Marshalltown Speedway held the second night of the Twin High Banks Hustle on Friday night, and it was also opening night for season points. An even stiffer wind than the previous night was endured by the crowd on hand and with 158 race cars filling the pits, competition was also stiff. There was close racing in all classes last evening, and the track stayed smooth and fast.
Darrel DeFrance repeated his win from the night before in the IMCA Late Model contest, as did Damon Murty in the IMCA Stock Car main event. Austin Luellen put his #3A IMCA Northern SportMod into victory lane, as did Eric Stanton in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Racing for the first time this season was the MADCRA Mod Lites, and it was Randy Bryan with the win in that class.
The Mod Lite's debuted their season at the Speedway. The feature saw Jason Masengarb, from Colona, Illinois leading the early laps with veteran Mike Morrill running him down. Morrill reeled in the leader, briefly grabbed the lead as they passed the flagstand at lap eleven, only to slide off the slick track. No caution was thrown, and Masengarb continued his lead. He had some late company competition as the laps wound down. Randy Bryan started tenth, and was the victor who stole the lead away with just two laps remaining, leaving Masengarb to be content with the runner up spot. Third went to Travis Stensland, Bryan Zehm was fourth, and Eric Turner rounded out the top five.
Lucas Lamberies made the trek down from Shawano, Wisconsin and after having the worst draw in his heat, he made up for it with drawing the #1 pill for the feature. When the race went green, Lambreries looked to have his eye on the checkers as he led the IMCA Northern SportMod feature through lap eleven. However, Austin Luellen had other ideas as he made the pass into the top spot and then held it the remaining nine laps to take the win. Lambreries held second place, third went to Brayton Carter who started eighth, Sam Wieben was fourth and Taylor Musselman was fifth. The feature went caution free.
The IMCA Hobby Stock main event saw a real battle at the front of the pack. Eric Stanton led from the start only to have Eldora, Iowa's David Reiks hot on his tail. The two swapped leads a few times, and maybe traded a bit of paint, but in the end, it was Eric Stanton battling back around David Rieks to secure his first win of the season. Following a close third behind Rieks was previous night winner, Shannon Anderson who had started twelfth on the field. Chanse Hollatz came from ninth starting spot to claim fourth, and lady racer Leah Wroten was fifth.
Damon Murty matched his win from the previous night in the 20-lap IMCA Stock Car feature. Murty started seventh and ran down front runners Jeff Mueller, Randy Brands, and Jay Schmidt. Murty took to his preferred topside of the high banks, (he's claimed that topside as his own, I think we can refer to it as "The Murty line") and snapped up the lead at lap eleven. He then pulled away to take yet another comfortable win. Brands was second, Mueller held third, Travis VanStraten from Hortonville, Wisconsin, and a former IMCA National Champion, was fourth and Jay Schmidt finished fifth.
Another driver matching a win from night #1 of the Twin High Banks Hustle, was Darrel DeFrance in the IMCA Late Models. DeFrance, a crowd favorite, also led all laps for the second night in a row to take the victory. Todd Cooney made a late race charge through the field, and finished a close second, third was Kyle Hinrichs, from Swisher, Iowa, fourth went to Joe Zroslik and Richie Gustin was fifth. After witnessing Todd Cooney and Curtis Glover take rollovers the previous night, and more damage to other cars involved in the incident, we were quite surprised to see them back in action. We understand they put in a lot of time in getting their rides back in racing form. Thirteen Late Models checked in for the night's racing.
The night capped off with the 20-lap $1,000 to win IMCA Modified feature. The twenty-four car starting field had to be whittled down through two B main events due to the 43 stout field of drivers. Those wins went to Ethan Dotson and Kelly Shryock. Ricky Thornton had little trouble in his run to the checkers, as he lead flag to flag. Hunter Marriott started on the outside front row along side the winner, and chased him the distance to capture second. Third went to fifth place starter, Cayden Carter, Kyle Brown was fourth, and Richie Gustin finished fifth.
The racing was great all night long on the smooth track. It was no less uncomfortable sitting in the stands however, as the wind was stronger than the night before. It wasn't easy trying to keep my notebook from flying out of my hand and trying to write! It was another cold night too, but what a field of cars to watch to make the night endurable!
We also got a big surprise, when Blake Anderson showed up in the stands, and joined Jerry Vansickel on the mic! Anderson, who is from Newton, Iowa, began his announcing career as a Racing Rascal right there in Marshalltown, and has now made it his profession. He works for the All Star Circuit of Champions in Indianapolis, Indiana. His boss....Tony Stewart.
Racing continues next Friday night, May 4, with racing in all six divisions. The green flag drops at 7:30.
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