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Stacy Gets First CRA Late Model Sportsman Victory; Boyer, Rose and Tharp Also Score Wins

Steve Stacy used lapped traffic over the final five laps of the Champion Racing Association Sportsman feature to hold off points leader Charlie Hanna for the win at Anderson Speedway on Saturday.

Stacy, who started fourth in the field, took the lead with an outside pass of early leader Mark Lambert on a restart on the 41st lap. From there he opened a lead but Hanna closed with five laps remaining.

With the lapped car of David Fox II in front of the two leaders, Hanna went to the high side but was unable to complete the pass. Stacy split the cars of Fox and Kent Carson with two laps remaining to seal the victory.

The complexion of the race changed on lap 40 when Joe Beaver, running second at the time, make slight contact with Lambert on the back straight and spun to the inside.

Prior to the fourth and final caution Beaver, Stacy, fast qualifier Todd Marsh and Hanna were putting on exciting racing for the second through fifth positions.

After his spin Beaver was sent to the rear of the pack and Marsh appeared to lose his brakes and couldn’t continue to contend for the win.

Finishing third behind Stacy and Hanna were Howard Kelly Jr., a regular at Toledo Speedway, making his first appearance at Anderson, Lambert and Marsh.

“I felt a lot of pressure,” Stacy said of the run by Hanna toward the finish. “It’s great to finally win one, we’ve been close several times this year.

Anderson’s Rick Boyer cruised to victory in the Street Stock division feature passing Bruce McFall with an inside move coming off the fourth corner. While Boyer was pulling away from the field, Randy Hoppes and Danny Acrey II waged a spirited duel through the middle stages of the race.

For Boyer it was his first win of the season and helped him close on points leader Bret Miles Sr. who was involved in a first lap incident in turn four and never rejoined the field. Hoppes came home second followed by Acrey, McFall and Rob Allman.

Boyer recorded his second heat win of the season followed by Danny Acrey II and fast qualifier Bret Miles Sr. Ronnie Rose made contact with the outside retaining wall in Turn one. Elwood’s Bruce McFall scored his first heat win of the 2009 season in the second preliminary race followed by Rob Allman and Russ George, making his second appearance of the year at Anderson Speedway.

Anderson’s Ronnie Rose dominated the WMDH Thunder Car feature leading all 25 laps to record his second victory of the season winning by more than a quarter of a lap over second place running Rob Allman.

Rod Phipps, Nick Warner and Sam Folsom rounded out the top five. The only caution took place on lap 4 when Hannah Lundy spun after contact from Terry Malone Jr.

Terry Malone Jr. held off challenges from Sam Folsom and Allman to take the win in the first heat for the WMDH Thunder Cars. Folsom passed Allman for second place at the checkers to finish behind Malone, who scored his third win of the year. Alexandria’s Hannah Lundy held off a strong challenge by Rose to capture the win. RobWyman Jr. passed Rose coming off the fourth corner for second. It was Lundy’s first victory of the season.

Rickie Tharp made it a clean sweep in Front Wheel Drive action in Figure-8 competition setting a new track record, winning a heat race and then leading the final eight laps to capture the feature win. It was his second consecutive win.

Josh Tharp was the early leader but dropped out after three laps giving the lead to Bill Leisure. Leisure remained out front until lap eight when Rickie Tharp got inside coming down the front straight.

Nick Warner came home second followed by Leisure, Chad Sizemore and Brad Cain. There were plenty of close calls in the cross-over as the lead cars had to weave through the lapped cars to retain their positions.

Fast qualifier Tharp scored his second heat win of the year in the Front Wheel Drive competition on the Figure-8 with Bill Leisure and Josh Tharp rounding out the top three. Nick Warner scored his fourth win if the year in the second heat race followed by Chad Sizemore and Jared Keller.
Rickie Tharp set a new track record in the division turning a lap at 20.730 seconds beating the mark set on Aug. 22 by Warner of 20.748 seconds.

Champions in five divisions will be crowned next weekend during the Season Championship event at Anderson Speedway. Double points will be awarded in all five divisions and the feature events will be running longer races.

There continues to be a tight battle for the Street Stock and ImmediaDent Figure-8 division with one more weekend of racing action for points on tap.

Competition will take place in the Street Stock, ImmediDent Figure-8, WMDH Thunder Cars and the Front Wheel Drive Division on the oval and the figure-8. Gates open at 5 p.m. with racing starting at 8 p.m.

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