ANDERSON, Ind. — For the 19th time since 2017 Dameron Taylor scored the Kenyon Midget Series victory at Anderson Speedway.
Taylor was able to hold off point leader Aryton Houk over the final 21 laps winning by a half-second with Danny O’Gara making his first start coming home in third.
Houk set fast time during qualifying Saturday which saw 14 of the 15 entrants within a half-second of each other.
Andrew Wall took the lead at the start but Taylor grabbed the point on lap four with an inside pass entering turn one.
Wall’s night ended on lap nine when he made heavy contact with the turn four wall.
On the restart O’Gara started outside of Taylor but was passed by Houk on the restart. The front three ran in a tight pack with Evan Hammond climbing through the field from the ninth starting spot.
Three contenders for the Redline Ace Rookie of the Year honors finished in the top six.
Back luck continued at Anderson Speedway for Isaac Johnson and Kyle Sheard.
Johnson retired after 14 laps and Sheard, who scored his first win at Anderson Speedway last year, lost a plug wire during qualifying.
After starting at the tail of the 15-Midget feature, Sheard was working toward the front when a mechanical issue sidelined him after 16 laps.
For Taylor it was his 39th career win in a Kenyon Midget.
“The car felt great,” Taylor said in the Hoosier Lottery Victory Lane. “Once I figured out the bump in turn three.
“I wasn’t going to let him (Houk) get a run on me,” he said. “As long as I could keep him under me going off turn four, I knew I would be alright.”
Houk earned the K&K Marketing Fast Qualifier award turning a lap at 12.659-seconds to edge out rookie Seth Tozer by three one-thousandths of a second.
Fourteen of the 15 competitors were within a half-second of Houk’s time.
Houk won the first of two KRJ Race Products heat races leading the entire distance chased by Taylor with Wall finishing third.
Johnson won the second heat race followed by O’Gara and Eli Fox.
Hammond won the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger award for advancing five positions and O’Gara claimed the BHR Performance rookie of the race honors.
The finish:
1) Dameron Taylor; 2) Aryton Houk; 3) Danny O’Gara; 4) Evan Hammond; 5) Seth Tozer; 6) Hunter Peri; 7) Eli Fox; 8) Braydon Rutter; 9) Ryan Shilkuski; 10) Brian Richardson; 11) Evan Patton; 12) Austin Pierce; 13) Kyle Sheard; 14) Isaac Johnson; 15) Andrew Wall.
