DARLAND DOMINANT IN “SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN II” WIN
Kokomo, Indiana…….Dave Darland of Lincoln, Indiana added to his legend as he became the all-time Kokomo Speedway feature win leader and a 44-time AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner as he dominated Saturday’s 40-lap “Sprint Car Smackdown II.” The win was his fourth of the season in the Phillips Motorsports entry.
After finishing second in the DMI “King of the Hill,” Darland jumped from outside the front row to take a commanding lead early. Chad Boespflug became the early chaser as he roared to second on the cushion, and Shane Cottle, the week-long B&W Auto Mart “Smackdown Hard Charger” winner, quickly moved into the top-five after starting tenth.
After a lap-six caution for Jon Stanbrough, a twenty-lap green flag stretch saw Darland build a lead and enter traffic near halfway. Meanwhile, Cottle was on the move as he sliced through the top-five to take second and started to whittle away on Darland’s lead. On the top shelf, Cottle moved in for the lead but saw a caution stop his progress with fifteen laps to go.
On the restart, Darland was rejuvenated and ran hard on the cushion to lengthen his lead over Cottle. As the laps wound down, Darland kept his rhythm and was unchallenged as he entered traffic again near the finish and posted a 1.874-second win in the Phillips Motorsports – Racer’s Advantage #71P DRC/Foxco.
“It was a helluva night, helluva weekend. Winning two out of three and becoming the all-time winner here, it’s just been a great weekend. Hopefully this event boosts non-wing sprint car racing in general. I got to the lead and just had some difficulty coming up on cars because I couldn’t see the cushion very well from their dust and all that. The yellow came out, and knew I just had to hit good laps and find my rhythm again. My car owners and the people who help us, my wife, and some new sponsors have helped us get things back on track after some bad luck during Sprintweek, so I just have to thank them for everything,” Darland said.
Cottle finished off a spectacular weekend that saw him pass fifty cars in all races combined, coming home second in his hometown race aboard the Epperson Painting – Leer Motorsports #2 Spike/Claxton.
“I was chomping at the bit to get him. I didn’t need the yellow, and if I had it to do over again, I think I would have followed him through one and two and tried the bottom in three and four. It was fun to pass all those cars these last two nights – I’m not sure if I’ve passed that many in the last year, so these two nights were pretty crazy. We had to change the whole driveline yesterday, and it turned into a whole different car. It was really fun running up there, and I loved watching him (Darland) go through the cushion. I was just watching, thinking ‘Man, this guy just doesn’t mess up,’” Cottle said.
“King of the Hill” winner Chase Stockon faded from his pole spot before rallying late to fill the podium in the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher.
“To be strong in the “King of the Hill” and win it was unbelievable. I kinda dropped back a little bit at the beginning, but I was trying to conserve the car and keep it under me. We kept plugging away, though, to get back to third. We had a broken shock toward the end which made it a bit of a handful. We’ve gotten going really well lately after a stretch of bad luck, so hopefully we can keep it going,” Stockon said.
Chris Windom took fourth off the final corner in a photo finish in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton over Brady Bacon, who was fifth in the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Stanton Mopar.
Jerry Coons, Jr. won the ProSource “Hard Charger Award” in the Edison Motorsports #10E after finishing eighth. Butlerbuilt Qualifying Races presented by CSI Shocks were won by Scotty Weir, Cottle, and Windom. The Pace Performance Coating “Hard Work Award” went to Kyle Robbins, who also won the “Lucky Dog Award” from Posh Canine Design Mobile Grooming as the last transfer from the Semi-Feature.
The CSI Shocks “Close Call Award” went to Darren Hagen for finishing sixth in the Semi, and the Eddie Gilstrap Motors “Ford Award” went to Darland. Random drawings for six Hoosier tires went to Hunter Schuerenberg, Hagen, Nick Drake, Josh Spencer, Ray Kenens, and Chad Boespflug. Other prizes for Arizona Sports Shirts, Hinchman Racewear, Simpson, Impact by MasterCraft, Rod End Supply, Indy Performance Composites, and Wilwood Brakes were Cottle, Phillips Motorsports, Thomas Meseraull, Drake, Casey Shuman, Darland, Spencer, and Chris Gurley.
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 24, 2013 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown II”
FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Scotty Weir (#18 Keen), 2. Tracy Hines (#4 Hines). 3. Braylon Fitzpatrick (#3F Fitzpatrick). 4. Logan Jarrett (#29 Jarrett), 5. Darren Hagen (#21x Pollock), 6. Blake Fitzpatrick (#10 Fitzpatrick), 7. Dakota Jackson (#3 Jackson). NT
SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Shane Cottle (#2 Epperson), 2. Casey Shuman (#21k Krockenberger), 3. Chris Gurley (#12G Team Automotive), 4. Gary Taylor (#40 Hery), 5. Nick Drake (#55 Cline), 6. Ray Kenens (#K9 Kenens), 7. Hunter Schuerenberg (#41 SST). NT
THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Chris Windom (#11 Walker), 2. Wes McIntyre (#83 McIntyre), 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (#10E Edison), 4. Daron Clayton (#35 Byram), 5. Thomas Meseraull (#5 Baldwin), 6. Kyle Robbins (#17R Robbins), 7. Josh Spencer (#66J Spencer).
“KING OF THE HILL” 2-CAR SHOOTOUTS: (3 laps each) Round 1: Dave Darland (#71p Phillips) defeated Tyler Courtney (#23c Courtney), Chad Boespflug (#57 Hazen) defeated Robert Ballou (#12x Ballou), Chase Stockon (#32 32 TBI) defeated Bryan Clauson (#20 Stewart/Curb-Agajanian) and Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics) defeated Jon Stanbrough (#66 Tate/Wade). Round 2: Darland defeated Boespflug and Stockon defeated Bacon, Final Round: Stockon defeated Darland.
SEMI: (15 laps) 1. Clayton, 2. Meseraull, 3. Jarrett, 4. Taylor, 5. Robbins, 6. Hagen, 7. Drake, 8. Spencer, 9. Kenens. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Tracy Hines, 10. Tyler Courtney, 11. Casey Shuman, 12. Robert Ballou, 13. Jon Stanbrough, 14. Gary Taylor, 15. Wes McIntyre, 16. Daron Clayton, 17. Kyle Robbins, 18. Chris Gurley, 19. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 20. Thomas Meseraull, 21. Logan Jarrett, 22. Chad Boespflug. NT
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**Jackson flipped during the first qualifier. Schuerenberg flipped during the second qualifier.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Darland.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-1,322, 2-Clauson-1,291, 3-Bacon-1,277, 4-Stockon-1,196, 5-Kevin Thomas-1,153, 6-Ballou-1,034, 7-Hines-1,027, 8-Schuerenberg-976, 9-Windom-874, 10-Cottle-855.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 30 – West Burlington, Iowa – 34 Raceway