Season number 61 at Stuart starts with Murty Frostbuster photo finish

IMCA Sunoco Stock Car career win number 287 for Damon Murty came by a margin of seven thousandth’s of a second ahead of son Dallon in the Sunday Frostbuster show at Stuart. (Photo by Buck Monson)

By Josh Reynolds

STUART, Iowa (April 10, 2022) – The engines came to life Sunday evening with drivers from all over in attendance for the IMCA Frostbuster finale at Karl Chevrolet of Stuart International Speedway. 

Brad Whitney and Johnathon Logue led a pack of 25 IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars to turn one and it was Logue making it out of turn two with the lead. Damon Murty cruised by on lap three and moved out to a sizeable advantage on the field, but coming from his seventh starting spot was Damon’s son Dallon.

The Chelsea Charger and The Game Changer survived a few cautions and Dallon took the lead with two laps to go. Damon snatched it back as the white flag flew and the crowd came to its feet knowing this was going to be a close finish. 

Dallon worked the bottom of the track and looked to have the win in hand, but Damon flew off the top side of turn four and passed Dallon at the line to win for the 287th time in his career in the division by .007 of a second. 

Troy Jerovetz finished third with Logue fourth and Buck Schafroth fifth. 

Brint Hartwick and Dallon Murty led a terrific IMCA Modified field to the green flag with Hartwick getting the jump to lead early on. Tom Berry was slicing and dicing from his 10th starting spot and pulled a gutsy slide job on Hartwick to take the top spot on lap 13.

A caution as the white flag flew gave the field a chance, but they didn’t stand one as Berry cruised to the $1,000 win, earning Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility as well. Cayden Carter finished second with Tim Ward third, Hartwick fourth and Drew Janssen fifth.

Brian Morris and Mary Hahn were on the front row for the IMCA Northern SportMod main. Jace Whitt took control right away from his fourth starting spot as Logan Anderson and Tim Bergerson gave chase.

As the race wound down it looked like lapped traffic was going to play a factor, but Whitt stayed calm and finished out the flag-to-flag, caution-free win, his first in the division. Anderson and Bergerson finished second and third, respectively, with Brayton Carter and Jake Sachau rounding out the top five.

Kaden Murray and Michael Hotze were out front for the start of the Mach-1 Sport Compact main event. Hotze had the top spot for a couple laps until Murray found the hot line and drove off to the win. Kolby Sabin had a great drive to finish second with Mitchell Bunch third, Hotze fourth and Tyler Fiebelkorn fifth.

Last up on the action-packed night were the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks with Tommy Luft and Skylar Pruitt bringing the field to the green flag. Dylan Nelson rocketed into the lead from his fourth starting spot and was never seriously challenged as he went on to take the easy win.

Luke Ramsey finished second with Brandon Cox third, Solomon Bennett fourth and Pruitt fifth. 

April 20 will be the first track points race of the 2022 season at Stuart.