The
2005 King of Indiana Sprint Series concluded with a popular new
champion wearing the crown, a fast-rising star in victory lane and
an exciting night filled with twists, turns and tumbles at the Terre
Haute Action Track. As the last checkered flag fell,
Levi Jones claimed his first KISS series feature race victory and
Justin Marvel earned the points and the title of sprint car King of
Indiana.
After
the race, Jones allowed that it was very important to him to get the
KISS series win. “Especially here at Terre Haute,”
he added. With a runner-up finished to Dave Darland in
the first '05 KISS race, at Lincoln Park Speedway, Jones recorded a
win and second place finishes in his only two series
appearances. Terre Haute has been good for Jones, as in
addition to several top five finishes, Jones claimed last summer's
Indiana Sprint Week title at the Action Track.
Draw
racing (no qualifying) can rack and stack heat races in odd ways,
making it crucial for drivers to charge early and transfer into the
main event as soon as possible. This led to an incident
that affected the point outcome as the cars crossed the starting
line in the first heat. Drawing tenth and last staring
spot, point leader Dave Darland moved to the outside coming off turn
four for the green, but Al Thomas pinched Darland into the outside
wall and Jeff Walker's F-5 somersaulted down the front stretch.
While
Kyle Wissmiller, Daron Clayton, Shane Cottle and Marvel claimed heat
race wins, Walker was unloading a second sprint machine, the red
Chalk chassis that Darland had driven the night before at
Bloomington Speedway. Following the last heat, Darland
was push started and allowed the engine to warm, then lined up on
the tail of the C-Main. He won the C with a last turn
pass of John Scott. He didn't start last in the B-Main,
but he had a dozen cars in front of him. The popular
Lincoln, Indiana racer had fans on their feet as he charged around
both Jon Stanbrough and Casey Shuman through turn two and won that
race. Then Walker and Darland made one too many changes
to the red machine, and the car was way too tight in the main
event. Even though he raced from 17 th to 10 th , Marvel
was nearly a straightaway ahead of him at the finish.
Cottle
led into the first turn of the 30-lap feature, but Critter Malone
scrapped back on the inside grabbing the lead coming out of turn
two. Jonathan Vennard hustled from fifth to third, with
Clayton, Jones and Mat Neely making up the top six on the first
lap. While Malone opened a gap of more than two seconds,
Vennard passed Cottle and Marvel was holding his own in
seventh. After a dozen laps, Vennard, in Tom Miller's 4m
DRC, had cut Malone's lead to just a half dozen car lengths, and at
the halfway mark the leaders were nose-to-tail.
On
the 21st circuit, Vennard looked under Malone's TransCor
Trucking/Sander Engineering DRC going into turn three, slipped back,
and then pulled even as they exited turn four. He outran
Malone into the first turn, slicing to the inside and cleanly taking
the lead. Neely also got past but slid high in turn 3,
and Jones hustled past him and Malone to claim second on the next
circuit. While Vennard quickly built 30 car lengths
while the issue of the runner up spot was being contested, Jones, in
Scot Benic's Lucas Oil Maxim, was soon cutting into that advantage
while working the cushion.
With
just a handful of laps remaining, the race became a classic high-low
battle, with Vennard working the bottom masterfully and Jones
leveraging a lot of momentum around the top of both ends of the
half-mile. On the 27 th circuit Jones ‘run off turn
two carried him even going into turn three. Vennard
narrowly held he lead at the flagstand, but Jones circled him
cleanly through turn one and took command as they raced off
two. Vennard fought back, but ran just behind Jones'
bumper as they took the checkers.
“The
top just got better down in one and two,” Jones reported after the
victory photos. “I knew that I didn't want to show him
the top to early so I kind of made it where I could get a run on him
and pass him in two without getting beside him so that he wouldn't
know that I was up there.”
“In
the beginning I was behind some cars and I couldn't really see to
run the top, so I ran the middle for awhile. Then it got
cleaned up enough where I could run the top. Those guys
were kind of committed to the bottom. I just decided to
live or die on the top and it all worked out.”
“The
car was good. The driver just didn't hear them quick
enough,” Vennard explained as he changed into his street clothes
after the race. “Levi played me just like he needed to
keep me from moving up into the rubber. When he did, he
passed me and I got a run on him and stuck right on his bumper, but
it was too late. We let him go buy and weren't able to
get a run on him. We were still good. It was
just the benefit of being back there and seeing what lines were good
and not being out front and running around the bottom the whole
race. Oh well.”
The
new KISS champion wore a crown and posed with the crystal
bowl. He came into the night just four points behind
Darland. He won his heat race to make the transfer, and
then drew pill number eight for his feature starting spot.
Only one car (A. J. Anderson) had passed his MPHG Stealth, but he
had passed two, advancing a spot from his start. With
Darland finishing tenth, that was enough to secure the title by just
8 points.
“I
knew that Dave (Darland) had to start back there quite a ways,”
Marvel explained later. “Going into it, I wanted to
win. And as the race progressed, I'm not going to lie, I
thought about just holding my position. Just riding this
one out and taking that checkered flag. Consistency is
going to win the championship. When A. J. stuck his nose
under me, I kind of got elbows up because I thought, “Oh, no,
Dave's already here.” I stepped it up a little bit and
the bottom got a little bit better. Next thing you knew
the white flag was out and I was thinking, “Just one more lap, one
more lap”. Coming around I thought, “I'm pretty sure
I won it unless he finished right behind me.” And I
probably had 30 people in my family, uncles, aunts, all my family's
here, they were all jumping up and down. I was just so
overwhelmed, I almost shed a tear in my car.”
“The
glory goes to Jesus, because he's my savior,” Marvel said as he
stood with his crew in the pit area. “I pray to him
while I'm in the car and I pray with my guys. He'll
bless you as long as you believe.”
“Those seconds were
really hard for me to take, especially the one at Kokomo.
But I just had to humble myself and focus on the big picture.
My guys worked so hard, everything was right.” Then
Marvel talked about Dallas Mulvaney and MPHG Promotions.
“I didn't have much in 2003 and then they stepped up.
In 2004 we ran good, and this year we're really on top of our game.
I just feel really blessed.”
RESULTS - King of Indiana
Sprint Series
The Terre Haute
Action Track, July 2, 2005 (co-sanctioned with MSCS) - 41 cars
Heat races (with
starting sports, 8 laps, 4 transferred)
Heat 1: Kyle
Wissmiller (1), Jonathan Vennard (3), Chris Gentry (4), Mitch
Wissmiller (6), Brad Sweet (9), Chase Stockon (5), Dusty Wright (7),
Randy Bateman (2)
Heat 2: Daron Clayton
(1), Mat Neely (5), A. J. Anderson (9), Alex Shanks (4), A. J. Brun
(2), Dale Christian (3), Gary Hayden (7)
Heat 3: Shane Cottle
(1), Critter Malone (8), John Wolfe (9), Donny Brackett (3), Casey
Shuman (6), Jon Stanbrough (10), Travis Thompson (2)
Heat 4: Justin Marvel
(6), Levi Jones (8), Dickie Gaines (1), Kent Christian (10), Jon
Sciscoe (3), Brady Short (9), Wil Newlin (2), John Scott (7),
Patrick Budde (5)
C-Main: Dave Darland,
John Scott, Jason Holt, Josh Cunningham
B-Main (12 laps, 4 transfer): Dave
Darland (13), Jon Stanbrough (7), Brad Sweet (1), Casey Shuman (3),
Jon Sciscoe (4), John Scott (14), Chase Stockon (5), Wil Newlin
(12), Brady Short (8), Dale Christian (6)
Feature (30 laps):
- Levi Jones (4)
- Jonathan Vennard (5)
- Shane Cottle (2)
- Mat Neely (6)
- A. J. Anderson (10)
- Critter Malone (1)
- Justin Marvel (8)
- Mitch Wissmiller (13)
- Dickie Gaines (12)
- Dave Darland (17)
- Jon Stanbrough (18)
- Daron Clayton (3)
- Brad Sweet (19)
- John Wolfe (11)
- Kent Christian (16)
- Alex Shanks (14)
- Kyle Wissmiller (7)
- Casey Shuman (20)
- Donny Brackett (15)
- Chris Gentry (9)
Final Points: Justin
Marvel (581), Dave Darland (573), Kent Christian (513), Dickie
Gaines (500), A. J. Anderson (493)
POINT
FUND. This year's point fund paid $1,400 to the
King Of Indiana Sprint Series champion. The point fund
paid the top five in the standings, with second place receiving
$1000, while third received $700, fourth $600 and fifth $500.
MORE
INFORMATION. For more information, contact the
individual tracks or visit their websites.
Bloomington Speedway
- www.bloomingtonspeedway.com
Lincoln Park Speedway
- http://lincolnparkspeedway.homestead.com/
Lawrenceburg Speedway
– http://home.fuse.net/kewendel/
Kokomo Speedway - www.kokomospeedway.net
Paragon Speedway – http://www.paragonspeedway.com
Terre Haute Action
Track - http://www.terrehauteactiontrack.com
SPONSORS.
Elliottbrand Web Designs, in Westport, IN, created
the KISS website, which provides a highly functional and effective
tool that places the King Of Indiana Sprint Series within arms
length of racing fans around town and around the world.
Visit them at www.Elliottbrand.com
. Kiva Networking, based in Bloomington,
offers a full range of information technology services, from
residential and business internet access and domain hosting to
hardware and technical assistance for local and wide area
networks. Visit them at www.kiva.net.
The King of Indiana
Sprint Series is organized and conducted by the individual Indiana
sprint car race track promoters to put the best racing in the state
on a heavy metal wheel-to-wheel tour.
2005 King Of Indiana Sprint Series
Schedule
Gas City I-69 Speedway
Friday, May 13 – RAINED OUT
Bloomington
Speedway
Friday, May 20 – RAINED OUT
Lincoln Park
Speedway
Saturday, May 21 – Dave Darland
Lawrenceburg
Speedway
Saturday, May 28 – Brandon Petty
Kokomo
Speedway
Sunday, June 19 – Matt Neely
Paragon
Speedway
Saturday, June 25 – Kent Christian
Terre Haute
Action Track
Saturday, July 2 – Levi Jones
2005 King Of
Indiana Sprint Series Champion – Justin Marvel
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