From Mike O’Leary
Bloomington, IN — (May 3, 2013) — Brady Short took advantage of his years of experience at Bloomington Speedway as he captured the 2013 King of Indiana Sprint Series opening round on Friday. The defending track sprint car champion quickly found the oval’s fast line as he earned his fourth KISS series victory from the 15th starting slot. The second KISS round will be at Kokomo Speedway on Sunday.
“I won the KISS championship back in 2009 and I really want to win it again,” the Bedford, Indiana, native said afterward. “It’s a great way to start, but we still have to go to a couple of tracks that I’m not very good at. We just have to keep focused. We are keeping it strong, we just have to keep going.”
Bryan Clauson hustled into the early lead from outside the front row, but was caught by Hunter Schuerenberg in the high groove on the fifth lap. For the next couple of circuits, the two battled wheel-to-wheel for the lead. By the 12th lap, Schuerenberg held a dozen car length lead, with Clauson holding off Bub Cummings, Dave Darland, Josh Burton and Levi Jones, while Short was quickly advancing through the pack.
Driving the #11p Pottorff Logging / Indiana StoneWorks Maxim, Short had found that while the bottom and top lanes were slippery, the middle had become very quick. “I watched the B-Mains and I could tell the guys were running around on the bottom and a few guys were on the top,” he said later. “I knew that it was going to be my type of deal, where I could run right in the middle. I don’t know why I like running the middle so much here, but it’s something that fits my driving style when it gets like that. It’s a lot of fun when you can pass that many cars on a slick track like that. It’s just a lot of hard work and focus because I have to keep my left front in a certain area and my right rear in a certain area. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s a lot of fun to do it.”
Clearly the fastest car on the track, Short disposed of Darland and Clauson on consecutive laps, and caught Schuerenberg on lap 19. He turned inside of Schuerenberg’s #35 Ford Dealers Mach 1 coming off turn four and took the lead as they raced into the first turn. Within a couple laps, he held a straightaway advantage as Clauson battled with Schuerenberg. Short took the checkers after 30 laps, and Schuerenberg edged Clauson by two feet. Cummings and Burton took fourth and fifth.
Sunday’s event will be the series’ eighth visit to Kokomo Speedway. The pit gate opens at 3 pm and the front gate at 4, with racing at 6:15. General admission is $20 and kids 10 and under are free with a paying adult, while pit passes are $30. The Sunday night racing program includes Kokomo’s street stocks and thunder cars. For more information, visit the Kokomo Speedway website at www.kokomospeedway.net.
King of Indiana Sprint Series, Round 1
Bloomington Speedway, Bloomington, IN
May 3, 2013
(38 cars)
Heat 1: 1. Max McGhee 17x (6), 2. Ted Hines 12 (7), 3. Josh Burton 04 (2), 4. Shane Cottle 10e (1), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. 17rw (3), 6. Kevin Chambers 18 (5), 7. Parker Price-Miller 9p (8), 8. Chad Boespflug 98 (9), 9. CJ Leary 30 (10e)
Heat 2: 1. Bub Cummings 71 (1), 2. Dakota Jackson 3 (4), 3. Jordan Kinser 5k (3), 4. Kurt Gross 1x (6), 5. Levi Shields 56x (9), 6. Wes McIntyre 83 (7), 7. Chet Williams 38 (2), 8. Eric Edwards 44 (5), 9. Daylan Chambers 4c (10), 10. Josh Cunningham 6s (8)
Heat 3: 1. Robert Ballou 5x (2), 2. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (5), 3. Levi Jones 11 (6), 4. Brady Short 11p (8), 5. Landon Simon 41 (1), 6. Danny Holtsclaw 3 (3), 7. Justin Grant 39 (9), 8. Jon Stanbrough 22 (7), 9. Nick Bilbee 17 (4)
Heat 4: 1. Bryan Clauson 20 (7), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. 10e (4), 3. Dave Darland 71p (3), 4. Casey Shuman 21k (5), 5. Chase Briscoe 5 (1), 6. Chris Gurley 12g (6), 7. Jeff Bland Jr. 56f (8), 8. Ethan Fleetwood 7f (9), 9. Eric Smith 14 (2)
B-Main 1: 1. Thomas (1), 2. Holtsclaw (4), 3. Bilbee (10), 4. Grant (6), 5. Price-Miller (5), 6. Stanbrough (8), 7. Boespflug (7), 8. K. Chambers (3), 9. Babcock (11), 10. Simon (2)
B-Main 2: 1. McIntyre (3), 2. Briscoe (2), 3. Bland (6), 4. Shields (1), 5. Edwards (7), 6. Gurley (4), 7. D. Chambers (9), 8. Cunningham (10), 9. Fleetwood (8), 10. Williams (6)
Feature (30 laps): 1. Brady Short 11p (15), 2. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (4), 3. Bryan Clauson 20 (2), 4. Bub Cummings 71 (1), 5. Josh Burton 04 (9), 6. Jerry Coons Jr. 10E (5), 7. Levi Jones 11 (11), 8. Robert Ballou 5x (6), 9. Shane Cottle 2e (13), 10. Casey Shuman 21k (16), 11. Danny Holtsclaw 3 (19), 12. Dave Darland 71p (12), 13. Chase Briscoe 5 (20), 14. Jordan Kinser 5k (10), 15. Kevin Thomas Jr. 17rw (17), 16. Dakota Jackson 3 (8), 17. Max McGhee 17x (7), 18. Wes McIntyre 83 (18), 19. Ted Hines 12 (3), 20. Kurt Gross 1x (14)
KISS Points: 1. Brady Short 180, 2. Hunter Schuerenberg 175, 3. Bryan Clauson 170, 4. Bub Cummings 165, 5. Josh Burton 160, 6. Jerry Coons Jr. 156, 7. Levi Jones 152, 8. Robert Ballou 148, 9. Shane Cottle 144, 10. Casey Shuman 140
2013 KISS SCHEDULE
May 3 Bloomington Speedway
May 5 Kokomo Speedway
May 10 Gas City I-69 Speedway
May 18 Lawrenceburg Speedway
May 26 Tri-State Speedway
June 1 Paragon Speedway
July 2 Terre Haute Action Track