By Ken de la Bastide

(July 14, 2013) - New Castle’s Jason Atkinson led the final 56 laps to capture the CRA Sportsman 75 lap feature at Anderson Speedway on Poet Biorefining night.

With a strong field of 23 cars on hand, many of the same drivers can be
expected for this Friday’s 75-lap feature as part of “Late Model Weekend”
at the track.

Atkinson started ninth in the field working his way into the top five
after just 11 laps of racing. He moved into the second spot on lap 19 when J.J. Haley spun in turn two.

On the restart Atkinson used the outside line to get around Fort Wayne
driver KC Spillers and pulled away to a comfortable margin.

There were only three cautions in the race which featured three lead
changes among four different drivers.

The battle over the final 20 circuits was for the second position between
Spillers, Danny Trent and Mark Lambert.

Spillers held on for second with Lambert grabbing the third spot at the
checkered flag with Trent and Josh Cave rounding out the top five.

It was Atkinson’s second CRA Sportsman feature win of the year having won the opening event of the year at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Two incidents in the first 20 laps knocked several of the leaders out of
contention. The first took place on lap 12 when Rob Noel spun in turn one and collected the car of Jacob Garrigus.

An incident on lap 19 developed when slower traffic was running two wide in turn three and collected the cars of fast qualifier Billy VanMeter,

John Heck, Trey Craig, Robert Amos Jr. and Joe Woodring. All were running in the top ten at the time, only Woodring was able to continue.

Rob Allman led the first seven laps when he slowed dramatically and pulled out of competition. That gave the lead to Hanley, who was passed by Spillers on a restart.

Trent and Cave elected to start from the back of the pack instead of in
the sixth and ninth position on the grid hoping to avoid any early
accidents in the lead pack. It was a strategy that worked for both
drivers.

Pole sitter Ronnie Rose, who qualified 12th quick, also dropped to the
back of the field, but only completed one lap.