ANDERSON — Sulpher Springs veteran driver Scott Neal would not be moved from the racing groove to lead all 300 laps to capture the Champion Racing Association Anderson 300 on Saturday at Anderson Speedway.
The first driver to challenge Neal for the top spot was Noblesville veteran Joe Beaver who stayed glued to Neal’s rear bumper for the first half of the race. Several times Beaver attempted to get underneath Neal in lapped traffic or coming off the corners but was unable to complete the pass.
Kentucky driver Beau Mitchell moved into the second spot on a restart on lap 176 when Beaver was slow to come up to speed. Mitchell kept tapping the rear bumper of Neal’s car for most of the second half of the race.
At the lap 180 mark the two leaders made contact entering turn one, Neal got loose and Mitchell backed off and tried to get inside coming off the second corner, but Neal was able to drive back to the bottom.
Then with 40 laps remaining Mitchell got inside of Neal entering turn one, the two drivers traded paint with Neal maintaining the advantage. From there Neal started to pull away to win going away at the checkers.
Mitchell finished second followed by Beaver, Jason Thompson and Brian Hopkins. Josh Burton, Rich Boyer and Tim McLaughlin finished on the lead lap.
“I’ve got a lot of people to thank,“ Neal said after claiming the $5,000 first place money. “What a great series and a great bunch of racers. What a great race.“
Several front runners were knocked from contention by mechanical problems. The first driver to suffer a problem was Johnny Magee, who slowed on a restart on lap 16 while running fifth.
Muncie’s Bret Miles Jr. dropped out after 29 laps while running fourth and on the same lap Bret Miles was done for the night. The next front runner to experience mechanical problems was Kentucky driver Brett Hudson, who was running fourth at the time.
There were 15 cars running at the finish. The caution flag waved 16 times for a total of 71 laps, mostly for one car spins. John Weisenauer and Dick Dunlevy Jr. got together entering turn one on lap 113 to bring out the final caution before the break.
The red flag flew on lap 201 when Chesterfield’s Steve Rapier Jr.’s car lost an engine entering the first turn and backed into the outside retaining wall with flames erupting from the hood.
Beaver and Neal were the fast qualifiers with Brent Miles Jr., Beau Mitchell and Brett Hudson rounding out the top five during time trials.
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