Stanbrough Tops Thrilling KISS Series Opening Night

May 19, 2006 –- Jon Stanbrough scored a brilliant victory in the opening race of the 2006 King Of Indiana Sprint Series.  From a third row start, Stanbrough harassed Shane Cottle until finally working past on the 20th circuit, then maneuvered his Fox Brothers DRC cleanly through traffic for his fifth KISS win.  Kevin Briscoe edged Dave Darland for third, as Justin Marvel finished fifth.

Later, Stanbrough called it a good win.  “They’re all good wins.  Somebody made me aware that I had the most wins in the KISS series.  So it’s good to win another one and try to keep my record.”

At the green flag, Cottle took control off the second turn and built a straightaway-length lead while Stanbrough worked up to third, until a sixth lap caution bunched the field.  During the same time, Dave Darland was nearly alone in running the top as he hustled from twelfth to third, with Kevin Briscoe following from 14th to eighth.  While Cottle continued to lead from the restart, Stanbrough quickly moved into second and Darland made it a three-car battle.

Following another restart at mid-race, Stanbrough was pressing Cottle in every turn.  While the fast groove through turns three and four was the same for everyone, they had a choice in one and two, with workable high and low lines.  Cottle tried high, then the next lap, low.  Then he went high again on the following lap.  Each time Stanbrough took the other lane through the turns.  On the 20th circuit Cottle ran into turn one on the cushion and Stanbrough went low, but this time Stanbrough came off of two with the lead. 

While the leaders dueled up front, Briscoe and Darland were waging their own battle.  Briscoe finally scrambled past Darland on the 29th lap to narrowly claim third.  Defending KISS champion Justin Marvel led Tony Elliott in a battle of the Trucker’s 24-Hour team cars.  Kenny Carmichael, A. J. Anderson, Derek O’Dell and Matt Westfall completed the top ten. 

“If you’re going to try to pass somebody, you’d have to go wherever they’re not running,” Stanbrough said.  “He’d go high and I’d go low to try to get by him, or vice versa.  I don’t know if he made a mistake up there on the top when I got by him.  I thought we got a pretty good bite on the bottom and once I got the lead I just tried to run through the middle of three and four and tried to run through the bottom of one and two.”

Cottle explained, “My brakes about 20 laps into it started going away and I was having to pump them a lot.  And then I was afraid to have them tighten it up anymore because really tight in the heat race.  We just missed it, it was one of those things.”

With 52 machines in the pits at Bloomington, Stanbrough rolls into Saturday night’s race at Lincoln Park Speedway with a five point lead over Cottle.

Results:

Heat 1: Justin Marvel (2), Steve Rone (3), Dave Darland (7), Kevin Chambers (1), Danny Holtsclaw (5), Jason Holt (9), Brent Beauchamp (4), Lee Stark (6), Cole Whitt (8)

Heat 2: Jared Fox (1), Tim Spindler (3), Hunter Schuerenberg (8), Kenny Carmichael Jr. (2), Josh Cunningham (6), Scott Hatten (9), Jamie Williams (7), Ty Deckard (5)

Heat 3: Jon Stanbrough (2), A.J. Anderson (6), Kevin Briscoe (5), Ryan Pace (9), Derek Scheffel (7), Chris Windom (4), Arin McIntosh (1), Bobby Stines (8), Jim Mills (3)

Heat 4: Derek O’Dell (4), Kenny Carmichael (5), Dave Peperak (7), Matt Westfall (9), Dustin Beliles (2), Kerry Kinser (8), Brett Burdette (6), Joe Gilbert (3), Mark Hall (1)

Heat 5: Ted Hines (2), Tony Elliott (8), Jonathan Vennard (3), Mitch Cunningham (4), Eric Smith (5), Kevin Studley (7), Jack Farmer (1), Billy Puterbaugh (6)

Heat 6: Shane Cottle (4), Kent Christian (3), Travis Welpott (2), Critter Malone (6), Dakoda Armstrong (5), Derek Franks (7), Chris Babcock (1), Broc Burton (8)

B-Main #1: Pace, Holtsclaw, Windom, Chambers, Smith, Beauchamp, Puterbaugh, Holt, Whitt, McIntosh, Farmer, Stark, M. Cunningham, Scheffel, Stines, Studley

B-Main #2: Westfall, Carmichael Jr., Malone, J. Cunningham, Armstrong, Franks, Burton, Kinser, Babcock, Hatton, Burdette, Sciscoe, Beliles, Gilbert

Feature (30-laps): 1. Stanbrough (5), 2. Cottle (1), 3. Briscoe (14), 4. Darland (12), 5. Marvel (3), 6. Elliott (6), 7. Carmichael (2), 8. Anderson (10), 9. O’Dell (4), 10. Westfall (19), 11. Christian (11), 12. Rone (7), 13. Carmichael Jr. (21), 14. Pace (18), 15. Windom (22), 16. Vennard (16), 17. Schuenberg (13), 18. Fox (9), 19. Hines (8), 20. Holtsclaw (20), 21. Welpott (17), 22. Peperak (15)