Kokomo, IN — (August 23, 2013) —
-Peanut butter and jelly, Dave Darland and Kokomo Speedway they just go together. Darland scored another thrilling feature win at Kokomo Friday night on night two of the USAC “Smackdown 2”. Darland started 6th and passed Kevin Thomas Jr. on lap 19 then went on to take the win.
Earlier in the evening Darland was the last car out to qualify and took fast time with a new USAC track record of 12.618.
It took three attempts to get the 30 lap main event underway. Thomas led the first lap and with five in, Thomas was leading Wes McIntyre, Chris Bell, Chase Stockon and Darland.
At the 10 lap mark, Bell and Darland were marching towards the front as Bell moved into 2nd and Darland 4th.
The track once again was lightning fast and the racing intense with multiple groves and cars making passes high and low. Bell was running 2nd on lap 17 and gaining on the leader Thomas but he was flirting with the wall and made contact in turn four flipping on the front stretch. Bell was not hurt.
On the restart Darland was 2nd and was all over Thomas, pulling even several times. Lap 19 found Darland make the pass but Thomas was still determined and stayed with Darland two circuits until the 71p of Darland was able to widen his lead a bit. Meanwhile Chase Stockon, Brady Bacon, Bryan Clauson and Shane Cottle were turning in their own great runs.
With five to go, the yellow flew for a tangle between McIntyre and Meseraull set the stage for the finish. Darland took the high line as the green appeared Thomas was still 2nd followed by Bacon, Stockon, Hines, Clauson and Shane Cottle, who started 22nd. As Darland took the popular win he was then followed by Stockon, Bacon, Clauson and Cottle.
The four hotly contested heats were won by Jon Stanbrough, Hunter Schuerenberg, Kevin Thomas and Blake Fitzpatrick. Shane Cottle had the big crowd on their feet with an incredible drive from 19th and won the B main.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2013 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown 2”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-12.618; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.798; 3. Scotty Weir, 18, Keen-12.844; 4. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-12.851; 5. Chad Boespflug, 57, Hazen-12.863; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.938; 7. Christopher Bell, 67, Kunz-12.953; 8. Wes McIntyre, 83, McIntyre-13.037; 9. Gary Taylor, 40, Hery-13.047; 10. Daron Clayton, 35, Byram-13.092; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher/RW/Tri-Star-13.130; 12. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-13.173; 13. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.177; 14. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-13.189; 15. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-13.195; 16. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.201; 17. Jon Stanbrough, 66, Tate/Wade-13.204; 18. Hunter Schuerenberg, 41, SST-13.206; 19. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-13.271; 20. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.299; 21. Thomas Meseraull, 5, Baldwin-13.301; 22. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.331; 23. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.337; 24. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney-13.370; 25. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10,
Fitzpatrick-13.384; 26. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.431; 27. Darren Hagen, 21x, Pollock-13.476; 28. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-13.482; 29. Todd Keen, 18x, Keen-13.562; 30. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 3F, Fitzpatrick-13.585; 31. Dustin Smith, 77s, Smith-13.708; 32. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.950; 33. Jarett Andretti, 18a, Andretti-14.278; 34. Ray Kenens, K9, Kenens-14.793; 35. Billy Wease, 59p, Powell-14.411; 36. Shane Cottle, 2, Epperson-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Hines, 3. Darland, 4. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 5. Taylor, 6. Robbins, 7. Boespflug, 8. Meseraull, 9. Wease. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Bacon, 3. Stockon, 4. Leary, 5. Clayton, 6. Ballou, 7. Smith, 8. Hagen, 9. Kenens. 2:15.42
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Windom, 3. Bell, 4. Courtney, 5. Cottle, 6. Weir, 7. Gurley, 8. Shuman, 9. Spencer. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Blake Fitzpatrick, 2. Clauson, 3. Jackson, 4. McIntyre, 5. Jarrett, 6. Drake, 7. Andretti, 8. Keen. 2:16.33
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Weir, 3. Shuman, 4. Ballou, 5. Boespflug, 6. Meseraull, 7. Jarrett, 8. Drake, 9. Keen, 10. Taylor, 11. Gurley, 12. Andretti, 13. Robbins, 14. Hagen, 15. Kenens, 16. Clayton, 17. Spencer, 18. Smith, 19. Wease. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Casey Shuman, 9. Scotty Weir, 10. Robert Ballou, 11. Chad Boespflug, 12. Tyler Courtney, 13. Wes McIntyre, 14. Jon Stanbrough, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. Blake Fitzpatrick, 17. C.J. Leary, 18. Thomas Meseraull, 19. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20. Daron Clayton, 21. Christopher Bell, 22. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 23. Kevin Thomas Jr. NT
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**Bell flipped on lap 18 of the feature. Meseraull flipped on lap 26 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Thomas, Laps 19-30 Darland.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-1,262, 2-Clauson-1,246, 3-Bacon-1,229, 4-Thomas-1,153, 5-Stockon-1,142, 6-Ballou-1,005, 7-Hines-991, 8-Schuerenberg-975, 9-Windom-823, 10-Cottle-798.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 24 – Kokomo (IN) Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown 2”