Briscoe Outruns Huge KISS Field At Paragon Speedway

June 24, 2006 – Kevin Briscoe scored his third King of Indiana Sprint Series (KISS) feature win at Paragon Speedway, Saturday, with a timely move up into the rubber that had built up in the turns.  The veteran racer from Mitchell, IN, passed point leader Jon Stanbrough with three laps remaining, and was ahead of Jon Sciscoe by seven car lengths when the race ended.  Stanbrough earned a third place finish, followed by Dave Darland and Josh Cunningham.

“It’s good to get a win,” he said after the victory photos.  “We’ve had a bad year.  It’s our fourth win, and we’ve had a lot of top-5’s.  But the draw has been killing us.  I just wish they had passing points.”

With 68 cars in the pits, competition for the 22 KISS feature starting spots was intense.  Briscoe and Critter Malone were among the heat race winners, even though both started from the tail.  Before the main event, Dawn Kirchner drew the number 2 pill for the Briscoe Homes Stealth, giving Kevin the outside of the front row. 

From the pole, Sciscoe shoved the Pottorff Logging machine into the lead in the first turn, with Stanbrough and Briscoe glued to his tail, and Arin McIntosh running fourth.   Sciscoe was in command through the first half of the race, working the bottom lane and preventing anyone from getting inside of him.  On the fourth circuit, Shane Hollingsworth nicked a turn two marker tire and somersaulted the Truckers 24-Hour Service Twister on the backstretch. 

Sciscoe continued to show the way following the restart, but while the leaders seemed married to the bottom groove, others were making progress around the top of the track.  Jonathan Vennard used the cushion to stay in fifth, and Dave Darland and Darren Hagen raced into the top ten from the ninth and sixth rows, in Jeff Walker’s machines.  When Donnie Gentry spun to bring a caution flag at the half-way point, the lineup was Sciscoe, Briscoe, Stanbrough, McIntosh, Vennard, Hud Cone, Darland, Hagen, Danny Holtsclaw and Joe Roush.

Sciscoe tried the high route through the first turn on the restart allowing Briscoe to pull even on the bottom.  When Sciscoe regained the lead, he dropped back into the bottom groove, but Briscoe quickly moved up the track and found what he had been watching for, the buildup of rubber had become gummy and fast.  He shot ahead, easily taking the lead on lap 18. 

When the field took the green after a lap 20 yellow, Briscoe and Sciscoe went to the top of the track, but Stanbrough stayed on the inside and hustled past both of them.  Looking for his third KISS victory in 2006 and a lock on the point title, Stanbrough kept the Fox Brothers’ DRC a dozen car lengths in front while Darland grabbed fourth spot.  But Briscoe came back, taking the lead on lap 24 only to have a spin by Danny Holtsclaw bring another caution before the lap was completed. 

Staying on the bottom, Stanbrough led three circuits after the green and Cunningham took third from Sciscoe.  But on the 27th lap, Briscoe had the Briscoe Homes Stealth wound up and screamed back into the lead.  Sciscoe followed into second on lap 29.  A caution on lap 30, involving Hagen, Cone and Rob Botts, ended the race by track rules, with Briscoe ahead of Sciscoe, and Stanbrough edging Darland for third.

Afterwards, Briscoe noted that his car had been fast on the bottom, but he kept “screwing up”.  He explained that he kept checking the top for rubber during the caution, then one time “there it was”.  The bottom was faster after cautions, he said, but he knew that the rubber was coming back three or four laps later.  “Any time it becomes a track where you have to search around – experience comes into play.  You have to be smart and find the race track.”

Jon Sciscoe has become used to the runner-up role this year, but that doesn’t mean he’s enjoying it.  “I led the majority of the race,” he said.  “It looked like it was taking rubber, but I didn’t know and Kevin slipped around us.  You really can’t tell.  Sometimes the track is black like that and it’s slicker than hell.  Other times it locks us right down.”

Stanbrough’s third place run gave him a 99-point advantage over Vennard with just one event remaining.  He noted that he was on the bottom the whole way and “when the track laid rubber down on the top, Briscoe just got a better bite.”

Results: King of Indiana Sprint Series at Paragon Speedway, June 24, 2006

Heat 1 (3 transfer): Critter Malone (11), Jon Sciscoe (1), Darren Hagen (7), Josh Cunningham (4), Mike Gibbs (8), Bart Pletch (9), Chris Babcock (3), Donnie Gentry (6), Nevil Algieo (2), Johnny Johnson (5), Nick Johnson (10), Levi Jones (12)

Heat 2: Danny Holtsclaw (2), Jonathan Vennard (3), Marc Arnold (1), Derek O’Dell (7), Alex Shanks (9), Dustin Beliles (12), Jerry Ruble (10), Eric Edwards (5), Matt Laffoon (11), Muff Cody (8), William Nedderman (4), Bruce Berry (6)

Heat 3: Kevin Briscoe (11), Cole Whitt (1), Rob Botts (9), Miranda Throckmorton (5), Nick Corea (10), Randy Johnson (8), Jake Scott (7), Scott Hampton (2), Josh Slone (6), Wesley Hickman (3), Buddy Cunningham (4)

Heat 4: Jon Stanbrough (3), Shane Hollingsworth (4), Justin Marvel (1), Kyle Cummins (9), Tony Reed (2), Dennis Rose (5), Eric Zellner (7), Gary Blum (6), Jim Dugan (10), Nick Mosier (11), Chris Gentry (8)

Heat 5: Hud Cone (4), Shane Cottle (5), Chris Windom (7), Scotty Weir (10), Ray Kenens (6), Adam Beliles (6), Kevin Studley (11), Bobby Smith (8), Kevin Chambers (1), Doug Heck (9), Kent Christian (3)

Heat 6: Joe Roush (4), Arin McIntosh (3), Dave Darland (9), Brent Beauchamp (6), Dickie Gaines (5), Jared Fox (1), Gregg Cory (7), Nick Mosier (11), Kerry Kinser (2), Eric Smith (10), John Johnson Jr.

B-Main #1 (2 transfer): J. Cunningham (1), D. Gentry (13), Babcock (10), Corea (5), Jones (25), Throckmorton (2), A. Beliles (9), Kenens (6), Smith (15), Studley (12)

B-Main #2 : Cummins (2), Gaines (6), Fox (9), Shanks (4), O’Dell (1), Reed (5), D. Beliles (7), Zellner (11), Cory (12), Edwards (13)

Feature (30 laps): Briscoe (2), Sciscoe (1), Stanbrough (4), Darland (18), J. Cunningham (19), Vennard (5), McIntosh (3), Marvel (16), Cummins (20), Cottle (12), Arnold (14), Windom (17), Malone (6), Roush (9), Gentry (21), Hagen (13), Cone (7), Botts (15), Holtsclaw (10), Gaines (22), Whitt (8), Hollingsworth (11)