Marshalltown Speedway doubleheader wins to Guss and Rust

There was a packed house Tuesday night at the Marshalltown Speedway to witness the doubleheader of the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models and the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds, along with the IMCA Stock Cars.  No fan should have gone home disappointed!  Thirty-three Late Models, thirty-nine Modifieds and 14 supporting cast IMCA Stock Cars put on an entertaining night of racing.

Veteran racer Ray Guss, Jr. went home with the hardware in the 50-lap Miller Lite 50, for the Deery Late Models, Joel Rust grabbed his second win in as many HDT races, and no stranger to victory lane, The Chelsea Charger, Damon Murty, chalked up another win in the IMCA Stock Cars.

The top twelve qualifiers from the four Deery heats drew the traditional pizza box containing a hidden starting position.  After a little passing back and forth....some good decisions, some not so good....it was Joel Callahan starting on the pole, along side Ray Guss, Jr.  

Joel Callahan took the initial lead for lap one, but at lap two, it was Ray Guss, Jr. putting his #58 to the point.  From there on, he never relinquished that coveted spot, stretching his lead, even through heavy lap traffic, to take the comfortable win.  Tyler Droste came from eighth starting spot to finish as the runner up.  Ryan Dolan finished in third, fourth went to Joel Callahan and rookie Cayden Carter was fifth.  Guss went home with $2,000 in his pocket for the win.  

A Non-Qualifiers 10-lap dash for the Deery was held for those cars not making the feature.  Veteran racer Greg Kastli came home the victor and $300 for his win.

The Hawkeye Dirt Tour for the IMCA Modifieds had a 30-lap feature.  Fourth place starter, Brian Irvine took the lead out of turn two as the race went green, and by lap three, he had Joel Rust running him down.  Rust took command of the ship at lap eight, but could never really shake off Irvine on his heels.  A last second thrust fell just short for Irvine, and Rust took the win, Irvine going second. Kyle Brown came from tenth starting spot, to finish in third.  Fourth was Jake Murray who started twelfth, and Ryan Gustin, in the Shawn's Hay Grinding ride normally driven by Shawn Ritter, started deep in the field to round out the top five.

Rust, who won the HDT opener at Vinton, made it back to back wins in the series.  He pocketed $1,000 for his victory.  

The IMCA Stock Cars were the support class for the two traveling series.  They brought 14 cars to the track for a 20-lap feature.  It provided the close racing action that is always associated with the Class too Tough to Tame.  Jay Schmidt and Tyler Pickett went at it in the early part of the race, racing side by side, lap after lap.  Then Damon Murty threw his hat in the ring and got in on the action, and all three jousted for position.  Not to be out done, Jeff Wollam joined in as well.  Murty was able to take command as the laps wound down, and secured the win.  Jay Schmidt finished a close second, just ahead of Tyler Pickett and Jeff Wollam in third and fourth, and Dave Atcher completed the top five. This was career win #202 for Damon Murty, and put $500 in his pocket.

A few notes on the night:  The Ironman, Darrel DeFrance continues his streak of attending all of the Deery Brothers Summer Series races.  Last night marked #456 for the Marshalltown driver.  He finished tenth in last night's feature.  A scary moment in one of the Consy races for the Deery Late Models found Todd Cooney rolling his ride off of the top of turns one and two.  Word is that he is fine, but very sore this morning.  The HDT series will have their second race of the week on Thursday, June 9, at the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, Iowa. Promoter Toby Kruse should have been very pleased with the turn out last night....both in the stands and in the pits.  Great car counts for both the Deery Brothers and the HDT.

There is lots of racing going on in our area.  Get out and find a race to attend in support of the sport we all love.