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Sterkowitz Gets 3rd Anderson Win
(August
29, 2011) – Keith Sterkowitz only led two laps, but they were final
laps of the Champion Racing Association’s Sportsman feature Saturday at
Anderson Speedway.
New Castle’s Jason Atkinson took the lead on the second lap and held off
Sterkowitz and Terry Cater through 11 double-file restarts. But on lap 74
Sterkowitz got inside of Atkinson entering turn three and grabbed the top
spot.
With Atkinson drifting high, Terry Cook went inside to claim the second
spot. Chad Richardson and Charlie Hanna rounded out the top five.
It was Sterkowitz’s third win at Anderson Speedway in 2011.
"That was a hard fought win." Sterkowitz said. "I set him up high and turned
down low to try to get under him. I bounced the car off the wall on the
first lap, knocking the toe off and could not run up high like I wanted.
The race got off to an ominous start with the red-flag waving before a lap
was completed. Leader Danny Trent spun coming off the fourth corner, aided
by a bump. With Trent stopped on the front straight the cars of Rich Segvich
and David Campbell were collected. Segvich was the only driver unable to
continue.
That set the tone for the night with the caution flag being displayed nine
times before the half-way point. Most of the cautions were caused by drivers
becoming impatient and causing one car spins.
Cater took the initial lead but it was Atkinson, looking for his second win
of the season at Anderson, making the pass with an inside move on the front
straight. From there Atkinson survived 11 double-file restarts with either
Cater or Sterkowitz trying to wrestle away the lead on the outside.
Cater’s night ended on lap 24 with a mechanical problem and front runner
Brett Robinson was forced into the pits three laps earlier with an
overheating problem.
It took three restarts to get past lap 21. The first caution at the point
was brought out when Chris Parker spun, then Nick Moore lost a tire and made
slight contact with the turn three wall and then Eric Barcus spun.
In between all the caution periods there was good racing for position with
plenty of side by side action during the second half of the 75-lap feature.
Short track racing means rubbing and Sterkowitz used the right side of his
Chevrolet to force Atkinson out of the low groove on lap 74 entering turn
three and completed the pass on the front straight.
From there he went on to win by 1.1 seconds over Cook, who started tenth in
the 20-car field, with Atkinson, Chad Richardson and Charlie Hanna rounding
out the top five.
With the victory, Sterkowitz took over the point’s lead from Atkinson.
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