Friday night at the Klash: Congratulations to C.J. Leary for putting the 30 car into victory lane after a heck of a drive on a fast track at Kokomo!
It was Darland and Cottle on the front row at the start with Messeraul (Keen 18) and Leary in tow. Within a couple laps it was Darland on the cushion and Leary down low with Cottle and Coons behind them. Cottle and Coons both headed for the same spot coming out of turn four resulting in Cottle getting loose and tagging Coons, who then bounced over the "white" tire and coming to a stop. Grant also spun in an effort to miss Coons. Coons left with a flat tire.
On the restart it was Darland, Leary, Messeraul and Stockon top four. Within a few laps you could throw a blanket over the group racing for third place between Messeraul, Stockon, Stanbrough and A.J. Hopkins.
Darland still in front followed by Leary and Messeraul all took to the top side followed by Stockon, Stanbrough and Hopkins who went to the low side of the track. Then Leary started entering the turns on top of the cushion in one and three and began gaining momentum on Darland, nearly reaching his bumper coming off of turn two.
As they entered turn three Leary drove high up on the cushion, a move we have seen Justin Grant master lately. Leary then turned it down and diamond it off the cushion heading towards the bottom of turn four and was able to keep pace with Darland down the stretch and into one as he found some moisture and worked a slider making a clean pass of Darland in turn two.
A few laps later the yellow came out as someone hit one of the "white" tires causing it to roll out onto the track. So on the restart with Leary leading, Darland then went low with a slide job in turn one unable to pass C.J. but that allowed Messeraul to make the pass on Darland out of turn two on the high side.
Those three raced out front with Leary up on top of the cushion most of the time, Stockon and Stanbrough was putting on a show for fourth, swapping positions every other lap.
Leary was blasting past back markers with Darland gaining on Messeraul and was finally able to finally drive by him in turn one. A few laps later Darland and Messeraul tried reeling in Leary and maybe gained a little but Leary remained too strong. C.J. could drive anywhere on the track he wished as the track stayed tacky thru-out the race.
He went on to take his first Checkers at the Kokomo Speedway. Congrats again to C.J. Leary
Second went to Darland then Messeraul, Ballou, Stockon, Clauson and Stanbrough followed.
*Side-note: Off and on rain all week led to plenty of moisture in the track Friday. It was well groomed for the evening though. All but one sprint heat ran the middle to bottom of the track, leaving the cushion very low. So the track prep people worked the cushion back down several times during the evening, which led to some great racing afterwards. I never saw Reese O'Connor all evening. He usually does the track prep, but Jarred and Rowdy and crew did a great job in his place. Thanks Kokomo Speedway for putting on a good season ender for most of us, even with the high winds and very cool weather it was good racing!