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Johnny Hargraves Gets First IOFS Victory; Warner Scores Two Wins
(April
21, 2012) –
Veteran Figure-8 driver Johnny Hargraves won the IOFS Outlaw
Figure-8 event at Anderson Speedway Saturday during Custom Door Products
Night of Thrills.
Hargraves was in position to score his first International Outlaw Figure-8
Series national event during opening night on March 31 when the rear-end
locked up , handing the win to Charlie Hargraves.
It was a different on Saturday with Johnny Hargraves jumping into the lead
from the start and leading all 30 laps.
Gary Bedell, running second at the time, and Jeff Swinford, running fourth,
got together in the cross-over on the 28th lap, ending both their nights.
Bedell was leading the March 31 race when a mechanical problem knocked him
out of contention.
Prior to the cross-over crash there were several near misses in the “x”
involving Ronnie Rose and Hargraves.
That left three cars on the lead lap, Hargraves, his brother Charlie
Hargraves and John Conklin. Rose and Chris Green, were both a lap down.
On the restart Johnny Hargraves pulled away from his brother and Conklin to
record the win. Rose and Green rounded out the top five.
For Johnny Hargraves it was his first career IOFS win.
“We came so far with the new car,” the winner said. “One thing is we never
give up.”
Just when it appeared Kevin Henson was on his way to the IOFS Front Wheel
Drive feature win, he tackled with Jeremy Acree on the back straight which
allowed Nick Warner to slide past for the victory.
Henson took the lead at the start and at first opened up a sizeable lead
that Warner was rapidly cutting into. But with one lap remaining Henson
opened the gap only to be foiled coming to the checkers.
“I don’t know what happened at the finish,” Warner said. “I didn’t have
anything for him and he got hooked up. That’s what happens in Figure-8
racing.”
Mark Allman came home third followed by Elliott McKinney and Mike Alley.
Ben Smith took the lead on a lap 12 restart by passing fast qualifier Ryan
Cherry on the front straight and went on to win the IOFS Super Karts
feature.
The running under was scrambled on the 12th lap when four of the five front
runners were caught up in an incident in turn two. The crash involved leader
Elvin Acree, David Reynolds, Smith, Cherry and Joel Shores.
Following Smith to the checkers were Cherry, Randy Caldwell, Joel Shores and
Trevor Lane.
Nick Warner took the lead on the last lap to win the Corkscrew race after
passing Mike Alley on the front straight. Harry LaShure and Jonathon Pitts
rounded out the top four.
Anderson Speedway returns to action with a doubleheader weekend on Saturday,
April 28 and Sunday, April 29. On Saturday night, the racing lineup features
McGunegill Engine Performance Late Models, EDCO Welding Street Stocks, and
Front Wheel Drives Oval & Figure 8's. The weekend concludes on Sunday with
the 12th Annual Glen Niebel Classic showing the USSA Sprint Cars plus Kenyon
Midgets.
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