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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
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| Press Release |
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Gurley Name Back in Kokomo Winner's
Circle |
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JUNE 7, 2009 --- Almost mythical in their existence, one of the most rare
specimens one can locate in any given racetrack grandstand is the neutral race
fan. Everyone seems to have a favorite driver, for even those patrons without an
affiliation to anyone behind the wheel have those they love to cheer for and, in
some cases, love to cheer against.
Even with these alliances in play, when an underdog racer breaks through for a long-awaited and well-deserved win, it's commonplace to see the spectating masses gather in legitimate appreciation of the feat. That was certainly the case at the Kokomo Speedway on Sunday night. Just as breakthrough winners like Terry Starks (1995) and Boston Reid (2001) did, veteran pilot Chris Gurley received a hearty round of applause from the fans in attendance after removing his helmet and acknowledging the crowd following his first career Kokomo triumph. Gurley earned the victory by snaring the lead away from Bobby East on lap eight of the 25-circuit OmniSource sprint car feature and stretching out his lead to nearly a straightaway at times during the remaining laps. Gurley, the son of longtime Kokomo competitor Van Gurley, had two career sprint car wins prior to Sunday night. "I've won at a couple tracks in Indiana," said Gurley from the Crume Evans Insurance / All-Star Performance / Lowe's Racing Engines victory lane. "This is my first win here at Kokomo, though. I've been coming here since I was a little boy." Gurely started alongside East in the front row of the event and immediately shot to the high groove, while the rest of the frontrunners tried the low side. That decision didn't immediately pay off for Gurley as East, Shane Cottle and Nic Faas all slid by the eventual winner in the first four circuits. By lap five, Gurley was gaining momentum up top and had gotten by Faas for third. While East and Cottle battled for the point down low, Gurley kept up the charge and made it a three-car duel in passing Cottle on lap seven and East the next time around. It was smooth sailing from that point on for the family-owned 12g machine. "The car was flawless," said Gurley. "The bottom was coming in but we were committed to running the top. It was lightning quick up there." Blake Fitzpatrick, Jon Stanbrough, East and Cottle rounded out the top five. Stanbrough's drive was especially impressive, as the Avon shoe earned his finish after tagging the tail following an opening lap incident. Faas settled for sixth. Other notables were Casey Shuman (7th), Billy Puterbaugh (8th), Corey Smith (17th), and Josh Spencer (19th). In the Rent-A-Center street stock division, David Hurst was again victorious. Hurst, who made it back-to-back wins and three overall on the season with the victory, took advantage of early leader Ervin Turner's turn-four bobble on lap 12 of 15 to seize the lead for good. The pass was the payoff of a race-long dogging of Turner. "That was a good time," Hurst said of the tussle with Turner. "We had a little issue a couple weeks ago but it's good to see he's not mad at me anymore. That was some good, clean racing." Hurst and Turner have now combined to win five of six races in the division so far in 2009. Turner, Brandon Roundtree, Glen Gamblin and Tony Bowman completed the top five. Jason Larrison scored his second UMP Thunder Car A Main of the year. Jason passed under Marc Orr's checkered flag in the second spot on the final circuit. Apparent winner Jeremy Van Ness, failed post race tech at the conclusion of the 15-lap thunder car main. Gerald Armfield and Allen Davis were second and third, respectively. Visiting driver Dave Fritz claimed the fourth spot, with Josh Martin picking up a top five finish. Columbus, IN driver Devin Gilpin won the UMP modified feature. He was followed by Tony Roland, Todd Sherman, Kevin McCarty and Kurt Allison. 25 Lap Omni Source Sprint Car A Main 1. 12g Chris Gurley, 2. 10f Blake Fitzpatrick, 3. 53 Jon Stanbrough, 4. 5
Bobby East, 5. 10e Shane Cottle, 6. 17f Nic Faas, 7. 57 Casey Shuman, 8. 16p
Billy Puterbaugh 20 Lap UMP Modified A Main 1. 1g Devin Gilpin, 2. 00 Tony Roland, 3. 82 Todd Sherman, 4. 17m Kevin McCarty, 5. 96 Kurt Allison, 6. 19 Michael Kettnich, 7. 51 Jason Fritz, 8. 141 Mike Sullivan, 9. 63 Josh James, 10. 3 Craig Walker, 11. 28m Frank Marshall, 12. H0 Lee Hobbs, 13. 22 Greg Pitts, 14. 5d Matt Bruelly 15 lap 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. 56 Tony Bowman, 6. 1n Jimmy Nutter, 7. 3n Kaleb Nutter, 8. 71 Dennis Freeland, 9. 83p Josh Presley, 10. 12 Jesse Dixon, DNS 11 Thurman Wines 15 Lap UMP Thunder Car A Main 1. 26 Jason Larrison, 2. 215 Gerald Armfield, 3. 11d Allen Davis, 4. 44 Dave Fritz, 5. 17m Josh Martin, 6. 83 Ray Molder, 7. 75 Marvin Uitts, 8. 2h Tim Huffman, 9. 92 Scott Apple, 10. 68 Bill Cox, 11. 33 Jeff Shaw, 12. 12c Steve Clark, 13. 21s Bryar Schroeter, 14. 0 Chris Clark, 15. 88 Chris Hunter, 16. 23 Troy Black, 17. 48a Fred Atkins, 18. 5j Jim Summitt, DNS 00 Bryan Martin, DQ 95 Jeremy Van Ness 10 Lap Thunder Car B Main (top 6 transfer to the A Main) 1. 00 Martin, 2. 2h Huffman, 3. 75 Uitts, 4. 88 Hunter, 5. 21s Schroeter, 6.
0 Clark |
