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Whitt Whips Field for Second Straight Win |
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KOKOMO, IN - MAY 10, 2009 --- Prone to prolonged stretches of dominance by the best of its pilots (Jon Stanbrough in 2006, Hunter Schuerenberg in 2008), Kokomo Speedway may well be seeing another dynasty in the making; this one could come in the form of a diminutive Californian named Cole Whitt. Whitt blasted his way to a relatively easy Opening Night win last week and this past Sunday evening, he overcame some early-race troubles and a brief delay for Mother Nature on Mother's Day to snag his second sprint win in as many tries. The second Whitt win of 2009 saw the fourth-year shoe climb atop the local oval's cushion after two early cautions and the rain delay to dominate the remainder of the 25-lap Omni Source sprint car feature. Whitt's high-wire act was very reminiscent of Schuerenberg's memorable drives of a year ago. "[Early in the race] I went up high once, and the car just felt really tight," said Whitt. "After the rain, I figured if I could get some clean laps up there I could make it work." Early on in the event, very little worked for the fifth-starting Whitt. Falling to near mid-pack prior to the lap eight weather stoppage, upon the race's resumption Whitt had vaulted into the top five by the 11th lap. Following a red flag on that circuit for Nic Faas, Whitt circled front-row starter Levi Jones on the restart and second-place Billy Puterbaugh on the 13th lap. The next time by, Whitt made it three passes in three laps as he blew past race-long leader Damion Gardner exiting the fourth corner. Whitt made it look easy from there, building a comfortable advantage over Gardner and coasting the remaining 11 laps to seal the fourth win of his Kokomo career. Gardner, Puterbaugh, Jon Stanbrough and Blake Fitzpatrick rounded out the top five. Jones settled for 8th. Joining Whitt as a back-to-back Kokomo winner was Ervin Turner, who picked up his second Rent-A-Center street stock victory in as many weeks on Sunday night. Turner rode third, trailing David Hurst and Jim Nutter for the bulk of the 15-lap main event until Nutter's engine expired on the ninth circuit. Running in his newly-found second position, Turner took advantage of Hurst's turn-two bobble on lap 11 and inherited the top spot by sliding underneath the leader. Turner was able to fend off Hurst for the remaining four laps and finished ahead of Hurst, Glen Gamblin, Thurman Wines and Brandon Roundtree. In the thunder car A main, Allen Davis looked well on his way to joining Whitt and Turner as a two-time feature winner until a tangle with second-place Jason Larrison knocked both from the event. Gerald Armfield was the benefactor, inheriting the lead and leading the final five laps to take the victory. Davis and Armfield had battled from the start of the event after sharing the front row. As the leaders moved into lapped traffic, Larrison joined the fight and coming to complete lap 10 he and Davis collided, sending both into the frontstretch wall. Neither driver was injured. Armfield was followed to the line by Jim Summitt, Marvin Uitts, D.J. Holt and David Atkins. Andrew Peters won the 600cc mini-sprint feature after stealing the lead from Braylon Fitzpatrick on lap 14 of 15. Fitzpatrick jumped out to a huge advantage after starting from the pole. Leading the field by nearly a straightaway at times, Fitzpatrick's edge began to shrink as he encountered lapped traffic with five laps remaining. Meanwhile Peters was on the move, taking third from Ryan Langston on lap three and second from Todd Kirkman on the fifth circuit. With Fitzpatrick's lead almost completely erased, Peters fell short by mere feet at the line on laps 12 and 13 before surging underneath the Terre Haute driver in turn four on the 14th go-round. Fitzpatrick, Langston, Kirkman and Matt Johnson filled out the top five. Omni Source 25 Lap Sprint Car A Main 1. 29w Cole Whitt, 2. 71 Damion Gardner, 3. 16p Billy Puterbaugh, 4. 53 Jon Stanbrough, 5. 10f Blake Fitzpatrick, 6. 10e Shane Cottle, 7. 11 Levi Jones, 8. 17w Chris Windom, 9. 34 Shane Hollingsworth, 10. 57 Casey Shuman, 11. 14 Coleman Gulick, 12. 10c Jerry Coons, Jr., 13. 2b Dave Darland, 14. 66j Josh Spencer, 15. 1x Kurt Gross, 16. 12 Jimmy Light, 17. 24 Landon Simon, 18. 17f Nic Faas, 19. 07 Hunter Schuerenberg, 20. 12g Chris Gurley Omni Source 10 Lap Sprint Car B Main (top 5 transfer to the A Main) 1. 57 Shuman, 2. 07 Schuerenberg, 3. 12g Gurley, 4. 14 Gulick, 5. 66j Spencer, 6. 4a Marc Arnold, 7. 27a Andrew Elson, 8. 5 Todd Kimmel, 9. 16d Randy Donelson 15 Lap 600 Mini Sprint A Main 1. 94 Andrew Peters, 2. 3 Braylan Fitzpatrick, 3. 9L Ryan Langston, 4. 2 Todd Kirkman 5. 39 Matt Johnson, 6. 41 Cole Ketchum, 7. 29 Rob Johnson, 8. 28 Russ Belt, 9. 26 Chris Wilner, DNS 7 Steffan Thompson 15 Lap Rent-A-Center UMP Street Stock A Main 1. 1t Ervin Turner, 2. 8 David Hurst, 3. 9 Glen Gamblin, 4. 11 Thurman Wines, 5. 2 Brandon Roundtree, 6. 37 Scott Hubbard, 7. 65 Perry Shelton, 8. 71 Dennis Freeland, 9. 72t Jason Trimmer, 10. 56 Tony Bowman, 11. 1n Jimmy Nutter, 12. 62 David Jarvis, 13. 3n Kaleb Nutter, 14. 47 Brett Bolinger, DNS 83 Kevin Mullin, DNS 12 Jeremy Van Ness, DNS 89b Bobby Burton 15 Lap UMP Thunder Car A Main 1. 215 Gerald Armfield, 2. 5j Jim Summitt, 3. 75 Marvin Uitts, 4. 36 DJ Holt, 5. 28d David Atkins, 6. 6 Junior Williams, 7. 0 Chris Clark, 8. 11 Larry Thompson, 9. 92z Chanteal Zimmerman, 10. 13 Daphine Paul, 11. 12c Steve Clark, 12. 7d Allen Davis, 13. 26 Jason Larrison, 14. 9 Raymond Lewis, 15. 8 Eric Hunter, DNS 2w James White, DNS 55 Jerry Taylor |
