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Puterbaugh Pauses Whitt's Winning Ways Hurst, Larrison and Gross also collect victories By Derek Fisher |
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Historically, the Kokomo Speedway has been very reluctant in giving up consecutive wins to begin its yearly racing campaigns. Since 1980, on just six occasions (Dave Darland in 1991, Gary Fisher in 1992, Mike Mann in 1997, Jon Stanbrough in 2004 and 2007 and Cole Whitt this year) has a sprint car pilot opened the season at the local oval with back-to-back triumphs. After Sunday night's action, Darland remains the only driver of that group to extend the streak to three; Whitt fell short in his bid for the triple as second-generation shoe Billy Puterbaugh captured the 25-lap Omni Source sprint car feature in dominating fashion. Puterbaugh, the son of Indianapolis 500 veteran Bill Puterbaugh, started outside the front row of the A-main and led the balance of the event after snagging the lead on lap two from polesitter Blake Fitzpatrick. The win was Puterbaugh's second career victory at Kokomo. Engaged in a torrid four-car battle for the lead over the first two circuits with Fitzpatrick, Chris Windom and three-time Kokomo track champion Shane Cottle, Puterbaugh's road to victory lane was eased a bit when Fitzpatrick, Windom and fifth-place Damion Gardner were involved in a turn two crash on the third circuit. Gardner, who got upside down, and Windom were finished for the night and Fitzpatrick, who also turned over, rejoined the tail of the field but was never a factor. After Puterbaugh checked out on the restart, the only remaining drama saw Stanbrough stalk second-place Cottle for a number of laps before finally taking the runner-up position on the 13th circuit. Stanbrough was able to whittle Puterbaugh's advantage slightly as the leader worked through lapped traffic in the waning laps, but was never able to apply any pressure to the Indianapolis driver. Stanbrough settled for second and was followed by Cottle, Whitt and Dave Darland. "The last time we won here was in 2005, and to win tonight with a family-owned car makes it sweet," said Puterbaugh. "No matter when you come to Kokomo, whether it's a USAC show or a regular Sunday, all the same guys are here and it's always tough. The car was great all night." Ervin Turner was gunning for three straight wins of his own to open 2009 in the Rent-A-Center street stock divsion, but was forced to settle for runner-up honors to David Hurst in the 15-lap main event. Turner led the affair early on and swapped the lead with front-row mate Hurst multiple times through the race's midpoint before Hurst took control. Surging under Turner exiting the second corner on a lap 10 restart, Hurst was able to extend his lead to a comfortable margin by race's end. "We didn't have the right gear in the car tonight," Hurst said. "We worked it out and got it done, though. Thanks to the fans for coming out and supporting us." Turner, Brandon Roundtree, Glen Gamblin and Jim Nutter followed Hurst to the line. After crashing out of last week's feature while vying for the lead, Jason Larrison finally found victory lane in the thunder car division on Sunday night. Larrison was a wire-to-wire winner in the event, but looked to have competition from May 10 winner Gerald Armfield early on. That changed on lap 10, however, as Armfield and third-place Allen Davis made contact while working through lapped traffic. Armfield connected with the fourth turn concrete as a result and was forced pitside, but Davis was able to continue. Davis closed in on Larrison near the end of the event, but was not able to mount a charge on the leader. Larrison was followed by Davis, Marvin Uitts and Chris Clark. "This win has been a long time coming," said Larrison. "We were close to getting the win the last two weeks, but we got it done tonight." Kenny Gross was victorious in the modified lites feature. Tim VanGundy and Jim Jarvis were second and third, respectively. Omni Source Sprint Car 25 Lap A Main 1. 16p Billy Puterbaugh 2. 53 Jon Stanbrough 3. 10e Shane Cottle 4. 29 Cole Whitt 5. 2b Dave Darland 6. 5 Scotty Wier 7. 17f Nic Faas 8. 07 Hunter Schuerenberg 9. 66s Corey Smith 10. 27a Andrew Elson 11. 10 Shane Hmiel 12. 14 Coleman Gulick 13. 12 Jimmy Light 14. 66j Josh Spencer 15. 5h Patrick Haynes 16. 10f Blake Fitzpatrick 17. 17w Chris Windom 18. 71 Damion Gardner 19. 1x Kurt Gross 20. 57 Casey Shuman Omni Source Sprint Car 10 Lap B Main (top 5 transfer to the A Main) 1. 29 Whitt 2. 27a Elson 3. 14 Gulick 4. 10 Hmiel 5. 1x Gross 6. 12g Chris Gurley 7. 8 Andrew Prather 8. 4a Marc Arnold 9. 16d Randy Donelson 10. 44 Adam Andretti 11. 57s Kevin Studley 12. 15j Jeff Wimmenauer 13. 39 Gary Paul 15 Lap Mod Lite A Main 1. 22 Kenny Gross 2. 14 Tim Vangundy 3. 98 Jim Jarvis 4. 95 Todd Padgett 5. 69 Rick Naphier 6. 16 Scott Small DNS 27 James Parker DNS 1 Stan Camden 15 Rent-A-Center UMP Street Stock A Main 1. 8 David Hurst 2. 1 Ervin Turner 3. 2 Brandon Roundtree 4. 9 Glen Gamblin 5. 1n Jimmy Nutter 6. 56 Tony Bowman 7. 12 Jeremy VanNess 8. 37 Scott Hubbard 9. 71 Dennis Freeland 10. 27 Chad Satterthwaite 11. 77 Ryan Bell 12. 11 Thurman Wines 13. 3n Kaleb Nutter 14. 17 Tristan Ramseyer 15. 65 Perry Shelton 16. 7 Troy Turner DNS 89b Bobby Burton DNS 97 Joe Wiggins 15 Lap Ump Thunder Car A Main 1. 26 Jason Larrison 2. 7d Allen Davis 3. 75 Marvin Uitts 4. 00 Bryan Martin 5. 17 Jeff Shaw 6. 68 Bill Cox 7. 12c Steve Clark 8. 5j Jim Summitt 9. 48a Fred Atkins 10. 13 Daphnie Paul 11. 28a David Atkins 12. 0 Chris Clark 13. 92z Chanteal Zimmerman 14. 9L Raymond Lewis 15. 215 Gerald Armfield 16. 9x Corey Johnson 17. 6 Junior Williams 18. 95 Jeremy VanNess DNS 2w James White |
