Friday, April 30, 2010

Murphy, Mother Nature Repeat in Marshalltown

With showers and overcast skies all Friday morning, I was hesitant to believe that I would be attending any races later in the night. Fortunately for me the sun came out in the afternoon, and along with a steady breeze allowed for some drying time for the Marshalltown Speedway to get their show rolling. Mother Nature would rear her ugly head once again before the end of the night, forcing the final two features to be rescheduled until next week.

The Mod-Lites/Dwarf car feature was the first feature on the track. Joel Huggins darted to the lead from his inside second row starting spot, but the man on the move was Mike Morrill. Morrill quickly raced his way into fourth after starting eighth, in just two laps. A caution flag slowed the pace, but it didn't slow Morrill as he used the inside lane to get by both Colby Oberembt and James May to slide up to second. Another yellow bunched the field back up, but this time Tim Hennigar was the man to watch as he powered to the outside of Morrill to make the pass for second. Josh May, who had gone off turn one earlier in the night, got things put back together and made the pass on James May for the fourth spot with three laps remaining. Up front Hennigar pressured Huggins and dove to the inside exiting turn four to snag the lead away as they took the white flag. Hennigar slid up the track in front of Huggins exiting turn two to secure the win. Mike Morrill got by Huggins on the last lap to take second, Huggins third, Josh May fourth, and James May fifth.

(13 cars started feature)
1. 57 Tim Hennigar
2. 6 Mike Morrill
3. x50 Joel Huggins
4. 99 Josh May
5. 88 James May
6. 95 Mike Kennedy
7. 8 Dusty Masolini

Up next would be the IMCA sportmods. The first lap saw several drivers struggling with the rough terrain of the track, but Shawn Hunter would take command on the first circuit. Soon after a lap three yellow, Cayden Carter made his way around Hunter to assume the lead position. Behind Carter, Jake Strayer battled Hunter for the runner up spot for a couple laps with Strayer securing the position. Lap six saw the caution flag wave, but this time nearly half the field was involved in a turn four pileup. Point leader Eric Elliott, who restarted fourth, slowly advanced forward as he used the inside groove to better Hunter for third. Elliott then gased it up on the cushion to get by Strayer for second before attempting to chase down the leader Carter. Elliott was unable to do so, however, as Cayden Carter captured his first Marshalltown Speedway feature win. Elliott was second, Strayer third, Scott Davis fourth, and Shawn Hunter fifth.

(23 cars started, 2 b-mains narrowed the field)
1. 10 Cayden Carter
2. 9E Eric Elliott
3. 18J Jake Strayer
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 91 Shawn Hunter
6. 12 Eric Flander
7. 2z Zach Rawlins
8. 7 Carter VanDenBerg
9. 92 Tyler Droste
10. 3s Adam Shelman
11. 21 Kyle Brown
12. 21L Matt Lettow
13. 80 Jared VanDeest
14. 19F Fred Leytham

The always thrilling IMCA stock cars were up next for their finale. Clay Deppe raced to the lead from his outside front row start. There was exciting three and four-wide racing throughout the pack in the early stages of the race! A quick caution set up a restart that saw Trent Murphy use the inside lane to advance to fourth. Michael Jaennette would get by Deppe to take over the race lead while Murphy continued to pick cars off, taking over the runner up spot. Point leader Dustin Smith got in on the action up front as he climbed his way to fourth by lap seven. After challenging Jaennette for a couple laps, Murphy would make his way by for the lead while Smith followed in his tire tracks to second. Smith closed in on Murphy's rear bumper, but he ran out of time as Trent Murphy scored back-to-back wins at the Marshalltown Speedway. Smith settled for second, Jaennette third, Deppe fourth, and Damon Murty completed the top five.

(16 cars started)
1. 25 Trent Murphy
2. 85 Dustin Smith
3. 93 Michael Jaennette
4. Clay Deppe
5. 99D Damon Murty
6. 3w Jeff Wollam
7. 52 Nathan Wood
8. 94 Steve Meyer
9. 54 Robbie Merkle
10. 77 Andy Bryant (blew on last lap, was running 6th)
11. 287 John Emerson

IMCA modifieds hit the track immediately at the conclusion of the stock car feature as lightning was spotted off in the distance. Pole-sitter Joel Bushore took the top spot early, but only a handful of laps were completed before flagman Jerry Vansickel was forced to throw the caution for the rain. The skies opened up and a downpour soon followed, putting a wet damper on the rest of the night. The remainder of the IMCA modified feature, along with the IMCA hobby stock feature, will be made up next Friday night. Hot laps are set for 6:45 with racing at 7:15. Racing action will start approximately fifteen minutes earlier then normal because of the added races. For more information, check out the website at www.marshalltownspeedway.com.

- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!

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