Darland Dazzles at Kokomo Smackdown
Dave Darland Standing Tall at Kokomo
Kokomo, Indiana…….Dave Darland of Lincoln, Indiana ,The peoples Champion or is it Double D , whatever you prefer one thing is for sure Dave Darland is a Winner. The Smackdown at Kokomo with back to back wins would have delighted his many fans.
Night one of the Smackdown set the pattern when the Lincoln Indiana racer raced to second behind Bryan Clauson on opening night.
Night two and Darland parked the Phillips Motorsports – Racer’s Advantage #71P DRC/Foxco.for his 43rd win in the AMSOILS Series.
The form guide was good and the only blemish for Darland on the night was being beaten in the final of the “King of the Hill Match race shoot out by Chase Stokton.
Winning advise to Darland
Darland jumped from outside the front row to take a commanding lead early. Chad Boespflug was the first to chase and quickly moved into second. Shane Cottle, the week-long B&W Auto Mart “Smackdown Hard Charger” winner, quickly moved into the top-five after starting tenth.
The feature was just 6 laps old when Jon Stanbrough brought out the caution. On the restart Darland again darted into a commanding lead as the race ran caution free for the next 20 laps.
Traffic was now starting to come into the equation and Cottle was making ground fast as he move into a top 5 position. Cottle was hitting his marks and making the top work perfect but another caution would slow his momentum with 15 laps to race.
Cautions mid race have many different effects and tonight at Kokomo it was a reminder to Darland that he needed to squash the charging Cottle. Back into the grove, working the cushion Darland assume the race control and his domination of the Smaskdown would be complete as he raced to the win with 1.874-second win over Cottle and his Epperson Painting – Leer Motorsports #2 Spike/Claxton.
Chase Stokton after his win in the King of Hill Match race fell back from his front row position and was never really in the race for the lead. Late in the race Stokton had resurgence and finish a strong 3rd to salvage some important points after looking so strong earlier.
The Smaskdown win by Darland was his 44th win in the AMSOIL National series and this win at Kokomo gives DD the most wins in the history of Kokomo and the legend continues to build.
Driver quotes –
Dave Darland “It was a helluva night, helluva weekend. Winning two out of three and becoming the all-time winner here, it’s just been a great weekend. Hopefully this event boosts non-wing sprint car racing in general. I got to the lead and just had some difficulty coming up on cars because I couldn’t see the cushion very well from their dust and all that. The yellow came out, and knew I just had to hit good laps and find my rhythm again. My car owners and the people who help us, my wife, and some new sponsors have helped us get things back on track after some bad luck during Sprintweek, so I just have to thank them for everything,” Darland said
Darland out front at Kokomo
Shane Cottle “I was chomping at the bit to get him. I didn’t need the yellow, and if I had it to do over again, I think I would have followed him through one and two and tried the bottom in three and four. It was fun to pass all those cars these last two nights – I’m not sure if I’ve passed that many in the last year, so these two nights were pretty crazy. We had to change the whole driveline yesterday, and it turned into a whole different car. It was really fun running up there, and I loved watching him (Darland) go through the cushion. I was just watching, thinking ‘Man, this guy just doesn’t mess up,’” Cottle said
Chase Stokton “To be strong in the “King of the Hill” and win it was unbelievable. I kinda dropped back a little bit at the beginning, but I was trying to conserve the car and keep it under me. We kept plugging away, though, to get back to third. We had a broken shock toward the end which made it a bit of a handful. We’ve gotten going really well lately after a stretch of bad luck, so hopefully we can keep it going,” Stockon said.
FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Scotty Weir (#18 Keen), 2. Tracy Hines (#4 Hines). 3. Braylon Fitzpatrick (#3F Fitzpatrick). 4. Logan Jarrett (#29 Jarrett), 5. Darren Hagen (#21x Pollock), 6. Blake Fitzpatrick (#10 Fitzpatrick), 7. Dakota Jackson (#3 Jackson). NT
SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Shane Cottle (#2 Epperson), 2. Casey Shuman (#21k Krockenberger), 3. Chris Gurley (#12G Team Automotive), 4. Gary Taylor (#40 Hery), 5. Nick Drake (#55 Cline), 6. Ray Kenens (#K9 Kenens), 7. Hunter Schuerenberg (#41 SST). NT
THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Chris Windom (#11 Walker), 2. Wes McIntyre (#83 McIntyre), 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (#10E Edison), 4. Daron Clayton (#35 Byram), 5. Thomas Meseraull (#5 Baldwin), 6. Kyle Robbins (#17R Robbins), 7. Josh Spencer (#66J Spencer).
“KING OF THE HILL” 2-CAR SHOOTOUTS: (3 laps each) Round 1: Dave Darland (#71p Phillips) defeated Tyler Courtney (#23c Courtney), Chad Boespflug (#57 Hazen) defeated Robert Ballou (#12x Ballou), Chase Stockon (#32 32 TBI) defeated Bryan Clauson (#20 Stewart/Curb-Agajanian) and Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics) defeated Jon Stanbrough (#66 Tate/Wade). Round 2: Darland defeated Boespflug and Stockon defeated Bacon, Final Round: Stockon defeated Darland.
SEMI: (15 laps) 1. Clayton, 2. Meseraull, 3. Jarrett, 4. Taylor, 5. Robbins, 6. Hagen, 7. Drake, 8. Spencer, 9. Kenens. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Tracy Hines, 10. Tyler Courtney, 11. Casey Shuman, 12. Robert Ballou, 13” Darland jumped from outside the front row to take a commanding lead early. Chad Boespflug became the early chaser as he roared to second on the cushion, and Shane Cottle, the week-long B&W Auto Mart “Smackdown Hard Charger” winner, quickly moved into the top-five after starting tenth., 14. Gary Taylor, 15. Wes McIntyre, 16. Daron Clayton, 17. Kyle Robbins, 18. Chris Gurley, 19. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 20. Thomas Meseraull, 21. Logan Jarrett, 22. Chad Boespflug. NT
——————————–
**Jackson flipped during the first qualifier. Schuerenberg flipped during the second qualifier.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Darland.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-1,322, 2-Clauson-1,291, 3-Bacon-1,277, 4-Stockon-1,196, 5-Kevin Thomas-1,153, 6-Ballou-1,034, 7-Hines-1,027, 8-Schuerenberg-976, 9-Windom-874, 10-Cottle-855.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 30 – West Burlington, Iowa – 34 Raceway
