TERRE HAUTE — It was a good news, bad news kind of night for the twice rescheduled running of the Republic Services Don Smith Classic, featuring the Midwest Sprint Car Series, at the Terre Haute Action Track on Sunday night.
The good news was the racing in their MSCS 30-lap feature race was outstanding.
Jon Stanbrough blew past race leader Damian Gardner heading through turn four, then narrowly won the “sprint” to the waving checkered flag. Stanbrough, who led the first four laps, chased Gardner the balance of the race until the very last moment.
“I just went into the final turns as fast as I could and if we lose, we lose,” said Stanbrough after accepting the winner’s trophy at the start-finish line soon afterward.
Meanwhile, Gardner made the other outstanding racing move of the night to assume the lead after lap four. Gardner pulled off a slingshot move between Stanbrough and Robert Ballou, the defending Don Smith Classic champion, then led through lap 29.
But there was plenty of bad news to go around, because the MSCS race took over two hours to complete.
Also caught up in the slow racing theme of the night was the regularly scheduled Union Hospital Classic, featuring the Indiana Late Models and the SCORA Sprint Car Series. Their feature races — even when reduced from 20 to 15 laps — were not completed by the Tribune-Star’s press time.
But returning to the MSCS feature race, it was marred by two red flags, two open red flags, seven yellow flags and a pair of notable wrecks. Fortunately, no drivers were reported injured.
In fact, the second open red flag created a lengthy delay after the 18th lap because to allow all the cars to be refueled. This came after soon after a yellow flag was waved because of cars stalling on the track because they were running out of fuel.
The first red flag flew before the race had completed its first lap, as five cars — Ron Gerhardt, Craig Budde, Jamie Fredrickson, Marc Arnold and J.T. Stapp — were involved in a multi-car incident. Budde’s car started a spin heading to turn three, then two other cars flipped and a fuel cell could be seen flying during the melee.
Stanbrough led the first four laps after the restart, then a spin involving Kyle Krockenberger brought out the first yellow. Gardner pulled off his deft move soon after the restart, led laps five and six, before a yellow flag came out again.
This time, Krockenberger’s car stalled on the backstretch. Gardner led lap seven, then a second red flag came out as Brandon Mattox got upside down on the backstretch.
The hits kept on coming as Gardner led laps eight and nine, then Nick Landon stalled on the backstretch (yellow flag). After this restart, Gardner led through lap 16, but Chase Briscoe’s car came to a stop (yellow) just as Gardner had caught up with the rear of the pack.
Gardner led laps 17 and 18, then Aric Gentry flipped multiple times on the backstretch (red flag). Then came the stalled cars due to lack of gas issue, and after a 30-minute delay, the race resumed once again.
Gardner led laps 19-21 (yellow, car stopped), then led laps 22-27 (yellow, debris on the track). Gardner led laps 28 and 29, before Stanbrough pulled off his race-winning move.
The Don Smith Classic was originally rained out on May 2, then was rained out a second time on Saturday.
In contrast, the heat races for all three racing organizations went off with nary a hitch. Those seven races did not have one, count ‘em, yellow flag and were completed in just one hour.
The uneventful heat races helped the racing schedule immensely, as hot laps didn’t get underway until over two hours later than originally scheduled due to working on the wet track from Saturday’s heavy rainfall.
Don Smith Classic
Midwest Sprint Car Series
First heat — Jon Sciscoe, Kyle Cummins, Ricky Williams, Matt Goodnight, Jonathan Vennard, Chase Briscoe, Eric Krockenberger, Nick Landon, Kyle Krockenberger, A.J. Martin.
Second heat — Robert Ballou, Damian Gardner, Chase Stockon, Aric Gentry, Shawn Krockenberger, Jamie Fredrickson, Matt Humphrey, Ron Gerhardt, Marc Arnold, Daren Krockenberger.
Third heat — Jon Stanbrough, Jeff Bland Jr., Ty Deckard, Dusty Wright, Brandon Mattox, Blake Fitzpatrick, J.T. Stapp, Adam Nigg, Craig Budde.
Feature (30 laps) — Stanbrough, Gardner, Cummins, Williams, Ballou, Fitzpatrick, Deckard, Stockon, Briscoe, Vennard, Nigg, Wright, E.Krockenberger, Bland, Sciscoe, Gentry, S.Krockenberger, Landon, Mattox, Martin, K.Krockenberger, Fredrickson, Stapp, Gerhardt, Arnold, Budde, D.Krockenberger (did not start).
Next up for the Action Track is the Indiana Union Construction Classic, featuring the All-Star Circuit of Champions Winged Sprint Cars on July 4.
Union Hospital Classic
SCORA Sprint Car Series
Heat winners — Chase Stockon, J.T. Stapp.
Feature winner (15 laps) —
Indiana Late Models
Heat winners — Jeremy Hines, Jim Price.
Feature winner (15 laps) — Race was not complete of press time
Auto Racing
30-lap feature race highlights night at Terre Haute Action Track
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