Hamilton Claims Regional Victory; Cottongim, Welch Record Wins

Kyle Hamilton grabbed the lead on the second lap of the Regional Midget feature and cruised on his way to victory at Anderson Speedway on Wednesday.

Hamilton got inside of early leader Danielle Dickson on the third lap heading into Turn three and never looked back. Dickson was passed by Alison MacLeod and Mario Marietta coming off the fourth corner on the sixth circuit.

Tracy Hines passed Dickson for the fourth spot on lap 9 and Marietta got inside of MacLeod on lap 14 and then Hines used the outside line to pass MacLeod with 12 laps remaining.

At the finish it was Hamilton winning followed by Marietta, Hines, MacLeod and Kim Hughes.

For the first time at Anderson Speedway the Ford Focus and Kenyon midgets competed in a combined 40-lap feature with IRL competitor Sarah Fisher returning to the track for the first time in more than a decade.

Tyler Cottongim opened a comfortable lead when the caution waved on lap 37 when Nick Hamilton spun in Turn four which created a three-lap shoot-out to the finish.

While Cottongim was running solidly in the lead there was a heated four-car battle for second between Kyle O’Gara, Dalton Armstrong, Joe Ligouri and fast qualifier Jimmy Simpson in the Ford Focus midgets.

Armstrong was pushing O’Gara through the third and fourth corners looking for a way to move into the second place. On lap 36 Armstrong got loose going down the back straight which allowed Ligouri and Simpson to move up a position.

In the Kenyon Midget portion of the feature Dillon Welch led from start to finish and mixed it up for most of the race with the Ford Focus drivers. Grant Galloway recovered from a spin on the fifth circuit while running third overall to finish second followed by Jake Blackhurst and Fisher.