It was a
chilly, breezy night at the Marshalltown Speedway Friday night, but the pits
were filled with eager drivers to test their skill on the quarter-mile high
banks. It was the season opener for the
speedway, after Mother Nature washed out last week’s original scheduled
opener.
No stranger
to the winner’s circle, Josh May put his #99 Mod Lite across the finish line
first for the feature win. Mike Morrill
and Bryan Zehm duked it out behind the leader in the closing laps, with Morrill
taking second over Zehm. Eric Turner
finished fourth and Randy Bryan took fifth.
There were
30 IMCA Northern SportMods on hand that
had to be whittled down to a 24-car starting field by a B Main, won by Shawn
Cooney. When the 18-lap A main went
green, defending track champion, Jared VanDeest wasted no time in swinging his
ride to the top from starting fourth, and took the lead coming out of turn
two. From there on, VanDeest never
looked back, leading all laps on his way to victory. Sam Wieben chased the leader the entire
distance, but had to settle for the runner up spot. Eighth place starter, Doug Smith finished
third, fourth went to Jake McBirnie and Austin Luellen rounded out the top
five.
Another
driver who visits the winner’s circle often took the win in the IMCA Hobby
Stock feature. Shannon Anderson bided
his time in getting to the front, racing closely with Eric Knutson and Eric
Stanton. Anderson grabbed his chance at
lap six, taking the lead around Knutson, and keeping it to the end of the
fifteen lap race. Stanton took second,
followed closely by Knutson in third.
Fourth went to Justin Wacha and veteran racer from Knoxville, Iowa, Bill
Bonnett was fifth.
The IMCA
Stock Cars had a strong field of cars for their 20-lap main event. Jeff Mueller, who previously lived in New London,
Iowa down in southeastern Iowa, but made the move to nearby Albion, sat on the
pole for the start. Mueller looked
strong in leading the early portion of the race, but Jay Schmidt was in hot
pursuit the entire time. Schmidt made
the pass for the lead at the flag stand on lap twelve and then stretched his
lead to take the comfortable win. Trent
Murphy came from eleventh starting spot in a good run, to take second. Donavon Smith was third, Jeff Mueller fourth,
and Michael Jaennette, fifth.
The night’s
finale was the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature.
There was a stellar field of 33 cars on hand which called for a B Main
to set the 24-car starting field for the feature. Jake Strayer won that event.
The “Mighty
Miss”, Jenea Gustin drew the pole for the starting feature, with Nick Roberts
to her outside. Roberts nabbed the
advantage in the early going, but soon had a lot of company fighting it out
close behind. Nate Hughes, Humboldt,
Iowa, and Jesse Hoeft from Forest City as well as Clint Luellen were going at
it for position. Roberts was able to
hold the lead until Nate Hughes took a liking to the topside, and flew around
him for the lead at lap fourteen. At the
finish, it was Hughes taking the victory with Hoeft a close second at the
line. Roberts held on to third place,
Clint Luellen was fourth and Adam Larson was fifth.
A few notes
from the evening’s festivities. We
noticed some of the drivers were having a bit of trouble with some new working
of the track. There is more dirt up top
in turns three and four, and several cars took a look over the topside throughout
the night. Dirt was removed from turn
one, supposedly allowing for an easier entrance into the corner. It too took some drivers by surprise. There was a
great field of 122 cars on hand for opening night at the High Banks. The show was hustled right along last evening
and with the chilly temps and brisk breeze blowing toward the grandstand, it
was appreciated by the fans. They even
eliminated the Victory Lane interviews in order to keep the show moving right
along.
Next Friday
night at Marshalltown, the IMCA Late Models make their first appearance to
start their long-awaited weekly racing at the track. Hot laps are a bit before 7 and racing starts at 7:30.
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