Taylor Webb Claims Grant Fritz/Greg Dietzen Memorial; Marucm, Poore and Warner Earn Victories

By Ken de la Bastide

Taylor Webb took the lead from his brother with 17 laps remaining to win the 18th running of the Grant Fritz/Walt Dietzen Memorial for the Legends division Sunday at Anderson Speedway.

John Robbins led the first 12 laps but slipped in turn two which allowed Alec and Taylor Webb to move past on the back straight.

Alec Webb held off his brother through three restarts, but on lap 58 Taylor Webb got inside coming off the fourth corner to take the point.

From there Taylor Webb was turning laps faster than the track record to record the victory. Alec Webb came home in second followed by Robbins, Josh Dietz and Zach Miller.

For Robbins it was his sixth consecutive podium finish, scoring his fourth third place.

“It’s awesome to come out here and win this race,” Webb said.

The only incident involving multiple cars took place on lap 43 when Gerard Miller, running sixth at the time, made contact with Eric Black. Black bounced off the turn three wall and Miller suffered front suspension damage.

Jeff Marcum took advantage of the lone restart to pass early leader Jack Dossey III with an outside move entering turn one and went on to record his second feature win of the year.

Dossey, the 2014 track champion, set fast time and pulled away to a comfortable lead until the caution flag waved on lap 27 for debris on the track.

Marcum maintained the low line for the remainder of the race with Dossey looking to use a bump and run move that never materialized. Danny Trent challenged for second at the checkers but had to settle for third.

Rob Allman and Jared Thomas rounded out the top five.

“A little bit of luck with that yellow flag,” Marcum said in the Tim Thompson Nationwide Insurance Winner’s Circle. “Jack (Dossey) had the faster car, spun his tires on the restart. He put a lot of pressure on me.”

Josh Poore won for the fifth time in Street Stock action, posting quick time in qualifications and leading all 50 laps for the victory.

Tyler Marsh was able to challenge Poore on the outside following two restarts but was never able to complete the pass.

Rickie Tharp apparently lost an engine on lap 13 while running third and on lap 15 the caution flag waved when Cory Adams spun on the back straight.

Following the restart Poore was able to gradually pull away from Marsh when Cory Adams spun for a second time on the front straight on lap 33.

Marsh had one more shot at taking the lead but Poore maintained the advantage entering turn one on the restart.

Andrew Cook came home in third followed by Derick Layne and Curtis Chapman, the 2014 NASH-FM Thunder Car champion.

Nick Warner recovered from an incident while battling for the lead on lap 19 to come back and capture the Pro Compact feature.

Warner and Jeff Williams were sent to the tail of the field after they exchanged paint while battling for the lead on the back straight.

Following the restart Warner quickly moved back up through the field passing Ron Phipps with an inside move entering turn one on lap 29 to claim the win.

Phipps finished second followed by Adam Lee, Williams and Billy Hooten.

Williams inherited the lead when early leader Kevin Harmon pitted on lap eight with a mechanical problem.

Anderson Speedway returns to racing action on Saturday, October 11 with Community Hospital Paint the Night Pink Presented by UAW, Star 106.9 and MedExpress. The racing action features USSA Sprint Car Challenge Series, Mel Kenyon Midgets, WOFS Outlaw Figure 8’s and Mini Cups.