Veteran driver Dakoda Armstrong used his experience at Anderson Speedway to capture the Radical Ford Focus Midget feature. The traveling series made it’s first appearance on the high banked quarter-mile oval since 2006 on Friday with a second 50-lap feature set for Saturday.
Idaho driver Casey Tillman established a new track record during qualifying turning a lap at 12.226-seconds breaking the mark of 12.302-seconds set in 2006. An invert of six put Toby Alfrey and Brady Allen on the front row with Allen taking the lead at the start with Armstrong quickly using the inside line to claim second with Alfrey running in third. The only caution flag waved on the third lap for the stalled Midget of River Merrill. On the restart Armstrong made a traditional Anderson Speedway move using the high groove momentum to pass Allen entering turn one. From there Armstrong started to pull away from the field, but there was a good battle for second between Allen, Hunter Wise and Logan Sulyi. With 16 circuits remaining Wise and Sulyi were able to pass Allen for the second and third spots. At the finish it was Armstrong winning by 5.5-seconds over Wise and Sulyi with Alfrey and Dillon Thomas rounding out the top five. “My experience here certainly helped,” Armstrong said in the Riley & Sons Victory Lane. “I knew on the restart that I could make the pass entering the corner, just hoping the tires would stick. The higher groove really came in during the race,” he said. “I wanted to get out front because I knew there were some fast cars in the field.”
In the 24th annual Grant Fritz/Greg Dietzen Memorial for Legends cars, Kyle Emberton finally got that elusive first feature win at Anderson. Emberton set fast time during qualifying chased by Xavire King and two-time defending race winner John Robbins. On the start Emberton jumped into the lead with Robbins moving into the runner-up position. Early in the race, Robbins attempted to pass Emberton on the high side, but the Fountaintown driver kept his foot on the throttle to maintain the top spot. The two leaders had to weave their way through slower traffic in the closing stages of the 30-lap feature, but Emberton held on to win by .305-seconds over Robbins with King, Tony Paquette and Luke Gehringer rounding out the top five. “Finally”, Emberton proclaimed in the Riley & Sons Victory Lane of his win at Anderson Speedway. “I’ve been close to winning here before, but just never seemed to be able to close the deal,” he said. “I knew John (Robbins) was right on my tail the entire race, but I knew he would race me clean.”
Caleb Southerland scored his first career feature in the Marcum’s Welding Front Wheel Drive division leading the entire distance. The inversion of the top four qualifiers put Southerland on the pole and he took advantage of the opportunity. Cody Riley recovered from a spin on the first lap to move into the second spot near the halfway point and started to cut into Southerland’s lead. At the checkers it was Southerland winning by .404-seconds over Riley with Terrill Willhoite coming home third.
Noblesville driver Mark Lambert captured the Baby Grands feature with Justin Gareis and Chad Ramsey rounding out the top three.
