Saturday, June 3, 2023

Dirty 30 Topless wins to Shute and Olson

It was the Dirty 30 Topless Two-Fer presented by Capital Sign Company at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night.  The IMCA Friesen Performance Modifieds and Northern SportMods shed their tops for a night of racing topless.  The Modified winner was Todd Shute, while Kyle Olson went to Victory Lane in the SportMod class.  Jeff Wollam took the honors in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, and the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock victor was Jake Nelson.  Dillon Raffurty won the IMCA Mach-1 Mod Lite feature, and Clayton Vanderploeg was declared the winner of the Outlaw Mini Mods.

The IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Rugged Radios kicked off the feature racing for the night. There were 34 of the topless cars that checked in, which required a B main to set the 24 car starting lineup.  Tony Olson took that win.

The 30 lap main event was plagued with yellow flags, but once Kyle Olson found his way to the front of the pack by the halfway mark of the race, it was his the rest of the way to the checkers and the $1,000 payday. 

Olson started fifth and worked his way by early leader Cam Reimers to take the top spot.  The two ran side by side down the frontstretch for several laps before Olson established the lead for good.  Visiting driver from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Danny Concelman hard charged his way from starting tenth, to second place with a good late race run.  Cam Reimers took third, fourth went to Sloan, Iowa's Willy Kirk, and rounding out the top five was eleventh place starter Jenae Gustin....in a borrowed car. She raced Jason Pansegrau's car in the feature after her hot rod had mechanical issues in hot laps. This was Olson's second win of the regular season.

The IMCA Modifieds presented by Tire Demon by Love Tap ran their 30 lapper next.

Johnathon Logue started on the pole and jumped to the immediate lead, as Joel Rust who had started on the outside front row, tucked in to run second. Rust had the lead by lap six, but by then it was ninth place starter Todd Shute and Dallon Murty joining in challenging Logue and leader Rust in a real dog fight.  

Shute made the pass down low on Rust at lap twelve and took the lead, with Dallon Murty and then Drew Janssen giving him chase.  The closing laps saw Murty try his darndest to get by Shute....throwing a last ditch slider out of turn four as they raced to the checkers.  It was all for naught as Shute threw off that challenge and took the checkers first, Murty taking the runner up spot...in an every so close finish at the line.  Drew Janssen ran at the front of the field all night long, and took third place.  Ethan Braaksma and Joel Rust completed the top five. Shute, who also won the season opener, took home the $1,200 pay off. 

Shute has been on a roll lately.  He won Boone last Saturday night, and then capped off the Memorial Day weekend with the Whole Hog 50 win at the Stuart Speedway.  

The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars presented by Drury Automotive ran 20 laps for their Main event.

Taylor Kuehl led the pack through the opening laps of the race, looking strong, but was suddenly off power on the backstretch. She recovered, but dropped several spots. This handed the lead over to Scott Rice.  Tripp Gaylord, Lakewood, Colorado, and hometown veteran racer Jeff Wollam threw their hats in the ring by that time and were hounding Rice. By lap ten, Wollam had taken over the top spot. He would then take his "Dilly Bar Special" home to the win. Wollam last saw Victory Lane at the speedway back in August of 2021.   Finishing a close second was seventh place starter, Austin Kaplan, Scott Rice was third, fourth went to Tripp Gaylord, and Steve Meyer got in the mix late in the race, and finished fifth, and early race leader, Kuehl, took sixth. The race went caution free. 

The Mod Lites, presented by Knight Sanitation ran 20 laps in their A main and it was Colona, Illinois racer RJ Gonzales coming from sixth starting spot into the lead by lap one. Gonzales maintained that lead until Dillon Raffurty, Kansas City, Missouri made the pass for the lead with just five laps remaining. He would go on to take the win.  Gonzales took the runner up position, eighth place starter and last week's winner Jon Padilla, Silvas, Illinois was third.  Fourth went to Jason Massengarb, Colona, Illinois and Josh May was the only Iowan in the top five. 

The IMCA Hobby Stocks presented by Big 8 Tyre Center also ran a 20 lap feature.  Newton, Iowa's Jake Nelson would lead this from start to finish.  He had pressure in the last half of the race the entire time from Eric Knutson, but he could do no better than second place.  Bradly Graham worked his way from eleventh starting spot to take third place.  It was Luke Ramsey in fourth, and Solomon Bennett rounded out the top five.  

The Outlaw Mini Mods were the final feature of the night and they were to run a 15 lap main event.  However this one would end early when a red flag flew at lap seven when a car launched off of turn four and into the pits. It appeared something broke or the throttle stuck. With the emergency vehicles on site, and the late hour, the decision was made to call the race complete.  Clayton Vanderploeg had been in command from the drop of the green and was still leading when the race was halted under the red flag.  He was awarded the win.  Ben Kraus was second after starting tenth, third was Kaden Rice, fourth went to Bobby Daniels, and fifth to Logan Brown. Edit: An update on driver Lucas Daniels who was driving the car that launched off into the pits, per his Facebook post, he thanks everyone for their thoughts and concerns, and was thankful for the car that kept him safe.  Unfortunately, he says the car is junk, but hopes to be back on the track sooner than later.  

The Modifieds run for $1,000 next Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway and also have a "Structural Shoot-Out contest paying $500. Joining the other IMCA classes are the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks.

Keep supporting the sport we all love.....dirt track racing!  



No comments:

Post a Comment