It was Rumours Bar and Grill and Salute to Marshall County Law Enforcement, First Responders, and EMT Night at the Karl Auto Group Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night, as the Central Iowa Fair was also on the grounds. Last week's races were rained out before they started, and this Friday the track was also threatened by rain. However, this week Mother Nature did not get the upper hand, and the show went on as scheduled with 134 cars checking in for a full night of racing action.
First time wins went to Tripp Gaylord in the IMCA Friesen Performance Modified class, and it was Nathan Ballard taking the checkers in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car division. Eric Stanton earned a first time win in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks as did Mitchell Bunch in the IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compacts. Brayton Carter made it his second trip to Victory Lane in the regular season by winning a close one in the IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMods, and Josh May won his fourth feature in the IMCA Stealth Racing STARS Mod Lites.
Mitchell Bunch led the IMCA Sport Compacts, presented by Hy-Vee of Marshalltown, flag to flag on his way to the checkers. Kolby Sabin, driving a borrowed car after selling his own hot rod, chased Bunch for most of the race, but had to be satisfied with the runner up spot. Andrew Bieber, Independence, Iowa, started thirteenth, and finished in third place. Fourth went to Curtis Masterson, and David Kimmel made a good comeback after sliding into the a frontstretch billboard on lap one, had to tag the field, and still got a top five finish. This was Bunch's first time in Victory Lane at Marshalltown this season.
The IMCA STARS Mod Lites, presented by Knight Sanitation saw Josh May start tenth and inherit the lead on lap four when then leader William Nobles was suddenly off power on the backstretch, bringing out a yellow.
May never relinquished his lead the rest of the way, and visited the winner's circle for the fourth time this season. Jon Padilla mounted a good challenge but had to be content with second place. RJ Gonzales, Colona, Illinois regular competitor at the track, had a good run after having to rally back after an early race spin, and finished third. Joe Glick and Cory Sonner rounded out the top five.
It was an exciting finish to the 20 lap IMCA SportMod feature, presented by Rugged Radios, but the race was marred with caution flags which has seemed to become the norm.
Eddyville, Iowa's Logan Anderson, in his Herbie the Love Bug car, was looking strong as he led from lap one, holding off the challenges of some heavy hitters in Tony Olson, Brayton Carter, and Sam Wieben.
Anderson was still leading at lap seventeen when a yellow flew, and by this time, Brayton Carter had moved his ride in to second spot. Another yellow at lap eighteen would set up a green-white-checkered dash to the finish. Anderson held the lead at lap nineteen, but it was Carter finding his way around the outside and passing for the lead on the run to the checkers...securing his second win of the regular season, after also winning the Frostbuster special and Night #2 of the King of the Highbanks pre-season special.
Tripp Gaylord, Lakewood, Colorado who is calling Iowa home for the summer, made it win #1 in the IMCA Modifieds, presented by Tire Demon by Love Tap. Gaylord started tenth, ran down then leader Johnathon Logue by lap six, with Todd Shute joining in the fight to make it a three-way battle for the lead. Gaylord managed to take over the top spot at lap fourteen, and then kept it the rest of the way to the flying checkers. Todd Shute started seventh, and took second place, it was early leader Jimmy Gustin taking third, Johnathon Logue finished fourth, and Izac Mallicoat was fifth.
The IMCA Stock Cars, presented by Drury Automotive, ran their 20 lap feature next.
Leah Wroten took command from her outside front row starting spot as the race went green. She was soon being pestered by Steve Meyer and tenth place starter, Nathan Ballard. Meyer took the lead briefly on lap seven, but just two laps later, it was Ballard grabbing the lead. From there on out, it was Ballard's race as he went home to the flying checkers and captured his first feature of the year at the speedway. Austin Kaplan started eleventh, and caught the leader with seven laps to go, but had to settle for second. Steve Meyer was third, fourth went to Jeff Wollam, and Garrett Corn took fifth.
The IMCA Hobby Stock 20 lap feature, presented by Big 8 Tyre Center, put a night cap on the night's racing.
Mark Hidlebaugh held the upper hand in the early portion of the race, with Bradly Graham chasing him in second place. By lap seven, twelfth place starter Eric Stanton had charged through the field to run third....and two laps later, he had taken over the lead. Stanton then kept hold of that top spot the rest of the way to the finish line and the win...his first at Marshalltown this season. Bradly Graham finished as the runner up, Seth Butler ran at the front of the pack all race long, and finished third, fourth went to Mark Hidlebaugh, and Sam West was fifth.
Next Friday night, July 21, is Vescco Inc. $2,000 to win Stock Cars "Highbanks After the Creek Dirt Crown". The Outlaw Mini Mods are also on the ticket along with the other regular IMCA classes.
It turned into a pretty pleasant night for racing after earlier threats of rain. The track also got a good amount of rain the night before, and a shower around 3:45 in the afternoon....with more predicted about 5 p.m. The call was made to delay opening the pits and grandstands until 6 p.m. and things were put on hold/wait and see mode. The forecasters missed that one again, as it never did rain.
We were pleasantly surprised to see Dustin Jarrett in the house. Dustin, who hails from Ohio, has been in our area for a while, traveling around working as a voice on the mic with FloRacing and other racing venues, but taking in some non-working races at Iowa's many dirt tracks. We were also surprised when we saw Regan Tafoya, Farmington, New Mexico Modified racer walking up to us in the parking lot. He has been back just helping out his fellow Farmington racer, young Jackson Harpole, who has been in Iowa this summer racing his Northern SportMod. It's always great when racer helps racer....another perk of racing family.
It's mid-July already! We are on the downhill slide of our racing season, so get out and find a race to attend, and help support the sport we all love...dirt track racing!
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