By Mike O’Leary
May 28, 2012 – Jon Stanbrough hustled from deep in the pack and led the last seven circuits as he earned his 18th King of Indiana Sprint Series victory at Tri-State Speedway Sunday. The winningest driver in KISS history was followed by Damion Gardner, Kyle Cummins, Seth Parker and Levi Jones at the finish.
Following the race, Stanbrough said that his Roberts/Tate Leer Racing DRC made the difference as he worked his way to the front from the tenth starting position. “It was really good. I was a little concerned that it was too good at the beginning, but it stayed with me the whole race. It seemed like it got a little tight or a little free, depending on where I ran on the race track, but other than that it was really good. Daryl (Tate) did a great job on it tonight.”
Parker led the first 23 circuits, running high and hard through the turns, and jumping into comfortable leads after repeated restarts. From tenth, Stanbrough was eighth in just two laps, and sixth before halfway. He took third from Hunter Schuerenberg on a lap 17 restart, and got under Cummins for second three laps later. A tangle in turn two, involving Chad Boespflug, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Dakota Jackson, brought out the caution on lap 22, allowing Stanbrough to restart on Parker’s tail. A lap and a half into the green, Stanbrough dove under Parker going into turn three for the lead.
“We’ve been fighting brakes,” Parker explained after the race. “By myself I was alright. I was kind of glad to see that first yellow, because I was having to pump my brakes a whole lot and the slicker it got the more I needed them. There at the end I was just hanging on. I’m happy with it. We’re getting there, getting closer and closer.”
In the closing laps, Stanbrough opened a straightaway lead. Cummins bounced off the wall in turn two on lap 27, losing second to Gardner, who had worked steadily forward after starting 11th. Gardner’s Pace Lighting Eagle wasn’t able to close the gap to Stanbrough, while Cummins held on for third and Parker brought his machine home fourth.
Back in the pits, Stanbrough talked about racing from the fifth row to the win. “Some of them I passed as soon as I got to them, others I had to race for two or three laps. That’s part of it. Everybody was real respectful and I try to run everybody real clean, no banging or crashing like that. The majority of the cars I’m pretty sure I passed on the inside and one of them I passed on the outside. It was real clean and the car was good enough that I could go anywhere I wanted to go.”
King of Indiana Sprint Series, Round 4
Tri-State Speedway, Haubstadt, Indiana
May 27, 2012
(30 cars)
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. Thomas Meseraull 41 (2), 2. Seth Parker 38p (1), 3. Dave Darland 11 (8), 4. Jon Stanbrough 21x (7), 5. Jeff Bland Jr. 38 (6), 6. Jonathan Hendrick 68 (10), 7. Jared Fox 56 (4), 8. Aric Gentry 10x (5), 9. Patrick Budde 90 (3), 10. Chet Williams 38w (9)
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. Chad Boespflug 98 (5), 2. Chase Stockon 32 (6), 3. Levi Jones 57 (9), 4. Damion Gardner 71 (3), 5. Chase Briscoe 5 (1), 6. Matt Humphrey 79 (2), 7. Blake Fitzpatrick 10f (7), 8. Dakota Jackson 3x (4), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. 9k (8), 10. Josh Burton 04 (10)
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (1), 2. Kyle Cummins 3c (5), 3. Robert Ballou 12 (10), 4. Brady Short 36 (9), 5. Mark Smith 1 (8), 6. Brian Karraker 23k (2), 7. Kyle Dautrich 23x (6), 8. Donny Brackett 4b (7), 9. Braylon Fitzpatrick 3f (4), 10. Brandon Mattox 28 (DNS)
Semi (12 laps): 1. Thomas (11), 2. Hendrick (1), 3. Braylon Fitzpatrick (12), 4. Burton (14), 5. Jackson (8), 6. Dautrich (6), 7. Williams (13), 8. Fox (4), 9. Budde (10), 10. Humphrey (2), 11. Gentry (7), 12. Karraker (3), 13. Blake Fitzpatrick (5)
Feature (30 laps): 1. Jon Stanbrough (10), 2. Damion Gardner (11), 3. Kyle Cummins (4), 4. Seth Parker (2), 5. Levi Jones (8), 6. Hunter Schuerenberg (5), 7. Brady Short (12), 8. Chase Stockon (1), 9. Jonathan Hendrick (17), 10. Robert Ballou (9), 11. Dave Darland (7), 12. Braylon Fitzpatrick (18), 13. Thomas Meseraull (6), 14. Josh Burton (19), 15. Jeff Bland Jr. (13), 16. Chad Boespflug (3), 17. Dakota Jackson (20), 18. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 19. Mark Smith (15), 20. Chase Briscoe (14)
KISS Points: 1. Robert Ballou 684, 2. Jon Stanbrough 672, 3. Dave Darland 667, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg 599, 5. Jonathan Hendrick 557, 6, Coleman Gulick 492, 7. Thomas Meseraull 428, 8. Brady Short 415, 9. Justin Grant 395, 10. Damion Gardner 385
2012 KISS SCHEDULE
April 22 – Terre Haute Action Track – Robert Ballou
April 29 – Kokomo Speedway – Rain
May 4 – Bloomington Speedway – Rain
May 11 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Dave Darland
May 19 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Dave Darland
May 27 – Tri-State Speedway – Jon Stanbrough
June 2 – Paragon Speedway