June 29, 2008

Schuerenberg snags second score of 2008Hurst, Bowman and Waggner find victory lane By Derek Fisher They finally got one in. Mother Nature spared the Kokomo Speedway from any precipitation for the first time in three weeks on Sunday night, and Missouri native Hunter Schuerenberg benefitted by bagging his second Kokomo sprint car feature win of 2008. Schuerenberg, the third fastest qualifier of the evening, started from outside the second row in the main event and rode the high line around early pacesetter Scotty Weir on lap three to snare a lead he would not relinquish. "I just can't say enough about the cars that [team owner] Jeff Walker puts under me," Schuerenberg said after the dominant victory. "It makes my job so much easier and it feels really good to know you have a shot to win every time you roll the thing off the trailer." For a few moments, it looked as if the winner of the A feature would be decided not by competition, but by attrition. Twice before a lap could be completed the action was halted by incidents. First, fifth-row starter Brett Burdette spun in turn two, calling for a complete restart. On that restart Adam Byrkett bicycled in the first corner, causing a bottleneck that collected Burdette, Ryan Pace and Dylan Burge. Pace's was the only machine to turn over, but only Byrkett was able to restart. After four green laps that saw Schuerenberg rocket around polesitter Cole Whitt and Weir, what momentum the field had gained was negated again by a red flag, this time for Shain Matthews. While Matthews' turn two tumble was nowhere near as nasty as his June 8 turn three spill, his night was nevertheless over. After another red, this one for a lap five flip by Sammy Imel, the remainder of the sprint car cast was able to go green the rest of the way. As Schuerenberg stretched out his lead in the one-groove affair by riding the rim in turns one and two, others began to test the top as well. Top 10 runners Brad Sweet, Jon Stanbrough and Dave Darland ventured to the high side in search of speed and further back in the pack, 2007 track champion Shane Cottle and B feature transferee Anthony Peterman went high as well. Darland, however, was the only one to really make noise upstairs. With Schuerenberg leading Weir, Whitt and Stanbrough up front, the ninth-starting Darland was seventh by the fifth circuit and was able to move around Blake Fitzpatrick and Brady Bacon to crack the top five with fewer than 10 laps remaining. With Schuerenberg checked out on the field, the only late-race drama was provided by Whitt. After stalking Weir's second spot for the bulk of the race, Whitt made his move on lap 21. Finding moisture in the middle groove of the track's north end, Whitt pulled alongside Weir down the backstretch and found just enough middle moisture in turns three and four to pull off the pass at the flagstand. Second was a spot he would not surrender, and he was followed to the checkers by Weir, Stanbrough and Darland. Bacon, Casey Shuman, Fitzpatrick, Sweet and Bart Grider rounded out the top 10. In the 20-lap Thunder Car Spectacular, Tony Bowman was a wire-to-wire winner. Dogged early by Loren Sharp, Allen Davis, Rick Ice and Tim Huffman, Bowman saw his road to the win get a little easier when Huffman and Ice collided on lap four, temporarily knocking both from contention. As Bowman began to pull away at the five-lap mark, Gerald Armfield joined Sharp and Davis in pursuit of the leader. Davis made a run at Sharp for second close to the midway point, but Sharp was too strong and held the runner-up spot. After a lap 11 yellow, Ice rejoined the fray, having made a run from mid-pack to fifth. In the closing laps no driver could make much of a move, and Bowman was followed to the line by Sharp, Davis, Armfield and Ice. Huffman was credited with 14th. A barn burner of a street stock main event was won by David Hurst, who held off Kokomo legend Glen Gamblin by no more than a foot. The race was paced early by Andre Missig, a multiple-time winner at Kokomo in the last three years. Hurst was glued to the former champion's rear bumper for the early stages until making a pass for the lead on lap seven. It was around that lap seven mark that Gamblin began his charge. Surging into the fifth position on lap six, Gamblin gained fourth when Arnie Prater suffered a mechanical issue and pulled pitside on lap eight. For the next five laps, a shootout for the second, third, fourth and fifth spots took place behind Hurst. Battling three wide at times, Gamblin, Missig, Ryan Hines and Thurman Wines wowed the crowd with excellent racing. Gamblin went from fourth to second with one pass on lap 12, relegating Missig to third and Hines to fourth. That pass helped set up the finish, which saw Gamblin get a great run off the second corner and pull even with Hurst on the last lap. Both drivers held their lines, and Hurst had just enough momentum on the high side to take the win. Following Hurst and Gamblin were Missig, Tristan Ramseyer and Hines. Dustin Waggner won the modified lites event.