Robert Ballou towed into the Terre Haute Action Track with a new sprint car on a borrowed open trailer, and drove out with the winner’s trophy after capturing the opening event of the 2012 King of Indiana Sprint Series. Ballou took the lead from Bud Kaeding with six laps remaining for his first KISS win, followed by Dave Darland, Jon Stanbrough and Damion Gardner.
From victory lane, the emotional Ballou told the crowd that he and his wife built up the car together in the last year and that he “burned up five tires tonight, so I’m probably going into the hole”.
Pole starter Chris Windom outran Kaeding through the first turn of the historic half mile oval, and quickly opened a comfortable advantage. Gardner hustled around Kaeding for second place on the third circuit, but couldn’t keep up with Windom, who stretched his lead to a full straightaway. By the halfway mark, Ballou had raced from seventh starting spot to fourth, and was closing on Kaeding in third. On lap 14, Windom caught up to several slower cars, but he appeared to lose speed as Gardner closed within a dozen car lengths over the next circuits. Then, Windom’s engine erupted into a ball of flame and the leader rolled to a stop and jumped from his car at the top of turn four.
Gardner pushed high in turn two on the restart and Kaeding dove to his inside, taking the lead, with Ballou close on his tail. While Ballou pressed Kaeding, Darland worked past Gardner on the next lap. On the 19th lap, Ballou swept under Kaeding going into the first turn. Kaeding tried to fight back, driving to the inside of the next turn, but Ballou held his position. At the finish, Kaeding was on Ballou’s tail, with Darland, the defending series champion, just behind, in third. Five-time King of Indiana Jon Stanbrough took fourth, while Gardner slipped to fifth.
The KISS series will continue with a race each of the next six weekends, with Kokomo Speedway scheduled next Sunday, followed by the tracks in Bloomington, Gas City, Lawrenceburg, and Haubstadt, in successive weeks until the King of Indiana is crowned at Paragon Speedway on June 2.
King of Indiana Sprint Series, Round 1
Terre Haute Action Track, Terre Haute, Indiana
Sunday, April 22, 2012
(32 cars)
Heat 1: 1. Brady Bacon 99 (3), 2. Mike Spencer 53 (8), 3. Casey Shuman 21 (2), 4. Thomas Meseraull 41 (1), 5. Kyle Cummins 3c (6), 6. Chase Stockon 32 (7), 7. Braylon Fitzpatrick 3f (4), 8. Patrick Budde 90 (5)
Heat 2: 1. Damion Gardner 71 (2), 2. Chris Windom 5 (1), 3. Jon Stanbrough 21x (8), 4. Jonathan Hendrick 68 (5), 5. Bill Rose 6 (4), 6. Dickie Gaines 70 (6), 7. Jason Soudrette 44 (7), 8. Mitch Wissmiller 1 (3)
Heat 3: 1. Wes McIntyre 83 (1), 2. Bud Kaeding 29 (3), 3. Dave Darland 11 (5), 4. Seth Parker 38p (2), 5. Blake Fitzpatrick 10f (7), 6. Coleman Gulick 14 (6), 7. Justin Grant 40 (4), 8. C.J. Leary 30 (8)
Heat 4: 1. Robert Ballou 12 (3), 2. Levi Jones 57 (2), 3. Jerry Coons Jr. 71p (6), 4. Hunter Schuerenberg 35 (5), 5. Dakota Jackson 3 (4), 6. Brandon Mattox 28 (1), 7. Brady Short 36 (7), 8. Mark Perry III (8)
B- Main: 1. Cummins (1), 2. Blake Fitzpatrick (3), 3. Stockon (5), 4. Gulick (7), 5. Grant (11), 6. Rose (2), 7. Short (12), 8. Jackson (4), 9. Gaines (6), 10. Mattox (8), 11. Wissmiller (14), 12. Braylon Fitzpatrick (9), 13. Leary (15), 14. Soudrette (10), 15. Budde (13), Perry (DNS)
Feature (25 laps): 1. Robert Ballou (7), 2. Bud Kaeding (2), 3. Dave Darland (11), 4. Jon Stanbrough (10), 5. Damion Gardner (5), 6. Jerry Coons Jr. (12), 7. Brady Bacon (8), 8. Mike Spencer (3), 9. Wes McIntyre (4), 10. Kyle Cummins (17), 11. Blake Fitzpatrick (18), 12. Coleman Gulick (20), 13. Casey Shuman (9), 14. Hunter Schuerenberg (16), 15. Chase Stockon (19), 16. Levi Jones (6), 17. Jonathan Hendrick (14), 18. Seth Parker (15), 19. Thomas Meseraull (13), 20. Chris Windom (1)
KISS 2012 Points: 1. Robert Ballou 180, 2. Bud Kaeding 175, 3. Dave Darland 170, 4. Jon Stanbrough 165, 5. Damion Gardner 160, 6. Jerry Coons Jr. 156, 7. Brady Bacon 152, 8. Mike Spencer 148, 9. Wes McIntyre 144, 10. Kyle Cummins 140
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2012 KISS SCHEDULE
April 22 Terre Haute Action Track – Robert Ballou
April 29 Kokomo Speedway
May 4 Bloomington Speedway
May 11 Gas City I-69 Speedway
May 19 Lawrenceburg Speedway
May 27 Tri-State Speedway
June 2 Paragon Speedway