By Ken de la Bastide

(June 8, 2013) - For 46 laps Jason Artkinson held off Calvin Parham and Jacob McElfresh to win the Champion Racing Association’s 75-lap feature for the Street Stock division at Anderson Speedway.

Atkinson, who has won numerous times at Anderson Speedway in a Sportsman Late Model, got his first win Saturday in a Street Stock by finishing .3-seconds ahead of Parham.

“He probably had the better car than I did tonight,” Atkinson said. “I want to thank Calvin (Parham) for racing me clean, there were plenty of opportunities to make contact.”

For the final 20 laps a blanket could have been thrown over the front running five cars as they jockeyed for position. The final caution flag waved on lap 71 when Wes Russell Jr. spun in turn two while running fourth.

Following Atkinson, Parham and McElfresh to the line were J.J. Shafer, who started 14th in the 22 car field, and Robert Amos Jr., who started 15th.

The race got interesting from lap 47 through 50 when three of the front running cars ran into problems. First Josh Myers slowed with a flat tire, followed by fast qualifier Jim Crabtree Jr. with a tire problem and then Dustin Burge lost an engine in turn three.

Only Crabtree was able to continue.

Thanks to the fastest eight cars being inverted for the start, defending Anderson Speedway champion Jimmy Kirby started on the pole with Myers on the outside of the front row. Kirby led the first 18 laps when he was bumped by Myers in turn two and spun, sending both drivers to the tail of the field.

That put Jacob McElfresh into the lead followed by Atkinson and Parham. On a lap 22 restart, Atkinson used the high line to take the lead and Parham followed suit seven laps later.

Eddie Wolf had a mechanical malfunction on lap 39, making contact with the turn three wall. Wolf was running fifth at the time.

After being relegated to the tail of the field, Myers climbed into the top ten after 35 laps and ten laps later was challenging Crabtree when the two exchanged paint in the corners while battling for the fourth position. The end result was both suffered flat tires.

There were two lead changes among three drivers and the action was slowed seven times for caution periods.

Crabtree set fast time during qualifications followed closely by Atkinson and Parham.