Racing finally commenced in the Hawkeye State of Iowa on Friday night, April 7th with the running of the annual Frostbuster Series which began at the Marshalltown Speedway in Marshalltown. This used to be quite the early season series with up to five consecutive nights of racing right around April Fool's Day every year that would draw cars from many states. Unfortunately, the series has shrunk in recent years, likely because of some nasty Spring weather recently that saw many of these races either postponed or cancelled due to the late arrival of Spring.
This year, in fact, the series was scheduled for just Friday and Saturday with Boone being the other participating track until Jerry VanSickel and Toby Kruse added a Thursday night race on at Marshalltown. The was an exciting development but that fell by the way side too when cold weather didn't allow the fairgrounds to turn on the water soon enough for proper preparations to take place and the series fell back again to just two nights.
However, my home state didn't disappoint as while there weren't too many out of state drivers that chose to race this weekend, the Badger state supplied a large number of drivers in multiple divisions that spent their Easter weekend racing in central Iowa. Toby's connections with the 141 Speedway in eastern Wisconsin always come up big when it comes to drawing cars into Iowa.
With the event coming a week later on the calendar than it has in recent years, there were actually a couple of other competing events going on this same weekend. However, that didn't seem to affect Marshalltown as well over one hundred and sixty drivers from multiple states signed in to race on Friday night, providing a strong field in all divisions. And for the first time ever that I had seen them race here, the Sport Compacts were a part of the program, thus making five divisions racing on what would become a very cold April night. The strong winds, blowing from the South, are supposed to be warm winds but they definitely weren't on this night as it was a challenging night to be outside but no matter, a very large crowd was in attendance anyway, although it would be fair to say that not a lot of them stuck it out to the finish.
Herding over one hundred and sixty drivers on an opening night is like herding cats but track officials managed to get hot laps completed, final track prep done and they waved off the first heat race of 2023 just five minutes after the advertised starting time. That is quite an accomplishment but something we are used to seeing here at Marshalltown., but still should be noted.
Twenty six racing events would weed out the pretenders from the contenders and set up our five main events as all five classes had enough cars that B Features were required across the board. And full twenty four car fields would start all five of the main events. As usual, the one spin rule was a godsend as it helped move the preliminaries along so much smoother. Folks in this area are used to that but for me, coming from an area where despite my best efforts I haven't had much success selling this area to tracks and promoters, this rule is like a breath of fresh air and turns the heats into exciting events and not so much like a trip to the dentist!
Sport Mods would be up first to their twenty lap main event and three different leaders would emerge before a familiar face would end up in victory lane. Zach Raab would grab the early lead as the Wisconsin driver, where I guarantee that there is still two feet of snow on the ground, held the early point.
However, northern Iowa hotshoe Alec Fett would drive past Raab to take over the top spot. But his lead wasn't safe either as he was soon challenged by Brayton Carter. Carter was hard to spot as he is racing with all new sponsors and totally new colors this year, but his speed was just like previous years and he drove under Fett on lap eight and for all intents and purposes, the race was over. One more yellow would bunch the field but that would be no problem for Carter as he drove away from the field to record the win. Fett would hold on for second while Janae Gustin would have a solid run in third as brother Ryan gave here hand signals from the grandstands in turn one.
The Stock Cars would give us a post race surprise but not a pleasant one for the two drivers involved as two of the top four finishers would be disqualified post race for technical issues and thus change who won the main.
From all appearances it was Tom Berry Jr that led from start to finish as he made a big move on the first lap, riding the cushion from the outside of the third row to take over the lead after just one lap when the first yellow would wave. After that he just cruised, holding a comfortable lead for most of the race. However, he was pressured last by Troy Jerovetz who found the inside line worked well for his car. Still, it was Berry Jr comfortably at the finish for the win.
Or so we thought. Post race, both Berry Jr and fourth place finisher Johnathan Logue failed inspection and the win would go to Jerovetz, the Wisconsin native who now lives in Iowa. Dan Mackenthun would be elevated to a second place finish and Cole Czarneski third, with out of state drivers taking two of the top three spots and that doesn't happen much here in central Iowa.
It was time for a whipping and that was provided to the Modified field by Tim Ward. He would start fourth but would only take him one lap to go flying by Jimmy Gustin to take over the top spot and once in front, he was gone. One late yellow would eliminate his large lead but he would make no mistakes back on green and again drive away for the win. Todd Shute would come on to finish second while Gustin would hold on for third as only four cars would not finish this race.
It was a two car battle from start to finish in the Hobby Stock main with Eric Knutson taking the lead from the pole and giving evidence that he might lead from start to finish. However, Calvin Dhondt would move in to pressure Knutson for the lead in a race that would go green for an extended period of laps. Dhondt tried and tried and finally, on lap twelve he was able to drive past Knutson on the back chute and take over the lead.
From that point on, he would hold the top spot the rest of the way with Knutson trying to get back around him but just not quite having the speed to do so. A late charge would see central Minnesota's Scott Herron drive home third.
A windswept evening would conclude with the Sport Compacts racing for fifteen laps. This race would see Blake Driscol and Gilbert Aldape trade the lead back and forth with Driscol in front early, Aldape passing him on the second lap but Driscol returning the favor on lap nine and after that he would lead the rest of the event.
Just after Driscol regained the lead, the race would go red as John Patterson would have a flat tire that caused him to lose control, go flying off turn two and do a quick flip. He was OK and the race would resume.
Driscol would continue to lead to the checkered but Aldape was slowed and then dropped out after a flat tire of his own. Kolby Sabin, a constant winner in this division, would move up from the third row but come up short and settle for second with Adam Broehm finishing third.
As usual, the program here as Marshalltown was pushed through as quickly as possible with victory lane ceremonies even delayed until the end to move things along. Still, with so many laps to run and races to complete, it was around 11:45 pm before the final checkered waved and I was thoroughly frozen by then! Special mention should be made of track conditions. Although the groove was a bit narrow to begin with, it widened out nicely and provided a good track to race on without a lot of upkeep during the night. With so many laps on it, it is a credit to those that prepped the track that it stayed smooth and racy all night.
As always, thanks go out to J Van and Toby and all the workers here at Marshalltown for a great beginning to what is hoped to be a warm and dry season of racing here in the Hawkeye state.
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