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It was the North 3rd Avenue Dairy Queen Larry Wollam Season Championship Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway and six track champions were crowned.
First to the track was the IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMods. The draw was for the "field" to be inverted. Six extra laps were added making it a 22-lap main event, and putting point leader Brayton Carter to start at the rear.
When the race went green, it was outside front row starter Ryan Leeman taking the lead. A yellow flew on Lap 3 when Will Wolf lost a wheel, and by this time, Carter had already made his way up to third place. When the race picked back up Carter wasted no time in moving forward again and had the lead when Lap 5 went in the books. It was all Carter's race from there on out as he took the checkers and the win, as well as the track championship for 2024. It was Carter's fourth win of the season after having also taken the Frostbuster. Leeman held on to take the runner-up spot, Colton Livezey was third, fourth went to Keith Simmons, and Hunter Clement completed the top five.
The IMCA Stealth STARS Mod Lites had point leader Jon Padilla, who had the track title all wrapped up, make the call without even drawing, He opted to invert the entire field of cars, putting him to start tail end. The feature went 23 laps.
Mike Pershing and Michael Mann, both from Colchester, Ill., were the lucky front-row starters. Mann led lap one, Pershing took over on lap two, and Jason Masengarb of Colona, Ill., took over on lap three. Masengarb pulled his lead to a full straightaway when a yellow flew on Lap 13. By this time, Padilla was up to second place and battling with Josh May. When the race returned to action, Masengarb maintained his lead, but briefly lost it to Padilla on Lap 18, but then came right back to reclaim the top spot. He never gave it up the remaining distance to the finish and sealed the win, his third of the season. Padilla started 20th and had to settle for second, 19th-place starter May came home in third place, fourth went to Mike Morrow of Colona, Ill., and 12th-place starter Cory Sonner was fifth.
Point leader in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars was Jimmy Gustin, who had the title all wound up before the green even fell, drew a six to invert the 20-lap feature.
Last year's track champion, Steve Meyer, took the lead when the race went green. Scott Rice fell in to run second and Gustin was already up to third at Lap 1. A yellow flew at Lap 4 when Rice had the misfortune of an incident that left him stopped at the top of turn four, ending his good run. When the racing action picked back up, Meyer continued to hold down the top spot, and now Gustin was on his tail in second place. Michael Jaennette tossed his hat into the ring and was throwing challenges at Gustin. He got to the second spot before an attempt at a slide on leader Meyer got a bit too high in turn four, forcing him off the edge. Jaennette gathered it back in but was running a distant third, with Gustin in second and looking to challenge Meyer. The final circuits, however, saw no change in the front running order as Meyer went home to the flying checkers and the win. Gustin settled for second, Meyer held third, fourth went to 17th-place starter Paul Stone of Winston, Calif., and Damon Murty, racing a borrowed car for the evening, was fifth. This was Meyer's second feature win of the season.
The luck, or in some cases the bad luck, of the draw for the starting lineup in the IMCA Friesen Performance Modified feature saw point leader Tripp Gaylord draw six to invert. Lucky recipient of the pole went to Kyle Brown, with visiting Bates City, Mo., driver Cody Brill alongside for the start of the 26-lap feature.
Brown grabbed the lead when the green flag flew with Brill giving chase. Brown continued his run at the front, but just before Lap 16 went into the books he drove off the track on the backstretch and into the pits, ending his night. This put Brill to the point position and soon he had a pair No. 77s reeling him in. Austin Kuehl of Cave Creek, Ariz., and Tripp Gaylord were duking it out for second place and putting on a spirited battle. Brill never gave up his lead and went home to score the win in his first time at the Marshalltown Speedway. Gaylord finished second and sealed his track championship, third went to Austin Kuehl, fourth to Kaylin Lopez, and veteran racer David "Blue" Brown rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Mach-1 Compacts saw point leader Cristian Grady pull an eight to invert for their 15-lap feature. Corwyn Whisler of Des Moines got to start on the pole and Mark Smith sat alongside.
Whisler held down the lead for two laps until last week's winner Michael Gardner, who had started fifth, took command. Gardner was never threatened from there on out as he sailed home to a comfortable win. Grady, who took the track championship, was second. Third went to Whisler, fourth went to David Kimmel, and Smith was fifth. Gardner captured his second feature win of the season.
Feature racing concluded with the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. Point leader Calvin Dhondt pulled a four to invert on the start of their 16-lap feature.
The race did not get one lap in before it was red-flagged when Eldora's Derrick McNeece spit out a driveshaft and went for a spectacular tumble at the top of turn three. Thankfully, he was not hurt, but the car was not as fortunate.
Eric Knutson took advantage of his outside row starting spot and immediately took the lead. It was a lead he would never relinquish as he took the flying checkers. Bradly Graham started third and took the runner-up spot after getting around Solomon Bennett, who was third. Sam West came from sixth starting spot to finish fourth, and Dhondt secured his track championship with a fifth-place finish. This was Knutson's third feature victory of the year.
At the conclusion of the features, some Powder Puff racing entertained the fans. Kathryn Jenkins won in the SportMod division racing Boe Jenkins' car. The Stock Car winner was Rylea Kriegel piloting Kylie Rawlins' ride, Addy Stevens won the Hobby Stock class racing Brad Graham's car, Natalie Barber piloted Cliff Barber's Mod Lite to take checkers, and Nikole Kimmel won the Sport Compact contest in David Kimmel's car.
The next race at the Marshalltown Speedway will be on August 30 for the Showdown at MoTown with the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks joining the other six regular classes. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:15 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m.