Ben Tunney Gets Second IOFS victory at Anderson; Indy Driver Sets Fast Time

 
By Ken de la Bastide

(July 5, 2013) - There were plenty of fireworks before the big show at Anderson Speedway Thursday as Ben Tunney won the outlaw Figure-8 feature that turned into a race of attrition.

For Tunney it was his second career Outlaw Figure-8 victory at Anderson, holding off defending IOFS champion Jeremy Vanderhoof on a restart with three laps remaining with Shawn Cullen coming home in third.

“Feels good to win here again,” Tunney said. “I’ve only won once here
before, but always seem to be running upfront.”

 Vanderhoof, who also finished second earlier in the year, said the team is getting closer to figuring out the high-banked half-mile oval.

“It was pretty wild out there at times,” he said.

Early in the race Vanderhoof was running fifth on lap 14 when he almost came to a complete stop entering the crossover and lost several positions.

He passed Mike Riddle on lap 26 and finished second when overheating ended  the night for Austin Tunney.

The action on the track took out several drivers that were in contention for the victory, including two-time Anderson winner Charlie Hargraves, Mike Riddle and Larry Swinford.

Riddle started on the pole position and led the first nine laps before
being passed by both Ben Tunney and Austin Tunney in turn one.
The Tunney brothers swapped the lead three times during the race, before Ben took control of the event with 22 laps remaining.

The second caution flag of the night waved when Charlie Hargraves made contact with Bruce McFall in the crossover on lap 20. At that point Josh Tharp, who had climbed from the 11th starting position to fourth, went to the pits. Tharp later returned to the action, several laps down to the leaders.

On the restart Hargraves made contact with Jeff Swinford and Shawn Cullen coming off the second corner. Hargraves crew made repairs and he returned to the action.

But eight laps later, Riddle’s car which was showing tire smoke for much of the race, lost a tire entering turn three. Riddle’s car ended up
against the turn three wall and collected Hargraves car.

Of the 12 cars that started the race, only four were running at the
finish.









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