It was a full night of racing at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday for RBF Electric Night at the Races. The Hobby Stocks had a little more incentive for the night as they were running for $400 to win their feature. Seven classes and 131 cars made for a lot of action on the track. Joining the five regular IMCA classes were the Outlaw Mini Mods, and the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks.
Twenty-three of the Outlaw Mini Mods were on hand, racing for the first time on the High Banks. Ben Kraus, Britt, Iowa, would dominate in their 15-lap feature. Kraus got the lead early and distanced himself from the rest of the field, taking the checkers easily over runner up, and tenth place starter Logan Brown from Clear Lake. Third went to seventh place starter Bobby Ruehlow, Mason City, fourth was Kelly Steele, who made the long haul down from International Falls, Minnesota, and rounding out the top five was Glenville, Minnesota's Nathan Kilwine. Ben Kraus is a former Modified driver who is enjoying a new career in the Mini Mod class.
Most of the Mini Mod racers hailed from northern Iowa or Minnesota. Three of those Minnesota racers came from International Falls, which sets directly across the river from Canada.
Nine Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks made their second appearance of the year at Marshalltown. Dennis Plain led all but one lap of the 12-lap Main event, sailing home to his first win at the speedway. Rick Clark chased Plain the entire race, but had to settle for second. Bryan Spangler finished third, followed by Jeff Johnson in fourth, and Shonn Mapes in fifth. The race went caution free.
Bill Davis, Jr., the driver who won earlier in the year had been up to challenge leader Plain early, but went for a spin in turn two just after lap two was scored. He gathered it back in and the race continued without a caution. He came back to finish sixth.
Up next was 15-laps of IMCA STARS Mod Lite feature racing. Dillon Raffurty, Kansas City, Missouri raced for the first time this year at the track, led lap one, and never gave it up the rest of the way to the checkers. He finished far ahead of second place Josh May and third place Kaden Cochrun who battled back and forth for position from lap five on. Garrett Stonum, Lawson, Missouri started well back in the starting field, and finished fourth, and Cory Sonner finished fifth. This wasn't Raffurty's first trip to Victory Lane at Marshalltown. He won back on September 17, 2020 at the 500th Deery Show and Dale DeFrance Memorial. Dillon Raffurty brought family with him...both David and Michael Raffurty also from Kansas City, Missouri were also racing in the Mod Lites.
Kaylin Lopez, the Chowchilla, California driver who is making Iowa home this summer, led the opening laps of the 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature only to have it snatched away by high flying Brayton Carter on lap four. Carter never gave up that top spot and took the checkers for the third time this year. Johnathon Logue flew from thirteenth starting spot, to finish as the runner up. Thomas Egenberger was third, fourth went to tenth place starter Jenae Gustin, and Austin Schrage rounded out the top five.
Jeremiah Andrews started fifth in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock A main, and had the lead at lap one. It didn't take long until all eyes went to the #1 of Kaden Reynolds who was flying on the rim of the track. Reynolds came from eleventh starting spot, and had the lead at lap five. From there on out, it was all Reynold's race as he flew home to the flying checkers and the win...his second in a row. He finished well ahead of second place Eric Knutson. Braden Richards battled by Andrews in the closing moments, as they finished third and fourth respectively, and Solomon Bennett was fifth. This made five regular season wins for Reynolds, and he also won the Frostbuster special. The race went green to checkers.
Dallon Murty showed his expertise on the High Banks in the IMCA Stock Car 20 lap main event. Young Murty has had great success this year, winning about anywhere he goes. He just wrapped up the Dirt Duel win on Wednesday night at Stuart Speedway.
Murty started sixth, ran down early leader Kyle Everts, and took over the top spot at lap five. It was all his race from there on out, taking regular season win number two. Dad Damon Murty came from tenth to finish in the second spot, Tyler Pickett finished third, fourth went to Austin Kaplan, and Dave Atcher was fifth. Murty can also count the Frostbuster Special in his wins at Marshalltown Speedway in 2021 to go along with his two regular season wins.
Topping off the night's racing was the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. Tony Hofbauer was looking strong as he led the feature from the drop of the green all the way to just two laps remaining. That's when a slip in turn two was his undoing. It caused him to drop several positions, and allowed Ethan Dotson to take over the top spot. Dotson, who started tenth, would then hang on to the number one position and secure his first win of the year. Jake McBirnie, last week's winner, was second, third went to Jared VanDeest, Ethan Braaksma was fourth, and rounding out the top five was Ronn Lauritzen. Dotson made his first appearance at the track this year.
A few drivers had some issues last evening. Cody Yaw the Mod Lite driver, blew up in his heat. Bobby Daniels in the Outlaw Mini Mods went for a ride just past the flagstand during his heat, ending upside down. Then Denny Stewart tumbled off of turn two, and appeared to also flip. This ended all three driver's night.
We were also wondering about the weather a bit last evening. It was cloudy, which really helped keep it pleasant setting in the stands, with a bit of a breeze to our backs. Then the sun would occasionally peek out. We were getting potential storm warnings on our phone from areas around the state, and we felt a few raindrops...maybe TWELVE, and that was it. As we drove home last evening though, we had a spectacular light show going off to the south. We were thankful it was not an issue for racing at Marshalltown, but wishing for some rain in our state....it's beginning to be a real drought issue for farmers and some town's water supplies as well.
Next Friday, June 25, is KMJ Performance Free Grandstand Night/Iowa Seamless Gutters VIP Night at the races. This is free admission for the grandstand only.
Find a race to take in and keep supporting the sport we all love, dirt track racing.
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