May 20, 2006 –- With a tough victory at Lincoln Park Speedway on Saturday night, Jon Stanbrough took a huge step toward becoming the first two-time champion of the King of Indiana Sprint Series. It was Stanbrough’s second consecutive victory in as many nights and in some ways resembled the KISS feature at Bloomington Speedway the night before. As he had at Bloomington, Shane Cottle led early, but again trailed the Fox Brothers DRC, wheeled by Stanbrough, at the finish. Scott Hatton, Chris Windom and Derek O’Dell completed the top-5.
“We weren’t perfect tonight. It was pretty close and I just kept adjusting in the car. Every yellow I adjusted a little and tried to do a little bit on the green. But once I got past that last yellow, it was just a matter of not making any mistakes,” Stanbrough explained as he stood in his hauler after the race.
Cottle beat Hatton into the first turn and claimed the early lead, running the cushion through one and two as Hatton kept second, ahead of Stanbrough and Critter Malone. Following a ninth lap caution for Danny Williams Jr.’s spin, Stanbrough moved to the top to take second from Hatton. On the 13th circuit, Tony Elliott hit a turn four infield marker tire, breaking the left front suspension and spinning.
Stanbrough pressed Cottle’s Crume-Evans Insurance Chalk-chassis on the restart, and looked high in turn four before diving to the inside of the first turn on lap 14. He was able to pull even in the second turn and race Cottle wheel-to-wheel into three, where he now owned the prime real estate. Cottle tried to stay with him on the outside, but Stanbrough moved decisively ahead in through turn four.
Malone and A.J. Anderson tangled on the 21st circuit to bring the last caution of the race. For the second fifteen laps, Cottle tried in vain to regain position on Stanbrough, but the door never opened and they finished the way they ran the final circuits, nose-to-tail.
“When he got past me I was running up on the high side in one and two and obviously it was the wrong place to be running,” Cottle offered later. “But I was a sitting duck out there in the front, like last night. Just one of them deals. Maybe one day we’ll start behind him and catch him.”
The atmosphere was brighter several spaces away in the Fox team’s pits. “We were really actually pretty loose to run anywhere on the racetrack. The top was so rough you couldn’t run up there. So we just had to make the best of what we had. I tried to make as many adjustments in the car as I could and not make any mistakes when I got into the lead. The whole year’s been good. Hopefully we’ll just keep it going. Maybe we’ll top that number that (Paul) Hazen and I had a few years back.”
Results:
Heat 1: Justin Marvel (3), Scott Hatton (2), Chris Windom (8), Tony Elliott (1), Kenny Carmichael (5), Kyle Cummins (6), Donny Brackett (4), Justin Welden (10), Mike Hagemier (9), Alex Shanks (7)
Heat 2: Jon Stanbrough (5), Shane Cottle (9), Hunter Schuerenberg (4), Danny Williams Jr. (1), A.J. Anderson (7), Ty Deckard (10), Shawn Krockenburger (2), Cole Whitt (6), Kenny Haynes (3), Hud Cone (8)
Heat 3: Jonathan Vennard (2), Critter Malone (3), Derek O’Dell (5), Kenny Carmichael Jr. (4), Kent Christian (8), Matt Westfall (7), Jeremy Vanesky (6), Anthony Peterman (9), Aaron Mosley (1)
B-Main (12 laps): Cummins (1), Deckard (2), Westfall (3), Cone (14), Shanks (13), Walden (7), Haynes (5), Hagemier (10), Brackett (4)
Feature (30-laps): 1. Stanbrough (4), 2. Cottle (1), 3. Hatton (2), 4. Windom (7), 5. O’Dell (9), 6. Schuerenberg (8), 7. Christian (15), 8. Vennard (6), 9. Cummins (16), 10. Carmichael Sr. (13), 11. Cone (19), 12. Anderson (14), 13. Carmichael Jr. (12), 14. Malone (5), 15. Williams Jr. (11), 16. Marvel (3), 17. Deckard (17), 18. Westfall (18), 19. Elliott (10), 20. Shanks (20)
KISS POINTS: 1. Jon Stanbrough 270, 2. Shane Cottle 260, 3. Derek O’Dell 214, 4. Kenny Carmichael 202, 5. Chris Windom 200, 6. Kent Christian 199, 7. A.J. Anderson and Justin Marvel 192 (tie), 9. Hunter Schuerenberg 185, 10. Jonathan Vennard 180