The Marshalltown Speedway sprung back to action Friday night after a two week absence due to rain and then the terrible tornado that devastated the town last week. The track escaped any damage but in support of the town, they remained silent last Friday.
Three drivers returned to victory lane with back to back wins,...Richie Gustin in the IMCA Modifieds, Todd Reitzler in the Stock Cars, and Mike Morrill in the Mod Lite division. Sam Wieben in the IMCA Northern SportMods, and Shannon Anderson in IMCA Hobby Stocks, made return visits to the winner's circle, and Late Model driver Kyle Hinrichs took his first win of the year.
Travis Stensland was fending off Charlie Brown in the Mod Lite feature while Mike Morrill began reeling in the front runners. Then the leaders came up on a lap car, and Stensland got the bad end of the deal. He got caught up in the situation and then had to exit the race. Morrill took advantage of the road block, and flew to the lead. Morrill then pulled away to take another easy win. He finished well ahead of second place Joe Glick, who just beat out Charlie Brown for third at the flag. Fourth went to Randy Bryan and Jeff Stensland completed the top five. Morrill took back to back wins, and scored his sixth of the season. He continued his tradition of giving his trophy to a lucky youngster in the stands.
It was Shannon Anderson back in victory lane in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock main event. Anderson started tenth and had the lead at lap three, never to look back. A caution flew at lap nine, but it was no problem for Anderson on the restart. He finished well ahead of second place David Rieks, Leah Wroten came from ninth to finish third, fourth was Justin Wacha and Eric Knutson took fifth. Anderson now has six wins at the track this year.
The IMCA Northern SportMods were up next for their 18-lap A main. Ryan King led the troops in the opening laps but by lap four, it was Sam Wieben at the helm. Wieben never relinquished that top spot the remaining laps to the checkers. It was a battle for second place between Jake McBirnie and Jared VanDeest and in the end it was VanDeest taking the runner up spot and McBirnie going third. Fourth went to ninth place starter Ethan Braaksma, and early leader Ryan King was fifth. Wieben, who started eighth, scored his second win of the season.
As always, the IMCA Stock Cars put on quite the show for the fans. Kyle Everts was looking strong as he led the pack from lap one as he looked for his first win this year. However, a slip in corner four put him out of the race at lap fifteen when he got sideways, and brought out a yellow. Todd Reitzler was now in command when the race restarted, and he kept that lead the remaining three laps to score the win. Curt Hook ran at the front of the pack all night long, and took the runner up spot, Paul Shepard finished third, Dave Atcher was fourth and Jared Daggett rounded out the top five. Reitzler, who scored back to back wins, now has four victories under his belt this year.
Kyle Hinrichs found his way to victory lane for the first time this year by winning the 20-lap IMCA Late Model feature. Hinrichs found something on the bottom with two laps to go, passing Jeremiah Hurst to take the lead. Hurst finished as the runner up, Darrel DeFrance got around Todd Cooney in the closing laps, as they finished third and fourth in that order, and Ben Seeman came home in fifth. Hinrichs started eleventh to take his first win of the year at the track. The race ended with a red flag when Tim Simpson rolled his #17x machine as the race was being completed. He was okay.
The night cap was 20-laps of IMCA Modified racing and it was Richie Gustin standing in victory lane with back to back wins. Gustin started eighth and established himself in first place as lap two was scored. He then went on to dominate the field, leading by over half a lap at times, to score win number two. Joel Rust finished a distant runner up, Ronn Lauritzen took third place, fourth went to Jimmy Gustin, and point leader Tim Ward was fifth.
We did see, from a distance, some of the awful destruction that last week's tornado caused in Marshalltown. Buildings were crumbled with one nearly across the street not being touched. The town is already in recovery mode, with huge scaffolding around the courthouse as they begin the restoration process. The town is banding together as they begin the recovery process and signs all around town proclaim "Marshalltown Strong" and hometown racer Darrel DeFrance had the slogan on his car last night as well.
Get out and find a race to attend in support of the sport we all love....dirt track racing!
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