Wednesday, May 17, 2023

O'Neal repeats at the High Banks in the Super Late Models, while Berry and Jerovetz also see checkers

It was a beautiful night for slinging some dirt at the High Banks of the Marshalltown Speedway Tuesday.  The Castrol FloRacing Night in America was back in town for the second year in a row, and the 33 Super Late Models put on quite a show for the fans. The IMCA Modifieds and Stock Cars also ran, though not for weekly track points.

Dennis Erb, Jr., Carpentersville, Illinois, and Hudson O'Neal, Martinsville, Indiana, would lead the field of 22 final qualified Super Late Models to green for their 50 lap feature, paying $23,023 to the winner.

Erb would lead lap one, and lap two it was third place starter Max Blair, Centerville, Pennsylvania at the point. Then Hudson O'Neal came calling, taking command on lap four.  Brandon Overton, Evans, Georgia was challenging the leader at the halfway point and then on lap twenty-nine, the only yellow of the race flew, bunching up the cars for the restart.

O'Neal had no trouble shooting back off into the lead when the race returned to green, but then he soon had the company of Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, Illinois, hanging close behind after he had slipped by Overton.  The remainder of the race was O'Neal and Pierce circling the top of the High Banks. Pierce threw some looks at the the leader, but to no avail, as O'Neal took the checkers, Pierce going second.  Overton started seventh and took third place.  Ricky Thornton, Jr. who now lists Martinsville, Indiana as home, came from ninth, to finish in fourth.  Tim McCreadie, Watertown, New York completed the top five. O'Neal repeated his win from last year on FloRacing Night in America at Marshalltown, and took over the point lead in the series.

The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars ran a 20 lap main event for $750 to win.

Troy Jerovetz, in his new B & B chassis, started on the pole and would lead all laps on his way to victory.  He was challenged at times by Jay Schmidt and Tom Berry, Jr., but he would pull away in the closing laps and take the easy checkers, Tom Berry, Jr. taking a distant second.  Jay Schmidt crossed the line in third place, but a post-race inspection would disqualify him for the right rear shock being too long.  This handed third place over to twelfth place starter, Dallon Murty. Jake Sachau, Manning, Iowa who is usually piloting a Northern SportMod, took fourth, and Todd Reitzler was fifth.

The finale of the night was the 20 lap feature for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, that paid $1,000 to win. Thirty-nine cars were whittled down through a B main for the 24 car starting field. 

Tom Berry, Jr. started on the pole, and would lead all laps in this one on his way to victory.  Todd Shute started sixth, and was on Berry's tail by lap three, and then chased him all the rest of the way, to finish second.  Third place went to fourteenth place starter, Tim Ward, Cody Laney started tenth, and finished fourth, and Johnathon Logue rounded out the top five.  

The Marshalltown Speedway was showcased in spectacular fashion last night for FloRacing in America Night, from the cowgirl riding her horse and carrying the American flag around the race track during the National Anthem, to fireworks, the drone chasing the cars around the track, and of course, the great field of Super Late Model drivers from all across the country who came to run the High Banks.  There was a great crowd on hand to watch the racing, and the only downer was all of us taking home part of the track due to the northerly winds! The entire evening was only made better by getting to share it with racing friends and family that we got to visit with, many that we had not seen in a while.  We were joined in the stands by Ed Reichert and his lovely wife, Linda.  Be sure and take a look at his take of the evening's racing at Positively Racing with his "One Fan's Travel" blog.  

The Marshalltown Speedway will not have racing this Friday night, but will return to action on Friday, May, 26.  It will be API Solutions Salute to Military Night plus Corn Belt Clash for the Mod Lites.  IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, Northern SportMods, Hobby Stocks, and Sport Compacts will also be racing.  The green flag drops at 7:30. 

 



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