By Ken de la Bastide
ANDERSON – Local driver Colin Grissom scored his first Kenyon Midget feature win but it involved some intense racing in the waning laps.
Grissom started on the pole position for the K&M Tool & Die Kenyon Midget feature Saturday at Anderson Speedway when Dameron Taylor had to start on the tail for changing rear tires.
At the start Grissom jumped into the lead chased by Kameron Gladish and Tommy Kouns, the previous race winners on the high banked quarter-mile oval.
Kouns passed Gladish for the second spot with outside pass entering turn three. Dameron Taylor, returning to racing action after injuries suffered in an April crash at Toledo Speedway climbed into the top five after 13 circuits.
Up until the final seven laps Grissom was running a near perfect race by hitting his marks into and off of the corners to keep his challengers at bay.
When the leaders encountered the slower car of Cole Perry the shuffling for position began, but Grissom never surrendered the point.
Grissom used both the high and low racing line to get around Perry while Taylor and Gladish used Perry’s car to get around Kouns.
Taylor would pass Gladish for the second spot on lap 27 but by that time Grissom had pulled away to a comfortable lead, winning by 1.1 second.
Grissom was all smiles when he emerged from his racer in the Star Financial Winner’s Circle.
“This is great,” he said of his first career feature win. “I knew they were right behind me for the entire race.
“When we came up on the slower car, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to hang on for the win,” Grissom said.
Taylor win the K&K Marketing pole award by turning a lap at 12.635-seconds, which was one-one thousandth of a second faster than the time recorded by Kouns.
Six drivers posted qualifying times with a half-second of Taylor’s quick time.
Gladish picked up the heat win by leading all ten laps with Grissom and Kouns rounding out the top three.