July 30 – Veteran driver Dakoda Armstrong used his experience at Anderson Speedway to capture the Radical Ford Focus Midget feature on Friday.
The traveling series made its first appearance at the high-banked, quarter-mile oval on Friday with a second 50-lap streak scheduled for Saturday.
Idaho driver Casey Tillman set a new track record in qualifying, lapping a lap at 12.226 seconds and beating the mark of 12.302 seconds set in 2006.
A reverse six put Toby Alfrey and Brady Allen in the lead with Allen taking the lead at the start and Armstrong quickly using the inside line to claim second with Alfrey in third.
The only warning flag waved in lap three for the stalled River Merrill Midget.
On the restart, Armstrong performed a traditional Anderson Speedway move, using the high-groove momentum to pass Allen entering Turn 1.
From there, Armstrong started to pull away from the field, but there was a great battle for second place between Allen, Hunter Wise and Logan Sulyi.
With 16 homers remaining, Wise and Sulyi were able to pass Allen for second and third place.
At the finish, it was Armstrong who won by 5.5 seconds over Wise and Sulyi, with Alfrey and Dillon Thomas rounding out the top five.
“My experience here definitely helped,” Armstrong said in the Riley & Sons Victory Lane. “I knew on the restart that I could make the pass coming into the corner, just hoping the tires would stick.
“The higher groove really came out during the race. I wanted to be in front because I knew there were fast cars in the field.”
At the 24th Annual Grant Fritz/Greg Dietzen Memorial for Legends Cars, Kyle Emberton finally earned that elusive first win at Anderson.
Emberton clocked a quick time in qualifying, chased by Xaviere King and two-time defending winner John Robbins.
At the start, Emberton took the lead with Robbins in second.
Early in the race, Robbins attempted to pass Emberton on the high side, but the Fountaintown driver kept his foot on the gas to hold on to the lead.
The two leaders had to fight their way through slower traffic in the final stages of the 30-lap final, but Emberton held on to win by 0.305 seconds over Robbins with King, Tony Paquette and Luke Gehringer completing the top five .
“Finally,” Emberton proclaimed in Victory Lane about his victory at Anderson Speedway.
“I’ve been close to winning here before but never looked like I could close the deal,” he said. “I knew John was on my heels the whole race, but I knew he would drive me clean.”
Caleb Southerland scored his first career feature in Marcum’s Welding Front Wheel Drive division, leading the full distance.
The reversal of the top four qualifiers put Southerland on pole, and he took advantage of the opportunity.
Cody Riley recovered from a spin on the first lap to take second place near the halfway mark and began to cut Southerland’s lead.
In the ladies, it was Southerland who won by 0.404 seconds over Riley, with Terrill Willhoite coming third.
Noblesville driver Mark Lambert captured the Baby Grands feature with Justin Gareis and Chad Ramsey rounding out the top three.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
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