Published: June 30, 2008 11:07 pm            

SPEEDWAY: Scheurenberg dodges mishaps to rule again

Red flags galore in Sunday night feature at Kokomo Speedway

In a sprint car feature that saw three cars flip in the first five laps, Missouri driver Hunter Scheurenberg proved up to the challenge, piloting Jeff Walker’s Jam-It-In Storage/Sun Welding No. 11S to the feature win Sunday night at the Kokomo Speedway.

Starting outside of 11-time feature winner this season Jon Stanbrough in the second row, Scheurenberg ran the top to perfection in turns one and two and shot past early leader Scotty Weir on the third lap. He never trailed the remaining 22 laps in posting his second win at the track in less than a month.

“I am just blessed to be driving this car,” said the winner. “Jeff (Walker) and this team have put together a great race car for me to drive. I can’t say how blessed I am to be part of a team that makes me feel like I have a chance to win every time I go to any track.”

In the early going things got rather ragged beginning with Ryan Pace getting into the back of Brett Burdette in turn two, spinning Burdette’s No. 17B. Pace, who also spun Stephanie Tuttle during the B-main, was forced to the tail of the field by chief starter Brian Hodde on the restart.

The next time in turns one and two, Dylan Burge, Burdette and Adam Byrkett tangled with Pace flipping his No. 44, landing on the top of Byrkett’s Allen Engines No. 78. The pileup eliminated all four drivers.

Three laps later the 7M car of Californian Shane Matthews got upside down bringing out a second red flag. Upon restarting, Sammy Immel flipped hard in turn two to bring out the third red flag. With the exception of Immel, all the drivers emerged from their cars relatively unscathed. Immel complained of back pain and was expected to be transported by his family to the hospital for an examination.

When the race went clean and green for an extended period of laps, it was all Scheurenberg as he simply ran away from everyone.

Cole Whitt, a winner Friday night at Gas City and earlier this season at the local oval, took second with Weir notching third. Stanbrough never mounted his characteristic charge forward and finished fourth. Dave Darland rounded out the top five in his first run aboard Scott Benic’s RWB/Maxim Chassis/Benic Enterprises No. 2B.

Brady Bacon drove Kasey Kahne’s Mopar No. 99 to a sixth-place showing and Casey Shuman was seventh. Quick-qualifier Blake Fitzpatrick was eighth followed by Brad Sweet and Bart Grider in the top-10.

Kokomo drivers Shane Cottle and Ron Dennis took 11th and 12th, respectively.

Stanbrough, Dennis, Cottle and Darland each registered heat wins with Whitt taking the B-main. Peru’s Marc Arnold flipped hard in the second heat while Josh Spencer got caught up in someone else’s accident in the third heat, flipping his Racing for Corey/Bud’s Auto Sales/Chalk Chassis No. 66J. The flips ended both local drivers nights.

In the Thunder Car Spectacular that drew a stellar field of 32 cars, Tony Bowman proved to be the best — at least for one night.

Three weeks removed from having a sure win taken from him due to mechanical woes, Bowman’s car held together just fine as he topped defending track champion Loren Sharp and perennial favorite Allen Davis to bag his first win at the track. Gerald Armfield and Rick Ice rounded out the top five. Peru’s Marvin Uitts was sixth, Skid Moulds seventh, Scott Apple eighth, Jimmy Summitt ninth and Jeremy Koon 10th.

“It feels good to finally get one,” Bowman stated after the race. “I had one get away earlier, but this one feels pretty good.”

Sharp, Bowman and Davis each won heat races. Koon took the B-main.

Defending track champion Andre Missig, Glen Gamblin and Dave Hurst put on a show that will be talked about for quite a while in the 15-lap Street Stock feature event.

Missig bolted out to the early lead, holding down the top spot for the opening six laps before Hurst got inside him to snag the point on the ninth lap. As the laps wound down, multi-time track champion Glen Gamblin slowly began to reel the leaders in, slipping by Missig with just three laps remaining for second place.

On the final two laps, Hurst and Gamblin were side by side vying for the win with Hurst eventually winning by just a matter of inches in a finish that saw the crowd standing in appreciation. Missig trailed the pair to the checkered flag with Tristan Ramseyer taking fourth and Ryan Hines fifth.

“This was a pretty good weekend,” said Hurst. “We won (Saturday) night at Kamp then to get two [wins] in one weekend is pretty good. I just want to thank the No. 9 car (Gamblin) for running me as clean as he did. He could have gotten into me and moved me out of the way, but he ran me very clean.”

Also on hand was the Modified Light division with Brownsburg driver Dustin Wagner taking the feature win.

The track will host its Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular in addition to its weekly program Sunday night. Pit gates open at 3 p.m. with the general admission gate opening at 4 o’clock. The first race should push off around 6:30.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.