King Scores Fritz/Dietzen Memorial Victory; Evans and Bartlett Earn First Anderson Speedway Wins
ANDERSON – Three different winners celebrated in Victory Lane during the O’Reilly Auto Parts Triple 50’s at Anderson Speedway, highlighted by Xavier King’s victory in the 30th running of the Fritz/Dietzen Memorial for the Beaver Contracting Legends.
Beaver Contracting Legends
Anderson’s Xavier King capitalized on a rare mistake by John Robbins to capture one of the division’s most prestigious victories.
Robbins, seeking his fifth Fritz/Dietzen Memorial win, set fast time among the 28-car field and jumped to the early lead over King and Josh Poore.
The top three remained unchanged until lap 24 when Poore and Garrett Fox made contact battling for position on the backstretch. The incident collected several cars entering Turn 3, ending the nights of Fox and Caleb Burge while sending Poore to the rear of the field.
The race changed on lap 28 when Robbins’ car got loose exiting Turn 4, allowing King and Cory Adams to slip past. Robbins quickly regrouped, reclaiming second from Adams two laps later before closing in on King over the final 20 laps.
King hit his marks in the closing circuits and held off Robbins by just over a half-second to claim the victory. Poore recovered to finish third, followed by Derik Gacom and Adams.
It marked King’s second consecutive victory over Robbins at Anderson Speedway.
“The car was getting super tight at the end,” King said in Hoosier Lottery Victory Lane. “I’ve been trying to win this race for years, and I’m thankful to win the 30th running. Happy to get this one off my list. It’s never good when you see him (Robbins) in your mirror. When you beat him, you know you did something special.”
Knapp Supply Ford Division
Drew Evans led all 50 laps to score his first career oval victory at Anderson Speedway.
Evans spent the entire race fending off challenges from fast qualifier Noah Allison and Dalton Owen. Despite three caution periods, Evans consistently executed strong restarts to maintain the lead.
Allison secured second place for good on lap 30 and closed to Evans’ rear bumper while navigating lapped traffic during the closing laps, but Evans held on to win by less than three-tenths of a second.
Dalton Owen finished third, with Randy Owen and Caleb Burge completing the top five.
Front Wheel Drives
A mechanical failure denied Caleb Southerland what appeared to be another dominant victory.
After setting fast time, Southerland took the lead on lap two and steadily built a comfortable advantage over Gaige Hulett and Dustin Bartlett.
With just eight laps remaining, Southerland’s engine expired, handing the lead to Hulett.
Following the final restart, Bartlett charged to the front and completed the winning pass with one lap remaining to earn his first career Anderson Speedway victory.
Nick Warner finished third, followed by Maygen Lee and Dylan Hoppes.
Beaver Contracting Thunder Roadsters
John Robbins capped off another successful evening by leading every lap of the Thunder Roadsters feature on the Anderson Speedway Roval course.
Robbins held off Braxton DeWeese throughout the event, while Mark Dietzen completed the podium in third.
