ANDERSON, IN – Alan Williams scored his first career win CRA Street Stock win at Anderson Speedway but had to work through 11 restarts to finally see the checkered flag.
Fast time was set by defending speedway champion Andrew Cook and the invert put first time competitor Josh Ebbert on the pole with Jake McElfresh alongside.
A lap wasn’t completed when Ebbert spun the tires on his race car and spin on the front straight.
That put Williams on the front row and he jumped into the lead, a position he would maintain until the finish.
At times he was challenged by McElfresh, James Kirby and Cook.
A three-lap shoot out was set up for the win when Phil Jenkins and Joe Pulley tangled on the front straight.
Williams was able to hold off Cook on the restart to win by .3-tenths of second with Kirby coming home in third.
McElfresh finished fourth followed by Duan Damon, who started 12th and Ebbert.
“They didn’t make it easy on us tonight,” said Williams. “We would get into a groove and the caution flag would wave.
“We brought a good piece and it stayed steady all night,” he said.
Williams has won both CRA Street Stock races contested this year and is now considering running for the championship.
Many of the cautions were for single car spins.
Cook said he was battling an overheating race car but was able to make it to the end.
“It was tough,” he said of the number of cautions. “Our car was real free coming out and it was real hard coming out of the corners. Finished second, I’ll take it.”
Kirby said his car was strong on the short runs but not on a long run.
“I could run with him (Williams) on the short run but after we got going for awhile he could pull away from me,” Kirby said. “
Race statistics:
Time of race: 1:05:40.119; Lap leaders: Alan Williams, 1-85; Lead changes: 0; Cautions: 11; Red flag: 1
