4/20/2026
Marysville Raceway
Koa Crane Wins Exciting Sprint Car Main Event
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Koa Crane Wins Thrilling Sprint Car Main
(4-18-26) Marysville, CA — Koa Crane took advantage of an unfortunate set of circumstances to win the 25-lap sprint car main event on Saturday night. Justin Henry seized the race lead for most of the feature and at times held over a five second lead over Crane. On lap 17, Henry was unable to avoid hitting a stopped car that had come to a stop near the top of turn two. The deflating situation for Henry turned into the moment that Crane needed. Once the race resumed, Crane drove a flawless final seven laps and held off a hard charging Adrianna DeMartini. Third spot went to Carson Hall who at one point drifted back to 13th on lap seven. Dennis Scherer moved from his 10th starting spot to secure fourth place at the checkered. William Fielding scored a solid fifth place finish.
Britton Bock captured the fastest lap in qualifying at a 12.660. Bock’s fast start was slowed in heat race one when he flipped upside down. The win in heat one went to Dryver Dothage. Justin Bradway cruised to the win in heat two.
Howard Law took the lead on lap 12 of 20 during the Hobby Stock main event. Law led the final eight laps to secure his first win of 2026. Law inherited the lead from Jace Badeker who had stopped in turn four. Law held off a late charge from Toby Merrifield who worked his way to the second spot with a few laps remaining. Kevin Thomas held his own tonight. He briefly led, ran in the second spot for a good amount of time. He ultimately finished third. Kyle Cheney had an engine issue earlier in the night. In stepped Devin Koranda who went from a driver to a car owner. Koranda allowed Cheney to drive his car in the heat race and main event. Cheney started dead last and raced his way up into a fourth-place finish. Jason Clayton held the second spot near the end of the race until a time when he drove the car into turn one and the right side dug in almost sending his car into a wild flip. Somehow the car, it was on two wheels, came back to the ground and all four wheels contacted the track again. When he resumed, he had fallen back to fifth and ended up crossing the line in fifth. Law won the opening eight lap heat race. Clayton was fast in securing the win during heat race two. Merrifield was fantastic in winning heat race three.
Misty Castleberry sure does know how to get around the Marysville Raceway.
Castleberry led all 20 laps to secure another trip back to victory lane. Castleberry held off a beast named Jacob Johnson for the 19 solid laps. Those two up front were fast all night. Chasing them to the checkered flag were Jason Ballantine and David Derr Jr. At the start of the race KC Carpenter drifted back from seventh to 13th. Carpenter was able to shrug it off, stay composed, and race his way back towards the front. He finished fifth. Jason Ballantine dominated heat race one. Johnson scored the popular win during heat race two.
The IMCA Sport Mods continued their resurgence of cars at Marysville Raceway. A nice total of 16 competitors signed into the back gate for championship point race number five. A familiar name dominated the 20-lap feature. Todd Cooper started up front and led the entire race without any issues. Cooper joined forces with the Shelby family and piloted the No. 86 to a dominating win. Chasing him for most of the race was former track champion Jimmy Ford. While Ford tried to keep up with Cooper, he ended up crossing the finish line a little over one-second behind. Third spot went to Mike Merritt. Two early favorites to possibly win had issues. Buddy Olschowka stopped on lap three with a mechanical issue and didn’t continue. Jason Clayton Jr. held down the second spot until he stopped on lap five. Last year’s track champion Mark Garner started 10th and stormed his way into a fourth-place finish. Newcomer Al Johnson was competitive all evening and finished fifth. Olschowka won the first eight lap heat race. Jason Clayton Jr. dominated heat race two. He held over a two-second advantage over Cooper during the short eight lap distance.
Full results are at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/events/3470160
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Submitted By: troy hennig