Taylor prevails at Circle City

(Aaron Skillman photo)

By Ken de la Bastide

INDIANAPOLIS – Veteran competitor Dameron Taylor mounted a steady charge to the front in winning the Kenyon Midget Series event at Circle City Raceway. It was Taylor's second consecutive win having captured the Don and Mel Kenyon Classic at Anderson Speedway and the 30th of is career.

He became the fifth different driver to win on the quarter-mile dirt oval.

Taylor started 11th in the 14-car field with Jalen Cox and Evan Hammond on the front row following the invert. Hammond took the lead at the start chased by Cox and Ryan Shilkuski.

The first of two caution flags waved on lap 3 when four cars tangled including Skilkuski, Jett Neal, Jeff Hill and Jase Petty.

The restart saw Hammond maintain the lead with Buudy Hollmeyer moving up to the second spot chased by Cox, point leader Ryan Huggler and Taylor.

Huggler brought out the second caution flag with a spin in the fourth corner on lap seven.

Taylor running third on the restart was able to charge into the lead, one he would not relinquish.

Hollmeyer came home in second with Hammond, Triston Brown and Cox rounding out the top five.

It was the first time that Taylor won on the Indianapolis oval in his career. He didn't compete at the first visit of the series to the track.

Taylor thanked his crew for setting the car up for Circle City.

“We didn't finish working on the car until 2:30,” he said in the winner's circle. “We were able to get the car dialed in to get the win.”

Taylor said the track was slick and the key was throttle control so as not to spin the tires.

His run to the front earned Taylor the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger award for advancing ten positions.

Hollmeyer has twice finished in the runner-up position at Circle City. “We needed one more position, but I'll take it,” he said. “The track was slick so you had to run on the bottom. It was hard to be patient when your trying to close on Dameron (Taylor), but when you stepped on it you would slide out toward the wall.”

Hammond said what was important was getting the car set up right and to use the race as a learning experience. “I'm getting better every time,” he said. “Finishing third, I think was pretty good. I got to lead some laps and run up front.”

Huggler captured the K&K Marketing qualifying honors and along with Cox the two drivers were winners in the KRJ Race Products heat races.