7/15/07
Kokomo Speedway
Kokomo, IN
USAC Sprintweek Round #5
Bob Darland Memorial
40 cars
QUALIFICATIONS: 1 Jerry Coons Jr, 69 Dynamics 12.818; 2 Brad Sweet, 2J Yeley 12.895; 3 Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 21 Stewart 12.983; 4 Damion Gardner, 71 Leffler 13.044; 5 Neil Shepherd, 4N Shepherd 13.044; 6 Brady Bacon, 99 Kahne 13.046; 7 Hunter Scheurenberg, 10T R&B 13.092; 8 Darren Hagen, 67 Kunz 13.120; 9 Dave Darland, 44 Pace 13.132; 10 Cory Kruseman, 21k Kruseman 13.139; 11 Scotty Weir, 38 Crossno 13.182; 12 Cole Whitt, 29w CW 13.205; 13 Chris Windom, 17 Windom 13.215; 14 Levi Jones, 20 Stewart 13.219; 15 Daron Clayton, 92 Clayton 13.241; 16 Mike Spencer, 67k Kunz 13.269; 17 Jon Stanbrough, 53 Fox 13.289; 18 Dustin Morgan, 11 Walker/Guiducci 13.342; 19 Shane Cottle, 10E Edison 13.353; 20 Chris Urish, 77u Urish 13.364; 21 Kevin Swindell, 9 Kahne 13.376; 22 Brent Beauchamp, 112 Beauchamp 13.398; 23 Mat Neely, 17N Neely 13.401; 24 Jesse Hockett, 75 VKCC 13.449; 25 Brady Short, 2B 2B Racing 13.468; 26 Jeff Bland Jr, 21x Bland 13.491 (flipped during practice), 27 Shane Hollingsworth, 10 R&B 13.518; 28 Mitch Wissmiller, 7x Mahan 13.522; 29 Matt Westfall, 54 Westfall 13.567; 30 Robert Ballou, 81 MPHG 13.650; 31 Ron Dennis, 32 Dennis 13.759; 32 Josh Spencer, 66J Spencer 13.834; 33 Russ Gamester, 46 Gamester 13.881; 34 Kyle Robbins, 17R Robbins 13.884; 35 Brett Burdette, 17B Burdette 13.904; 36 Michael Trimble, 21T Kruseman 13.914; 37 Bret Mellenberndt, 97 Mellenberndt 14.046; 38 Chad Boespflug, 90 Gatten 14.163; 39 Josh Ford, 2 Reid 14.182; 40 Patrick Haynes, 5H Haynes 14.339.
Coons (18th car out to time) was quickest on the tacky quarter. Sweet (36th out) was second, followed by Stenhouse (33), Gardner (27), Shepherd (34), Bacon (7), Schuerenberg (9), Hagen (30), Darland (10) and Kruseman, who was 39th to time. Bland flipped in hot laps, but made it back out to time. Haynes lost his right front tire in hot laps, but also made it back out for time trials.
C-main (10 laps) 1 Kyle Robbins, 2 Michael Trimble, 3 Josh Ford, 4 Russ Gamester. DNQ 5 Brett Burdette 17b, 6 Chad Boespflug 90, 7 Patrick Haynes 5h. DNF Bret Mellenberndt 97 (flipped)
Gamester led the first lap, but Burdette did a 360 airborne the next time around, bringing the caution. Gamester led Robbins, Mellenberndt, Trimble and Boespflug back to green flag racing on the restart, and two and three-wide action commenced. Robbins took the lead on lap three, as Trimble moved up to second. Ford brought his mount into a transfer before Mellenberndt flipped in turns one and two on lap nine while running fifth. Robbins led the rest of the way, with the top four transferring into the heats.
HEAT 1 (10 laps) 1 Stanbrough, 2 Short, 3 Darland, 4 Coons. DNQ 5 Shepherd, 6 Robbins, 7 Westfall, 8 Windom (flipped) DNS Swindell
Swindell's motor ills kept him out of action. Short led early from outside row one. On lap four, Windom got upside down despite a good run. At the time, Short led Stanbrough, Darland, Shepherd and Coons. Coons had passed Shepherd for a transfer before the red, but the restart order was reverted to the last completed lap. Coons made quick work of Shepherd on the restart as the lead four pulled away. Coons put pressure on Darland, while Stanbrough grabbed the point on the last lap.
HEAT 2 (10 laps) 1 Jones, 2 Ballou, 3 Bland, 4 Bacon. DNQ 5 Trimble, 6 Morgan, 7 Kruseman, 8 Sweet (flipped), 9 Beauchamp (flipped)
Ballou took the early advantage, while Morgan pulled off. On lap three, Beauchamp turned over, but was uninjured. Bacon spun on the frontstretch at the same time, made repairs in the work area.
Ballou led Bland, Jones, Kruseman and Sweet back to green flag racing. Bland slowed considerably, with the biggest benefactor being Sweet, who jumped up to third. Riding above the cushion on lap four, however, he tagged the turn four wall and flipped. He was unhurt, but done for the night.
Morgan rejoined the pack three laps down. Now Ballou led Jones, Kruseman, Bacon and Bland. Jones slid under for the point after the green flag fell. Kruseman dropped out of a transfer on lap six. Bland moved by Bacon for third. Morgan, three laps down, was challenging the qualifying car of Bacon who ran in the final transfer late. This folly made he and his car owner look pretty silly.
HEAT 3 (10 laps) 1 Hollingsworth, 2 Cottle, 3 Clayton, 4 Weir. DNQ 5 Dennis, 6 Neely, 7 Scheurenberg, 8 Ford, 9 Stenhouse Jr (flipped)
Schuerenberg stopped in turn three before a lap could be completed. Hollingsworth led this one flag to flag. The only other stoppage came for a Stenhouse ground pounder on lap three. He was unhurt. Hollingsworth led Cottle, Weir, Dennis and Clayton at the time. Clayton shot around Dennis and then maneuvered around Weir for third with three laps to go.
HEAT 4 (10 laps) 1 Wissmiller, 2 Hockett, 3 Hagen, 4 J.Spencer. DNQ 5 Whitt, 6 M.Spencer, 7 Gardner, 8 Urish, 9 Gamester (2:22.07)
Wissmiller rode the tall cushion to lead the duration after a three-way battle on lap one. He held off Hockett, who applied heavy pressure. Meanwhile, two and three-wide action between Hagen, Gardner and Whitt for transfer spots kept everyone busy. Hagen pulled away from the pair and passed J.Spencer in the last corner for third. Gamester dropped out on lap five.
B-main (12 laps) 1 Cory Kruseman, 2 Cole Whitt, 3 Dustin Morgan, 4 Neil Shepherd, 5 Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 6 Mat Neely. DNQ 7 Kyle Robbins 17r, 8 Josh Ford (Reid 2), 9 Matt Westfall 54, 10 Mike Spencer (Kunz 67), 11 Ron Dennis 32, 12 Michael Trimble (Kruseman 21), 13 Kevin Swindell (Kahne 9), 14 Chris Windom 17c, 15 Russ Gamester 46, 16 Chris Urish. DNF Damion Gardner (Leffler 71), Hunter Scheurenberg (Tapy/Whiteside 10) DNS Brent Beauchamp 11, Brad Sweet (Yeley 2J)
Stenhouse recovered from his heat race flip to lead early. Dennis spun on lap four bringing the caution flag.
At the time, Stenhouse led Shepherd, Kruseman, Gardner and a three-way battle for fifth and sixth between Windom, Schuerenberg and Whitt. On lap seven, Windom, who was running fifth, was tapped from behind and spun. That collected Swindell, who climbed the cage of the 17. Both restarted.
Stenhouse now led Kruseman, Shepherd, Schuerenberg, Gardner, Whitt and a charging Neely. Kruseman took the lead on the restart. In a battle for the final transfer on lap ten, Gardner was riding the cushion to pass Schuerenberg. Coming out of turn four, Schuerenberg slid from the bottom up the track, hit Gardner and took both out of contention.
Kruseman led the last restart ahead of a five-way battle between Whitt, Shepherd, Morgan, Stenhouse and Neely. That is how they would finish.
A-main (start) 1 Jon Stanbrough 53 (12), 2 Cole Whitt 29 (9), 3 Dave Darland 44 (1), 4 Darren Hagen 67 (2), 5 Dustin Morgan 11 (13), 6 Levi Jones 20 (10), 7 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 21 (5), 8 Neil Shepherd 4n (4), 9 Brady Bacon 9 (3), 10 Cory Kruseman 21 (7), 11 Scotty Weir 38 (8), 12 Chris Windom 17c (provisional), 13 Jesse Hockett 75 (16), 14 Shane Hollingsworth 10 (19), 15 Jerry Coons Jr 69 (6), 16 Brady Short 2b (17), 17 Shane Cottle 10 (14), 18 Mat Neely 17n (15), 19 Robert Ballou 81 (21), 20 Kevin Swindell 9 (provisional), 21 Daron Clayton 92 (11), 22 Josh Spencer 66J (22), 23 Jeff Bland 21s (18), 24 Mitch Wissimller 7x (20)
Darland took the lead on the cushion in the early going. The only stoppage came on lap two, when short stopped with a flat right front tire. He made repairs to rejoin the field.
After one lap, Darland led Hagen, Bacon, Stenhouse, Kruseman, and a charging Whitt and Stanbrough. Darland pulled away from the field, while Whitt and Stanbrough moved steadily forward. Whitt was faster early, using the far low side of the track. Stanbrough mixed his charge between the middle and high grooves on an extremely racy surface.
At the halfway point, Stanbrough had moved up to third. He and Whitt battled fiercely the next five circuits and beyond. Stanbrough used the middle groove to drive by Whitt on two occasions, but the youngster came back fighting. Twice late, Stanbrough stumbled on the high side of turns one and two, and once he hit the wall pretty hard. Coming into the last lap, he moved through the middle to skate under Darland to make the winning pass. The win was his 21st of the season. Whitt followed suit on the low side, as the California youngster who recently turned 16, grabbed second.