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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):
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 |
