The full moon was shining over the high banks of the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night and its effect was in full force with several incidents occurring. The IMCA Northern SportMods were shooting for the Speed Shift $1,000 pay day, and Johnathon Logue went home a grand richer when he took the checkers. Joel Rust in the IMCA Modifieds and Kaden Reynolds in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, matched their wins from last week. Damon Murty returned to victory lane in the IMCA Stock Car class, Randy Bryan took his first checkers of the year in the Mod Lites, and the XL600 Mod Lite visitors saw Russ Olson in the winner's circle.
Randy Bryan took his first win of the season in the Mod Lites. Bryan came from seventh starting spot and had the lead at lap two, never to relinquish it on his run to the checkers. Eighth place starter Joel Huggins chased the winner most of the race, but could only muster a runner up finish. It was a close finish for third and fourth with twelfth place starter Terry Brown holding off Tanner Gannon at the finish line. Charlie Brown completed the top five.
The race was red flagged on lap one, when Mike Morrill rolled his ride, landed on his wheels, fired it up, and tagged the field to finish ninth. That incident was just the first of several that happened on full moon night at the speedway.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks came to the track next for their 15-lap main event. The full moon effect continued when on lap two William Klosterman launched his #11K up and over turn four in a spectacular incident. Thankfully he was okay, and miraculously, no one was hurt in the pits or catwalks. After a lengthy delay for clean up, the race resumed with Scott Ellis leading the field back to green.
Kaden Reynolds was quickly making his way through the field from his tenth starting position and was pressuring Ellis at lap six. By the time lap seven was in the books, Reynolds had taken command. As the race wore down, Leah Wroten had caught the leader and was looking for a way around, but on this night, it wasn't to be as Reynolds kept a tight hold on that top spot and scored the win. Wroten had to be content with the runner up. Visiting racer Tyler Ollendieck from Tipoli made his trip worth while, and finished third from his twelfth place starting spot. Pole sitter Travis Merical finished fourth and Ben Newhouse was fifth. Reynolds won for the second week in a row and scored his third win of the season.
The headliners of the night, the IMCA Northern SportMods, were vying for a $1,000 to win. The race found Tony Olson and Johnathon Logue going at it at the front of the pack much of the twenty lap race, with Olson holding back Logue. Then at lap fifteen, the red flag flew again. This time, Dylan VanWyk ended up on his lid down between turns one and two, and he too, thankfully was not hurt.
With a handful of laps remaining, Olson kept the upper hand when the race returned to green, but had Logue and Jenae Gustin fighting tooth and nail for that coveted top spot. On lap seventeen, Olson drifted a bit high in turn four, which was all that Logue needed to slip under him and into that top spot. Logue held on to take the checkers and the win, Olson was second, and Jenae Gustin a close third. Cory VanZante finished in fourth place and Travis Peterson started fifteenth and rounded out the top five.
The visiting XL600 Micro Mods ran a 12-lap feature next, and at the end, it was Russ Olson visiting with announcer Jerry Vansickel in Victory Lane. Olson took the comfortable win over second place Chad Dugan, Donny Erger was third, Jeremy Schaufenbuel took fourth, and Will Bird was fifth.
Damon Murty scored his fourth IMCA Stock Car win. Murty started fifth, put it on the top shelf, and had the lead with just a handful of laps down. He held it the rest of the distance to take the checkers. Ninth place starter Todd Reitzler was a distant second, followed by Curt Hook in third, Steve Meyer started fourteenth and charged through the field to finish fourth, and Kyle Everts was fifth.
The night cap was 20-laps of IMCA Modified feature racing. Joel Rust wrestled the lead away from Garrett Wilson on lap four, and would go on to maintain that lead all the way to the flying checkers. Tim Ward challenged the leader in the early portion of the race, but at the finish line, trailed the leader and took a distant runner up spot. Ron Lauritzen threw his hat in the ring and duked it out with Ward in a good contest, but in the end had to be content with third. Thor Anderson and Ethan Braaksma were fourth and fifth. Rust, who started eight, repeated his win from last week, and his sixth over all at Marshalltown this season.
New drivers continue to travel to our local tracks. Last night, in the Modified class, Cody Schroeder, Wisconsin, Dustin Kroening, Illinois, and two Alberta, Canada racers, Trent Guest and Danny Meier came to play. Josh Most, the driver from Red Oak, Iowa, who will hop into any class of car, was piloting what was assumed to be Tommy Hensley's Modified as it was a look alike to his SportMod. In the Stock Car class, Derrick Agee made the haul up from Hunstville, Missouri to tackle the high banks and Eric Hamilton is racing around the area in the Stock Car class and is from Hanford, California.
It was noted that there were many top twelve IMCA National point drivers in the house last night as well. In the SportMod class, the current point leader Cody Thompson from Sioux City was on hand. Also in the top points are Chase Rudolf, Jake McBirnie, Hunter Longnecker, and Tony Olson. In the Modified class, Joel Rust is fourth in point standings, and Tim Ward is ninth. Jay Schmidt is shown as ninth in points in the Stock Car class, and Damon Murty is eleventh. The Hobby Stocks also have national point contenders in Leah Wroten in fifth, and Kaden Reynolds in eighth. These standing were all as of August 16. All those top notch drivers at a little track in the middle of Iowa on a Friday night.
Next Friday, August 23 is Larry Wollam Season Championship night already. The racing season is beginning to wind down! Get out and find a race to attend to support what we love....dirt track racing!
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