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Kokomo Speedway 5-3-09 results |
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MAY 3, 2009 --- Kokomo Speedway's 62nd racing season started off with a bang on Sunday night. Make that several bangs. On an evening that saw no fewer than seven race cars upside down, California native Cole Whitt emerged victorious in the action-packed Omni Source sprint car division. Joining Whitt in victory lane were Ervin Turner (Rent-A-Center street stocks), Allen Davis (thunder cars) and Todd Sherman (UMP modifieds). The early portion of the sprint car card was marred by an accident involving Robert Ballou. Ballou, who was victorious at the local oval in an August 26, 2007 program, flipped his machine into the turn four concrete after contact with Hunter Schuerenberg during the night's third heat race. The rollcage of Ballou's sprinter was mangled in the crash, and had to be removed to extract Ballou. The Rocklin, California native was transported to St. Joseph Hospital and later to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for observation. When the Omni Source sprint car A feature commenced, it was second-generation driver Bobby East getting the jump on polesitter Jon Stanbrough and leading the charge into the first turn. East's lead was short-lived however, as the Indianapolis shoe bicycled his machine badly entering the third turn and handed the lead back to Stanbrough. Leading until a lap four caution period for Ryan Kaplan's stalled racer, Stanbrough took a turn riding the bicycle exiting the second corner on the ensuing restart and saw Whitt surge by and into the lead. Also benefitting from Stanbrough's miscue was three-time track titlist Shane Cottle, who followed Whitt around the Avon pilot and into second. As Stanbrough suffered a free fall back to the sixth position, on the move was Bryan Clauson. Clauson, hailing from Noblesville, circled Cottle for the runner-up spot on the seventh circuit and set sail for Whitt. Exclusively using the low side of the quarter mile oval, Clauson steadily cut into Whitt's advantage and, after Whitt encountered lapped traffic on lap 12, began applying pressure to the 2008 USAC National Midget champion. With 11th place starter Blake Fitzpatrick now riding third ahead of Cottle, Casey Shuman and Stanbrough, Clauson moved to the high side of the racing surface and saw it pay dividends immediately. Falling short of leading laps 17, 18 and 19 by mere inches at the line, Clauson finally moved around Whitt at the onset of lap 20. Quickly building a lead on Whitt thanks to a pick in turn one from the lapped car of East, Clauson's euphoria was erased in the third turn when he was collected by a tumbling Corey Smith. Turning his own machine over twice, Clauson's night was over. Unchallenged over the final six laps, Whitt cruised to victory over Cottle, Fitzpatrick, Stanbrough, Nic Faas, Shuman and Shane Hollingsworth. "We come here for a reason, and it's that this is a great race track," said Whitt post-race. "It was racy tonight and it took us a while to get the car right, but once we did we went forward. It was unfortunate what happened to [Clauson], because I think we'd have had a good race up front." 25 Lap Omni Source Sprint Car A Main 1. 29w Cole Whitt 2. 10e Shane Cottle 3. 10f Blake Fitzpatrick 4. 53 Jon Stanbrough 5. 17f Nic Faas 6. 11j Levi Jones 7. 57 Casey Shuman 8. 34 Shane Hollingsworth 9. 5j Joss Moffitt 10. 17w Chris Windom 11. 7r Dave Darland 12. 12g Chris Gurley 13. 5e Bobby East 14. 16 Billy Puterbaugh 15. 5 Ray Kenens 16. 16 Randy Donelson 17. 39 Bryan Clauson 18. 66c Corey Smith 19. 12 Jimmy Light 20. 27k Ryan Kaplan 10 Lap Omni Source B Main #1 (top 2 to the A Main) 1. 7d Darland 2. 10f Fitzpatrick 3. 14Coleman Gulick 4. 11r Tyler Reddick 5. 41 Critter Malone 6. 66j Josh Spencer 7. 15b Ethan Barrow 8. 4a Marc Arnold DNS 37s Dustin Smith DNS 1x Kurt Gross 10 Lap Omni Source B Main #2 (top 2 to the A Main) 1. 16 Puterbaugh 2. 5j Moffitt 3. 58 Jamie Fredrickson 4. 27a Andrew Elson 5. 70 AJ Martin 6. 17s Tony Sessions 7. 15 Jeff Wimmenauer DNS 07 Hunter Schurenberg DNS 17r Kyle Robbins DNS 81 Robert Ballou |
