Swanson Wins Banjo 100; Beaver Earns SuperTruck Victory

California teenager Tanner Swanson inherited the lead with 49 laps remaining and then held off Brad Sweet to win the Banjo 100 at Anderson Speedway on Wednesday.

Levi Jones jumped into the lead at the start from the front row chased by Swanson. Several times Swanson tried to take advantage of lapped traffic to take the lead but couldn't complete the pass.

Jones lead came to an end on lap 51 when he made contact with the car of Ballou, spun and hit the outside retaining wall in Turn two. Swanson opened a lead on Sweet after a restart on lap 78, but the two were running nose to tail over the final ten laps. Sweet attempted to get inside of Swanson on the low side on the final two laps but was unable to find and opening.

'I was trying to take the lead in lapped traffic, but couldn't find a way to make the pass,' Swanson said following his first national sprint car series win.

'At the finish as the fuel load burned off the car was getting looser and looser in the corners, but we were able to hold on,' he said. The drivers on the move during the first 50 laps were Brad Sweet
and Bobby Santos III, climbing into the top five.

Santos came home third followed by Cole Whitt and Chris Windom. The red flag waved on lap 78 when six cars tangled entering Turn three with Brady Short flipping and coming to rest on his wheels at the bottom of the corner.

It appeared that Robert Ballou, who earlier spun into the Turn one infield with a caution being thrown, drifted high on the back straight and made contact with the car of Brady Bacon. From there with no place to go three more cars stacked up which resulted in Short's flip. Bacon and Short rejoined the field after the crews made repairs during the red flag.

Attrition took a toll on several of the front runners with first Tracy Hines suffering a flat left rear tire on lap 37 while running in the top five. Eric Gordon slowed on lap 46.

Kokomo's Shane Cottle finished ninth after starting 22nd in the Contos Racing entry after a mishap at the start of the first non-qualifiers race and had to earn a spot in the Banjo 100 in the semi-feature.
It was a bad night for Brownsburg's Bobby East, who set a new track record during qualifying turning a lap at 11.104 seconds. But the car initially failed to start for the Banjo 100, the crew worked on the car and when it fired he almost hit the Turn one wall before the race, ending his night.

Noblesville's Joe Beaver got around fast qualifier Josh Poore on lap 19 and led the final 21 laps to record his second feature win of the year in SuperTruck competition.

Poore opened a sizeable lead during the opening laps, but once Beaver once moved around Jerry Faucett for second place he began closing on the leader. Poore was slowing and finally Beaver made the pass on the high side coming off the fourth corner.

Seven laps later Poore's truck shed the left rear tire on the front straight causing him to spin and head to the pits. From there Beaver went unchallenged for the win followed by Faucett and Rod Phipps.

For additional information on Anderson Speedway, visit www.andersonspeedway.com or contact Anderson Speedway at
(765) 642-0206.