Burtons Bag Big Ones at Anderson

With the inversion being half of the field, Josh Burton took the Phillippe Eco Water Systems Super Truck feature lead from the pole and never was headed. But that certainly was not the picture of the race. Rob Hazelbaker hounded Burton the first five laps of the 40-lap event before Bret Miles was able to slip by.

Miles never left Burton, running bumper to tailgate the entire distance. Hazelbaker was third followed by Joe Beaver and Jack Dossey Jr.

Burton also took the first heat win over Miles and Beaver. Hazelbaker and Fred Hopkins tangled in Turn 3 sending Hopkins slamming into the wall and out for the night. Heat No. 2 had similar action on lap six when Buddy Davis attempted an inside pass on Robert Lemen. They locked together with Lemen into the wall and out of competition while Davis limped to the pit for repairs. Derrick Layne took the win over Mark Jennings and Mike Mendenhall. Fast timer was Beaver at 13.792 seconds.

Terry Burton grabbed the lead in the Street Stock main from early leader Rod Phipps and went on to complete the Burton victory romp. Darwin Blankenship trailed by a length at the checker followed by Rich Boyer, Danny Acrey, II and Phipps.

Robin Burton led flag to flag in the fast heat winning over Phipps and Curtis Chapman. Kevin Brooks mount broke on lap seven of heat No. 2 vaulting Bob Rabenstein to the win over Donnie Butler and Stephan McDaniel. Boyer was again fast qualifier at 14.434 seconds.

Mike Perry led the first 12 laps of the fabulous Figure 8 before tangling with the slower car of Tony Hart. Perry's machine was damaged and could not continue while Hart was parked for the evening.

Ronnie Rose took over at this point and built a nice lead. Rose was having it easy and that almost cost him the race. Coming to the cross-over and for the checker, all of a sudden Rose saw Doug Sheets directly in front of him. Rose hit the binders, smoking the tires and was able to avoid disaster.

Trailing Rose were Ricky Tharp, Matt Tharp, Rod Phipps and Joe Hart Jr. Mike Phipps took the first heat win over Billy Palmer and Sheets while Tim Tomlinson returned to capture heat No. 2 defeating Curtis Chapman and Bobby Long.

The USAC Ford Focus Midgets rounded out the program with a thrilling feature that saw a disastrous finish.  Robbie Ray grabbed the lead at the green and was never headed although he was pressured heavily most of the race.

Tate Martz was putting the heat on Ray and looking like he might try a last lap pass. That is when disaster struck. Martz has his engine expire going into Turn 3 on the final lap. Car after car slid into the oil & wall before the field could react to the situation. Three out of the top six runners were also involved including Sondi Eden and Ryan Hamilton. All drivers were ok.

At the end, it was Ray trailed by Trenton Darland, Brice Kenyon and Derek Crasi. Kenyon took first heat honors over Martz and Darland while the second heat went to Eden over Hamilton and Ryan Litt.  

For additional information contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.