Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - Cole Whitt was very much anticipating the last “big race” of the Indiana racing season as he and Chuck Gurney Jr. rolled out the C-Squared #29w Red Bull sponsored sprint car for the last time in 2009. Thirty other competitors were in the pits despite the subfreezing temperatures at the Kokomo Klash. Sunday night Cole Whitt added the distinction of being awarded the 2009 Track Championship and also being crowned Kokomo Klash Champion. Cole’s Win was his 9th of the season at Kokomo and his 15th win overall.
Whitt and Gurney had the car dialed in early, qualifying fastest in his group and posting a dominating win in the first heat race. After the top 2 finishers from each heat race drew for starting position, Whitt would start inside the second row of the 25 lap feature. Settling into fourth at the start Whitt paced the field and was able to work both the cushion and the bottom of the track to race into the 2nd position and track down the leader. After a late race caution on lap 22, Whitt wasted little time in overtaking the leader on the restart by diving deep into turn one on the high side and emerging into the lead. Whitt went on to post his 9th victory at his favorite Kokomo Speedway.
“Winning the last race here at Kokomo is just awesome!” stated Cole. “I have been so close to this win the last two years at the Klash and to win this year after taking the championship, it’s really special to me. I have to give special thanks to Chuck for all his hard work and to my mom and dad for supporting me. To Red Bull and all my sponsors that help out, it’s been a great year and I’m very thankful.”
Cole Whitt and Keith Kunz Motorsports will be heading out west to compete at Perris Auto Speedway for the 14th Annual Budweiser USAC Oval Nationals November 5-7th and then on to Phoenix International Raceway for USAC National Midgets November 12th.
