Allman Wins ThunderCar Enduro 200; Bragg, Nuckles and Noel Get Wins
Rob Allman survived a crash on lap 29 and then took advantage when leader Rod Phipps slipped on a restart with 24 laps remaining to capture the 200-lap Enduro for Thunder Cars Saturday at Anderson Speedway.

On the final restart Phipps, who led the majority of the event, slipped in turn four which allowed Allman to move to the inside and he was able to complete the pass entering turn one. Allman charged back in the second half starting sixth and closed on Phipps and Nick Warner, positioning himself to challenge for the win with 70 laps remaining.

Allman was chased to the finish by Phipps, who closed on his bumper over the final ten laps and suffered a flat tire with six laps remaining, ending his night. Warner finished second, the only other driver on the lead lap followed by Rob Wyman Sr., Phil Jenkins and Josh Tharp rounding out the top five.

“We worked hard all winter to get the car ready for this,” Allman said. “The car was good from the beginning, but got caught up in that incident.”

Fans were treated to an exciting 200-lap Enduro race with the race red-flagged once in the first 100 laps with several attempts to get restarted and three times in the final 100 lap segment, twice for fluid on the track.

Phipps took the lead on lap 30 when leader Ronnie Rose was collected in an accident when two lapped cars got loose on the front straight. The crash involved the top four runners with Shawn Cullen knocked from the race. Allman and Magee were also involved with Allman losing most of the body work from the right side of the car.

Johnny Magee, running fourth suffered a flat tire and eventually lost a lap. He got back on the lead lap with 60 laps remaining and was pulling away from the leaders when he lost an engine on lap 170.

Rose running fourth at the time also lost a power plant with 24 laps remaining setting up the final restart.

The Mad Cow Racing team made a statement in the opening event for the Front Wheel Drive Oval Division with Kokomo resident Gary Bragg Sr. taking the lead from Nick Warner with an inside move coming off the fourth corner and his son driving to a runner-up finish.

It was Bragg’s first feature win at Anderson Speedway and his son Gary Bragg finished second by using an inside move to pass Warner with eight laps remaining.

“I got lucky, a lot of good cars went out early,” Bragg said from victory lane. “I want to dedicate the win to Jack Leisure.” Leisure suffered a heart attack last year and is recovering from his illness.

After taking the lead on lap seven with an inside pass of Paul Phipps, Warner faded in the final laps to finish fifth. Ryan Amonett came home in third with fast qualifier Kevin Harmon driving to a fourth place finish.
Ohio native Bryan Nuckles captured the Legends feature by passing long time local favorite John Robbins with an inside move coming off the fourth corner. Nuckles survived a restart with three laps remaining with Robbins glued to his rear bumper.

Taylor Webb recorded a third place finish with fast qualifier Chris Weddle placing fourth and James Edsall III coming home in fifth place.

Hartford City driver Ron Noel won the first race for the new Pure Stock division passing Ron Frazee with an outside move down the front straight. Kenny Bickford went on to finish second by passing Frazee with ten laps remaining.

More than 75 race teams in four divisions were on hand for the opening of the 62nd season at Anderson Speedway.

The regular season for the Street Stock, Figure-8 divisions opens next Saturday starting at 7 p.m. Also on the racing card is the first action of the 2010 season will be the Front Wheel Drive division on the Figure-8 circuit and the Pure Stocks will be competing for a second consecutive week.