It was a rare Thursday night of Thunder at the Marshalltown Speedway where the 4th Annual Dale DeFrance Memorial was held. The race honored the late racer who started the long line of future racers connected with the DeFrance family that includes Gustins and Murtys. Not a bad lineage!
Justin Kinderknecht, the driver out of Salina, Kansas made his trip for racing in the area pay off by winning the 15 lap IMCA STARS Mod Lite feature and led all laps on his way to doing so. Kinderknecht drew the lucky #1 pill, started on the pole, and had no trouble in taking the checkers. Josh May took second, third was Cory Sonner, Ed Griggs from Pleasant Hill, Missouri was fourth and Mike Kennedy was fifth. Kinderknecht had just come off a win at the Stuart Speedway the previous night and is in the area racking up some National points in the new IMCA sanctioned class.
Kaden Reynolds made it a perfect points season thus far, when he captured his third straight feature win in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock 18 lap main event. Reynolds started sixth, and had the lead by lap three, never to relinquish it. Braden Richards crossed the line in second place. However, a post race inspection handed Richards a disqualification, giving the runner up spot to Eric Knutson. Kyle Parizek was third, fourth went Luke Schluetter, who recovered nicely after an early race spin, and Jeremiah Andrews took fifth. Reynolds also won the Frostbuster special that kicked off racing at the speedway back on April 2. Reynolds, who was initially dq'd last week after his win, was reinstated shortly after due to a question about a shock.
The Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMods went 18 laps for their main event and Brayton Carter went wire to wire in taking his first feature win of the season. Johnathon Logue came from tenth starting spot to take second, and it was a fight to the finish for third through fifth place, as an intense battle ensued. Jenae Gustin won out for third place over Dylan VanWyk in fourth, and Izac Mallicoat in fifth as the checkers fell. Hard charger was Tony Olson, who came from twenty-second starting spot, to finish sixth.
Three yellows would fly in the Northern SportMod class, but thankfully, it was not the marathon that occurred the previous week.
Damon Murty drew the #1 starting position for the 20 lap Sunoco IMCA Stock Car feature. Murty set sail on the top of the track, his preferred line at the High Banks, and went for a visit to Victory Lane. Jeff Mueller (piloting a #81 car last evening instead of his usual #77) consistently dug on the bottom of the track like always. He gave it his all in another nip and tuck finish at the line, but had to settle for second. A close third went to Chanse Hollatz, Steve Meyer, last week's winner, was fourth, and Dallon Murty came from seventeenth starting position, to finish fifth.
Cayden Carter started seventh and quickly moved up to challenge pole sitter Richie Gustin in the IMCA Modified 20 lap clash. By lap eight, Carter had the lead, which he would hold the remaining distance to the checkers. Joel Rust threw a couple of challenges at Carter, but he could do no better than the runner up spot. Tim Ward made big headway late in the race, finishing third after starting sixteenth. Last week's winner, Dylan Thornton was fourth and pole sitter Richie Gustin took fifth.
The headline event of the evening was the running of the Dale DeFrance IMCA Late Model 44-lap event. The 44 laps was another means of honoring the late racer who ran that number on his race cars. By the end of the race, the track was a mirror.
Veteran racer Greg Kastli started on the outside of the front row, and immediately took the lead over Joe Zrostlik. By lap ten, seventh place starter Justin Kay had made his way to second place and began reeling in the leader. Kay took the lead with a move to the outside of Kastli as they came out of corner four as lap nineteen went into the books. From there on Kay had little trouble in keeping his run at the front of the field, pulling away and taking the victory. He finished well ahead of second place Zrostlik, Todd Cooney made a late race pass around Greg Kastli as they went third and fourth respectively. Fourteenth starter Matt Ryan rounded out the top five. The win was extra special for Kay, as it marked his 100th IMCA Late Model win.
There is no racing at the speedway this Friday night, but racing returns next Friday, May 14, for Casey's Salute to the Military and Haverhill Social Club Night. The green flag drops at 7:30.
It was another windy and chilly night at the track. Seems Mother Nature is not in a hurry to give us race fans some pleasant outdoor setting weather! We did however enjoy the company of fellow Positively Racing colleague, Danny Rosencrans who made his way up from Missouri with some racing buddies. Be sure and check his take of last night's action as well as the calendar at Positively Racing, and find a race to attend. We've got to keep the sport going we all love....dirt track racing!
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