Saturday, September 1, 2018

Rust and Reitzler tame the high banks at the Showdown in Motown

It was the Showdown in Motown on Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway as the high banks sprang back into action.  Race cars from ten states and Australia came to try their hand at taming the fast quarter mile.

The Mod Lite feature found Joe Glick taking a trip to victory lane.  Glick started on the pole and led all laps on his way to the win.  Mike Morrill challenged Glick early on, but at the end of the 15-lap feature, finished a distant runner up.  Morrill and third place finisher Jason Masengarb put on the best challenges on the track as they fought back and forth before the checkers fell.  Charlie Brown finished fourth and Jeff Stensland rounded out the top five.

The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks were an added bonus to the program and a series championship was determined at the checkers.  Pat Graham was the victor for both the night's race, and the traveling Dirt Truck Series.  Graham led the race from start to finish, weathered two caution flag restarts, and held off Miles Michehl to take the checkers and the win.  Michehl finished second in the race, as well as in the Truck Series.  Third place finisher was Rick Clark, fourth went to Bill Davis, Jr., and Bryan Spangler was fifth.

Jared VanDeest won the final regular season race at the Marshalltown Speedway, and continued his winning way by taking the feature in the IMCA Northern SportMods.  VanDeest started fourth and snatched the lead from Colton Nelson on lap four.  By lap nine, he had Johnathon Logue to contend with.  Logue continued pestering VanDeest, trying several slide jobs, but to no avail.  VanDeest held the lead to take the flying checkers and the win.  Logue had to be content with the runner up spot, Travis Peterson came from eighth to finish third, fourth was Tyler Soppe, and Colton Nelson was fifth.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran 20-laps in their main event. Two Columbus, Nebraska racers, Colby Kaspar and Jeff Ware sat on the front row for the start of the race.  Kaspar claimed the immediate lead, but by lap two, fourth place starter Eric Stanton had split the two Nebraska drivers, and was into second place.  Stanton showed his dominance, and took over the lead at lap three, never to look back on his way to victory.  He finished well ahead of Jeff Ware in second place.  Third went to Chanse Hollatz, Des Moine's Matt Smith was fourth, and Lincoln, Nebraska's Rowan Mason raced all the way from sixteenth starting spot, to finish fifth.

Track champion Todd Reitzler showed his prowess once again in the IMCA Stock Car 20-lap main event, leading all laps in the caution free race.  Reitzler finished well ahead of second place Damon Murty and third place Elijah Zevenbergen, who battled back and forth through much of the race. Veteran racer Jeff Wollam finished fourth, and Steve Meyer came from eleventh starting spot, to finish fifth.

The top prize of the night was $1,000 to win the IMCA Modified feature.  Oskaloosa, Iowa's Ron VerBeek claimed the lead from his outside front row starting spot as the race went green.  As the 25-lap main event neared the ten lap mark, VerBeek had big time company in Darin Duffy and Joel Rust breathing down his neck.  A couple of laps later, Duffy established the lead with Joel Rust following him to run second.   At lap thirteen, Rust flew to the top spot, and from then on, pulled away to take the comfortable win.  Darin Duffy held on to second place, holding back eleventh place starter Tim Ward as the checkers flew.  Seventh place starter Cody Laney, from Torrence, California finished in fourth place, and Ron VerBeek fell back to finish in fifth.

Next up at the Marshalltown Speedway will be the World Nationals on September 13-15.  Thursday, September 13 will be a practice night only for all classes.  Friday, September 14, will be qualifying for the IMCA Modifieds plus a full show for the IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Northern SportMods, and IMCA Hobby Stocks.  Saturday night, September 15 the Stock Cars, SportMods, and Hobby Stocks will again run a full program, and the Modifieds will be running for the $10,000 to win feature.  Racing begins at 7 on September 14, and 6 on September 15.

Last night, shortly after returning home, the torrential rains began...4.33 inches over night!  The forecast is sounding like a lot more "R" in the forecast. Please Mother Nature, be kind! We hope to get in tonight's Prelude to the Super Nationals as well as enjoy the 36th running of America's Racin' Vacation that begins on Labor Day.  Hope to see some of you there! 












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