COTTLE TAKES KISS MAIN EVENT AT BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY. GILPIN, FIELDS, AND GARRISON ALL VICTORS By: Chris Nunn The King of Indiana Sprint Series (KISS) made its annual venture to the Bloomington Speedway for a $2,500 to win main event on Friday, bringing a stout field of 33 Sprint Cars to the pits. It is a yearly mini-series comprised of dirt tracks in the state of Indiana, with a points fund to the highest finisher in the points standings. On hand along with the Sprint Cars were the UMP Modifieds, Super Stocks and Hornets. Dalton Gabbard and Jerry Coons, Jr. made up the front row for the Sprint car main via the blind draw after the heat races. Gabbard led the first lap with Carson Short taking second at the line. Levi Shields stopped on the backstretch to bring out the caution on lap three. Gabbard pulled away to a half straight advantage over Carson on the restart, as the top five ran single file. By lap ten, Gabbard held a full straight advantage in the Balwin Bros. #5. Behind him, Shane Cottle had moved around both Coons Jr and Carson Short for the second spot. The yellow flag flew once again as Jordan Kinser stopped just short of the work area on lap 13. When racing resumed, most of the field stayed on the bottom of the track trying to work around Gabbard. At halfway, it was Gabbard, Cottle, Carson Short, Brady Short, and Coons Jr making up the top five. Brady Short started using the highside, and started to move around Carson Short for third. Unfortunately for Short, the red flag flew, as Shields flipped in turn two in an accident involving Dakota Jackson as well on lap 16. On the restart, Gabbard stayed glued to the bottom of the track, opening a three car cushion over he and Cottle. Gabbard and Cottle touched coming out of turn four on lap 19, as Brady Short used the high side and moved around Carson Short, and Cottle for second. Gabbard, Brady Short, and Cottle ran under a blanket for the lead with just seven laps to go. Gabbard bobbled coming off turn two and lost the lead with just six to go to Brady Short. Cottle had then caught up to the rear of Short for the lead with four to go. Cottle attempted to move under him with one to go. Cottle then ran Short down coming into turn three for the checkers, and made the winning move coming out of turn four to the checkers. Brady Short, Gabbard, Coons Jr and Casey Shuman rounded out the top five. Sprint car heat winners were Jerry Coons Jr, Kevin Thomas Jr, Shane Cottle, and Robert Ballou. The B-Main went to Dakota Jackson. Marty Cooper took the lead at the outset of the Super Stock main event over Jack Frye, with Steve Hawkins in third. The red flag would fly on lap two, as Chip Slagle got upside down in turn two. When racing resumed, Cooper maintained his lead over Frye, with Aaron Fields moving to third around Hawkins. Fields ended up splitting Frye and Hawkins to take the second position on lap five. Fields then used the high side to move around Cooper for the lead. Fields immediately opened a half straight lead over Cooper and was flying. Just past halfway, Fields was over a full straight ahead of Cooper, with two lapped cars in between them. Behind the front two cars, Frye, Hawkins, Steve Hollars and Lee Hobbs ran under a blanket for the third spot. With less than five to go, however, Fields had officially “half-tracked” the second place car of Cooper. Fields easily took the win over Cooper, Hollars, Hawkins, and Hobbs. Super Stock heat wins went to Steve Hawkins and Lee Hobbs Chad Combs and Kent Robinson comprised the front row for the UMP Modified feature. An accident on the initial start bunched the field back up for a complete restart. Robinson led the first lap over Combs and Devin Gilpin. Gilpin moved to the high side to try to move around Combs for second, but the caution flew for Bryson Clark in turn four. Gilpin took second on the restart, and started to set his sights on Robinson out front. Gilpin and Robinson ran nose to tail for the lead as they inched closer to halfway. At halfway, Robinson held a two car advantage over Gilpin, who was using any line he could. Gilpin moved to the lead on lap 14, nosing under Robinson. Combs then moved under Robinson for second, as it seemed Robinson’s car began to wear away. With less than five to go, Gilpin moved up on lapped traffic, putting two lapped cars between him and Combs. The caution flew with two to go, as Jason Clark spun in turn two. Gilpin was able to lead the last two laps on the restart for his second straight win at Bloomington over Combs, Amick, Robinson, and Joe Godsey. Modified heat winners were Chad Combs, Kent Robinson, and Devin Gilpin. The B-Main winner was Jason Clark. Chris Hanners and Whitney Baldwin led the field to the green in the Hornet main event. Hanners found himself turned into the frontstretch guardrail, with the caution flying on the original start. This put Luke Bland and Baldwin on the front row now, with Bland leading lap one with Greg Garrison now in second. Bland and Garrison ran nose to tail for the lead, as they worked through lapped traffic. Garrison tried to look under Bland for the lead, as the two made contact at halfway. Bland got sideways, but was able to keep the lead over Garrison. With five to go, Garrison and Bland ran side by side for the lead only for the caution to fly. With three to go, Garrison tried to move under Bland again for the lead. Bland held the advantage as they took the white flag. Just as they were coming out of turn two, Jameson Petermichael flipped coming out of turn four. This set up a one lap shootout between Bland and Garrison. Bland led the field to the green/white combination and led the entire way around to turn three, where Garrison used the outside to nip Bland at the line in one of the closest finishes in the history of the Hornet divison at Bloomington Speedway. Hornet heat winners were Chris Hanners and Keegan Cox There will be no racing at Bloomington Speedway next Friday evening.
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 04:46:26 +0000
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