The opening night of the Harvest Hustle at the Marshalltown Speedway produced a big field of race cars on Friday night, October 25th that qualified for the main events in each class that will be held on Saturday night.
Previously held earlier in the Fall, this final event of the 2024 racing season was pushed back this year to the last full weekend of October, pushing the racing season in the Hawkeye state just about as far as one would dare. It turned out to be a cool one on Friday night, after a week of very nice temperatures and a Northwesterly breeze that seems to follow me here to Marshalltown every time I'm here, didn't disappoint either, helping make a cool night just a bit more uncomfortable.
There was a decent sized crowd on hand though, especially considering that there are many other Friday night events going on and it was just qualifying heats on the ticket for Friday.
However, there were obviously still a lot of race drivers that wanted to get at least one more weekend of racing in the books before calling it a season as the pit area was swelled to the bursting point. Two hundred and ten race cars in the five IMCA classes that I score were in attendance and if so desired, you can add on the twenty four Mod Lites that also raced their heats, thus producing a gigantic field of cars. Drivers were on hand from a number of states as much of the racing activity in the Midwest is now completed for 2024. The largest field of cars was in the Hobby Stocks where fifty eight drivers signed in to race on Friday but there were enough cars on hand in all classes that at least four full heat races were needed for each class.
Qualifying would be done different that at most events run this year. Each driver ran two heat races and the combination of the points earned in both races would determine where they would be lined up for Saturday. Drivers drew for starting positions in the first round of heats and then for the second round, they would get a totally different starting spot and running against different drivers. Points would be awarded for their finishing positions and they would also be deducted points for losing positions in their heat races, which is the fairest way of doing this, in my opinion. And the double heat races is an even fairer way of doing this, with the lone down side being the time it takes to run double heat races for well over two hundred cars. The one spin rule was also used which is a god send in moving the show along even if some drivers don't necessary like how it plays out for them and the black flag was used several times for over aggressive driving that caused other competitors to spin out. That was also met with mixed feelings on occasion.
Logan Kelly, who flags at several North Iowa speedways, was brought in to do the flagging for this event and he worked in good accord with the Race Director to keep the show moving which was critical on a night with forty four heat races to be run, all of them packing an equal amount of importance to the drivers.
The track itself sported a new look for this season ending race. A new triple high guardrail has been installed that starts half way down the back chute and runs through corner three with the drivers exiting the track in front of the guardrail off turn three and then heading to the pits. Apparently the neighbors next door at the construction company were growing tired of race cars visiting their site after flying off the track , so this was done to help them with liability probably as issue also. The blunt end of the wall is a bit of a concern and despite the fact that it was protected with some big ute tires, several times cars hit the tires while racing and then had to be re positioned with wreckers. And there still managed to be at least two cars that hit the big dirt piles next door after flying off turns one and two.
Solid, consistent finishes were key to establishing a good point total to be used to start tomorrow's events and a bad finish or non finish in a heat would certainly put one behind the eight ball for Saturday.
And there were some drivers that certainly stood out and with two heat races wins the ultimate prize on Friday, there were ten drivers able to accomplish that feat. In the Sport Compacts, both Dillon Richards and Devin Jones won both their heat races and with the top ten in overall points locked into Saturday night's feature, they should start right up front.
The Hobby Stocks also had a pair of double heat winners with Nathan Ballard and Dylan Nelson each winning both of their heats.
The Sport Mods had the most domination as even though they had just four heats per round, there were three drivers that won both their heats. They were Brayton Carter, Tyler Bannister and Logan Anderson. That should be quite the battle on Saturday night.
The Stock Car heats had only one double winner and that was Minnesota driver Jim Horejsi. The Modifieds also had a pair of double winners in Tripp Gaylord and Dallon Murty. Everyone other than the top ten in points in each class must qualify on Saturday through either heats or B Features.
Track officials did a great job of moving along the show on Friday but it takes time to run off that many races. Once they dropped the first green flag, it was nonstop racing and they took no break after the first round but went right into round two. The track held up well and there were no breaks to pamper the surface once they started. It did throw a little dust the second round of racing and did dry out but the drivers still seemed to be able to find passing lines and were moving around on the track right up to the last events. The final checkers waved just at Midnight, after which those of us that stuck it out to the end headed for warmth as Mother Nature reminded us that we are living on borrowed warm weather that will soon turn.
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