ANDERSON, Ind. – Veteran Aaron Pierce made a picture perfect crossover pass on lap 71 to take the lead from Justin Grant and win Thursday’s non-winged 410 sprint car feature at Anderson Speedway.
With a tightly bunched field track position was crucial on Sugar Fork Crossing night at Anderson Speedway.
Grant took the lead on lap 47 after an incident with Travis Welpott. The front seven cars ran nose to tail until Pierce took the point.
Bobby Santos got around Grant on lap 80 with Kody Swanson climbing from the fifth spot to third by lap 84. Santos closed on Pierce but when the leaders encountered lap traffic in the last five circuits, he went high in the first turn.
Pierce won by 1.8 seconds over Santos and Swanson.
“The car was really good tonight,” Pierce said in the Star Financial Winner’s Circle. “The field was so tight that you had to take advantage of the opportunity when it came.
“I didn’t know how close Bobby (Santos) was at the end, but I know he nudged me a couple of times.”
Santos, who is still seeking his first Anderson Speedway win, said the team learned more about racing the track.
“We keep getting close,” he said of a win. “At the end I was lucky to save it and not make contact with the outside wall.”
Swanson said he made a mistake on the only restart when he tried the outside line and was then forced to fall back into line.
“When the field sorted out some, we were able to gain some spots to finish third,” he said.
Welpott took advantage of the inversion following qualifying and led the first 46 laps before his night ended.
From the start Welpott was chased by Justin Grant, Aaron Pierce, Jacob Wilson and Bobby Santos.
He was able to hold off Grant by running the middle groove through the corners. But for several laps Welpott’s car was pushing in the corners.
On lap 47 Grant got inside of Welpott in turn one and the two made contact with Welpott flipping and coming to a rest against the retaining wall in turn two.
Swanson set fast time during qualifying just one-one thousandth of a second quicker than the lap turned by Santos with Pierce third quick.
The finish:
Aaron Pierce, Bobby Santos, Kody Swanson, Nick Hamilton, Kyle O’Gara, Jimmy McCune, Jacob Wilson, C.J. Leary, Joe Liguori, Brian Vaughn, Justin Grant, Chris Jagger, Travis Welpott, Jim Payne.