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Clauson Outlasts Rain Claims 2009 KISS Opener at Gas City/I-69 Speedway |
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May 16, 2009 -- Bryan Clauson masterfully handled an impressive field and a challenging race track as the 2009 King of Indiana Sprint Series took the stage at Gas City/I-69 Speedway, Friday night. Clauson cruised the last ten laps after grabbing the lead from Shane Cottle. Cottle held onto second, with Levi Jones third, followed by Ryan Pace and Brady Short. “I’m just glad we could get this thing into victory lane,” Clauson said after scoring his second victory of the year in the Parker Stone Maxim. “We’ve had a really tough little stretch the beginning of this year, leading races and breaking, or crashing. We just can’t put it all together. We just keep telling ourselves that if we can keep running up front we can be there and get our share.” Pace took the early lead from Cottle, until the red came out on the second circuit. Running close behind the leaders, Damion Gardner became airborne at the top of turn three and somersaulted repeatedly, until coming to a stop on top of the fence behind turn four. Following behind Gardner, two cars made contact and one slid up into Travis Welpott, sending him upside-down. Neither driver was injured. Back in the pits, Gardner explained, “I think I got tight and started bouncing a little bit. Somebody maybe got into me when I was bouncing and just sent me flipping.” When racing resumed, Cottle took just two laps before driving the Crume-Evans Chalk under Pace in turn four and outrunning him to the first turn. While Cottle opened a half-straightaway advantage, Clauson and Jones worked past Pace. A rain deluge that struck after the heat races had caused a delay of more than an hour, and while the track was very fast, it was also choppy through the turns. Cottle explained, “It was rough, but everybody had to race on it. It had a lot of moisture in it and it was hard to pass. It was a good track, except for the holes.” With the field bunched following a lap 12 restart, Clauson began to press Cottle. While Cottle could open a half dozen car lengths, Clauson caught back up each time. When they caught lapped traffic, Jones joined the battle. Dicing past slower cars on lap 19, Cottle got out of shape in turn four, allowing Clauson to make a strong run on the inside. For the next lap, they battled wheel-to-wheel before Clauson took the line and the lead going into turn one. “I think that as the race went on, the track dug up a little more and I was just a little tight for the holes,” Cottle said later. “I bicycled one time really good coming off of four and let him get past me.” Once out front, Clauson was able to build a half-straightaway advantage by the finish. Jones and Pace followed Cottle, while Short took fifth. With a determined effort, Dave Darland scrapped from 17th starting spot to sixth. Cole Whitt finished seventh from 15th, and Chris Windom earned tenth after starting last. “It seemed like every time one of us would make a mistake, the other would make it the next lap and you never could really capitalize on it,” Clauson said after the victory lane ceremonies. “I think that (Cottle) biked it the lap before and I was able to get a run and power on by. It was just one of those moves where we had run tight before. I had made a couple of moves earlier in the race and never quite cleared him and I knew that was my shot, I was going to have to clear him. I got it turned and luckily missed the holes in one and two and got by him off there, down the backstretch.” Clauson explained how he had attacked the track, “It was surprisingly two grooved. I thought with the weather that it would be a little rough and really fast. It was really fast, but the holes kind of gave it a little character. You could run above them in one and two. Up above them might have been a little quicker just judging by how Cottle was when he was below them and above them. It was kind of a game over in three and four, it got pretty choppy in and kept you from making the top work so it was kind of middle to the bottom down there. It was a lot of fun; it was good tight racing. The track didn’t really widen out a bunch but there was enough there to make moves. We came from fifth, so you could pass a little bit. It was a lot of fun racing with Cottle, and I think that Levi was right there when we got into traffic.” As the KISS racers prepare for the second event, at Lawrenceburg Speedway next Saturday, Clauson holds a five-point lead in the KISS standings. “It’s pretty awesome,” the young driver admitted. “I haven’t run a KISS race in about four years. It was fun to come back and run this series and it’s a great series and everybody wants to be known as the King of Indiana sprint cars. I’m looking forward to continuing this streak and adding my name up there one more time.” Results King of Indiana Sprint Series, Gas City/I-69 Speedway, May 15, 2009 Heat 1: 1. Jon Stanbrough 53 (5), 2. Ryan Pace 44 (1), 3. Ryan Kaplan 27 (7), 4. Nic Faas 17f (9), 5. Travis Welpott 18 (4), 6. Hunter Schuerenberg 07 (8), 7. Scott Hampton 42h (3), 8. Ted Hines 12 (10), 9. James Bradshaw 78 (2), 10. Blake Fitzpatrick 10f (6) Heat 2: 1. Bryan Clauson 39 (3), 2. Shane Cottle 10e (2), 3. Sammy Imel 35 (4), 4.Matt Westfall 54 (5), 5. Dave Darland 2b (9), 6. Kyle Robbins 17r (8), 7. Jimmy Light 12 (10), 8. Matt Goodnight 39g, 9. Kurt Gross 1x (6), 10. Landon Simon 24 (7) Heat 3: 1. Levi Jones 11 (1), 2. Damion Gardner 71 (3), 3. Casey Shuman 57 (8), 4. Jeff Bland Jr. 21s (5), 5. Cole Whitt 29w (7), 6. Shane Hmiel 10 (6), 7. Andrew Elson 27a (2), 8. Bobby East 5 (4), 9. Casey Riggs (DNS) Heat 4: 1. Brady Short 36 (2), 2. Jason Holt 42g (1), 3. Jonathan Hendrick 68 (4), 4. Billy Puterbaugh Jr. 71 (7), 5. Chris Windom 17 (5), 6. Josh Spencer 66j (3), 7. Critter Malone 41 (9), 8. Jared Harris 81 (8), 9. Randy Donelson 16 (6) B Main: 1. Darland (2), 2. Welpott (1), 3. Bland (7), 4. Windom (4), 5. Robbins (6), 6. Schuerenberg (5), 7. Hmiel (3), 8. Light (10), 9. Hines (13), 10. Harris (12), 11. Elson (11), 12. Bradshaw (15), 13. Spencer (8), 14. Hampton (9), 15. Gross (14) Feature (30 laps): 1. Bryan Clauson (5), 2. Shane Cottle (1), 3. Levi Jones (6), 4. Ryan Pace (2), 5. Brady Short (7), 6. Dave Darland (17), 7. Cole Whitt (15), 8. Jon Stanbrough (8), 9. Casey Shuman (11), 10. Chris Windom (20), 11. Ryan Kaplan (9), 12. Jeff Bland Jr. (19), 13. Matt Westfall (14), 14. Sammy Imel (10), 15. Nic Faas (13), 16. Billy Puterbaugh (16), 17. Jonathan Hendrick (12), 18. Jason Holt (4), 19. Damion Gardner (3), 20 Travis Welpott (18) KISS Points: 1. Bryan Clauson 150, 2. Shane Cottle 145, 3. Levi Jones 140, 4. Ryan Pace 135, 5. Brady Short 130, 6. Dave Darland 126, 7. Cole Whitt 122, 8. Jon Stanbrough 118, 9. Casey Shuman 114, 10. Chris Windom 110 The next King of Indiana Sprint Series event will be Saturday, May 23, the Budweiser Open Wheel Night at Lawrenceburg Speedway. Titled the Eddie Bennett Memorial, sponsors have added $1,000 to the KISS purse. The payoff will include an additional $50 for each of the feature starters, increasing the winner’s share to $2550, with $300 to start. The racing program includes AMSA Mini Sprints, Midwest TQ Midgets, and a VARC (Vintage American Race Car) show and race. Adult admission is $15, ages 7 – 12 just $7, 6 and under admitted free. Pit passes are priced at $25. Lawrenceburg Speedway opens at 4 pm, general admission gates at 5 pm, and the qualifying draw closes at 6 pm. Hot laps start at 6 and racing at 7 pm. Directions are available at http://www.lawrenceburgspeedway.com/. All KISS races follow the rules of the host track. Teams need to check with the specific track to answer questions regarding track rules. 2009 King Of Indiana Sprint Series Schedule Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday, May 15 Bryan Clauson Lawrenceburg Speedway Saturday, May 23 Bloomington Speedway Friday, May 29 Kokomo Speedway Sunday, May 31 Tri-State Speedway Saturday, June 6 Paragon Speedway Saturday, June 20 |
