Cooney Flexs His Muscles and Dominates at Marshalltown
by Jeremy Fox
Marshalltown, Iowa (August 5th, 2016) - Made my fifth visit to my hometown track, Marshalltown Speedway since my Friday Night track for the 2016 season has ended and when I arrived at the track the best sign of the night was the road was back up to the road meaning there was going to be a good field of cars signed in to tame the high-banked quarter mile oval.
Feature winners included Josh May (Mod Lites), Austin Luellen (SportMods), Eric Stanton (Hobby Stocks), Damon Murty (Stock Cars), Trent Jackson (Modifieds) and Todd Cooney (Late Models). Officially 117 cars signed in for Toby K's Hideaway Night at the races.
First feature of the night was the 12 lap Mod Lites feature and it was "Huggie Bear" Joel Huggins grabbing the top spot on lap one but Josh May, who started seventh worked his way up to take the top spot away on lap five. May cruised on to take his sixth win at Marshalltown in 2016 and thanked his sister Chelsea for letting him borrow parts for her race car to make the feature. Cory Sauerman got by Huggins for second. Travis Stensland and Randy Bryan rounded out the top five.
Tom Rawlins started outside row two in the 18 lap IMCA Northern SportMods feature event but by the end of lap one, Rawlins was in position number one. Rawlins continued to lead holding off Curt Hilmer until just after the sixth lap was completed, they made contact in turn two sending both of them to the tail. Austin Luellen running third at the time would inherit the lead and never look back as he would cruise on to his first win at Marshalltown. Travis Peterson finished second meanwhile track point leader Jared Van Deest worked his way through the field after starting at the back because of mechanical issues in hot laps to finish third. Jonathan Logue was fourth and Taylor Musselman was fifth.
Before a lap was completed in the IMCA Hobby Stocks 15 lap feature event, the caution flag came out when Travis Merical spin turn one forcing a complete restart. Jack Phillips grabbed the when the race finally got going but just after one lap was scored the caution came out again this time because John Watson came to rest on the front stretch. Phillips saw Eric Knutson and Gary Pfantz started behind him but on lap three it was Leah Wroten that found her way up there to take the lead away from Phillips. Wroten and the field saw the caution come out on lap five for Phillips, Knutson and Pfantz on the front stretch so that placed Eric Stanton on the back bumper of Wroten on the restart. Wroten held off Stanton until lap eight when Stanton took the lead away. Stanton led the remaining laps to take 11th win of the season at Marshalltown in 2016 despite a pair of cautions on lap 13 forcing a green-white-checkered finish. Ryan Grochala, who finished fourth in points at ISF finished second. Wroten slipped back to a third place finish, Jamie Songer was fourth and Luke Bird finished fifth after starting 17th.
Jeff Wollam started inside row two of the 20 lap IMCA Stock Cars feature but by the end of lap one, it was Wollam leading. Wollam was comfortable out front but the caution came out on lap three for Jason Minnehan on the backstretch and Russell Damme Jr in turn two. Wollam got a great restart and ran the bottom side meanwhile "Chelsea Charger" Damon Murty was working on the high side and worked his way from ninth to grab the top spot away on lap eight. Murty pulled away and went on to take his seventh win at Marshalltown in 2016. David Brandies took second away from Wollam, Wollam settled for third. Dave Atcher and Donavon Smith rounded out the top five.
"Hot" Rod Clement had a hot rod early in the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature event, as he wrestled the top spot away from Scott Davis and held off challenges early. On lap six, Trent Jackson, who won his first Modified feature win back on July 8th, taking the top spot away from Clement. Jackson never gave the lead up as he led the remaining laps to take his second win. Jacob Murray finished second ahead of Jimmy Gustin and Ronn Lauritzen. Joel Rust was running second at the white flag but experienced troubles managing to cross the finish line in fifth.
Final feature of the night was the 25 lap IMCA Late Models feature event but before a lap was completed the caution came out when front row starters Ben Seemann and John Emerson getting together in turn two. That moved up Luke Goedert and Darrel DeFrance to the front row and it was the Hometown boy DeFrance grabbing the to spot just like he did the previous two times at Marshalltown. Just after the completion of lap one the red flag came out when Curtis Glover, Craig Jacobs and Doug McCollough went off the top side of turn one. All three cars remained on four wheels but all saw their nights end. DeFrance got a great restart but Todd Cooney worked his way from the 12th place starting spot and made the move to take the lead away on lap seven. Shortly after the caution came out when Paul Conrad went of the top side of turn one and two. Cooney got a great restart and began to pull away only to see the caution come out on lap 12 for Charlie McKenna in turn four. Cooney was not going to be fazed as he pulled away running the high side to go on to take the win. Goedert finished second, Richie Gustin got by points leader Darrel DeFrance to take third. Emerson worked his way back through the field to finish fifth.
Racing action continues next Friday Night at the Marshalltown Speedway with all six classes in competion including the Late Models. Hot Laps at 6:50pm and Racing at 7:30pm.
For more information check out http://www.marshalltownspeedway.com/ or Like Marshalltown Speedway on Facebook.
Marshalltown Speedway
Toby K's Hideaway Night
August 5th, 2016
IMCA Late Models
Feature - 1. 30 Todd Cooney, Des Moines; 2. 44 Luke Goedert, Guttenburg; 3. 19G Richie Gustin Jr., Gilman; 4. 99D Darrel DeFrance, Marshalltown; 5. 87 John Emerson, Waterloo; 6. 60 Ben Seemann, Waterloo; 7. 76 Jason Hahne, Webster City; 8. 15C Curt Schroeder, Newton; 9. 05 Paul Nagle, Nevada; 10. 17 Kirby Schultz, Albia; 11. 22 Charlie McKenna, Clear Lake; 12. 23 Paul Conrad, Colo; 13. 7 Jenna Johnson, Mitchellville; 14. 77 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; 15. 70 Jerry King, Waterloo; 16. 32 Curtis Glover, Des Moines; 17. 95 Craig Jacobs, Urbandale; 18. 8 Doug McCollough, Webster City.
Heat 1 - 1. Cooney; 2. DeFrance; 3. Gustin; 4. Glover; 5. Schroeder; 6. Schultz.
Heat 2 - 1. Goedert; 2. McKenna; 3. Seemann; 4. Hamilton; 5. Conrad; 6. Nagle.
Heat 3 - 1. King; 2. Emerson; 3. Hahne; 4. Jacobs; 5. McCollough; 6. Johnson.
IMCA Modifieds
Feature - 1. 12X Trent Jackson, Marshalltown; 2. 48J Jacob Murray, Hartford; 3. 19 Jimmy Gustin, Marshalltown; 4. 10K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 5. 26J Joel Rust, Grundy Center; 6. 2L Adam Larson, Ames; 7. 11X Tom Berry Jr., Medford, Ore.; 8. 12 Andrew Kinser, State Center; 9. 57V Mike Van Genderen, Newton; 10. 29 Ron Ver Beek, Oskaloosa; 11. 40RC Rod Clement, Rhodes; 12. 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt; 13. 81D Scott Davis, Madrid; 14. 57 Tyler Gross, Bondurant; 15. 43S Scott Simatovich, State Center; 16. 8 Tony Snyder, Sumner; 17. 5B Austin Bishop, Manchester; 18. 68C Austin Emry, Kellogg; 19. 237 Zack Rawlins, Newton; 20. 22 Schuyler Nahre, Indianapolis, Ind.; 21. 21K Kyle Brown, State Center; 22. 12XX Brett Ladehoff, Marshalltown; DNS/23. 17R Derek Reimer, St. Anthony.
Heat 1 - 1. Clement; 2. Berry; 3. Rust; 4. Van Genderen; 5. Rawlins; 6. Gross; 7. Snyder; 8. Reimer.
Heat 2 - 1. Davis; 2. Lauritzen; 3. Larson; 4. Gustin; 5. Simatovich; 6. Ver Beek; 7. Bishop; 8. Emry.
Heat 3 - 1. Kinser; 2. Jackson; 3. Brown; 4. Murray; 5. Ward; 6. Ladehoff; 7. Nahre.
IMCA Stock Cars
Feature - 1. 99D Damon Murty, Chelsea; 2. 71B David Brandies, Wilton; 3. 3W Jeff Wollam, Marshalltown; 4. 2 Dave Atcher, Marshalltown; 5. 35 Donavon Smith, Lake City; 6. 94 Steve Meyer, Grundy Center; 7. 25 Trent Murphy, Jefferson; 8. 93 Michael Jaennette, Newton; 9. 5A Tyler Pickett, Boxholm; 10. 2N Donavon Nunnikhoven, Sully; 11. 7 Jason Minnehan, Chrudan; 12. 2X Kyle Everts, Holland; 13. 16X Nate Thelen, Kellogg; 14. 1M Russ Byriel, Des Moines; 15. 50X Kevin Balmer, Garwin; 16. 47 Darin Dezwarte, Knoxville; 17. 42 Doug Russell, Conrad; 18. 22 Dave Mehmen, Baxter; 19. 3 Scooter Dulin, Cedar Rapids; 20. 4JR Russell Damme Jr, Waterloo; DNS/21. 55 Brandon Hill, Des Moines.
Heat 1 - 1. Jaennette; 2. Minnehan; 3. Brandies; 4. Smith; 5. Nunnikhoven; 6. Kevin Balmer; 7. Mehmen; 8. Everts.
Heat 2 - 1. Atcher; 2. Murty; 3. Wollam; 4. Damme; 5. Dulin; 6. Hill; DQ 23L Curt Balmer, Green Mounain.
Heat 3 - 1. Meyer; 2. Thelen; 3. Pickett; 4. Murphy; 5. Russell; 6. Byriel; 7. Dezwarte.
IMCA Northern SportMods
Feature - 1. 3A Austin Luellen, Minburn; 2. 25T Travis Peterson, Gladbrook; 3. 80J Jared Van Deest, Holland; 4. 69JR Jonathan Logue, Boone; 5. 13T Taylor Musselman, Norwalk; 6. 86 Cory Rose, Boone; 7. 1M Mitch Manternach, Earlville; 8. 30 Shawn Cooney, Des Moines; 9. 11 Ethan Braaksma, Newton; 10. 32N Neil Follett, Conrad; 11. 25 Kevin Yeartington, Des Moines; 12. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 13. 98 Bill Hildreth, Rhodes; 14. 33R DJ Robinson, Ankeny; 15. 36A Andy Edwards, Parkersburg; 16. T17 Tom Rawlins, Kellogg; 17. 77AU Frank Packer, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 18. 61 Brandon Patava, Des Moines; 19. 93 Hunter Longnecker, Boone; 20. 52R Marty Rouse, Grundy Center; 21. 8 Dusty Masolini, Des Moines; DNS/22. 5T Tyler Inman, Des Moines; DNS/23. 57R Ryan King, Montour.
Heat 1 - 1. Luellen; 2. Hilmer; 3. Hildreth; 4. Follett; 5. Rouse; 6. Braaksma; DQ/7. Longnecker; DNS/8. Van Deest.
Heat 2 - 1. Peterson; 2. Rawlins; 3. Masolini; 4. Robinson; 5. Musselman; 6. Patava; 7. King; 8. Edwards.
Heat 3 - 1. Yearington; 2. Logue; 3. Cooney; 4. Rose; 5. Packer; 6. Inman; 7. Manternach.
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Feature - 1. 7B Eric Stanton, Carlisle; 2. 77G Ryan Grochala, Pleasant Hill; 3. 14C Leah Wroten, Independence; 4. 96R Jamie Songer, Ankeny; 5. 88 Luke Bird, Winthrop; 6. 12K Eric Knutson, Grimes; 7. 42T Tyson Overton, Carlisle; 8. 00 Jack Phillips, Mitchellville; 9. 14T Mitchell Thomas, Marshalltown; 10. 89 Dakota Feickert, Webster City; 11. 42Z Brandon Pitts, Ames; 12. 17 Andy Peck, Newton; 13. 78XX Craig Lovig, Marshalltown; 14. 75M Preston Merical, Collins; 15. 83 Eugene Nicklas, Grinnell; 16. 85 Dillon Million, Marshalltown; 17. 4X Gary Pfantz, State Center; 18. 4W John Watson, Des Moines; 19. 81M Travis Merical, Marshalltown; DNS/20. 2L Leonard Loftus, Des Moines.
Heat 1 - 1. Knutson; 2. Stanton; 3. Nicklas; 4. Overton; 5. Loftus; 6. Million; DNS/7. Preston Merical.
Heat 2 - 1. Wroten; 2. Travis Merical; 3. Lovig; 4. Songer; 5. Feickert; 6. Bird; DNS/7. Pitts.
Heat 3 - 1. Gorchala; 2. Pfantz; 3. Phillips; 4. Watson; 5. Thomas; 6. Peck.
Mod Lites
Feature - 1. 99 Josh May, Des Moines; 2. 17 Cory Sauerman, Grimes; 3. X50 Joel Huggins, Pleasant Hill; 4. 89 Travis Stensland, Nevada; 5. 64 Randy Bryan, Des Moines; 6. 6 Mike Morrill, Altoona; 7. 3G Joe Glick, Des Moines; 8. 46 Kevin Grisham, Ogden; 9. 4L Larry Sorenson, Ames; 10. 7 Erin Turner, Newton; DNS/11. 18M Chelsea May, DeSoto.
Heat 1 - 1. Bryan; 2. Stensland; 3. Morrill; 4. Turner; 5. Grisham; 6. Chelsea May.
Heat 2 - 1. Huggins; 2. Glick; 3. Sorenson; 4. Josh May; 5. Sauerman.
