The IMCA Great American Stock Car Series capped off their three-night tour at the Marshalltown Speedway on Thursday night, July 2nd. A great field of 53 IMCA stock cars checked into the gate in hopes of taking home the top prize while 16 IMCA sportmods and 28 IMCA hobby stocks were also on hand.
A little piece of history was made tonight as Jenae Gustin won her first IMCA sportmod heat race. Jenae is the daughter of former modified pilot Rick Gustin and his wife Judy, who also used to wheel a stock car back in the day. Being a Gustin, she is also a sister to Jimmy, Richie, and Ryan. So Jenae is just keeping up with the rest of the family. Congratulations Jenae!
All 28 IMCA hobby stocks were scheduled to take the green flag for their twenty-lap feature, but four competitors failed to make the call. Kenny Hansen used his outside front row start to grab the lead in the early going while Andy Boeckman slid into second close behind. A four-car battle took shape behind the leaders as Josh Irvine, Dustin Elliott, Todd Reitzler, and Devin Smith all raced for the third spot. Todd Reitzler benefited from a great restart after a caution in which he got by two cars to advance up to second, but Boeckman would power his machine back by a lap later. Reitzler would later squeeze Boeckman up the track on the frontstretch to take command of the second spot, but he didn't have enough to catch Kenny Hansen for the win. Reitlzer settled for second, Andy Boeckman third, Josh Irvine was fourth, and Scott Logrosso rounded out the top five.
All sixteen IMCA sportmods took the green flag to start their twenty-lap finale that saw Jenae Gustin lead the first lap before getting too high and going off turn two to bring out a caution. Kyle Brown would take control of the lead as a result, but he soon received heavy pressure from Randy Roberts on the low side until a caution came out. Kevin Sather used the caution to his advantage as he ducked under Brown to grab the lead. From that point on Sather put it on cruise control as he raced to the checkered flags first. Zach Rawlins had a great run to finish second, Kyle Brown was third, Brad Iverson fourth, and Randy Roberts slid back to fifth.
The final event of the night would be the 30-lap IMCA stock car feature. As the field exited turn two after taking the green flag, the top four cars were wheel to wheel four-abreast. That didn't last long, however, as a caution flag quickly slowed the pace. Jeremy Christians took the lead when the green flag dropped again, but another caution quickly came out after completing the first lap when Damon Murty's car got sideways exiting turn four and cars behind him bunched up.
Series point leader Jeff Joldersma continued his strong week as he ducked under Christians on the low side to grab the lead. While that was happening, Brian Blessington was slicing and dicing his way to the front. Blessington started 23rd on the grid at the start, but quickly made his way to eleventh. He was picking cars off left and right and found himself up to eighth when a caution came out on lap nine. Blessington continued to use the low side of the speedway to march his way forward as he methodically made his way to fourth. By the time flagman Ryan Bergeson gave the field the halfway signal, Blessington had charged up to second and was closing in on Joldersma.
Another driver on the move from deep in the pack was northwest Iowa driver Mike Jergens. Jergens started 18th and made his way up to seventh just after the halfway point of the race. Closer to the front, Damon Murty challenged Jeremy Christians for third as he dove to the inside to take the spot away. Ahead of them, Blessington made the same move under Joldersma to take the lead down the backstretch. Track point leader Dustin Smith was involved in one of the early yellows, but he found the quick way around the quarter-mile track to charge back up to tenth at one point.
With five laps to go, Jergens snuck under Jeff Wollam for sixth and one lap later fourth place driver Jeremy Christians blew his motor down the backstretch. He would pull off the track as to not bring out a caution. Brian Blessington opened up some breathing room the last couple of laps on his way to a repeat of last year's shootout win. Jeff Joldersma held off a run from Damon Murty on the last lap for second and third, respectively, while Keith Knop and Mike Jergens rounded out the top five.
While Blessington took home the night's trophy and check, Jeff Joldersma would be crowned the series point champion. Joldersma was very consistent at all three tracks as he garnered a third place finish at Alta, a second place finish at Independence, and a second place in Marshalltown. Congratulations to both Blessington and Joldersma on their accomplishments.
In talking to IMCA Vice President Brett Root afterwards, he noted that the car counts were right at what he was expecting for the inaugural series format. He also stated that next year's format might include another track to make it possibly a four-night series. I'll be the first to admit that I was surprised to see the car counts from states outside of Iowa.
The Marshalltown Speedway will resume their weekly racing Friday night as it will be Fan Appreciation Night. Promoter Toby Kruse told those in attendance to crowd as many people as you can into a vehicle and each vehicle will pay $30 to get in. So basically any vehicle with more then four people will be saving each person money. Be sure to call your neighbors and friends and head out to the Marshalltown Speedway Friday night as hot laps get underway around 6:45 with racing scheduled to start at 7:30.
The next headliner event for IMCA comes next Tuesday night as IMCA modifieds from across the Midwest make their way to the Knoxville Raceway for the Harris Clash. One hundred and twenty cars have pre-entered for this annual event. Not sure what the start times are at this point, but it should be a good show.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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