Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Big Night at Marshalltown Finds FLO Dollars to O'Neal

 A race long awaited on the Castrol FLO Racing Night in America schedule since it was announced took place on Tuesday night, May 16th at the Marshalltown Speedway in Marshalltown Iowa. For the second straight year the national touring stars from the Late Model ranks would be racing at the high banked Marshalltown Iowa Speedway in a race anticipated by both the fans and drivers themselves. And it did not disappoint as the action was intense in a fifty lap feature race won by Indiana's Hudson O'Neal. 

And while the Late Models were the main course on this night, the Stock Cars and Modifieds from IMCA also were on hand in force and both these classes ran off a fine program with Troy Jerovetz and Tom Berry Jr being the winners of these two divisions. 

It was a beautiful May night for auto racing or quite frankly, for any other activity outdoors as perhaps Spring had finally arrived for the Midwest. This race would be one of the first early big races here in the Heartland and dirt track Late Model fans from all over were on hand to catch this rare glimpse of the national touring stars here in Iowa. On hand, beating the drum for the NAPA Gopher 50 to be held at the Deer Creek Speedway in July which will pay fifty thousand dollars to win was Jerry Ingvalson from Blooming Prairie Minnesota. Jerry was one of the original organizers of the first Gopher 50 held at the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna, which by the way was held the first two years of its existence at the Chateau Raceway just North of Austin Minnesota, a track that is sitting idle this year. It was then moved to Owatonna when it outgrew its digs at Chateau and this race has been going ever since with the race this year being the forty fourth consecutive. 

The car counts on this beautiful Tuesday would be thirty three Late Models, of which only twenty two would make the main event, a somewhat smaller than expected seventeen Stock Cars and a very impressive thirty nine IMCA Modifieds with only twenty four of them to start the main. 

The first car out for Late Model time trials would set the fast time, a situation that happens quite often when qualifying is involved. On this night it was Dennis Erb Jr who was the only driver in the thirteen second bracket at 13.937 seconds while group two would be topped by Bobby Pierce. 

Before the heat race action however, we would be treated to quite an interesting presentation of the National Anthem as while Jackie Schmillan, the significant other of promoter Jerry VanSickle sang the anthem, the flag was carried by a rider on horseback and when coming down the front chute, the top of the staff holding the flag shot off fireworks into the air. It was unique and the fans loved it. 

Then it was time to start the rapid paced program. Four heats and a pair of B Features would set the field for the Late Model field. For some reason, even though FLO races draw some large and powerful fields of cars, they are one of the smallest when it comes to starting fields as they always only start twenty two cars in their mains. Tyler Erb and Daulton Wilson would get the two provisional starts and there were a ton of local fans disappointed when the local hero Ryan Gustin didn't make the main but he quite frankly just didn't show the speed to make the show. 

The statistics would show that winner Hudson O'Neal would lead forty eight of the fifty laps of the main but that wouldn't tell the true story of how intense the action was. There was much moving up and then fading back by some of the drivers, including Max Blair who came shooting up to pass O'Neal early and for all the world looked like he might win. However, after his few moments of glory he pulled the chute and ended up way back in eighth at the checkered. 

After the brief lead by Blair, O'Neal retook the top spot but he had Pierce all over him for the rest of the race, which was stopped just one for a slowing car due to a flat tire. Pierce would try and try to get past O'Neal but each time Hudson would fight him off. Dennis Erb Jr would be part of the lead group for awhile and then Brandon Overton, running right on the bottom, would move up. In fact, from the halfway point until the only yellow, Overton would take over second and seem to be the main challenger.  O'Neal was experimenting all over the track and running different lines through the turns as the drivers were really working the track, top to bottom to find their own "sweet spot." Pierce nearly snuck past O'Neal in turn four once with both sliding to the guard rail and for all the world looking like they would both crash but somehow they just continued on like nothing had happened. 

O'Neal would get into lapped traffic near the end and Pierce and a charging Overton would both close up on him. O'Neal threw a wild slider on Tyler Breuning to get past him as they came to the white flag, a move that nearly cost O'Neal as he got into the turn four rail but he just proceeded on and would drive home for the win with Pierce and Overton trailing. Two of the twenty two starters were still on the track at the finish and one costly non finisher was Mike Marlar as the point leader going into the race slammed into the dirt bank exiting turn two during the race, incurring damage that saw him limp to the pits and forfeit his point lead to O'Neal. While the Longhorn chassis have been gathering much ink this year, O'Neal is one Rocket chassis that still has plenty of thrust. 

It was quite shocking to see, particularly at the track where racing is the attraction, but both the support class features on this night were led by one driver from green to checkered. New to the Stock Cars on this night was Sport Mod star Jake Sachau and Hobby Stock stalwart Brent Vanous as everyone wants to race a Stock Car now with all their big money shows that just seem bot be expanding by leaps and bounds. And one of the reasons is that there are a lot of Stock Cars so promoters know that if they have a special they will have lots of cars, something that was shrinking for the Modified fields. 

Troy Jerovetz, "The General", would start on the pole for the Stock Car feature and he would not leave the bottom lane and on this night, that worked as perhaps the Late Models, who ran first, had worn out the top line. In any event, Jerovetz found the low groove to work for him and with just a single yellow with five laps complete to slow the race, he kept his momentum up and never was seriously challenged. 

Tom Berry Jr would be the only driver working the high side of the track and he made it work but he was never able to close on Jerovetz. Jay Schmidt nearly got by Berry Jr several times for second but then slipped back slightly as the last fifteen laps ran green to checkered. Jerovetz would drive on for the win with Berry Jr second but apparent third place finisher Schmidt was disqualified which allowed Dallon Murty to claim that spot. 

The Modifieds would see a couple changes on this night as USMTS star Cayden Carter would drive the Maguire DeJong ride and Tripp Gaylord from Colorado would be a part of the field. I'm told that Gaylord has relocated to southern Iowa and will be working on the assembly of Vanderbuilt chassis for Zach VanderBeek. Also, the long tow award went to John Webb who is the owner of the Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore as well as being a Modified driver. 

Berry Jr. missed out on a double win but he would control the Modified feature from start to finish as he dominated the twenty four car field. Slowed only once by a yellow on lap three, Berry Jr would be challenged only by Todd Shute who would continuously try to duck under Berry Jr in the corners, several times nearly doing so in turn one. 

After nearly giving away the farm several straight laps, Berry Jr adjusted his line, running low in turns one and two and sweeping through the middle of turns three and four and that seemed to suit his car just right as he then gradually, under the repeated green flag laps, would ease away from Shute. 

Berry Jr would take the checkered without a big challenge while Shute would gather second. Johnathan Logue, who would cross the line third, was apparently set back a couple of spots for some sort of violation, perhaps a jump start, but whatever, he would be scored fifth behind both Tim Ward and Cody Laney as the Modified field was both large and talented. Only four drivers failed to finish the feature and two were lapped. 

The show was a fast paced one and all racing was over by just about the 10 pm hour. Interestingly as compared to some of the FLO races where the crowd bails as soon as the Late Models are done, at this track the Late Models are the special attraction but folks also want to see their staple divisions and just about everyone stayed around to watch the last two features. 

A large crowd was on hand and as you might guess, seats were at a premium so I need to thank Joyce and Dick Eisele for saving us seats, among the best too in the house I might add. Also thanks to promoter Toby Kruse and General Manager Jerry VanSickle who took time to say hello even though their nights were hectic and to FLO announcers Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett, probably the best combination in dirt track racing these days. A question was raised whether or not the fans of Marshalltown wanted to see another FLO race in 2024 and the answer was a resounding yes. so it there is a series next year, I'm sure Marshalltown will be awarded a race. 

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