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Dave Darland (36d) battles Robert Ballou at Kokomo Speedway. (Chris Pedersen photo)

Ballou Wins As Darland Bids Farewell

KOKOMO, Ind. — Robert Ballou won Friday night’s non-winged sprint car feature during the Kokomo Klash on a night when Hall of Famer Dave Darland ran his final sprint car feature.

Ballou started eighth in the 25-lap event and battled Darland at the front of the field before taking control and racing to victory.

Jadon Rogers finished second with Shane Cottle, Jake Swanson and Trey Osborne completing the top five.

Darland, known to fans as The People’s Champion, finished seventh in the final race of his nearly 40-year career.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 12-Robert Ballou[8]; 2. 17GP-Jadon Rogers[5]; 3. 2E-Shane Cottle[3]; 4. 2B-Jake Swanson[2]; 5. 5B-Trey Osborne[1]; 6. 17G-Geoff Ensign[14]; 7. 36D-Dave Darland[6]; 8. 28-Brandon Mattox[9]; 9. 9Z-Zack Pretorius[17]; 10. 42G-Brayden Clark[12]; 11. 11-Jack Hoyer[16]; 12. 06-Rylan Gray[4]; 13. 86-Keith Sheffer Jr[15]; 14. 09-Clayton Rossmann[10]; 15. 63-Frankie Guerrini[7]; 16. 34-Sterling Cling[11]; 17. 21S-Bryar Schroeter[18]; 18. 18S-Aidan Salisbury[19]; 19. 99-Jack James[21]; 20. 57-Colten Cottle[20]; 21. 58-Jamie Frederickson[13] Indiana Racesaver A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 67B-Dillan Baldwin[5]; 2. 14-Kevin Newton[1]; 3. 14H-AJ Hopkins[3]; 4. 87-Nathan Franklin[2]; 5. 39-Justin Mathews[13]; 6. 11M-Kayla Martin[7]; 7. 13-Tyson Lady[16]; 8. 3M-Tres Mehler[6]; 9. 19-Alfred Galedrige Jr[8]; 10. 22H-Rod Henning[4]; 11. 83D-Carson Dillion[10]; 12. 23-John Paynter Jr[9]; 13. 93-Dean Barnes[14]; 14. 11R-Blayne Ridgley[12]; 15. 18B-Landon Butler[15]; 16. 13C-Rebecca Cevela[17]; 17. 24X-Levi Winget[19]; 18. 5-Gary Gibson[11]; 19. (DNS) 18-Alex Nalon