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| Press Release |
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Whitt Does It Again Gamblin, Davis and Hobbs also victorious By Derek Fisher |
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MAY 25, 2009 --- During the 2008 Kokomo Speedway campaign, fans and competitors alike were
witness to remarkable, intense and wheel-to-wheel sprint car action virtually every week come feature time. Less than a month into the 2009
season, the action has been good in the marquee series -- but perhaps not to the level of last year. That changed on Sunday night. In a main event that would compare quite favorably with anything 2008 had to offer, Alpine, California's Cole Whitt outdueled Jon Stanbrough, Josh Wise and Dave Darland to make it three wins in four Omni Source sprint car A-mains thus far. Whitt, who started inside the third row in the 25-lap affair, used the low groove to shoot past third-place starter Darland and snag the lead from polesitter Stanbrough on the race's opening lap. With Stanbrough choosing the oval's high line, Wise followed Whitt to the low side and into the runner-up spot ahead of Stanbrough by lap three. Gaining momentum up high, Stanbrough regrouped to snare second away from Wise on lap four and gathered the lead from the bottom-feeding Whitt on lap six. Mounting momentum of his own and lurking was fourth-place Darland, and by lap nine the Lincoln, Indiana driver was in close enough quarters to the front to see that Wise had circled Whitt and had begun applying heavy pressure to Stanbrough for the point. After a brief caution period for 2008 track champion Scotty Weir, the action resumed and Wise wasted little time in nosing ahead of Stanbrough for the lead on lap 11. The next time around a rejuvenated Whitt joined the fray to ensure that the top three flashed across the line in a virtual dead-heat, with Stanbrough and Whitt creating a Wise sandwich in the middle. Not to be outdone, Darland smelled blood in the water and made it nearly four abreast at the lap 13 stripe. After another caution, this one for three-time Kokomo titlist Shane Cottle, Darland suffered a horrible restart before eventually retiring from the event and the duel for the lead was again between three players. Wise led the charge ahead of Stanbrough and Whitt on the 14th circuit, only to see his machine falter leaving turn two on lap 15. Benefitting as Stanbrough was bottled up behind the slowing Wise, Whitt snared the lead by the slimmest of margins at the conclusion of that lap. Again climbing the Kokomo banks to barter with a slender cushion, Stanbrough retook P1 from Whitt on lap 16 and, perhaps researching the groove for the closing laps, Whitt settled in behind Stanbrough on the top. Behind them Nic Faas and Billy Puterbaugh were third and fourth, on the move from sixth and 15th, respectively. Also gaining ground was Hunter Schuerenberg, now riding inside the top eight after starting 17th. As the top two checked out from everyone else, with five laps to go Whitt retreated to the bottom side and saw it pay dividends as he was able to show Stanbrough a wheel almost immediately. In close quarters with Whitt at the outset of lap 23, Stanbrough made his first -- and only -- bobble of the race when he jumped the turn two cushion and saw Whitt streak past. Whitt's newfound momentum looked to have sealed the win for the 2008 USAC national midget champion, but his advantage was negated when Thomas Meseraull clocked the concrete on the 24th circuit, bringing out the caution and setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Meseraull, too, had been on the go, as his incident removed him from the top 10 after beginning from row nine. On the restart, Whitt was a sitting duck as Faas and Stanbrough looked to either side of the diminutive pilot in turn one, but Whitt's bite exiting turn two was enough to repel the challenges. Mounting one last charge on Whitt from on high, Stanbrough had a good run coming to the checkered flag but fell a car length short of the victory at the stripe. "I was looking out the right [side of the car], but there was no need to crowd Jon," Whitt said of holding Stanbrough off coming to the line. "We respect each other, and we don't need to beat and bang for the win. I hope the fans liked that [race], but it was pretty nerve-wracking for me. We'd liked to have checked out, but this had to be a good show for you guys." Faas, Puterbaugh and Schuerenberg rounded out the top five. Meseraull, Darland and Wise settled for 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively. In the Rent-A-Center street stock main event, nine-time Kokomo champion Glen Gamblin took home the hardware after a hard-fought win over May 10 feature winner Ervin Turner. Gamblin, who started outside the front row, managed to lead 12 laps of the 15-lap affair, but swapped the top spot numerous times around the oval with Turner. Turner led the race as late as a lap 10 restart, but Gamblin used the low groove to retake the position and keep Turner at bay for the remaining five circuits. "Ervin's a good shoe and he's hard to beat," Gamblin said. "We've had some bad luck here this year but we didn't get down about it. We just kept digging until we got to where we are tonight." Turner, David Hurst, Jim Nutter and Jay Hamilton rounded out the top five. Popular driver Thurman Wines was relegated to a last-place finish after he suffered mechanical issues while running third to Gamblin and Turner on lap three. Allen Davis grabbed his second wire-to-wire thunder car feature win of 2009 on Sunday evening. Davis started outside the front row in the event and held off multiple challenges from May 17 winner Jason Larrison and Jeremy Van Ness on his way to victory. Van Ness had jumped from his pole position to second behind Davis until lap five when Larrison took the spot for good. Larrison, like Stanbrough earlier, looked to have a final shot at Davis as the leader struggled through lapped traffic on the final circuit, but could not find the momentum. Larrison, Van Ness, Gerald Armfield and Jim Summitt were finishers two through five, respectively. Summitt's run was especially impressive, as the veteran driver started 19th in the event. Lee Hobbs won the UMP super stock A-main. He was followed by Jason Hehman, Brad Cummings, Jack Oliver and Scott Gaff. 25 Lap Omni Source Sprint Car A Main 1. 29 Cole Whitt, 2. 7r Jon Stanbrough, 3. 17f Nic Faas, 4. 16 Billy Puterbaugh, 5. 07 Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. 10s Casey Shuman, 7. 14 Coleman Gulick, 8. 17w Chris Windom, 9. 35 Sammy Imel, 10. 17r Kyle Robbins, 11. 27k Ryan Kaplan, 12. 66j Josh Spencer, 13. 66s Corey Smith, 14. 12g Chris Gurley, 15. 4a Marc Arnold, 16. 12 Thomas Meseraull, 17. 2b Dave Darland, 18. 37 Josh Wise, 19. 10e Shane Cottle, 20. 5 Scotty Weir 10 Lap Omni Source Sprint Car B Main (top 5 transfer to the A Main) 1. 2b Darland, 2. 17w Windom, 3. 27k Kaplan, 4. 66j Spencer, 5. 12 Meseraull, 6. 9 Logan Hupp, 7. 76 JJ Hughes, 8. 15 Ethan Barrow, 9. 58 Jamie Fredrickson, 10. 27a Andrew Elson, DNS 0x Christopher Brann 20 Lap UMP Super Stock A Main 1. 45L Lee Hobbs, 2. 37 Jason Hehmann, 3. 71 Brad Cummings, 4. 41 Jack Oliver, 5. 11 Scott Gaff, 6. 60 Mike Martin, 7. 48 Travis Wolford, 8. 11d Bobby Davis, 9. 91 Rich Segvich, 10. 22r Richard Williams, DNS 5 Jim Pfeiffer 15 Lap Rent-A-Center UMP Street Stock A Main 1. 9 Glen Gamblin, 2. 1 Ervin Turner, 3. 8 David Hurst, 4. 1n Jimmy Nutter, 5. 6 Jay Hamilton, 6. 71 Dennis Freeland, 7. 72t Jason Trimmer, 8. 96 Joe Malone, 9. 11 Thurman Wines, 10. 56 Tony Bowman, 11. 28 Jeff Baldauf, 12. 3n Kaleb Nutter 13. 12s Josh Settles, 14. 2 Brandon Roundtree, DNS 12 Jeremy Van Ness, DNS 15 Brandon Williams 15 Lap UMP Thunder Car A Main 1. 11 Allen Davis, 2. 26 Jason Larrison, 3. 95 Jeremy Van Ness, 4. 215 Gerald Armfield, 5. 5j Jim Summitt, 6. 2h Tim Huffman, 7. 12c Steve Clark, 8. 83 Ray Molder, 9. 21s Bryar Schroeter, 10. 68 Bill Cox, 11. 2w James White, 12. 48a Fred Atkins, 13. 0 Chris Clark, 14. 73 Brian Baldauf, 15. 2v Brett Bolinger, 16. 92a Scott Apple, 17. 28d David Atkins, 18. 17 Jeff Shaw, DNS 75 Marvin Uitts, DNS 13 Daphnie Paul, DNS 92z Chanteal Zimmerman, DNS 38jb John Antoine |
