By Joyce Eisele
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Aug. 11, 2023) – It was $1,000 to win for Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods at Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night, thanks to the BHE Night before the Creek special at the speedway’s sister track, 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, Wis.
Brayton Carter went home $1,000 richer taking home that honor.
Jarett Franzen led the opening lap of the race but by lap three, it was Sam Wieben leading the troops. Wieben was still leading when a caution flew at lap 12 but he had big-time company by now with a pair of Oskaloosa, Iowa drivers, Curtis Van Der Wal, and Carter on his tail.
When the race returned to green, Van Der Wal was able to get the advantage by going topside and took command of the race at lap 13. Another yellow would fly at lap 14 and this time it would be Carter getting the advantage on the restart and flying into the lead.
It was all Carter’s race the rest of the way to the checkers, matching his win from last week and his fifth of the regular season at Marshalltown. Travis Peterson started 10th and finished as the runner up, third went to Wieben, fourth to Van Der Wal and Logan Anderson rounded out the top five.
The Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lites came to the track next for their 15 lap feature which went flag-to-flag.
Jason Masengarb wasted no time in getting to the front, taking the lead on lap one, and keeping his ride there all 15 caution-free laps. R.J. Gonzales made it interesting in the closing laps after catching the leader but had to be content with a second place finish. Third was Jon Padilla, fourth was Josh May and Cory Sonner completed the top five.
The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars ran a 20-lap feature event.
Dave Atcher led the field to green and kept his no. 2 at the front through lap 15. By then, Michael Jaennette had worked his way from starting seventh and was on the leader’s tail.
A slight touch was all it took in turn four, bringing out a caution that found Atcher setting stopped up high in turn four, and his night ended. Jaennette had the lead when the race restarted and that’s where he kept his ride the rest of the way to the flying checkers, his first of the 2023 season.
Jeff Wollam finished in the second position, third went to Todd Reitzler, fourth was Austin Kaplan and Scott Rice took fifth.
The ground-pounding Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds ran next, for their 20-lap main event.
Chase Weimer and Paul Nagle led the field to green, with Nagle grabbing the lead as lap one was scored. Nagle looked strong running out front through the halfway point of the contest, but by this time, it was Todd Shute who had raced his way from ninth starting spot, to tag on to the leader.
A swift move coming out of turn four gave Shute the lead on lap 12. It was looking to be a runaway for Shute, but bad luck would rear its ugly head when just three laps later, he was off power on the backstretch.
This brought out a yellow, and Nagle inheriting the lead on the restart, and Joel Rust now running second. Rust was able to pull off a slide job coming out of turn four with just two laps remaining to take over as captain of the ship, and then he would hold on to it the rest of the way for the win.
Maguire DeJong ran at the front of the pack most of the race, and finished as the runner-up, getting by third place finisher Nagle in the closing laps. Fourth went to a visitor from Pennsylvania, the former NASCAR racer and Lethal Chassis owner David Stremme, and Ronn Lauritzen took fifth.
The IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks put a nightcap on the racing.
Ben Newhouse led the opening lap of the 20-lap affair but by lap two it was Solomon Bennett taking over. Bennett kept hold of that lead until unlucky lap 13 when it was Eric Knutson taking command.
Knutson would then hold that lead the rest of the way and pull away to take the comfortable win over Bennett in second. Calvin Dhondt fought his way through traffic from starting 21st and taking third. John Watson finished in fourth and Corey VanDerWilt was fifth. This was Knutson’s third feature win at the track this year.
Friday night, Aug. 18 is the Larry Wollam Memorial Season Championship. Hot laps are 6:55 p.m. with racing at 7:30 p.m.
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