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| Cottle Breaks KISS Drought With Kokomo Victory |
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June 17, 2007 – Shane Cottle returned to a King of Indiana Sprint
Series victory lane after a two-year absence with a hard fought, old school win
at Kokomo Speedway Sunday. Cottle dominated the second half of the 30-lap KISS
event, leading Dave Darland to the checkers by three seconds, as AJ Anderson,
Dustin Smith and Dustin Morgan also ran in the top five. Driving Monte Edison’s Crume-Evans Insurance-sponsored Chalk, Cottle moved quickly to the front from his eighth starting slot. But the first half of the race was filled with twists and turns before, before Cottle took command. Again, it was Jon Stanbrough, who has four KISS wins this year, playing a key role in the opening laps. From his third starting position, Stanbrough jumped into the lead in the first as the front row starters slid high, opening the door. After leading the first nine circuits, Stanbrough was already lapping slower cars when one of them, Brett Burdette, glanced off the inside berm in turn four and shot sharply across the track, pinching Stanbrough against the wall. Both cars flipped at the head of the mainstretch. After quick repairs to the Fox Brothers machine in the pits, Stanbrough returned for the restart, but pulled off before the green with a broken brake rotor. This handed the lead to young Chad Boat, with Cottle and Anderson on his tail. Boat led convincingly until a lap 15 caution, when Brady Short slid into the first turn wall. One the restart, Boat began trailing a plume of smoke, but the yellow was thrown quickly and the field realigned. This time there was a false start and when Boat slowed suddenly, Cottle climbed over his right rear tire and was in turn run over by Jesse Hockett, in third. The next time around, Boat slowed and rolled into the infield as the field came to the green flag, with a broken fitting on the oil tank. Although he now had a severely bent right front shock, Cottle quickly built a straightaway lead as Hockett, Anderson, Smith and Jonathan Vennard fought for second. But after starting on the last row, Darland had been steadily advancing to the front. When Chris Gentry brought the second red flag of the event for his tumble off the turn two wall on lap 23, Darland was up to fourth. While Cottle ran a straightaway in front, Darland battled his way into second with two laps to go, which is how they finished. Afterward, Cottle explained that they had just found and fixed a problem in their shock package, and his first KISS win since 2004 was a boost for the team. Then he added, “I wish Stanbrough wouldn’t have wrecked, I would have liked to race with him tonight.” Darland came over to offer his congratulations and they examined the bent front shock. When Darland said that it was good it didn’t break off, Cottle replied, “Yeah, we might have landed out in the grain bin.” It was one of those nights. Stanbrough continues to hold the point lead as KISS turns into the final leg of the 2007 series with a critical race at Paragon Speedway next Saturday, June 23. The series will then begin their Independence Day celebrating at the Terre Haute Action Track on Saturday, June 30. The 2007 King of Indiana Sprints will then be crowned at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt on Sunday, July 8. Results, King of Indiana Sprint Series, Kokomo Speedway, June 17, 2007 Heat 1: Jonathan Vennard 26 (2), Corey Smith 66S (3), Dustin Smith 77S (6), Brett Burdette 17B (5), Chris Gurley 12 (4), Bart Grider (82), Kyle Robbins 17R (8), Jamie Fredrickson 58 (1), Brad Sweet 2J, (7) Heat 2: Chad Boat 30 (2), Ron Dennis 32 (7), Bret Mellenberndt 97 (1), Shane Hollingsworth 10 (9), Chris Windom 17W (5), Dave Darland 2 (8), Neil Shepherd 4N (3), Coleman Gulick 14 (6), Daron Clayton 92 (4) Heat 3. Jesse Hockett 75 (8), AJ Anderson 57 (5), Jimmy Light 23 (9), Adam Byrkett 78 (4), Cole Whitt 29W (6), Mat Neely 17N (1), Steve Ott 0T (2), Jordan Noblitt 20 (3), Jake Martens 48J (7) Heat 4: Shane Cottle 10E (3), Jon Stanbrough 53 (4), Brady Short 2B (2), Hunter Schuerenberg 10T (7), Dustin Morgan 11 (8), Dakoda Armstrong 7A (1), Jason Shields 00 (6), Kenny Biro 22B (9), Josh Spencer 66J (5) Semi: Windom (2), Morgan (4), Darland (6), Gurley (1), Whitt (3), Grider (5), Sweet (11), Shepherd (10), Neely (7), Robbins (9), Biro (12), Armstrong (8), Spencer (13), Martens (15), Gulick (14), Shields (16) Feature: 1. Cottle (8), 2. Darland (19), 3. Anderson (4), 4. D. Smith (9), 5. Morgan (18), 6. Hockett (7), 7. Hollingsworth (14), 8. Windom (17), 9. Dennis (1), 10. Vennard (2), 11. Light (11), 12. C. Smith (6), 13. Mellenberndt (10), 14 Gurley (20), 15. Boat (5), 16. Short (12), 17. Schuerenberg (16), 18. Stanbrough (3), 19. Byrkett (15), 20. Burdette (13) The KISS point standings following Kokomo: 1. Jon Stanbrough 676, 2. Shane Hollingsworth 631, 3. Brady Short 562, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg 496, 5. Mat Neely 426, 6. Cole Whitt 413, 7. AJ Anderson 387, 8. Jeff Bland Jr. 362, 9. Jake Martens 281 10. Ted Hines 254, 2007 King Of Indiana Sprint Series Schedule Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 11 Stanbrough Twin Cities Raceway Park Saturday, May 12 Stanbrough Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 26 Stanbrough Bloomington Speedway Friday, June 15 Stanbrough Lincoln Park Speedway Saturday, June 16 Puterbaugh Kokomo Speedway Sunday, June 17 Cottle Paragon Speedway Saturday, June 23 Terre Haute Action Track Saturday, June 30 Tri-State Speedway Sunday, July 8 SPONSORS. Sponsorship from Indiana Stone Works has boosted the payoff at each event and B-Main starters are guaranteed $100. Elliottbrand Web Designs, in Westport, IN, created the KISS website, which provides a highly functional and effective tool that places the King Of Indiana Sprint Series within arms length of racing fans around town and around the world. Visit them at www.Elliottbrand.com. Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, Simpson Performance Products and RockStar Paint sponsor the unique KISS champion’s helmet. Kiva Networking in Bloomington is the host of the KISS website. The King of Indiana Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual Indiana sprint car race track promoters to put the best racing in the state on a heavy metal old school racing tour. Information is now available on our website, www.kissracing.com. |
