Perfect Night for Poore

By Ken de la Bastide

(July 1, 2012) – It was a perfect night for Josh Poore at Anderson Speedway on Saturday leading all 200 laps to capture the Champion Racing Association’s Street Stock feature.

Poore set quick time during qualifications and was never headed during the 200-laps of action, turning back challenges from a number of drivers to record the win.

He was challenged at different times by Beau Mitchell, Jason Atkinson, and for the final 100 laps had Dustin Burge glued to his rear bumper.

With 15 laps remaining Burge was trailing Poore by less than a car length, just waiting for the leader to make a mistake in lapped traffic.

As Poore and Burge battled for the top spot that allowed David Bice and Jimmy Kirby to close on the leaders. But that would be the way they finished with Danny Smith rounding out the top five.

Poore became the first repeat winner of the annual 200-lap event.

“The car was good all night, we didn’t make any changes during the break,” Poore said. “Winning this race for the second time hasn’t sunk in.”

Poore said track position is such a key part of the race.

“It’s hard to pass here, so you have to hold the bottom line,” he said. “I wanted to get out front and stay on the bottom the entire race.

“He (Burge) let me know he was back there,” Poore said. I was glad to see him finish second. We’re good friends and I knew he would race me clean.”

Burge was glad with his second place finish, the best showing for the team in 2012.

“I was bumping him in the corner, trying to get underneath,” Burge said of his battle with Poore. “The brakes were fading at the end and I didn’t want to spin him. I’m happy with a second place finish.”

Bice said his car was not good for qualifying and they made some adjustments for the first 100 laps, He said no changes were made at the break.

“Everyone was pretty much equal,” he said of the lead pack. “Someone would have had to make a mistake to gain a position.”

Jason Atkinson started the second half of the race in the second spot but on the restart got caught on the outside and dropped back in the field. On lap 120 he slammed into the turn three wall, ending his night.

At the start of the second 100 laps of action, Dustin Burge and Beau Mitchell slipped inside of Atkinson with Burge running close behind leader Poore.

The leader board got shook up on lap 92 when the lapped car of Danny Adams lost an engine entering turn one in front of the lead pack causing fourth place running Josh Myers to spin.

The red flag waved on lap 54 when Calvin Parham, who had just taken over the fifth spot from Brian Hopkins, lost an engine entering turn one.

Rob Allman hit the turn two wall while running sixth on lap 39 and Ronnie Rose suffered a flat left front tire on lap 28 while running inside the top ten.

Only 16 of the 33 cars that started the feature were still running at the finish. The race was slowed eight times by cautions for a total of 59 laps.

Steve Raper Jr. gained the most positions during the race, finishing 11th after starting 27th in the field.

For additional information on Anderson Speedway, visit www.andersonspeedway.com or contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.























































 
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