It was an emotional night at Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night. Dale DeFrance, former racer and father of Darrel DeFrance and Judy Gustin, and grandfather to Jimmy, Richie, Ryan, and Jenae Gustin, was honored prior to the race start. Dale, who passed away earlier in the week, had taken his final ride and checkered flag at the high banks just the day before. Then, during the night, Darrel DeFrance won his heat, and won the dash that qualified him for the upcoming $3,000 to win Super Dash later this year. Dale was no doubt riding alongside his son during those moments.
Racing was back in full force on Friday night after last week's rain out. The big crowd on hand got more than their money's worth from the 153 race cars that competed on the night. The Micro Sprints joined the regular classes for a seven-class night of excellent racing.
The Micro Sprints started off the night's feature racing and it was Skylar Hunter leading the 15-lap main event from start to finish. Hunter, who hails from Afton, Iowa, started on the pole, and was never seriously challenged on his way to the checkered flag.
Travis Stensland took the win in the Mod Lite 15-lap feature. Stensland, who was in a borrowed car that is usually piloted by Mike Kennedy, was a happy camper in victory lane. Joel Huggins chased Stensland much race, but had to be content with the runner up position. Third went to Mike Morrill, fourth was Josh May, and Bryan Zehm was fifth.
Doug Smith took his second win of the year in the IMCA Northern SportMod class. Smith powered his way to the topside and captured the lead at lap five, never to look back. Tyler Soppe made the trip from Sherrill, Iowa in the far northeast part of the state, to take second after starting in the sixth row. Travis Peterson was third, early leader Thomas Egenberger was fourth, and Sam Wieben finished a close fifth.
Shannon Anderson won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature for the third time this season. Anderson came from row six and had to go four-wide at one point in order to get to the lead. From there on out, he put distance between himself and the competition, and took another easy win. Lady racer, Leah Wroten was the runner up, holding off Eric Knutson in third. Justin Wacha was close behind in fourth, and Dillon Million rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Stock Cars put on their usual hard fought main event. Damon Murty, no stranger to the High Banks, put his #99D to the front by lap five, and was able to fend off any challengers to take his first regular season victory of 2017, after also being the Frostbuster winner. Todd Reitzler ran close behind Murty for much of the 18-laps, but had to settle for second place. David Brandies, from Wilton, started in row six, and made a good charge through the field to finish in third. Fourth went to Steve Meyers, who just beat out Jay Schmidt in fifth. The class did have some issues with cautions early on in what announcer Jerry Vansickel called a "caution carnival", but they eventually put those yellows to rest.
Jenae Gustin looked poised to take the win in the IMCA Modified 20-lap feature, as she led the troops from the topside of the track. However, Cayden Carter, who started in row six, capitalized on Gustin's slight slip when her right rear dropped over the cushion. He quickly dove under her to take over the top spot. He was able to hold that lead to the the checkers flying and the win. Gustin had to be content with second. Joel Rust took third, Todd Shute started seventeenth, and finished fourth, and Adam Larson was fifth. Carter won for the second time this week in his new VanderBuilt chassis as he took the checkers at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night...in a plain black car. Tonight, he had it wrapped and looking spiffy. The car is "perfect" so far, as he also won both his heats at the two tracks. Quite the debut of the new chassis that is a new undertaking by successful racer Zack VanderBeek from New Sharon, Iowa.
The night ended with the 20-lap feature for the IMCA Late Models. This was one of those races, that isn't over until it's over. Tyler Bruening led the race from the get go, and appeared to be on his way to victory even as the white flag flew. However, a last corner pass and dash to the checkers found Todd Cooney the man going to the winner's circle. Following second place Bruening was Kyle Hinrichs in third, Jeremiah Hurst was fourth and Andy Nezworksi took fifth.
There were three red flags throughout the night. Two of those came during one of the Mod Lite heats in two separate incidents. Larry Sorenson rolled his ride in corner four, and Bryan Compart flipped it after hitting the berm, got airborne, and landed on the embankment just out of turn two. Both drivers were okay. Then in one of the heats for the Modifieds, Rob Toland found himself upside down in his #99 Modified ride for the evening, coming to rest just prior to the flagstand. He was okay, but we noticed he did not start the Late Model feature, in his usual ride.
What a field of cars last evening! Car counts were 12 Micro Sprints, 17 Mod Lites, 19 Late Models, 19 Hobby Stocks, 22 Stock Cars, 30 SportMods and a great field of 34 Modifieds. A couple of eastern Iowa tracks got rained out, and we noticed a dozen or more drivers that normally race on Fridays that way, came for some fun at Marshalltown.
As mentioned earlier, it was an emotional night with the passing of Dale DeFrance and the tribute to him prior, but to see the entire crowd rise to it's feet, waving to Darrel DeFrance as he took the checkered flag on two occasions, was really heartfelt...and definitely showed the way of racing family.
Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend, and remember the reason for the holiday.
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