Sitton edges Chanler, gets SUPR victory at Baton Rouge

By Bryan Wimberley
O'Reilly SUPR Series correspondent
 

BAKER, La. (July 31) - Capturing his first series victory in 14 months, third-starting Kevin Sitton of Baytown, Texas, edged polesitter Jeff Chanler by five lengths Saturday night at Baton Rouge Raceway on the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southern United Professional Racing tour. Sitton took the lead on the sixth lap and held off a mad scramble behind him for a $2,500 payday.

"It feels real good. We have been trying all season for this, it is our first one. It is my first one here in Baton Rouge, too," the 28-year old Sitton said. "There was a few times where I missed my marks, I was playing more defense than anything, I should have just got up on the wheel and raced and not trying to block everybody."

"I kept looking at my crew guy every time the yellow would come out and he was saying that I kept pulling away from everybody, that I had a pretty good lead. Anytime you are leading, you get worried and can't wait for the checkered flag to come out."

"I was satisfied with the track in the beginning, it was real good. As we raced, it started to rubber up on the top. I knew it was going to rubber up from running here in the past, so I knew I had to get up in the lead as quickly as I could. Once I got up into the lead, I just moved up in the black. Once it all rubbered, I figured we had it."

"It was real racy, any time you can get off of that top and move down to the bottom or maybe the middle and make a pass, then that is good for this place. It was sandy, but Donald Watson does a great job on the place. The way the track was tonight was real good for us actually, especially when I was able to move down and pass."

"I tried the top a few times, but if I entered it too high when it was starting to take on rubber, then my car was too tight getting in. It would shove the nose and I would have to get off the gas for a long time. What I would have to do, is enter it a little bit lower out of the rubber and slide up to it. Once I hit the rubber, then I would hammer down and take off," Sitton added. "This place is like a little Kilgore (Lone Star Speedway)."

SUPR points leader Rob Litton of Alexandria, La., rallied from his 17th-starting spot, surviving a flat tire to finish third in the 50-lapper while Allen Tippen of Minden, La., and 19th-starting Kyle Cummings of Sibley, La., rounded out the top five.

Chanler led the first five laps and hoped for a shot at Sitton late in the race, but settled for second.

"I was hoping on that last restart I would have something for Sitton, but it was all I could do to hold on to second," Chanler said. "Lapped traffic gave us a chance and I hoped it would work in our favor."

Chanler led at the outset and Sitton quickly joined him for a two-car breakaway. Sitton dipped under Chanler to take command on the sixth lap, as Tippen drew near to make it a three-way battle two laps later. The frontrunners drove off by over two seconds from fourth place Chris Holley.

Jack Sullivan of Greenbrier, Ark., entered the mix into the top five, by getting around Holley, when the first caution flew for the right rear flat of Rob Litton on the 11th circuit. Litton's crew would have it changed and him back out, starting at the rear of the field.

Sullivan again got rolling on the restart, taking third from Tippen on the 13th lap and dropping Chanler to third on lap 16. Sullivan tried to close the gap on Sitton, but a tangle with the lapped car of Paul Joyner on the 17th lap knocked him out of the race.

With Sitton pulling away on the restart, it was Robbie Starnes of Baytown heading for the front. He briefly took second from Chanler while Cummings, Litton and Tippen also battled for top-five spots.

At the midway mark the race started taking shape as two and three-wide racing rang supreme. Kyle Cummings fought his way from the rear into third, as well as Rob Litton recovering from the earlier flat, into sixth position. Cummings would have his hands full with Tippen for three laps for the position, before Cummings progress would later be limited, due to a broken shock mount.

Cummings explained, "At the start of the race, everybody hit the bottom of the track. It is real sandy and gritty down there, it started pulling that grit up in the track, so I knew at the first of the race I had to hit the bottom, too. At least we could get some of that cleaned out of the way even if it was one-laned at times when everyone piled up on the bottom of the track. I started so far back that I couldn't see the leader, but when I got up to tenth, I finally could see Sitton and Chanler battling. We they took off on a restart, I noticed they then went high, so on the following restart I went high and I was able to go from 10th-to-third in about two laps. During that whole transfer of positions there, we had a little beating and banging with a few different cars and it winded up breaking my shock mount on my right front off the car. It didn't come completely off, but it broke the weld and the longer we run, the more bent it got. Towards the end of the race when we would go into the corners, the ride height was too low on the right front and it was bottoming out the frame on the front end. It caused a pushed and it cost us a few spots in the end, because of malfunction of equipment there. It was digging into the track in the corners. I can't complain to finish fifth with the troubles we had, although it was the beating and banging that caused it! I would rather leave with a straight race car than a bent up one."

"Track conditions were not an issue. Towards the first of the race, it was people running up high and ones running down low, it was just when somebody seen you were trying to gain a position on them, they just wanted the spot that you were in. I say it was more cars and drivers that were out there than anything else. The track wasn't terribly bad, it just got one-laned near the end when it took on rubber."
"Tippen ran a good race mostly on the bottom, we had a good race and he got back in front of me by running down there low and amongst lap traffic," Cummings later said.

Sitton still held a slim lead over Chanler on lap 30, but Litton would get around Tippen, then Cummings on lap 33. Sitton was increasingly getting away from Chanler, as his lead inflated to three seconds. The final caution flew on lap 37 with fourth-starting Chris Holley creeping to a halt on the backstretch for unknown mechanical reasons.

The race saw its longest green flag run to conclude the event, with a 13 lap dash to the checkered flags. Although Sitton's lead wasn't much, the track began taken on rubber the final ten laps.

Sitton would have to negotiate some lap traffic one last time to bring home the win. Sitton maintained a slight lead with three to go, as Chanler started feeling heat from Litton and Tippen for second. Cummings troubled shock mount had him in a distant fifth.

Sitton held on and wrapped up the victory, the first at the quarter-mile oval in his short late model career.

Notes: Sitton's Rocket Chassis is powered by Jay Dickens Racing Engines and sponsored by Tony Flynn Racing, Pro Plumbing & Construction, Best Auto Parts, Ed George Racing, Performance Race Engineering and VP Racing Fuels.

Sitton's fifth career series victory ties him with active drivers Kyle Cummings and Bubba Mullins on the all-time list.

Sitton's previous best finish at Baton Rouge Raceway was second (to Ray Moore) in October 2008 in SUPR's Floyd Clausen Memorial Louisiana State Championships. Sitton also took SUPR Rookie Of The Year honors that same year. Sitton's last SUPR victory was in May 2009 at Paris Motor Speedway in Paris, Texas.

The race was the 78th SUPR event held at the quarter-mile oval of Baton Rouge Raceway.

The checkered flag flew on the 33-minute feature at 12:20 am, 16 drivers were running at the finish with all but one on the lead lap. The feature was slowed by six cautions, lap traffic encountered at lap six..

Rob Litton was the hard charger of the event, going from 17th to third. Litton increased his points lead to 109 over Kyle Cummings. It was Litton's third straight top 5 finish at Baton Rouge, with a win coming in October 2009.

Other notable big movers were Kyle Cummings, going from 19th-to-fifth and Robbie Stuart coming from 18th to finish seventh.
With Stuart's run, he enters the top ten in the SUPR points standings, knocking Alex Ashley out -down to 11th place.

David Ashley was the recipient of $1,000 off of a new GRT chassis by being the 10th-place finisher, sponsored by Triple A Diesel and Joe Garrison of GRT Race Cars.

Jay Brunson of Dubberly, La., flipped his no. 23B car four times, after hitting the backstretch wall in a heat race. Brunson quickly emerged from the wreckage uninjured.

Other drivers failing to make the feature included, Rick Aime, Jim Bryant, Mark McWilliams, Eric Neal and Hank Schlindwein.

Three drivers in the top 10 of SUPR points, Litton, Cummings and Alex Ashley found themselves trying to make the feature through the consolation race. Litton advanced by winning the consy, Cummings would transfer with a third place finish, but Alex Ashley of Zachary, hit the backstretch wall while running second and subjecting him to take a provisional for the feature.

The O'Reilly Auto Parts SUPR Series returns to action on August 14th at Champion Park Speedway near Minden, Louisiana.

SUPR @ Baton Rouge: (1) Kevin Sitton, (2) Jeff Chanler, (3) Rob Litton, (4) Allen Tippen, (5) Kyle Cummings, (6) Robbie Starnes, (7) Robbie Stuart, (8) Kevin Watts, (9) Marlon Wild, (10) David Ashley, (11) Josh Danzy, (12) Doug Begnaud, (13) Donald Watson, (14) Matt Migl, (15) Alex Ashley, (16) Paul Joyner, (17) Chris Holley, (18) Darin Patrick, (19) Jason Polite, (20) Bill Gordon, (21) Jack Sullivan, (22) Kody Barber

Heat race winners (among 28 cars): Tippen, Sitton, Chanler, Holley

Consolation winner: Litton

Provisional starters: A. Ashley, Joyner

O'Reilly Auto Parts SUPR points
(Top 15 through July 31)

1. Rob Litton - 1,698
2. Kyle Cummings - 1,589
3. Jeff Chanler - 1,355
4. David Ashley - 1,290
5. Allen Tippen - 1,262
6. Ronny Adams - 1,120
7. Chris Holley - 1,108
8. Kevin Sitton - 1,067
9. Josh Danzy - 1,018
10. Robbie Stuart - 981
11. Alex Ashley - 966
12. Ray Moore - 869
13. Jon Mitchell - 692
14. Lee Davis - 656
15. Jody Prince - 642

Most SUPR wins at Baton Rouge Raceway

David Ashley - 7
Ronnie Poche - 7
Doug Ingalls - 6
Kenny Merchant - 6
Chris Wall - 4
Tony Cardin - 3
Rusty Cummings - 3
Marlon Wild - 3
Rodney Wing - 3
Jeff Castle - 2
Dennis Duncan - 2
Tracy Gibbens - 2
Ray Moore - 2
James Ward - 2
Howard Willis - 2
Several with one win

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