8/5/2014
Robert Ballou
Ballou wins Darland Memorial
Kokomo Tribune; Kokomo, Indiana
August 5, 2014
Ballou wins Darland Memorial
West Coast native wins Darland Memorial
By BRETT BOWMAN Kokomo Tribune
Kokomo Tribune
---- — Rocklin, California, sprint car standout Robert Ballou worked his way to the front, then held off a late charge to score the feature win in the Bob and Joan Darland Memorial event Sunday night at the Kokomo Speedway.
Starting fifth in the talent-laden 30-lap main event, Ballou got past outside front-row starter Scotty Weir on the 15th lap, then had to hold off Justin Grant’s determined charge down the stretch. Grant, who started 17th, worked the top of the track to perfection, erasing Ballou’s straightaway advantage.
With just a pair of laps left, Grant’s Claxton Engines/Amsoil No. 40 had moved alongside Ballou’s Maxim Chassis/Ott Engines No. 12B, but contact with the wall at the flagstand thwarted his momentum. Coming to the white flag, Grant again had closed to Ballou’s rear bumper, but in trying to turn down and get under the leader, Grant got loose, giving Ballou all the advantage he would need to score the big wing.
“I had no idea where anyone was at,” said Ballou following the win. “To be honest, I kept expecting to see Dave [Darland] throw a slider on me down the stretch.”
Ballou noted his concern for fuel as the start of the race took several attempts to get rolling. On the first start, Avon’s Jon Stanbrough biked his RW Racing/Indiana Underground/MPe No. 37RW hard in turn three which resulted in a nasty flip. Stanbrough emerged from the twisted wreckage under his own power.
The second attempt saw Adam Byrkett bike his No. 78B in turn one, landing on Josh Spencer’s HalfMoon Restaurant and Brewery/Colescott’s Mobil 1/Claxton Engines No. 66J. The incident broke Spencer’s right front shock, however his team made repairs and he tagged the tail of the field on the restart.
The third attempt saw Dalten Gabbard bike his Baldwin Brothers’ Racing/Fox Paving No. 5 in nearly the same spot as Byrkett. Gabbard collected C.J. Leary, Travis Hery, Lee Dakus and Shane Cottle.
“I have really wanted to win this race for some time now,” Ballou continued. “I’ve been close in the past, but this was one I really wanted. Dave is a great racer and I know this event is a big one.”
Ballou has caught fire in the second half of the season and is arguably the hottest driver in the country right now. Prior to Sunday’s big win, he picked up a pair of USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car wins during the annual running of Indiana Sprint Week, then a week ago scored his first win north of Indianapolis at the Gas City I-69 Speedway.
“We’re not a high-dollar team,” Ballou noted. “We’ve got one engine and it’s been in the car 21 days, but we’ve turned things around here of late. I have finally figured out how to get around here on the bottom of the track. Everyone likes to go to the high side here but you can really run well if you figure out the bottom. [Sunday] I was using the Cottle line around here. I’d rather be less flashy and win than not win running around the top with everyone else.”
Grant was the race’s hard-charger with his second-place run while Darland battled back to finish third after falling to as low as eighth in the early going. Weir and polesitter Chris Windom completed the top five. Cottle was sixth, Jerry Coons Jr. seventh, Kevin Thomas Jr. eighth, Logan Jarrett ninth and Jarrett Andretti 10th. Jamie Frederickson scored an impressive 14th while Spencer finished 16th despite the first-lap incident.
In the Street Stock feature event, Travis Wolford picked up his first career feature win in the series at the track holding off Scott Hufford, Michael Cook and David Short in an event that saw the top four race bumper to bumper down the stretch in the 15-lap finale.
“This feels great,” Wolford stated. “I’ve won here in a Thunder Car but this is my first in a Street Stock and I don’t care what anyone says, this has to be the most competitive Street Stock series around. Hufford and Short are both first-class drivers and they raced me clean. I know there a few times I saw a blue nose on my right and then a white nose on my left so I just moved my line up a bit and hoped it would stall both of them out and it worked.”
Glen Gamblin, gunning for his 11th track title in the division, was fifth, Josh Gamblin seventh, Jeremy VanNess ninth, Eric Hunter 11th, Gary Mock 12th, Mike Cain 17th and Chris Hunter 18th.
Sharpsville’s Bob Bourff found Victory Lane for the third time this season in the Thunder Car feature.
Bourff battled defending track champion Kory Glassburn and Dennis Freeland tooth and nail before taking the lead just past the midway point in the 15-lap feature. Once out front he opened up a sizable advantage, but a caution with just three laps remaining bunched the field up and set up a three-lap shootout.
“I really hated to see that [caution flag],” noted Bourff. “[Saturday] night in my mini-sprint at Peru, I lost one by inches and I was thinking it might happen again. I just can’t thank everyone who have helped out enough because this car was a rocket and I knew if I hit my marks it would be tough to pass me there at the end.”
Glassburn settled for a hard-earned second over Freeland. Two-time winner this season Eric Brown was fourth and Jason Atkinson fifth. Jim Darland was eighth, Jason Shrout 10th and David Atkins 12th from the area.
The track will now sit idle until Aug. 21-23 with the third running of the Stoops’ Freightliner Sprint Car Smackdown for the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series. The event is expected to be near capacity all three nights, however there are still a few tickets remaining. Ticket information may be found at www.kokomospeedway.net.
Article Credit: Kokomo Tribune
Submitted By: Sacha Ballou
