August 24, 2008

For many years under the reign of the Lipkey family, Kokomo Speedway hosted an annual race called the "Kokomo Klassic." Paying more to win than the average weekly card, the event always attracted a few more big names to the pit area and, more often than not, lived up to its namesake by providing a classic main event.These days at the Kokomo Speedway they may as well promote every race as another Kokomo Klassic, because week in and week out the action will leave you shaking your head and wanting more. This week was no different: The sprint car A-main featured three different leaders in two separate two-car battles, the street stock feature had a last-to-first winner and the thunder car main event saw a driver win his eighth consecutive race. It was just your typical Kokomo Sunday night. Accustomed to blowout wins so far in 2008, Hunter Schuerenberg was pushed harder than ever before in netting the sprint car victory. Starting fifth in the 21-car A feature field, Schuerenberg met his first obstacle of the evening in lap one's second turn. The Missouri transplant, fourth-place starter Scotty Weir and a handful of other cars were caught up in a bottleneck that didn't bring out a caution, but negated precious momentum for those involved for a few brief moments.With that scrum sorted out by the third turn, the field settled in behind front row mates Sammy Imel and Corey Smith. By lap three the evening's true players were on the move, as Shane Cottle and Casey Shuman slipped into second and third, respectively, ahead of Smith. As the top three strung out the next time by, Schuerenberg was up to his usual tricks: Running dangerously close to the wall at the Speedway's north end and carrying tremendous speed into the south end. The momentum gained in his high line carried him past Smith and to the rear bumper of Shuman by the sixth lap.Prepared to circle Shuman high in turn one on lap seven, Schuerenberg ran into his second bump in the road: The first turn concrete. Pounding the wall with the right side of his machine after misjudging his entry, Schuerenberg again lost ground to the leaders, and also his right nerf bar, in the process. The caution flew on the ensuing lap for the wayward bumper, allowing Schuerenberg to make up the ground lost and remain in fourth.A lap after the restart, business picked up. Cottle shot low off the second turn to snag the lead from Imel, and by the time the leaders reached the flagstand Shuman had taken second while Imel fell into the clutches of Schuerenberg. Before Schuerenberg could complete the pass for third, the race was again halted for Coleman Gulick's turn two tumble. Under red flag conditions, one could observe that 2006 track champion Jon Stanbrough had advanced to 14th after starting dead last.Imel did lose third to Schuerenberg after Gulick's spill was cleaned up, just as Shuman began applying heavy pressure to Cottle up front. Working the low side to perfection, Shuman nearly claimed the lead on laps 10 and 11 by rocketing off the bottom of the fourth corner. Behind them Imel was fading fast, losing fourth and fifth on successive laps to Thomas Meseraull and Weir. Just when it looked as though Shuman was posied to corral Cottle back at the front, the second-generation driver slowed with a flat left rear tire and pulled pitside.When the green flew again, Schuerenberg made good use of his newly-found second position and began hounding Cottle up high. Using a diamond move off turn four on lap 13 Schuerenberg was second by just inches at the line, a feat that would be duplicated on the next circuit. Diving low into turn three on lap 15, Schuerenberg exited high and took a narrow lead at the stripe with Cottle on the low side. Reversing roles on the subsequent lap, Cottle dove deep into the third corner under Schuerenberg and looked to reclaim the lead, but bobbled on the cushion and saw Schuerenberg shoot underneath and hold the point. Regaining his momentum and again leading into turn three on lap 17, Cottle still wasn't able to stifle Schuerenberg as the 19-year old pilot again diamoned the fourth corner and led at the line.While Cottle and Schuerenberg were playing slide-and-dive up front, Weir was on the wheel behind them. After moving by Meseraull and into third on the 17th circuit, Weir used the still-moist low groove to pass Cottle for second on lap 19.As Schuerenberg encountered lapped traffic at the front, Weir made huge gains on the leader and may have taken the lead at the conclusion of lap 22 had he not run into lapped traffic himself. Undaunted and very fast down low, Weir launched into turn three side by side with Schuerenberg on the 23rd circuit, but was unable to overtake Schuerenberg, who was still on the high side. After losing some momentum with the turn three effort, Weir watched Schuerenberg extend his lead to five car lengths as the white flag flew. On last low lunge by Weir out of the final corner made the deficit two car lengths, but was too little too late."That was really fun," Schuerenberg said after his sixth Kokomo win of 2008. "I've got to thank Weir and Cottle for running me clean out there. I didn't run Shane too clean on Friday night, and that just shows what kind of racer he is. I think I may have broken something in the rear end when I hit the wall, we'll have to get it back to the shop and look at it. That was the most fun I've had in awhile."