By Ken de la Bastide
Nobleville’s Brian Gerster drove to a dominating win in the season finale for the USSA Sprint Car Series at Anderson Speedway on Saturday.
Gerster passed Pendleton’s Travis Welpott with an outside move down the back straight on lap five to grab the point on Community Hospital “Paint the Night Pink”.
The championship battle took an unexpected turn on lap nine when point leader Chris Neuenschwander pushed Brad Armstrong through turn three. As they exited the fourth corner Armstrong’s car turned sideways and Neuenschwander flipped on the front straight.
When Jason Fuller finished eighth in the field, Neuenschwander was crowned champion by 30 points.
There was a shake-up in the front of the field with seven laps remaining when Donnie Adams Jr. and Geoff Kaiser while battling for the second spot encountered the lapped car of Doug Dietsch. Adams spun in turn four and was relegated to the back of the lead lap cars.
On the final restart Kaiser was able to challenge Gerster for the lead but was not able to make the outside pass. Davey Hamilton Jr. finished third after starting 13th, followed by Scott Hampton and Adams.
Jessy Tunney was able to get inside of early leader Mike Riddle Jr. with an outside pass on the back straight to score the victory in outlaw figure-8 action.
Tunney had to hold off Jason Garrigus, who set a new track record during qualifications, for the final 37 laps.
Garrigus was never more than a couple of car lengths off the rear bumper of Tunney as they weaved their way through traffic.
Ben Tunney closed on the two leaders but had to settle for third with Michael Hadley coming home in fourth followed by Riddle.
Hadley’s finish earned him the 2014 Winged Outlaw Figure-8 championship,
Kyle O’Gara led all 30 laps to capture the Mel Kenyon Midget feature, his second win in three starts.
He was chased the entire distance by Cole Fehr, who won the championship, with rookie of the year Colten Dooley.
Entering the final race of the season Jessica Bean was second in the point chase but she crashed on the first lap in turn three, ending any chance of a title. With Bean’s misfortune it allowed Dooley to finish second in the point standings.
Amanda Bohn was able to hold off fast qualifier Jamie Domski coming off the final corner to record the victory in Mini-cup action.
Bohn opened a sizeable lead as Domski worked his way through the field. Over the final 15 laps she maintained a smooth line around Anderson Speedway never allowing Domski to slip inside.
On the final lap the two leaders went three wide with a lapped car with Bohn emerging as the winner. Domski finished second followed by Dallas Frueh.
Anderson Speedway returns to racing action on Saturday, October 18 with the Wick’s Pies Triple 100’s featuring Street Stocks, NASH FM ThunderCars and Pro Compacts.
