The opening night of the American Stock Car Shootout series was held Monday night at the Marshalltown Speedway. With just over fifty IMCA stock cars in attendance, along with twenty-three IMCA sportmods and twenty-three IMCA hobby stocks, there would definitely be plenty of action throughout the night.
After qualifying events were held in all three divisions, the first feature of the night would be the IMCA sportmods. Pole-sitter Jenae Gustin would pace the field early on, but Cayden Carter would out-duel her and overtake her on lap four to secure the lead. Rookie Dylan Book and Kyle Brown would also make their way by Gustin as the race was extended to twenty laps on this night. With five laps to go Scott Davis climbed inside the top five when he, too, passed Gustin. On the final lap Book apparently pushed up too high and went over the banking in turn three, giving up the third position. Cayden Carter would score his fourth victory at the speedway as he finished ahead of Kyle Brown, Scott Davis, Fred Leytham, and Jenae Gustin.
Next up would be the twenty-lap IMCA hobby stock feature. This event would be plagued with several caution periods along with a red flag when a car rolled off turn one. The driver, Jacob Thompson, was okay but was transported for precautionary measures. Outside front row starter Todd Reitzler assumed command from the drop of the green flag, but caution flags waved on lap three and four to keep the field close. When lap four was completed, top-four runner Bill Bonnett exited the track to the pits while Josh Irvine had already worked his way to eleventh after starting twenty-second on the grid.
Following another yellow on lap five, Jason Kohl would dive to the inside of Matt Webb and Eric Larson to advance to the third spot. Meanwhile up front Scott Lograsso would challenge Reitzler for the race lead as he continued to work the inside while Reitzler kept his momentum up on the cushion. Two more cautions would keep the field close as six cars were in contention for the win when the white flag was displayed. Todd Reitzler was able to hold off a swarm of competitors for the win followed by Michael Murphy, Josh Irvine, Curt Ganoe, and Scott Lograsso. That finish was definitely wild with all six having a possible shot at victory!!
That would set the stage for the thirty-lap IMCA stock car feature. David Smith and Abe Huls paced the field to the green with Huls getting the edge at the stripe to complete lap number one. The rest of the pack raced two and three-wide behind them. Case in point was Dustin Smith, Damon Murty, and Keith Knopp battling it out for fourth in the early running. Smith would get the advantage before the only caution of the race came out on lap six. A double-file restart behind the leader was used, and Brian Irvine cashed in his chips as he swung to the inside of David Smith to snare the runner up spot away before using the same line to steal the lead away from Huls on the next set of corners.
Damon Murty had found a groove a few lanes up from the bottom as he found himself up to third. Murty, along with David and Dustin Smith, would engage in a three-car battle for the third spot as Irvine began to put some distance on the pack. A short time later Dustin Smith, Murty and Abe Huls would fight it out for the second position at the halfway point. Smith and Murty would both get by Huls, pushing the Illinois driver back to the fourth spot. Smith and Murty would attempt to chase down Irvine, but it was not to be as Brian Irvine took home the $1,000 paycheck and the win. Dustin Smith would finish second, Damon Murty third, Donavon Smith fourth, and Abe Huls rounded out the top five.
The stock cars put on one heck of a show despite the field getting somewhat spread out. The track provided plenty of two and three-wide racing for the fans despite the northerly breeze blowing the dust into their faces. I, for one, will not complain about the dust considering the great action I saw on the track. Hats off to Toby Kruse and his staff on a great racing surface tonight!
I'd also like to thank Brett Root with IMCA for his hospitality. Brett took the time to answer my questions after the races among all the activity going on with motor and carburetor claims. Also a big shout out to Blake Anderson for mentioning Positivelyracing.com a couple times on the mic. Thanks Blake!!
The IMCA American Stock Car Shootout series will load up and head northwest to the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta on Tuesday night. For more information, and more results from Marshalltown, check out www.imca.com. For sportmod and hobby stock results, be sure to click on www.marshalltownspeedway.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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