Marshalltown Speedway was the place for racin' on Friday night, as 136 race cars put on a great show for the fans during the Cliff Chambers Memorial show, honoring the former promoter. The IMCA Late Models opened their weekly racing season at the track, and it was Justin Kay taking home the honors in the wide-body class. Joel Rust ran away and hid in the IMCA Modified feature and Kyle Olson captured his first ever Marshalltown Speedway win in the IMCA Northern SportMod class. Shawn Ritter made his first ever appearance in Marshalltown's victory lane as well, taking the win in the IMCA Stock Car ranks. David Rieks was a happy camper with his win in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Mike Morrill made his second trip of the season to the winner's circle in the Mod Lite division.
Mike Morrill was the first feature winner of the night, taking the win in the Mod Lites. Morrill came from ninth starting spot to take the lead at lap eight of the 15-lap main event. Joel Huggins finished as the runner up, just holding off third place finisher Randy Bryan. Fourth went to early leader Tim Gannon, and last week's winner Joe Glick was fifth. This was Morrill's second feature win of the year. He continued his tradition of giving his trophy to a lucky fan in the stands.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran 18-laps for their feature which was marred with caution flags. In the end it was Kyle Olson weathering all of those yellow flags and the restarts, to take home the feature win. Olson started sixth but had command of the race by the time lap three was scored. From there on he remained as captain of the ship, capturing his first win ever at the speedway. Brayton Carter had a good showing as he finished as the runner up after starting back in sixteenth starting spot, gave it a few peeks for a way around Olson, but had to be content with second. Cory Rose came from fourteenth starting spot, all the way to a third place finish, and Joe Docekal made it to fourth from a fifteenth start, and it was Tyler Soppe in fifth, all the way from seventeenth starting position.
The IMCA Hobby Stock 15-lap A main went caution free....the only class that did.... with David Rieks leading all but that opening lap on his way to victory . Rieks pulled away as the race wound down, leaving Shannon Anderson to finish an unusual distant runner up. Leah Wroten, who had won last week, finished in third, Nathan Ballard came from eleventh starting spot to take fourth place, and Ray Fees rounded out the top five. Rieks was a happy camper in his victory lane interview with track announcer Jerry Vansickel.
Another first time win at Marshalltown came in the IMCA Stock Car class as Shawn Ritter led the 18-lap event from flag to flag. Ritter, who changed from the Modified division, was in just his third outing in his Stock Car, and went home with a victory. He also weathered several cautions during the race, but was never seriously threatened. Steve Meyer, who won the season opener, made great headway to finish as the runner up after starting in fourteenth place. Todd Reitzler took third over visiting driver John Oliver from Danville, Iowa in the far southeastern part of the state, who finished fourth, and rounding out the top five was Dave Atcher. The Stock Cars never disappoint, and they put on their usual "Class too Tough to Tame" entertaining race.
The IMCA Late Models opened up their season at the speedway for 2019 and in their 20-lap main event it was Justin Kay taking all the marbles. Kay jumped to the immediate lead and would lead all twenty laps to take the easy victory going away. The most interesting battle of the race was between Joel Callahan and Todd Cooney as they fought tooth and nail for position. It was Callahan winning the fight to take second place over Cooney in third. Curtis Glover came from tenth to take fourth, and Jeremiah Hurst completed the top five. The point season for the IMCA Late Models for 2019 was shortened this year with them running from the first full week in May to the final weekend of July.
The evening ended with the 20-lap IMCA Modified's A feature. Ronn Lauritzen started on the outside of the front row and shot to the lead when the race went green. He soon had the familiar #19 of Jimmy Gustin hot on his tail, and Joel Rust was coming fast. After a restart for a caution at lap four, Rust took off like a rocket and sailed to the top spot by the time lap five was in the books. From there on, Rust ran away and hid from his competition, and flew under the checkers to take the win nearly a half a lap ahead of his competition. Tim Ward took the runner up position, getting around third place Jimmy Gustin in the final lap after the two had had a spirited battle going on. Fourth went to tenth place starter Jeff Aikey, and early leader Lauritzen, took fifth.
A couple of drivers were in roll over incidents last evening...landing out of the racing surface. The J7B of Mod Lite driver Jon Braathun took a ride in the feature event, as did Joe Hofbauer in his Stock Car. Both drivers were okay.
The Positively Racing family was well represented at the Marshalltown Speedway last night. Head guru Jeff Broeg was in the house again, and even took a brief turn on the mic. It was also nice to see Danny Rosencrans all the way from Missouri making the long road trip up to watch the action last evening.
It was once again a pretty darn chilly night of sitting in the stands, but at least last evening the wind was too our backs which helps tremendously. I am still waiting anxiously for a night of not having to bundle up.
The next race at the Marshalltown Speedway will be on Thursday, May 9 for the Dale DeFrance Thursday Night Thunder Memorial. There will not be racing on Friday, May 10.
Get out and find a race somewhere to attend, and help support the sport we all love.
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