The central Iowa racing season kicked off on Friday night, April 4th with the annual Frostbuster event at the Marshalltown Speedway. Scheduled to be a four night swing for the IMCA drivers, it has been cut, hopefully to no less than two events, depending if the Saturday night show at Boone is completed.
Even with the cold and wet weather of the early part of this week, Marshalltown promoter Jerry Van Sickel was determined to get his Frostbuster event completed and there were many race crews that obviously wanted to race also.
When the draw window finally closed, one hundred and ninety six drivers from thirteen states and two countries had pulled a pill in the five IMCA classes offered on Friday night. As usual, the pit area was jammed as well as the field just to the South of the pit area. One of the things that always amazes me about this event is that with drivers spread out all over the county and no pa system back in the field, how everyone knows when they need to be ready to race and how such an immense event always goes off so smoothly.
Car counts were very similar to last year's event, even though races at both the front end and tail end of the tour had already been loped off due to weather considerations. The cold weather had produced one minor inconvenience at the track and because of the cold weather leading up to and potentially after the races completion, the water could not be turned of for the restrooms, meaning that satellites were the order of the evening.
The track looks a bit different this year also. Remember that a stretch of guardrail was added on the back chute leading into turn three to keep the racers out of the neighbors. Well, that was an immediate safety hazard and several drivers had bad experiences with it last Fall. So this Spring, the guard rail was extended the whole length of the back chute, giving the track a new look. Thoughts that many drivers would test out the new rail proved to be incorrect though, as I only recall one driver that got into the barrier all night.
Some moves within the employees of the track were noted also, with "Big Boy" Jason Froemell now calling the action as a co-announcer while "Foxman", Jeremy Fox, a former announcer and reporter for the track is now waving the flags as head starter.
Many of the well known names from IMCA racing in Iowa and beyond were on hand, most sporting new cars and I noticed that more and more drivers are now becoming multi class racers with both the Olsons now racing in both Sport Mods and Stock Cars among many making moves. Not only does that take a big racing budget but it takes a big pit crew to keep two cars running. I also notices that more and more drivers are going to the new style Stock Car bodies but I still have not warmed up to them myself.
With the completion of hot laps, racing would begin at 7:22 pm and once started, there would be no breaks all night except on a couple occasions to extract cars from wrecks. The drivers did an amazing job of racing with twenty of the thirty four races contested on Friday running off green to checkers including three of the five feature races. That is a remarkable statistic in my book, especially considering how many drivers are new to the track, how many are making their first races of the year and the considerable stakes on the line.
Just as good as the racers themselves was the preparation of the track. It was smooth and wide all night with multiple racing grooves and once they rolled the cushion just a bit after hot laps, they never touched the track again all night! Fanstastic! And the drivers were still racing all over the track, right to the last checkers. It was a bit dirty after the wind nicely switched right into our faces and picked up intensity but that was a very minor inconvenience for real race fans.
A bit archaic was the old draw redraw used for such a large field of drivers but no matter, the preliminary events were very hard fought with the drivers going three and four wide right from the drop of the first green flag.
A big disappointment came early when fan favorite Taylor Kuehl was disqualified after her strong Sport Mod heat race run. She opted to just start in the back of the B Feature and putt around. She should have probably raced as Tony Olson started just in front of her and ended up winning the B Feature and making the main!
All five of the feature races were good ones and a couple were exceptional. The Sport Mods started things off and their twenty lap main included five different leaders and a situation where a couple of the cars battling for the top spot ended up taking each other out.
Dustin Marquardt edged past Barden Claborn to lead the opening lap but one lap later Cam Reimers rolled from the outside lane to edge past both and take over the lead. Dylan VanWyk was on the move after starting eighth and just one lap later, he was able to pass Reimers to take over the lead.
These two then went at it, trading slide jobs as they battled for the top spot. Unfortunately, they came together while battling for the lead with Reimers flying off the end of the track and VanWyk slowing with a flat tire. The green flag stayed out and Tyler Nerud inherited the lead.
He held the top spot through the half way portion of the race but pushing him was Gabriel Deschamp and with just three laps to go. Deschamp drove around Nerud to take over the lead. Two late yellows bunched the field but Deschamp held on to take the win over Nerud and Dustin White.
Perhaps even more exciting was the Sport Compact feature that saw the winner not established until the final corner of the race. Pole starter Spencer Roggentien led the opening lap but Mitchell Bielenberg was on the move after starting fourth and he drove around Roggentien on lap four to take over the top spot. Roggentien then would dominate most of the race, leading right up to the finish.
By the halfway point of the race, Michael Gardner had moved into second with Gilbert Aldape, Christian Grady and Roggentien following. Aldape continued his charge from the sixth row, as he took over second and then pulled up beside Bielenberg to challenge for the lead.
They put on an entertaining battle with Aldape challenging on each lap but Bielenberg holding him off. On the final lap, it was time for Aldape to make his move and he drove deep into turn three, edging into the lead. Bielenberg tried to cross him over but came up just a bumper length short with Aldape taking a very exciting win. Gardner would finish up third.
The Stock Car feature was another dandy race with the three challengers for the win crossing the line together in a close bunch. Minnesota driver Justin Luinenburg was scored the leader of all twenty five laps but the race itself was much closer than that would indicate.
Luinenburg got the jump on Maguire DeJong to take the early lead with Steve Meyer, Kelly Shryock and Thor Anderson close behind. As Luinenburg continued to lead, the drivers close behind diced for position and were soon joined by Dallon Murty who had moved up from the fourth row.
As the race continued past the halfway point, the top five continued to jockey for position with the running order of those right behind Luinenburg changing lap by lap. In the late going, Murty made the biggest rush, closing to the rear bumper of Luinenburg as the laps ran down.
It would again be a last lap fight to see who would take the lead. Murty gave it his all on the high side with Luinenburg holding off Dallon while Shryock, using the low side as he often does, nearly snuck by both at the line, edging out Murty for second while Luinenburg held off both for the win.
After a nonstop Stock Car feature race, the Hobby Stocks rolled on to the track and did the same thing, running twenty green flag laps. Solomon Bennett, running perhaps the most ugly car to take to the track on this night, grabbed the early lead, proving that speed is not skin deep. However, three laps later, he couldn't fight off Corey VanDerwitt who had started beside him on row one.
By this point, Dillon Richards had moving in behind VanDerwitt and after trying a few preliminary moves, threw a big slider at VanDerwitt to take over the lead. And once in front, he would be hard to catch as he then led the rest of the contest. VanDerwitt stayed close but couldn't challenge and ended up second with Bradly Graham coming from mid pack to finish third.
The Modified drivers would not be shamed by the two previous classes as they too, ran off a green to checkers race for thirty laps. In the most dominating performance of the night, Troy Morris III, a new addition to Iowa racing this year after his move from the West Coast, took the lead off the outside and then drove on to lead for all laps and grab the win. Another import, Trevor Fitz, battled with him in the early going before sliding back.
Ethan Braaksma, driving the #12j car on Friday, moved into second and chased Morris III, gaining that spot before the halfway point of the race and while he stayed in second, he never really pushed the leader. Jake McBurnie moved up to third at the finish with Joel Rust and Cody Laney completing the top five.
Thirty four races were completed in just less than four hours on Friday night. How many weekly shows with eighty cars take longer to run than that? It was just an outstanding night of racing with close finishes and good management keeping things moving. Thanks to J Van and all the others involved in the production of the speedway. They have another big race coming up next week with the King of the High Banks Stock Car special on April 11-12 paying five grand to the Stock Cars with other classes also racing. Check their website for more information.
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