It was another warm night for racing at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday. Adam Larson went home with a win in the IMCA Modified class, and Donavon Smith won the Stock Car feature. Sam Wieben was the winner in the SportMod division, Gene Nicklas won the Hobby Stock feature, ending Eric Stanton's perfect season, and Travis Stensland snagged the Mod Lite feature.
Joel Huggins led the opening laps of the 12-lap Mod Lite main event, but Travis Stensland made quick headway from his tenth starting spot, taking over as captain of the ship at lap eight. He would sail home to the checkers and the win as the race went caution free. Huggins finished as the runner up, Mike Morrill was third, fourth went to Joe Glick and Randy Bryan finished fifth. This was Stensland's first win at Marshalltown this season.
Up next was the 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature. Jayme Duinink led the early portion of the race, and was soon having to hold back the fast charging Sam Wieben. Wieben, who started eighth, bothered Duinink relentlessly until finally making the pass on the topside, and taking the lead at lap seven. Wieben still led when a yellow flew at lap fourteen, but he was able to hold the lead on the restart, and kept it to the checkers flying. Randy Roberts was second, after starting ninth, Jared VanDeest started eleventh and finished third, and Jake McBirnie and Curt Hilmer were fourth and fifth respectively. Wieben claimed his third win at Marshalltown this year.
Gene Nicklas was the happy camper in victory lane after the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Nicklas took command from David Simpson at lap four, and led all the remaining laps to the finish. His comfortable lead vanished when a caution came out on lap thirteen for debris, and bunched the field. Would this be a repeat of last week, when it was looking as if there would be no way Eric Stanton could win, but he pulled off the miracle? On the restart, Eric Stanton passed two cars, going from fourth to second and was looking for another spectacular win to keep his streak alive, but on this night, it wasn't to be, and he had to settle for second. This ended his perfect season at seven wins in a row. Leah Wroten raced from seventh starting spot to finish in third place, fourth went to Gary Pfantz, and early leader David Simpson completed the top five.
Gene Nicklas had not won at Marshalltown since July 12th of 2013, according to my records. However, I believe he had not raced full time since then. After a little "donut" celebration on the front stretch, he thanked his sponsors, and supporters profusely. His win ended Eric Stanton's remarkable run of seven wins in a row.
Donavon Smith started ninth in the IMCA 20-lap Stock Car A main, and powered his way methodically to the front. He had to work his way by Michael Jaennette and Dave Atcher, to take the lead at lap nine. His dominate lead almost ended in disaster in the closing moments when a lap car sitting sideways on the back stretch, began to roll down the track in front of him. A narrow miss, and Smith was home free, and took the checkers. Damon Murty, last week's winner, raced his way from thirteenth, to finish as the runner up. Third went to tenth place starter, Austin Evens, fourth was Michael Jaennette and eleventh place starter, Todd Reitzler, was fifth. This was Smith's second regular season win, in addition to winning the Frostbuster preseason special.
Adam Larson used the topside of the race track to take home his first win of the season in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. Larson started eighth and was leading by lap seven. He put distance between himself and the pack until the closing laps when Joel Rust reeled him in. Rust's attempt for more failed, and he had to be content with a second place finish. Third went to Trent Jackson who had started sixth, fourth was tenth starter Jacob Murray and Jon Snyder started ninth, and rounded out the top five.
Two traveling Californians were in the house last night, racing in the Modified division. The black #11 of Cody Laney from Torrance, California, and the 174 (looks like just #1) of Ethan Dotson, from Bakersfield. Dotson was in Iowa last season racing for most of the year, but this is Laney's first run on the tracks of Iowa.
Get out and attend a race and support the sport we all love.
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