MacLeod Captures USAC Regional Midget Feature; Hamilton, Wimmenauer Score Wins

By KEN de la BASTIDE
NHI Indiana

Canadian driver Alison MacLeod tuned up for the inaugural Anderson 400 Midget Classic by leading from wire to wire to capture the USAC Regional Midget feature at Anderson Speedway on Wednesday.

MacLeod, who is entered in Saturday’s 400 lap event jumped into the lead from the pole position and was never seriously challenged to garner her second win of the year, she won earlier this year at Grundy County Speedway in Illinois.

Behind MacLeod there was a good battle for second place between Travis Young, James Robertson, Dakota Armstrong and Parker Klingerman.

The only thing that slowed MacLeod down was when she was attempting to get around some lapped traffic with about ten laps remaining.

“This was a great car,” she said, “the crew had it handling terrifically.”
With the victory MacLeod became the winningest female driver with USAC, breaking a tie with Stephanie Mockler.

Fast qualifier Kyle Hamilton started sixth in the Ford Focus Midget feature and before the first lap was completed used the second groove to move into the third position behind Tyler Cottongim and Chett Gehrke.
On the second lap Hamilton went to the inside of Gherke entering Turn three and brought Craig Haack with him to move into the second spot.

Hamilton closed on leader Cottingim and made the pass for the lead on the sixth circuit with an inside move down the back straight.

After ten of the 30 laps Hamilton was pulling away from Haack and Alison MacLeod when the first of two caution flags waved on lap 14 when Gehrke came to a stop on the track.

Hamilton again started to pull away from Haack and MacLeod when on the 21st circuit Branden Allen spun coming off the second corner. Right after the caution flag waved Julia Landauer slammed into the front straight wall bringing out the red flag.

On the final restart, Haack stayed glued to the rear nerf bar of Hamilton’s midget, bumping him entering Turn three. The slight contact forced Hamilton high with Haack attempting to make the pass on the inside, but was unable to grab the top spot.

MacLeod finished third followed by Jordan Pennington, who started seventh, and Steve Mathews rounding out the top five.
“We had a good car,” Hamilton said. “Craig got a good restart and let me know that he was right there. I tried not to slip up.”

New Whiteland’s Jeff Wimmenauer passed Drew Charlson with an inside move entering Turn three on the third lap of the Kenyon Midget feature and went on to cruise to the victory.

Pulling away from Charlson, who held off fast qualifier Dillon Welch to grab the second spot in a spirited battle for the entire race with Dalton Armstrong and Caleb Armstrong running a close fourth and fifth. Welch continually tried to get the inside line coming off the fourth corner but was unable to get up far enough to make the pass.

It was the second dominating win at Anderson Speedway for Wimmenauer.

“The car runs pretty good at Anderson,” he said. “I have to thank my dad for setting up the car.”

On Friday, qualifying for the inaugural Midget 400 Classic begins at 12:30 p.m. The field will be set that evening with qualifying races. The Quick Auto Front Wheel Drives in Pro and Figure 8’s along with ThunderCars are part of the Friday night racing program that starts at 7 p.m. Admission on Friday night is $5.

The Midget 400 Classic will take place on Saturday, July 26. Watch the nations top Midget Car drivers compete in this first ever race with live pit stops. Gates open at 4 p.m. with the race beginning at approximately 8 p.m. All tickets are reserved at $22.

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