By Joyce Eisele
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (June 14, 2024) – It was P & D Welding Night at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night with a good field of 124 cars checked in that provided the fans with some exciting racing action.
June is Money Month for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and it was the “Game Changer” Dallon Murty taking home the $1,000 feature win.
Steve Meyer got back to victory lane in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Brayton Carter was dominant in his win in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods and Calvin Dhondt repeated his win from last week in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks.
Josh May took his first win of the season in the IMCA Stealth Racing STARS Mod Lites and a visiting driver from Missouri, Dyllan Bonk, put a win on his resume at the Marshalltown Speedway in the Mach-1 Sport Compact division.
Feature racing kicked off with the 15-lapper for the Mod Lites. The early leader was Cory Sonner with Jon Padilla and Josh May falling in line behind him to pester him. May made the topside work when he took command at lap 11 and from there on, he never looked back on his way to the checkers.
When things got sorted out in the fight behind him among the hard-running cars, it was Padilla taking the second spot and early leader Sonner came home in third.
The 20-lap feature for the SportMods came next to the track. This one would have its race plagued by cautions and a red flag.
Cam Vincent led the first two laps of the race, which already had three yellows waved, but the 11th starting Carter flew to the top of the track and had the lead when lap three was scored. He was still leading when the red flag flew at five, when Joslyn Elmquist and William Klosterman disappeared off the track in turn three, causing a lengthy halt to the action for their retrieval.
When things returned to action, the cars were aligned in single file order for the restart and Carter once again shot off like a rocket on the topside.
One more caution would fly at lap 17, with Carter still in command, and now Kyle Olson was running in second place and hoping the restart would be to his advantage. It wasn’t to be, however, as Carter completed the final three laps strongly in command and took the convincing win. Following a good distance behind was Olson in second place while Vincent ran a great race and finished third.
The Stock Car 20-lap feature found Meyer getting back to victory lane after a lengthy absence, despite being the defending track champion with his consistency last year.
Garrett Corn led the opening laps but a slip off the tricky topside saw him exit the track, handing the lead over to Todd Reitzler. Fighting hard for position right behind him were Michael Jaennette and Meyer.
Meyer made that thin line topside work for him as he grabbed the lead at lap three. Meyer had some challenges, however, as Jaennette was on his tail. Meyer then put a bit of distance between himself and the field a bit later, but it was a wholesale battle behind him then as Jaennette, eleventh place starter Jimmy Gustin and Reitzler went at it.
This was the first time Meyer has been back in victory lane at Marshalltown since August of 2022, as his weekly consistent top finishes earned him the Stock Car track title in 2023.
The month of June is Money Month for the IMCA Modifieds and they were running for $1,000 again Friday night.
Murty started on the outside pole and Todd Shute started third, and most people were thinking it was going to be a shootout between those two for the win.
It was.
Murty immediately grabbed the lead as the race went green, and Shute tucked in right behind to run second. Those two circled the treacherous thin lined topside for the entire caution-free race. Shute took a couple looks under, contemplated some slide jobs, but nothing worked to get by Murty as he raced home to the win.
Shute had to be content with second while Johnathon Logue finished a distant third. While this was Murty’s first feature win of the year at the speedway, he was already eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational.
Earlier in the evening, a shoot-out, courtesy of P & D Welding Solutions, paying $500 for the Modifieds was run, pitting four cars in several rounds to begin the contest. This sent two on to the next round until the final round found Izac Mallicoat, Joel Rust, Tripp Gaylord, and Jake McBirnie pitted for the final run. Jake McBirnie took home that $500.
The Hobby Stock 20-lap feature had more than its share of cautions on the night.
Chad LeGere led the troops through the opening laps, as last week’s winner Calvin Dhondt was slicing and dicing his way from 10th starting to take command by lap five. He was distancing himself from the pack when a late yellow came out to set up a green, white, checkered run to the checkers.
It was no hindrance to Dhondt, however, as he raced home to the checkers for the second consecutive week, and his third of the year. Eleventh place starter Eric Knutson finished as the runner-up and 17th place starter Corey VanderWilt, in a borrowed car, hard charged it to a third place finish.
The Sport Compacts put a nightcap on the racing with their 15-lap main.
Coming out of a three-wide run down the backstretch on the start of the race, and into the lead at lap one was David Kimmel. He hung on until lap six, when visiting Hannibal, Mo., racer Dyllan Bonk came calling and took the lead.
Bonk never gave up that top spot the rest of the caution-free race, to seal the win. Following a distant second, was Devin Jones, a two-time Super Nationals Champion. Third place went to 11th place starter Michael Gardner.
Friday, June 21, will be another weekly racing series, with the IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods, Hobby Stocks, Mod Lites, and Sport Compacts in action and an appearance by the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks. It will also be another $1,000 to win for the Modifieds in Money Month at the track, thanks to Midwest Liquid Systems. Hot laps are 6:45 p.m. with racing at 7:30 p.m.
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