By MudclodBob Buffenbarger
Jon Stanbrough collected the $1,000 bonus on top of the winning purse Friday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway but he did have to work for it. Stanbrough started inside second row but had to climb back from running in 6th spot at one point early on. The first attempt at green resulted in a disorderly scramble that created a restart that saw pole sitter Justin Grant lead the first lap.
Just as the first lap was completed Dave Darland encountered problems on the back stretch and executed a violent series of barrel rolls and ended up on his wheels in turn four. The crowd was quiet for a moment until Darland unbuckled and got out on his own to a hearty round of applause.
After the restart, at the conclusion of five laps Justin Grant led Brett Burdette, Brandon Petty, Billy Puterbaugh Jr., Chris Windom and Stanbrough who came together with a car causing Stanbrough’s right side nerf bar to point skyward for the remainder of the feature. With ten in Grant was looking strong as was Brett Burdette and Billy Puterbaugh. Stanbrough had moved back into fourth and was moving forward.
With 15 laps completed Grant’s lead had diminished as Stanbrough was right on his bumper with Putbaugh 3rd and Chris Windom 4th from 7th. Stanbrough put the move on Grant for the point on lap 17 and a lap later Windom moved into 2nd . At the 20 lap mark Stanbrough had stretched his lead some but the racing for 2nd through 6th was heating up. However the red appeared for Andrew Elson’s flip in turn four . He was ok.
On the restart Stanbrough was the leader with Windom, Grant and 10th starting Shane Cottle waging battle for 2nd, swapping the spot several times. Also Scotty Weir who started 18th had moved up to 5th and he got around Grant for 4th.
At the checkers it was Jon Stanbrough, Shane Cottle, Chris Windom, Scotty Weir and Brett Burdette.
32 sprint cars checked in tonight and found a heavy fast track and the fans were treated to being peppered with some mud pellets early on. (Does it get any better than this).
Heats went to Darland, Stanbrough, Puterbaugh and Brandon Petty won the fourth and probably best heat race of the evening. In heat race one Thomas Meseraull took a hard flip. He was ok but done for the night. The B main went to Scotty Weir.
Feature Results
1. Jon Stanbrough
2. Shane Cottle
3. Chris Windom
4. Scotty Weir
5. Brett Burdette
6. Justin Grant
7. Casey Shuman
8. Kyle Robbins
9. Billy Puterbaugh, Jr.
10. Josh Spencer
11. Travis Welpott
12. Critter Malone
13. Steve Irwin
14. Ted Hines
15. Kyle Simon
16. James Bradshaw
17. Andrew Elson
18. Tracy Hines
19. Brandon Petty
20. Dave Darland
Complete results are at http://www.gascityi69speedway.com. Next Friday is a regular program and the last points race for the season. We will continue racing until October 1. A big thank you to the family of Lewis Morgan for the $1000 bonus to the sprint and modified winners.