners three and four before one lap was in the books, eliminating a couple of cars. When action did get underway, the Chelsea Charger, Damon Murty had inherited the lead from starting fifth, thanks to the "no go" situation. He battled with Jay Schmidt, who momentarily held the top spot, until Murty regained it at lap five. Meanwhile, moving through the pack, was Donavon Smith. Smith, who had started eleventh, was able to get to Murty's bumper before the the half way mark, and was wanting more. Murty was able to hold off Smith's advances until that fateful last charge to the checkers, when, with a bit of contact coming to the flagstand, Smith was able to nose in front of Murty and seal the win. In third place behind Murty was Steve Meyer with a great run from thirteenth starting spot, Tyler Pickett came from seventh to finish fourth and Jay Schmidt took fifth.
The 25-lap feature for the IMCA Modifieds was the final event of the cold night. Their B main was won by Ricky Thornton, Jr. He is from Chandler, Arizona and is another driver who plans to call Iowa his home during our racing season. Kyle Brown was the lucky recipient of the pole position for the feature, with Nick Roberts sitting along side. A caution at lap one when Roberts spun, set up a restart, Brown leading the troops. Josh "Happy" Gilman chased Brown as the race restarted until David Brown made his way into second place around Gilman, and was hunting down son, Kyle Brown. A late race caution at lap twenty-one bunched the field, and scrambling began on the restart. Brown was able to hold off Gilman at the checkers and take his second win in the Frostbuster series. David Brown finished third and Arizona racer, Tim Ward, who I believe will be calling Iowa his home this racing season, was a very close fourth. Ronn Lauritzen had a good run from his eleventh starting spot, to put his "Star Wars" ride in fifth place.
I mentioned earlier, it was a hardy bunch of fans and drivers who endured the freezing temperatures to see the races. Crazy may be a more accurate description. This one went into the books as the coldest race ever attended. The racing was stellar however, as was the field of cars, so it's one that won't be easily forgotten.....for more than one reason.
Regular season racing starts at the Marshalltown Speedway next Friday night, April 15, with the opening points night. Races at 7:30.
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