By Ken de la Bastide
CNHI News Service
ANDERSON, Ind. —
James Edsall III came from the tail of the field to take the lead with 28 laps remaining en route to the United States Speed Association Thunder Roadster victory at Anderson Speedway on Friday.
Edsall’s “Batmobile” developed a fluid leak during the heat race and, after making repairs, started at the back of the pack.
Jeff Woods took the early lead chased by Chris Weddle, Derrick Williams, Darrell Brown and Tony Brickert. Edsall and fast-qualifier Al Renner were the drivers on the move.
By Lap 4, Edsall and Renner were running fifth and sixth.
Weddle took the point on Lap 5 with an inside move on Woods on the front straight.
Edsall climbed to fourth on Lap 13, passed Brickert on Lap 15 to move into second and made the pass on Weddle entering Turn 3 with an inside move.
From there, Edsall pulled away from the field with Weddle and Renner battling nose-to-tail for the second position.
Renner finally got inside of Weddle entering Turn 3 to grab the second spot.
At the checkers, it was Edsall winning by 3.3 seconds over Renner, followed by Weddle, Brickert and Tony Holden.
New Castle’s Dalton Armstrong got the hole shot at the start of the USSA midget feature leading wire-to-wire to record the victory.
Fast-qualifier Mario Marietta, who made contact with the Turn 4 outside retaining wall in the heat race, borrowed the car of Travis Young and was able to climb from the rear of the field to third.
He passed Jim Anderson with a nifty inside move entering Turn 1 to claim the position.
At the finish, it was Armstrong, David Bryne, Marietta, Anderson and Travis Ninea.
Max McGhee was in the right place at the right time to inherit the lead in the Kenyon Midget feature, and then held off fast-qualifier Justin Peck for the final 12 laps to record the win.
Cordy Horn led the first 38 laps when he spun coming off the second corner.
That put Peck into the lead, but USSA officials put Peck behind McGhee because he jumped the restart on Lap 34 to gain a position.
Over the final 10 laps, McGhee, Peck and Nick Hamilton battled for the top position with Peck attempting to gain the advantage both high and low coming off the corners to no avail.
Hamilton was looking for racing room, but neither McGhee or Peck made a mistake to forfeit a position.
McGhee won by .318 seconds followed by Peck, Hamilton, James Edsall III and Issac Chapple.
