Taking advantage of the inversion that flipped half the Street Stock field, Anderson’s Josh Myers led wire-to-wire to capture the opening event of the 2010 season at Anderson Speedway.

Myers starting on the inside of the front row got the jump at the waving of the green flag on Rich Boyer and the two drivers ran nose to tail for the entire 40 laps. Many times Boyer attempted to grab the inside line tapping the rear bumper of Myers car hoping to get the leader to slip high on the track.

Despite those efforts by Boyer, Myers never gave up the low line through the corners. Boyer appeared to have the faster car on the straight-aways, but Myers had the advantage in the corners.

“I don’t know what to say,” Myers said of his close racing with Boyer. “I guess I just put the petal to the metal. I believe I was quite a bit faster than any other car here in the corners tonight. Set-up had a lot to do with it.”

Myers said he knew if Boyer was bumping him, he wasn’t passing him for the lead.

While the two front-runners were pulling away from the rest of the field there was intense racing for the third spot between a number of drivers. Randy Hoppes had the advantage and turned back challenges from Ronnie Rose, Nick Moore and Rob Allman.

Rose, who started sixth in the field, moved up to the fourth position after ten circuits and on lap 11 attempted to dive underneath Hoppes for the third spot. Rose got loose on the back straight and the two cars made slight contact. Rose’s mount suffered damage to the right front suspension ending his night.

After 14 laps Fort Wayne driver Steve Christman was making a charge when his car got loose in turn three, dropping him from fifth to eighth. Christman parked his car after 24 laps with an overheating problem.

Moore moved up to challenge Hoppes for the third position, but on lap 21 he spun on the front straight. That moved Allman, the fast qualifier into the fourth position, but he was unable to get around Hoppes.

“I had a bad handling car,” Hoppes said. “It was work all night running that car. Probably the worst I’ve had it since I owned the car. They were banging on me, I would have given them room if they got to my door.”

Hoppes said Rose got me sideways once, but actually helped him regain control of the car.

“I’m sorry for his misfortune, but that’s racing,” he said.

The 40-lap feature was run without a caution flag being displayed.

Boyer and Larry Greene Jr. claimed heat wins with good racing in both events.

During the first heat Myers chased Boyer but there was action mid-pack. Allman and Rose both used the inside line to get around Moore on successful laps to gain positions.

In the second heat race, Greene got the lead at the start holding off Derrick Layne early in the event. Layne stayed in the second spot until the final lap when he spun in turn two.

Tyler Marsh passed Frankie Oakes on the outside on lap eight and recorded the second place finish when Layne spun. Oakes and Bret Miles swapped the fourth position several times before Oakes finally grabbed the position and came home third.