From Mike O’Leary
Kokomo, IN — (May 4, 2013) — Scrambling around the inside line was the key, as Robert Ballou raced from fifth to first to capture his second King of Indiana Sprint Series series victory. Ballou became the eighth different KISS winner at the Kokomo Speedway, continuing the track’s record of not having a winner repeat. He was followed across the finish by Levi Jones, Dave Darland, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Brady Short.
Climbing from his car in victory lane, Ballou rushed to give his car owner a big hug, and then he told the crowd, “First of all I have to thank Ken and Margo Baldwin for giving me an opportunity to run this thing this year. A few nights ago he told me that I didn’t know how to run on slick tracks and we needed to hire someone to work on this thing, so I guess that was all I could do to shut him up. This is to them guys for giving me all of these good race cars.”
Shane Cottle grabbed the early lead from the pole, as Wes McIntyre, Jones, Jerry Coons Jr. and Ballou took chase. Jones took second when McIntyre slipped high in turn two. Thomas was an early mover, charging from ninth to fourth in the first ten laps. Then, two laps later, Jones took the lead from Cottle, with Thomas quickly following into second. At the midpoint, Ballou had the bottom working for his Baldwin Brothers Maxim, taking second from Thomas, as Jones held a half-straightaway lead.
After a lap 17 restart, Ballou pressured Jones for a lap before charging past him as they raced off turn four. He built a comfortable lead as he quickly lapped slower cars, with Jones and Thomas both running hard in the top groove. Darland wrestled third from Thomas with six laps to go, and Ballou held a half straightaway advantage as the checkers flew after 30 circuits.
“I want to thank all of the fans for coming out here,” Ballou noted from victory lane. “At least we know you aren’t fair weather fans, because the weather wasn’t very good when they got here. These promoters obviously have it going on because everywhere else has like twenty cars and they’ve had near forty last two nights. Thanks to the promoters for sticking it out.”
The KISS series moves to the Gas City I-69 Speedway for the third round on Friday, May 10. Lawrenceburg Speedway will host the fourth stop a week later. The final three events will be at Tri-State Speedway, Paragon Speedway and the Terre Haute Action Track.
King of Indiana Sprint Series, Round 2
Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, IN
May 5, 2013
(25 cars)
Heat 1: 1. Robert Ballou 5 (3), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (1), 3. Dave Darland 71p (6), 4. Brady Short 11p (2), 5. Kyle Robbins 17r (4), 6. Logan Jarrett 29j (9), 7. Landon Simon 41 (7), 8. Chet Williams 38 (5) 9. Brent Beauchamp 34 (8)
Heat 2: 1. Levi Jones 39 (6), 2. Josh Spencer 66j (3), 3. Gary Taylor 40 (5), 4. Chad Boespflug 57 (7), 5. Chris Gurley 12g (4), 6. Brian Hayden 77 (2), 7. Kurt Gross 1x (8), 8. Chris Phillips 6 (1)
Heat 3: 1. Shane Cottle 2e (1), 2. Wes McIntyre 83 (2), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. 17rw (6), 4. Scotty Weir 18 (4), 5. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (8), 6. Max McGhee 17m (3), 7. Parker Price-Miller 9p (7), 8. Casey Shuman 22 (5)
B-Main: 1. Jarrett (1), 2. Simon (4), 3. Shuman (9), 4. Hayden (2), 5. Price-Miller (6), 6. McGhee (3), 7. Phillips (8), 8. Gross (5), 9. Williams (7)
Feature (30 laps): 1. Robert Ballou 5x (5), 2. Levi Jones 39 (4), 3. Dave Darland 71p (7), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. 17rw (9), 5. Brady Short 11p (10), 6. Scotty Weir 18 (12), 7. Shane Cottle 2e (1), 8. Gary Taylor 40 (8), 9. Chad Boespflug 57 (11), 10. Casey Shuman 22 (18), 11. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (15), 12. Wes McIntyre 83 (2), 13. Chris Gurley 12g (14), 14. Josh Spencer 66j (6), 15. Kyle Robbins 17r (13), 16. Brian Hayden 77 (19), 17. Parker Price-Miller 9p (20), 18. Jerry Coons Jr. 10E (3), 19. Logan Jarrett 29j (16), 20. Landon Simon 41 (17)
KISS Points: 1. Brady Short 340, 2. Robert Ballou 328, 3. Levi Jones 327, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg 312, 5. Dave Darland 304, 6. Shane Cottle 296, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. 290, 8. Casey Shuman 280, 9.Jerry Coons Jr. 272, 10. Wes McIntyre 250
2013 KISS SCHEDULE
May 3 Bloomington Speedway – Brady Short
May 5 Kokomo Speedway – Robert Ballou
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