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Schuerenberg Earns Kokomo KISS Victory |
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June 8, 2008 - Hunter Schuerenberg narrowly held off Robert Ballou on a late-race restart to add his name to the list of King of Indiana Sprint Series feature race winners, scoring a thrilling victory at Kokomo Speedway on Sunday. As the '08 KISS tour wrapped up its doubleheader weekend, Schuerenberg hustled from deep in the field to lead the final ten circuits. Bart Grider trailed Ballou in third, with Daron Clayton and Cole Whitt securing top five finishes. "That was big," Schuerenberg said after celebrating in victory lane. "A big weight lifted off my shoulders. Leaving Yeley's and not knowing where I was going to go, and getting a phone call from Jeff Walker to come do this, it's just a blessing. Walker's given me a good car, we're running up front every night and just having a good time." Ballou grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Jon Stanbrough in the second turn of the first lap, and Clayton took second from the series point leader on the second circuit. This set the stage for a battle between Ballou and Clayton that lasted much of the race. On a restart following a four-car tangle, Ballou slipped over the cushion in turn two, opening the door for Clayton to reclaim the point, as Stanbrough challenged for second. By lap 6, Schuerenberg had raced from 13th to fourth, using any part of the track that he wanted. Ballou regained the lead from Clayton on lap 10, but when Stanbrough got underneath Clayton two laps later, everything quickly halted with the display of the red flag. Shain Matthews, who had charged from 19th to eighth in just those dozen laps, had gotten high coming off the second turn, caught the outside wall and flipped spectacularly through turn three. He walked away, but the car was destroyed. "I think the key to getting to the front was just missing the big tall ledge coming of two," Schuerenberg said. "It didn't matter if you were under it or above it, just as long as you straddled it or got under or above it. If you didn't hit it and upset the car, then you were okay, you could get a lot better run down the back straightaway and into three and it pretty much made your whole lap better." With a car that was too tight for the track conditions, Stanbrough began to slip back, Schuerenberg and Grider passing him just after the green. Frequently, Schuerenberg was driving Jeff Walker's Jam-It-In Storage machine over the cushion in turn one and making passes around the top of the second turn. But on lap 17, he used the inside of turn four to pass Clayton for second. After battling Ballou for the next four circuits, he used a similar inside move in turn four to take the lead. Ron Dennis brought out a second red flag when he got into the first turn wall and rolled over on lap 23. Schuerenberg opened a dozen car lengths on the restart, but Ballou began to cut into the lead and when he challenged with a slide job in turn three, the two came off turn four side-by-side, just as Kyle Wissmiller rolled to a stop to bring out another caution with just two laps remaining. Ballou went after the lead on the restart, taking a good look inside on the last lap, but each time Schuerenberg used his momentum to pull ahead. With just a car length separating them, Schuerenberg became the second driver from Sikeston, Missouri, to earn a KISS win in as many nights. Just outside the top five, Casey Shuman scrambled to a sixth place finish after starting in the last slot. While the fans had been on their feet for the final circuits, Schuerenberg felt he was in complete control. "I knew he was there. I had made some previous adjustments to the car, to free it up to run it on the top. Right before he slid me, I was actually moving my shocks back in to tighten the car up because I was getting free. So that wasn't really unexpected to see him try to put a slide job on me because I started to fade before I got to play with the shocks. That caution at the end came just at the right time, I really needed that to be able to readjust the car." "Part of starting up from and running in the lead is you don't know where the guys behind you are running," Ballou explained after the race. "We were definitely faster, but I just screwed up a few too many times and that cost me." After winning the night before, Clayton was pleased with his fourth place run. "This is not one of my best race tracks and this is definitely a good finish for me here. The track changes throughout the race and if you're not searching around, and I've been passed so many times by not sticking to a line here. So I was trying to kind of stick with one thing tonight, and it backfired on me. I wasn't staying on top of the track changing. We've struggled a lot, and we ran good tonight. The car's in one piece and I had a good time. Everybody's happy." King of Indiana Sprint Series Results, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, IN, June 8, 2008 Heat 1: Robert Ballou 81 (2), Josh Spencer 66j (1), Jerry Coons Jr. 5 (3), Hunter Schuerenberg 11 (8), Scotty Weir 10e (4), Sammy Imel 35 (6), Shain Matthews 67 (7), Kevin Thomas Jr. 9k (5), Kenny Biro 22b (9) Heat 2: Jon Stanbrough 53 (1), Cole Whitt 29w (9), Bret Beauchamp 112 (3), Blake Fitzpatrick 10f (7), Coleman Gulick 14 (2), Kyle Robbins 17r (5), Matt Goodnight 39g (8), Dakoda Armstrong 7a (6), Anthony Peterman 7p (4) Heat 3: Dustin Morgan 93 (1), Daron Clayton 10 (5), Caleb Armstrong 71 (2), Kyle Wissmiller 0 (3), Thomas Meseraull 10t (6), Casey Shuman 57 (9), Dave Darland 2 (7), Lance Grimes 87 (4), Todd Gnat 51 (8) Heat 4: Bart Grider 82 (2), A.J. Anderson 34 (4), Ron Dennis 32 (6), Jeff Bland Jr. 21s (5), Adam Byrkett 78 (7), Chris Windom 17 (3), Kyle Cummins 3c (8), Scott Hampton 42 (1) B Main: Weir (1), Meseraull (3), Matthews (9), Shuman (7), Darland (11), Peterman (18), Hampton (16), Robbins (6), Cummins (12), Goodnight (10), Gulick (2), Thomas (13), D. Armstrong (14), Grimes (15), Gnat (19), Byrkett (4), Imel (5), Windom (8), Biro (17) A Feature (30 laps): 1. Schuerenberg (13), 2. Ballou (2), 3. Grider (5), 4. Clayton (3), 5. Whitt (8), 6. Shuman (20), 7. Stanbrough (1), 8. Anderson (7), 9. Meseraull (18), 10. Bland (16), 11. Weir (17), 12. Coons (9), 13. Morgan (4), 14. Beauchamp (10), 15. Spencer (6), 16. C. Armstrong (11), 17. Wissmiller (15), 18. Dennis (12), 19. Matthews (19), 20. Fitzpatrick (14) KISS Points: 1. Stanbrough 567, 2. Bland Jr. 452, 3. Schuerenberg 423, 4. Anderson 419, 5. Cummins 417, 6. Clayton 405, 7. Meseraull 326, 8. Weir 314, 9. Hampton 287, 10. Matthews 273 SCHEDULE. The KISS series will celebrate the first day of summer with the final event of the season, crowning the 2008 King Of Indiana on Saturday, June 21 at Paragon Speedway. 2008 King Of Indiana Sprint Series Schedule Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 16 Stanbrough Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 24 canceled Bloomington Speedway Friday, May 30 Stanbrough Tri-State Speedway Saturday, June 7 Clayton Kokomo Speedway Sunday, June 8 Schuerenberg Paragon Speedway Saturday, June 21 SPONSORS. Bedford's Indiana Stone Works, Elliottbrand Web Designs, in Westport, IN, and Kiva Networking in Bloomington are returning sponsors for the KISS series. The 2008 KISS Championship Helmet is sponsored by Simpson Performance Products, Sprint Car & Midget Magazine and Eagle Graphix. The King of Indiana Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual Indiana sprint car race track promoters to provide the best sprint car racing. More information is available on our website, www.kissracing.com. |
