3/23/2026
Marysville Raceway
Merrifeild and Cheney Provide Thrilling Finish
Merrifield and Cheney Provide Thrilling Finish
MARYSVILLE, Calif., March 21, 2026…The racing on Saturday, March 21st, point race three was electrifying to say the least. Toby Merrifield and Kyle Cheney absolutely thrilled the crowd with their fierce battle for the win during the Hobby Stocks 20-lap finale. Cheney led for most of the race. However, it was Merrifield that had the faster car. On lap 17, Merrifield passed Cheney for the lead, only for it to be nullified by a yellow flag. On the restart, Cheney led the field back to the restart, yet for the second time, Merrifield passed Cheney. As the two raced back to the line, a full lap was completed before the next yellow was needed. Merrifield was the new leader. He was able to focus; hit his marks on the track and held off the two-time champion Cheney in a near photo finish to get his first win of the season. Cheney crossed in second. Jacob Bright was fast all night and finished third. Wyatt Monks started on the pole then drifted back to sixth. Monks regrouped and finished in the fourth spot. Roy Smith started 13th and finished fifth. Smith won the first heat. Bright started deep in heat two and came away with the win. Jace Badeker picked up his first win in a Hobby Stock heat race three.
Jacob Johnson scored a popular win during the Crate Sprint main event. He led all 20 laps. It was his first win of the season. Johnson held off a hard charging David Derr Jr. Following those top two was rookie standout Luke Sprenkle. All of the top three did a great job of giving everything they had to stay up front. Rounding out the top five were the Ballantine brothers. Castleberry won the first heat race. Mike Ballantine obliterated the field to win the second heat race.
Jayden Bunch was Hammer Down and elbows up all night. The sophomore sensation picked up his second win of the year. It marked his third win of his career at Marysville. Fresh off rookie of the year honors last season, Bunch is poised to try and win a track championship. Equally impressive was Adrianna DeMartini. She chased Dennis Scherer for much of the race. With five laps to go, DeMartini passed Scherer and finished second to Bunch. Jake Haulot ran fourth for 23 of the 25 laps. Then with two to go, Brad Bumgarner was able to sneak by and steal fourth place away at the finish line. Haulot finished fifth. Bumgarner notched quick time tonight by turning a 12.730 lap. Heat race wins were DeMartini and Scherer.
Mike Merritt was dominant during the IMCA Sport Mod 20 lap main event. Merritt passed Thomas Reynolds for the lead on lap two. From there he opened a big lead. Merritt beat second place Dan Brown Jr. by nearly four seconds at the checkered flag. Jason Clayton Jr. ran in the third spot most of the race. He unfortunately pulled off the track with less than two laps to go. This moved Travis Pruitt into third. Pruitt started ninth. Cole Fear finished fourth. Reynolds secured the fifth spot at the finish. Brown Jr. won the first heat race. Jeff Bentancourt picked up the win in heat race two.
Full results are available here https://speedhive.mylaps.com/events/3436045
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Submitted By: troy hennig