By Joyce Eisele
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Aug 2, 2024) – It was EMW Trucking Military Memorial Night at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday. Pre-race ceremonies honored those that gave the ultimate sacrifice as well as honoring those veterans in attendance, who were given free admission thanks to EMW.
More money was also on the line for four of the divisions racing.
Tom Berry, Jr. went away with the $2,000 IMCA Friesen Performance Modified win, Jimmy Gustin had the crowd on its feet on the final corner when he won the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car $1,000 feature, and sister Jenae Gustin won the $1,300 IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMods for the second week in a row. It was another close one at the line in the $600 to win IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks as Calvin Dhondt crossed the finish line first in a dash to the checkers.
Jon Padilla won the Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite main and it was Cristian Grady going to victory lane for the third time straight time in the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts.
Northern SportMods ran their 16-lap feature event first.
Kyle Olson jumped to the immediate lead from his pole starting position. He was still holding down the lead on lap 10 but had visiting Jake Sachau challenging and Gustin had made her way into third after starting eighth. They waged a three-wide battle at times and with a lap to go, that fight got the best of Sachau as he went for a spin, taking himself out of the game.
Now it was a dash to the checkers with Gustin in command as the white flag flew, a spot she was not about to relinquish. Gustin took the win and matched her win from last week. Olson had to be content with the runner-up position and third went to 13th place starter Will Wolf.
The Mod Lite 15-lap feature was up next and went flag to flag.
Padilla took the lead from the outside front row as the race went green. It was all but over then as Padilla was never challenged and swept to the win by a lengthy margin, his second of the season.
Jason Masengarb made it a 1-2 finish for Illinois drivers and third went to Ben George.
The Stock Car 20-lap feature was a thriller at the finish.
Jerry Gifford, who was a first timer at the track this year, started on the outside front row and took the lead when the race went green.
By lap five, Jimmy Gustin had made his way from fifth starting spot to take over second place. Gustin drew closer and closer to the leader, made several attempts in corner four with a slide move that just didn’t stick, and it was looking like the newbie was going to victory lane.
However, the final corner went Gustin’s way, a bit different slide job which Gifford didn’t seem to expect, and Gustin made it work, taking his first-ever Stock Car win at Marshalltown and earning B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility to boot.
Gifford had to settle for second place on this night. Third went to Maguire DeJong, who had started 14th.
It was 15 laps of Sport Compact racing to come to the track next.
Mitchell Bunch started fourth and had the lead by lap one. He continued his lead through lap seven with Grady following his tire tracks in second. Bunch was suddenly be off power and pull to the infield on lap eight, handing the lead over to Grady.
It was all Grady’s race from there on out, as he pulled away and took the checkers easily. Second place went to ninth place starter Spencer Roggentien and third went to David Kimmel.
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Cody Laney was the early leader of the Modified pack but a slide by Berry made him the leader on lap 11. A yellow would fly at lap 11 when Rod Clement came to a standstill out of corner three, and then another yellow that went to red on lap 15 when Trevor Fitz went off of the top of corner four and landed on his top. He was not hurt, and when racing returned to green, it was still Berry at the helm.
Dylan Thornton chased Berry in much of the race and a three-car battle for third place between early leader Laney, Tripp Gaylord and Joel Rust was brewing. Berry, already on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible list, held onto his lead the final five laps to the finish and secure the win.
Thornton finished as the runner-up and Gaylord won the battle for third.
The final race of the night was 16 laps of Hobby Stock racing.
Solomon Bennett started on the outside front row and got the jump on pole sitter Dhondt to take the lead as lap one was scored. Bennett maintained his lead, not allowing the four cautions and subsequent restarts to hinder his run at the front.
The fourth and final yellow flew on lap eight as Bennett kept hold of his lead and now it was last week’s winner Eric Knutson hot on his tail, Dhondt battling with him, and Bradly Graham was throwing his hat into the mix.
It was a real tight battle the final two laps and on the run to the checkers, it was Dhondt getting the upper hand out of corner four to beat them to the finish line and score the exciting win. Bennett had to settle for second place and third went to Knutson.
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