Hoppes Claims Street Stock Win; Allman, Phipps, Tharp Also Grab Victories

Markleville’s Randy Hoppes opened a lead early in the Street Stock feature and then had to hold off a determined Ronnie Rose for the win Saturday at Anderson Speedway.

Hoppes opened a sizeable lead over Rose and Josh Burton, but halfway through the 30-lap feature Rose was closing the gap. The only caution flag waved on lap 27 when Dennis Moser spun setting up a three-lap dash to the checkers.

Hoppes again got the jump but on the last lap Rose was tapping his rear bumper. It was Hoppes first win of the year with Rose finishing second followed by Burton, Rob Allman and Rich Boyer.

Boyer was in close racing early in the race with Bret Miles for the fourth spot and was than passed by Allman with two laps remaining.

“I felt him (Rose) there,” Hoppes said. “I was not going to give it up tonight.”

Anderson’s Burton and Muncie’s Miles recorded their first heat wins of the season in the Street Stock division.

Josh Tharp led all 25 laps to claim the win in an action packed Immediadent Figure 8 feature win.

It took three attempts to get the feature started as first Jeff Swinford lost a wheel and then Johnny Magee had a problem.

Tharp jumped into the lead at the start chased by Shawn Cullen, Mike Riddle Jr. and Ronnie Rose. On lap 8 Rose got loose in the crossover and made hard contact with the front straight wall. Cullen lost a radiator on lap 13.

Tharp pulled away to the victory followed by Riddle, Rickie Tharp, Bruce McFall and Elliott McKinney.

Anderson’s Ronnie Rose scored his first heat win of the year and Jeff Swinford recorded his second heat win in the Immediadent Figure 8 division.

Rob Allman grabbed the lead from Paris Swallows halfway through the Thunder Car feature and then saw a big lead disappear when Swallows lost a radiator with three laps remaining.

Allman went on to score his first win of the year by holding off Rod Phipps with Hanna Lundy claiming the third spot followed by Terry Malone Jr. and Josh Poore.

While Allman was pulling away at the mid-point of the race, there were six cars beating and banging for the second spot while working their way around two lapped cars. Lundy took advantage of the melee to move from seventh to third by running the high line.

Thunder Car heat wins went to Phipps, Anderson, and Malone Jr., Fortville, both got their second heat wins of the year.

Phipps broke his own track record during qualifying in the Thunder Car Division turning a lap at 14.785 seconds. He set the old track record of 14.791 seconds on April 4.

Kennard’s Ronnie Phipps took advantage of traffic to squeeze past Kevin Harmon on lap 12 of the Front Wheel Drive feature to record the win chased by Jeff Saxon and Jack Leisure. Gary Bragg Jr. and Ron Phipps rounded out the top five.

Harmon took the lead from the start but entering Turn one with eight laps remaining, he was forced high to avoid lapped traffic. That allowed Phipps and Leisure to sneak past as Harmon dropped all the way back to fifth when he lost momentum. A flat tire ended the defending champion’s night.

Ron Phipps of Anderson scored his third heat win of the year in the Front Wheel Drive division with Mike Alley, Anderson, claiming his second heat win.

A total of 75 race cars in the four divisions were on hand Saturday.

Next Saturday Anderson Speedway will be hosting the Spring Championships with action in the Street Stock, Thunder Cars and Front Wheel Drive division off the high-banked oval and the Figure-8 and Front Wheel Drive division racing on the “X”. Qualifying starts at 7 p.m. and racing action begins at 8 p.m

For additional information on Anderson Speedway call (765) 642-0206.