Published: June 09, 2009 11:45 pm      

BOWMAN: Whitt shines on USAC’s Eastern Tour

The United States Auto Club National Sprint Car Series wrapped up its journey to the East Coast with Kokomo Speedway standout Cole Whitt bagging a pair of feature wins.

Saturday night in the final event of the tour, Whitt got past Jesse Hockett on the fifth lap and paced the field the remainder of the 30-lap A-main. Tony Stewart Racing driver Levi Jones came home second while Darren Hagen was third. Hockett and Dave Darland rounded out the top five.

Thursday night the series was at the Big Diamond Raceway in Pennsylvania and Whitt again was the class of the field, leading all 30 laps. Darland was second, Jones third, Damion Gardner fourth and Hagen fifth.

Hockett kicked the week off during last Tuesday’s event at the Grandview Speedway. The Missouri hotshoe led all 50 laps to thwart Chris Windom’s bid for the win. Bryan Clauson took third, Tracy Hines fourth and Jerry Coons fifth. Darland was sixth.

When the series returns to action June 20 at Kalamazoo Speedway, Darland will hold a 614-608 points advantage over second-place Jones. Hockett is third with 594 markers while Whitt (522) and defending series champion Coons (517) round out the top five.

Cottle wins at Gas City

After a multitude of second-place showings since joining forces again with the Edison Motorsports team, Kokomo’s Shane Cottle finally found victory in the sprint car feature at the Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday night.

Cottle dueled with Billy Puterbaugh for a good portion of the main event before finally taking the point for good. Puterbaugh later spun, but still managed to fight through the field to take seventh.

Ryan Kaplan turned in a solid outing to finish second followed in the top five by Shane Hollingsworth who was piloting the Paul Hazen-owned No. 57. Sammy Imel was fourth and Jason Holt fifth. Kokomo drivers Jamie Frederickson and Randy Donelson finished 12th and 18th, respectively.

Bub Patrick held off Tommy Beezley to claim the feature win in the U.M.P. Modified feature event. Kevin McCarty took third, Rick Johns fourth and Darek Snyder fifth.

Josh Owens used his front row starting slot to scoot to the feature win in the Thunder Car division. D.J. Holt was second, Travis Nichols third, Mike Fredrick fourth and Bryan Martin fifth.

A two-time feature winner at the Kokomo Speedway already in 2009, Ervin Turner, bagged the win in the Street Stock A-main. Scott Hubbard took second while Gerald Mullenix was third. Brett Clark and Rob Draper were fourth and fifth, respectively.

The track will host the USAC Mopar National Midget Series in the opening leg of Indiana Midget Week tonight. Also on hand will be the weekly sprint car series. There will be no action at the track Friday night in an effort to allow those wishing to compete in the Midget Week the opportunity to visit the Bloomington Speedway.

Short takes KISS lead

Bedford sprint car driver Brady Short took advantage of Dave Darland’s competing in USAC competition on the East Coast to open a 42-point lead over Jon Stanbrough in the fifth leg of the King of Indiana Sprint Series Saturday night at the Tri-States Speedway in Haubstadt.

Short claimed the $3,000-to-win 30 lap feature event over second-place Bryan Clauson. Blake Fitzpatrick was third, Hud Cone fourth and Nic Faas fifth. Stanbrough struggled with motor problems and failed to transfer to the feature event.

Heading into the final race of the mini-series, Short leads Stanbrough, 610-568. It would take a collapse by Short at the Paragon Speedway on June 20 to allow Stanbrough to claim his fourth straight KISS title and fifth overall.

Missing some results

Due to problems with my Internet provider, I was unable to receive any results other than what has been posted in this column. Hopefully the problem will be rectified soon.

• Brett Bowman is the Tribune’s racing columnist. He may be reached at brettbowman29@aol.com.