The Marshalltown Speedway sprang back to action on Friday night with its season points opener. A threat of rain was in the forecast, which turned out not to be an issue, but Mother Nature turned on a dime. The beautiful low 70s with a light southerly breeze the entire day turned into low 60s and a stiff northwesterly wind by showtime, dipping lower as the evening progressed. The field of 118 cars and the show they put on, however, won out.

The IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMods ran their 20-lap feature first.

Kyle Olson would lead all laps on his way to the flying checkers. Olson started on the pole and held off seventh-place starter Travis Peterson, who finished as the runner-up. Hometown racer Jenae Gustin took third, followed by Madrid’s Braden Richards in fourth, and Kaylin Lopez completed the top five. Olson is the defending track champion in the division.

The Sunoco IMCA Stock Cars were up next for their 20-lap A feature.

Austin Kaplan started third but had the lead by the time lap one was scored. From there on he never looked back on his way to the checkers. He did have big-time company dicing it out hot and heavy behind him with Michael Jaennette, Steve Meyer, Dan Mackenthun and Dave Atcher duking it out. When the dust settled, it was Mackenthun, the driver out of Hamburg, Minn., capturing the runner-up spot. It was a fierce battle for the next positions as well, with Meyer taking third, Atcher fourth, and Jaennette rounding out the top five.

The IMCA STARS Mod Lites came next in their 20-lap feature shootout.

Jon Padilla, from Silvis, Ill., would lead all laps to capture his first win of the season. A big snafu on the start, realigning some of the front starting cars who were involved, may or may not have helped get Padilla the win as he looked remarkably strong all night. Padilla finished well ahead of second-place Riley Clem of Bakersfield, Calif., who had to fight back after being involved in the “no-go” start. Josh May took third, fourth went to Jason Toppenberg, and Bryan Zehm was fifth.

The Friesen Performance IMCA Modified 20-lap feature gave the fans their money’s worth as Dallon Murty and Todd Shute put on quite a show.

Murty started second and immediately took over the top spot. Shute soon tucked on to Murty’s tail after starting in third place. Then the two began the show for the fans as lap after lap, Murty — holding court on the top of the track — and Shute — looking under him — went at it. It was a relentless battle between the two with Murty managing to keep the upper hand as each lap was scored. That was until Shute’s persistence paid off at the line with one lap to go as he was scored the leader. He kept the top spot for the final circuit to take the win. Jake McBirnie put his ride into third after starting eighth, overtaking Jerry Flippo in the closing laps. Corning’s Jesse Dennis made the trip to the High Banks worth his fifth-place finish.

The Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stocks came up next for another 20-lap feature for the fans in the stands.

Calvin Dhondt started fifth and shot to the lead, only to have his night turn ugly. He went spinning in turns one and two just after the first lap was scored. This brought out a yellow, sending Dhondt to realign at the tail and handing the lead over to Tom Killen, Jr.

Killen’s lead was short-lived however, as John Watson took over the following lap. Watson never relinquished that top spot the remainder of the race as he took his ride home to the checkers and the win. He did however have to fight off the advances of 12th-place starter Eric Knutson for the latter part of the race, Watson keeping his momentum up top in turns three and four while Knutson dug along the underside of the track. Knutson tried sticking his nose under Watson several times in turns one and two, but he was never able to make it pay off and had to settle for the runner-up spot. Tom Killen, Jr. held on to third place, fourth went to Lynnville’s Corey van der Wilt, and Luke Ramsey of Bedford finished fifth.

The 15-lap IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compacts wrapped up the night’s racing.

Blake Driscol started fourth and wasted no time in taking the top spot, flying to the lead by lap three. From there on, he drove off from the field, content to let them fight it out behind him. It would be seventh-place starter Mitchell Bunch taking a distant second place. Third went to Terry Bickford, who started eighth, fourth was Cutis Masterson, and Kolby Sabin held on to fifth place with an ill-running ride.

Next Friday night, May 5, will be UAW Local 893 Cliff Chambers Memorial Weekly Racing Plus Outlaw Min Mods. Hot laps are at 6:55 p.m. and the green flag drops at 7:30 p.m.