It was P & D Welding Solutions Night at the races at the Marshalltown Speedway Friday. Todd Shute came away with back-to-back wins in the IMCA Friesen Performance Modifieds, and Jay Schmidt got win #1 of the season in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars. It was hometown racer Jenae Gustin taking the checkers in the IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMod class, and Calvin Dhondt went to Victory Lane in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock division. Josh May also saw the winner's circle for the first time this season in the IMCA STARS Mod Lites, and Kolby Sabin repeated in the IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compacts. The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks were also on the docket and it was Brandon Toftee taking home that win. It was a jammed packed night of racing with seven classes running and a special Shoot Out contest for the Modifieds.
The IMCA Sport Compacts presented by Hy-Vee of Marshalltown kicked off the feature racing with their 15 lap A main.
Kolby Sabin led from the drop of the green to the checkers, to take his second win of the year in the Sport Compacts. He was chased most of the way by Terry Bickford who crossed the finish line in second. However, Bickford was later disqualified in the post race inspection. This handed second spot over to Matt Miller, and Mitchell Bunch was third in a close one at the line. Fourth was awarded to Larry Werner, and rounding out the top five was Chad Larson. Sabin also added the King of the High Banks win to his resume, making this his third checkers at the track in 2023.
The Big 8 Tyre Center IMCA Hobby Stocks ran 20 laps for their feature event and it was Calvin Dhondt taking the checkers. Dhondt started ninth and ran down early leader Sam West. He made a nifty pass low in turns one and two and had the lead by lap ten. The last half of the race was all his as he swept to the win, comfortably ahead of second place Sam West. Solomon Bennett was third, twelfth place starter Bradly Graham finished fourth, and Eric Knutson was a close fifth.
Blake Driscol made his debut in the Hobby Stock class on Friday, jumping up from the Sport Compact class.
It was 20 laps of feature racing for the Northern SportMods next, presented by Rugged Radios.
Logan Anderson looked to be on his way to seeing Victory Lane but a late race caution proved to be his undoing. Anderson had lead from lap one until the yellow flew at lap fifteen, closing the gap between him and his competition on the restart. When the race restarted, it was Jenae Gustin flying around the top passing Brayton Carter who had been running second, and then a couple of laps later, her topside momentum took her into the lead....and then on to the checkers. Anderson took the runner up spot, and twelfth place starter Brayton Carter was third. Sam Weiben and Kyle Olson finished fourth and fifth respectively. Gustin started eighth on the grid, and piloting the borrowed race car of Jason Pansegrau again this week, nabbed her first win of the year.
William Klosterman was racing in the SportMod division last evening, jumping up from his previous Hobby Stock ranks. It was also nice to see Cory VanZante, Sully, Iowa back racing last night, in what we believe to be his 2023 debut. He finished sixth in the A Main.
The IMCA Modifieds, presented by Tyre Demon by Love Tap were running for a $1,000 on this night, in a 20 lap feature event.
The race did not start off well as the original start was a no go when a three-car incident going into turn three called off the start. When things realigned, it was Ethan Braaksma grabbing the lead when the race went green. Todd Shute was hot on his tail almost immediately, and a slight jump of the cushion allowed Shute to make the pass by lap five. Shute then had the lead for good, and pulled away to take the dominate win. Tripp Gaylord, Lakewood, Colorado came from tenth starting spot to finish second. Early leader Ethan Braaksma took third place, Dallon Murty started eleventh and was fourth, and pole sitter Jacob Murray completed the top five. Shute won for the second time in as many weeks, and it was the third of the regular season. The race was not the usual style of the Modifieds, as at lap six, the yellow flew three times before they could get going and with already over fourteen minutes elapsed. The race did then continue caution free to the finish.
There were some traveling Modified drivers in the house last night. Two drivers made the 1,250 mile haul from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada to test the High Banks. Trent Guest was piloting the #45T machine, and Mitch Stovka was the in #66M and Spencer Wilson from Minot, North Dakota was in the #75. The guess would be they are in the Midwest on their way to the big Clash at the Creek show this coming week at 141 Speedway in Wisconsin.
Earlier, there was a P & D Welding Structural Shoot Out for the Modifieds with $500 going to the winner of the contest, which pitted sixteen drivers. The top four in track points were locked in, and the other twelve drivers qualified through their heats. The bracket style racing got the final 4 still standing down for the final shoot out. Dallon Murty was the victor, beating out Joel Rust, Tripp Gaylord, and Minot, North Dakota's Spencer Wilson.
The Drury Automotive IMCA Stock Cars came next for their 20 lap main event.
After an initial no go start, this one would go flag to flag. The opening laps was a shoot out between Michael Jaennette and Jay Schmidt. Schmidt took the lead at lap three, with Jaennette not going away, and then ninth place starter, Damon Murty was suddenly in the picture. The three leaders ran the rim of the race track for most of the duration of the race, with Murty making the pass around Jaennette with just four laps remaining. Schmidt went home to the flying checkers to seal his first win of the season at Marshalltown, with Murty and Jeannette going second and third in that order. Scott Rice ran the low side and made it work to finish in fourth place. Steve Meyer rounded out the top five.
The Knight Sanitation STARS Mod Lites saw their 15 lap feature go caution free. Josh May started fourth and had the lead at lap one, never to give it up on his run to the win. RJ Gonzales, Colona, Illinois started fifth and trailed May the entire race to finish a distant second. Alex Eischeid and Jason Masengarb battled each other much of the race as they finished third and fourth, and Cory Sonner took fifth. This was May's first win this year.
The night cap was 20 laps of Karl Chevrolet Dirt Truck racing. Brandon Toftee found his way around leader Mason Mitchell by going to the topside, where no one else was venturing. He took command with just three laps remaining and then held it the rest of the way to score the win. Mitchell held on to second, third went to Brandon Cox, in a borrowed ride from Shaun Clinger, Jeff Johnson was fourth, and Jared Meyers was fifth.
Get out and find a race to attend if you can. We all need to keep supporting the sport we all love....dirt track racing!
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