Gaines notches Anderson win

(Aaron Skillman photo)

By Ken de la Bastide

ANDERSON – For the first time in at least three years Clayton Gaines claimed victory in a Kenyon Midget Series feature race. Gaines was the winner in the sixth annual Dick Jordan Classic Sunday at Anderson Speedway.

The Alexandria, IN, driver had a strong car all day qualifying second behind Evan Hammond and leading wire to wire in his heat race.

Gaines pulled a 1 in the redraw and started on the pole position with fellow heat race winner Ryan Huggler along side.

At the start Gaines jumped into the lead chased by Huggler and Hammond with rookie of the year contender Jase Petty running fourth followed by Dameron Taylor. Gaines was able to pull away from the field but it was Taylor on the move. Seeking a third consecutive win in the Dick Jordan Classic, Taylor passed Petty with an inside move entering turn one on lap seven and two laps later with slower traffic playing a role passed Hammond coming off the second corner.

At the halfway point of the 30-lap feature Taylor moved into the second spot with a pass of Huggler coming off the fourth corner. Taylor started to close the gap to Gaines but at the finish was a half-second behind with Hammond coming home in third followed by Petty and Kyle Sheard.

“We ran real good today,” Gaines said in the Riley & Sons Victory Lane. “I could hear someone behind me, but I didn't know who it was. We had problems in practice and worked on it all day,” he said.

Gaines who wasn't planning on running the full season said the win might bring about a change in plans.

Taylor said he was throwing his midget into the corners. “He (Gaines) had to mess up one more time, that's all I needed,” Taylor laughed. “I wish I hadn't had to make up so much ground, but the lapped cars helped.”

Hammond said the track was a bit tricky and he kept hitting the bump in turn three. “We struggled with the car all day,” he said. “We were fast but I wasn't quite comfortable.”

Petty was the highest finishing rookie in the race after qualifying fourth and finishing second in a heat race. “It was a great race,” he said. “We were fast all weekend and finished better than I expected.” Petty said he loves racing at Anderson and has only two oval starts in his career on the high-banked quarter-mile.

Sheard qualified fifth and dropped back at the start to ninth. “The car started to come in after four or five laps,” he said. “I had a big gap after passing Landon Brown to catch Petty and Huggler. I was looking to make some passes in the last few laps.”

The 2023 Redline Ace Rookie of Year Hammond claimed his first K&K Marketing Fast Qualifier award edging out Gaines by .012-seconds with a lap of 12.668-seconds.

Ryan Huggler, rookie of the year contender Jase Petty and Dameron Taylor rounded out the top five.