ANDERSON – Dakoda Armstrong continued his string of strong performances at Anderson Speedway with a dominating win in the Glen Niebel Classic.
Armstrong finished second a year ago in the Little 500 and ended the year with a victory in the 500 Sprint Car Tour Tony Elliott Classic.
The start of the Thursday night program was delayed for several hours by rain.
Following the redraw Armstrong started on the outside of the front row next to 2023 rookie of the year Jackson Macenko. Macenko jumped into the lead at the start chased by Armstrong and hast qualifier Colton Bettis. Armstrong showed patience in the early stages of the race looking several times to get inside of Macenko.
After the two raced side by side for several laps, Armstrong was able to get underneath Macenko on the back straight and steadily extended the lead. The third and final caution flag waved on lap 54 when Davey Hamilton Jr. spun on the back straight.
Armstrong maintained the point and steadily pulled away from the remainder of the field with Macenko, Bettis, Tyler Roahrig and Kyle O’Gara all battling for a podium finish. At the finish it was Armstrong winning by 4.7-seconds with Macenko scoring a career best second and Bettis coming home in third.
“We set up for the race at the shop,” Armstrong said in victory lane. “The car was good starting with the practice sessions.
“The car was so tight,” he said. “I don’t know if it was the cold weather, but there was a lot of rubber put down on the track.”
Kenyon Midgets
For the 18th time in his career Dameron Taylor won a Kenyon Midget Series race at Anderson Speedway.
Taylor battled in the early stages of the race with K&K Marketing fast qualifier Kyle Sheard, BJ Shaw and Andrew Wall.
Taylor, a three-time series champion, took the lead from Sheard on lap 15.
Sheard’s night would end on lap 18 when he tangled with Evan Hammond in turn three while the two drivers battled for second.
On the restart Taylor was pressed by rookie Shaw and the driver on the move was Issac Johnson.
Johnson and Shaw got together on lap 24 in turn two which ended Shaw’s night and set Johnson to the tail of the field.
Taylor was able to hold off Clayton Bohanon by a tenth of a second to win the 7th annual Dick Jordan Classic with Ryan Shikuski coming home in third.
John Robbins opened the 2025 Thunder Roadster campaign with a victory.
