By Joyce Eisele
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (April 7, 2023) – Tim Ward, the Arizona native who now calls Harcourt, Iowa home, was the class of the field in Friday’s Friesen Performance IMCA Modified 25-lap feature during the season opening Frostbuster at Marshalltown Speedway.
Ward passed lap one leader Jimmy Gustin on lap two and never looked back. Already Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible, Ward captured the Frostbuster $1,000 win, finishing well ahead of second running Todd Shute.
Gustin held third place, holding back Jeff Aikey and Jake McBirnie.
The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, The Class Too Tough to Tame, ran a 25-lap, $750 to win main. It was no contest as Tom Berry Jr. jumped to the lead on lap one, after starting sixth. Berry pulled away from the field until Troy Jerovetz closed in at the halfway point, but could not overtake the leader.
Berry crossed first under the checkered flag, with Jerovetz taking second and Dan Mackenthun, Johnathan Logue and Cole Czarneski rounding out the top five. However, post-race inspection deemed that Berry and Logue had rule infractions, and both were disqualified. This handed the win over to Jerovetz, already B & B Racing Chassis All-Star qualifying eligible.
Mackenthun was awarded second place, Czarneski took third, Buck Schafroth, who started 20th, was fourth, and David Brandies was fifth.
Alec Fett and Brayton Carter put on a good battle for the lead in the early laps of the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature, with Fett having the upper hand.
A yellow at lap seven and subsequent restart, saw Carter overtake the leader and take command of the race.
Fett continued to chase Carter the remainder of the race, but to no avail, as Carter swept home to the comfortable win. Following second place Fett in third place were Jenae Gustin, Timothy Warner and Trevor Noonan.
It was the Flying Fireman, Calvin Dhondt capturing the victory in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock 20-lap feature.
Dhondt started fourth, and quickly caught leader Eric Knutson. Dhondt snatched the lead on lap five, only to have Knutson come right back and have the lead on lap six. The two ran tightly, sometimes going side-by-side until Dhondt took the lead for good on lap 13 and then took it home to the checkers.
Knutson had to be content with the runner up spot. Third went to Scott Herro, fourth was Blake Luininberg and Luke Ramsey raced from 16th starting to capture fifth.
The nightcap was 15 laps of Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact racing. Blake Driscol took home the win in this contest. He had to hold off the hard charging of Kolby Sabin in the closing laps, but Sabin had to settle for second on this night. Adam Broehm took third, fourth went to Josh Barnes and James Riske was fifth.
SportMod, Hobby Stock and Sport Compact features each paid $500 to win.
A car count of 166 swelled the pits for the lidlifter at Marshalltown.
This week there are two nights of racing scheduled for the Marshalltown Speedway as they run both Thursday and Friday night. It will be the two night special for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars as they vie for $5,000 in the running for the King of the High Banks.
Thursday, April 13 will be the first night for Stock Car qualifying with full shows for the IMCA Modifieds, Northern SportMods, Hobby Stocks, and Sport Compacts. Then on Friday, April 14, the Dirt Trucks will also join in the fun. There will be a practice night on Wednesday, April 12.
The green flag drops both race nights at 7:30 p.m.
