Kokomo Speedway Wheel To Wheel Racing Every Sunday!
General Admission $12 & Kids 10 and under FREE
For over 60 years the Kokomo Speedway has brought family fun filled entertainment to local fans and drivers. With one of the most diverse schedules in the area ranging from the Jack Hewitt Classic, Stock Cars, Mini Sprints, Modifieds, and the season ending Kokomo Klash in 2008 Kokomo Speedway offers something for everyone of all ages.

We have rained out for today, sunday May 11th. Our next event will be held next Sunday, May 18th with a full program plus Mini Sprints.

Stanbrough, Darland drive to Hewitt Hardware
Missig, Owens collect features as well

By Derek Fisher

For a variety of reasons, Kokomo Speedway will never be confused with Tony Stewart's Eldora Speedway. But on Sunday night, one could have glanced at the racing line situated mere inches off the wall and momentarily been persuaded that they were, in fact, inside the legendary Ohio facility. Anyone who's familiar with Eldora knows that no one dared to run closer to the fence there than Jack Hewitt; call it fitting that Sunday's third annual Jack Hewitt Classic was contested on a surface worthy of its namesake.

Jon Stanbrough, Dave Darland, Andre Missig and Josh Owens braved the concrete to capture feature wins at Kokomo Speedway this week, and Missig paired his win with last week's triumph to become Kokomo's first two-time winner in 2008.

With 35 sprint cars and 26 midgets on hand to vie for the Hewitt trophies, the action was cutthroat early as Ron Dennis, Darland, Casey Shuman and Stanbrough collected very competitive sprint heat race wins. Darland also claimed his midget heat, and was joined as a preliminary winner by midget brethren Brad Loyet and Dustin Morgan. Scotty Weir and Chris Windom laid claim to twin sprint B-mains before Kellen Conover connected on the midget last chance race.

After a reworking of the Kokomo clay, it was Weir who jumped from his front row starting position to lead the first of 40 sprint feature laps. On the move early was Dennis, vaulting from his 10th spot on the grid to challenge as high as fifth by lap four.

As Weir paced the field for the first 10 circuits, Stanbrough was on the move from sixth. Thieving third by lap two and second from Jerry Coons, Jr. by lap seven, the 30-time winner from last year rode side-by-side with Weir on lap 11 before nipping him at the line and quickly opening an eight car length lead. Weir, Coons and Morgan followed Stanbrough's line around the high side as the leaders began to encounter heavy lapped traffic by the 13th circuit. With Stanbrough lengthening his advantage to a straightaway in the ensuing eight laps, Weir began to fade, first losing second to Coons, followed by third to Morgan and fourth to a surging Brad Sweet.

After a lap 25 red flag for Cole Carter's hard flip in turn three, Stanbrough again left the grasp of the pack and set sail on the still slick surface. Sweet, still on the move after starting fifth, wrestled second from Coons on lap 31, just in time to see Stanbrough make his only bobble of the night: A grazing of the wall after drifting too high out of the fourth turn. That miscue allowed Sweet to close briefly, but the 2006 Kokomo champion was too strong to be caught and won going away over Sweet, Coons, Brady Bacon and Morgan. Weir rebounded to claim 12th after tagging the tail due to a flat tire on lap 25.

"I thought the race was going to be on the bottom," Stanbrough said from victory lane. "But that's no way to run a Jack Hewitt Classic, because he was always up on the fence." Winless in 2008 before the feature, Stanbrough added that he was, "glad we could finally come out and win one."

In the midget main, Loyet leaped from the pole to grad a commanding lead in the early going over Darland and Bryan Clauson. As Matt Westfall, Coons and Morgan joined the lead trio over the next five laps, Clauson was finding enough rubber down in the third and fourth turns to demote Darland to third on the ninth tour of the oval.

Over the next six circuits, Clauson stalked Loyet on the inside, showing a nose in seemingly every turn before throwing a changeup and passing the leader on the high side of turn four on lap 15. Clauson began to pull away but his charge was slowed by a lap 19 yellow, during which he saw his right rear tire go flat. Clauson was forced to pay the price for his aggression on the abrasive surface by going to the tail after a quick swap of rubber.

As Loyet resumed command on the restart, second-place Darland wasted little time in challenging for the top spot and threw a slide job on the leader in turn one on lap 20. The slider wasn't 100% clean though, and the contact knocked Loyet back to third behind Coons. Loyet attempted to repay the favor to Darland the next time into turn one, but only got past Coons with a little contact of his own. As Darland drove clear of the field, Loyet hung onto the second spot only for another three laps before Coons was able to retake the spot.

Coons couldn't make up any ground on Darland in the final five circuits and settled for second behind the popular Lincoln driver. Chad Boat, Westfall and Brent Beauchamp rounded out the top five after Loyet's bid for third was dashed when he suffered a flat tire on the final lap. He was able to hang on for seventh.

"The team gave me a good car tonight," said Darland. "This is our first win with Toyota power on the dirt, so we're pretty excited about that."

In the street stock main event, Missig had to work for his victory. Ryan Ramseyer was the early leader over Jim Nutter and Tristan Ramseyer as Missig was mired back in the seventh spot. Nutter moved into the lead on lap four when Ryan Ramseyer was forced to retire from the event, and he led the next three laps in dominating fashion until his engine expired, ending his night.

After a restart, Tristan Ramseyer assumed control in front of Missig, who was still on the move. Missig was able to battle past Ramseyer with six laps remaining and was not challenged from there. Late in the going, Ramseyer faded to third behind David Hurst, then to fourth behind Shayne Baker. When the dust settled, he ended up in that fourth spot behind Missig, Hurst and Baker, and ahead of fifth-place Glen Gamblin.

In thunder car action, Allen Davis appeared to be headed for yet another win at Kokomo before Josh Owens intervened. Davis led at the outset with David Tanner and Owens in tow, and Owens claimed second on lap two as Tim Huffman and Tony Bowman joined the top five fray.

Tanner and Bowman waged a torrid battle for third over the next five laps, and on the eleventh trip around the speedway the top duo of Davis and Owens encounted lapped traffic. The backmarkers allowed Owens to slip by Davis and run away, and on lap 14 Bowman was able to sneak around Davis and into the runner-up spot. As Owens and Bowman flashed under the checkers, Davis was forced to settle for third ahead of Tanner and Huffman.