From Anderson Speedway
Anderson, IN — (September 29, 2012) — Just when it looked like Aaron Pierce was on his way to victory in the HOSS Winged Sprint feature, it all went away with two laps remaining.
Pierce set fast time on Herald Bulletin night at Anderson Speedway and started sixth in the feature following the inversion.
Chris Neuenschwander jumped into the lead at the start with Pierce running fifth after the first lap. By lap 13 Pierce had moved into the second position and started to chase down the leader.
With Neuenschwander approaching lapped traffic, Pierce closed and made the pass on lap 31 with an inside pass coming off turn two after the two leaders made slight contact.
Neuenschwander was able to keep in close contact with Pierce as the two picked their way through slower cars. On lap 38 Pierce lost his patience and attempted to pass Doug Stepke entering turn one.
The two made contact with Pierce’s car driving over the front of Stepke’s and came to a stop in turn two where Neuenschwander was collected. Both Pierce and Neuenschwander were able to continue.
That gave the lead to Geoff Kaiser followed by Joe Swanson and Cody Gallogly.
On the restart Kaiser pulled away for the victory with Swanson, Gallogly, Pierce and Ryan Gillenwater rounding out the top five.
“I didn’t have the winning car tonight, it was probably going to be Aaron (Pierce) or Chris (Neuenschwander),” Kaiser said. “I just tried to stay out of trouble. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
Swanson won the series championship with Gallogly picking up rookie of the year honors.
Defending WMDH ThunderCar champion Hannah Lundy made it two championships in a row by winning for the third time in 2012.
Lundy entered the night with a slim three-point lead over Rob Allman. But she set fast time during qualifications and then led the entire distance to capture the feature.
She was followed to the checkers by Phil Jenkins, Earl Adams II, Doug Dugger and Allman.
By winning the championship in 2011, Lundy became the first woman to win a division title at Anderson Speedway.
Jerry Dane captured his seventh win in the G.W. Pierce Front Wheel Drive oval division, passing Marshall Clark Jr. on the five lap with an inside pass coming off the second corner.
Paul Phipps got around Clark on lap 12 in turn one to finish second with division champion Ron Phipps coming home in third after getting inside of Clark on lap 20.
Elliott McKinney grabbed the lead from Mike Alley on a restart on lap three entering turn one and went on to record his second feature win in the Front Wheel Drive Figure-8 action.
The race was red-flagged on lap two when Michael Smith made heavy contact with the car of Kevin Henson in the cross-over. The impact split Henson’s car almost in two. Neither driver was injured.
Alley captured the championship with his second place finish followed by Mark Allman in third.
Racing action returns to Anderson Speedway on Saturday, October 6th with first appearance of the Must See Racing Supermodifieds in the Twin 50’s. Other divisions in action include UMRA Midgets, Mel Kenyon Midgets and Thunder Roadsters.
For additional information on Anderson Speedway, visit www.andersonspeedway.com or contact Anderson Speedway at (765) 642-0206.