ANDERSON, Ind. – Tyler Roahrig continued his mastery of non-wing sprint car racing at Anderson Speedway with his fourth weekly win in a row Thursday night.
Aside from the Pay Less Little 500, the Plymouth driver has won four of the last six 125-lap races on the high banked, quarter-mile oval.
Roahrig was all smiles after pulling a one for the inversion of the sprint car feature on Thursday’s CB Fabricating Night at the Races.
Starting from the pole position, Roahrig jumped into the lead ahead of Little 500 winner Bobby Santos III and Kody Swanson.
From there, Roahrig led all 125 laps to win by .932 seconds over Swanson and Dakoda Armstrong.
“I normally don’t like starting from the pole position,” Roahrig said in the winner’s circle. “We had a really good qualifying run, my best ever here.
“After the final restart the car seemed to get free, in a long race the car changes,” he added. “Seems like I can win these 125-lap races, but haven’t won the big one (Little 500).”
Swanson said the Nolen Racing team gave him another good car.
“Roahrig’s team deserved the win tonight because they were strong all day,” he said. “I’m hoping to win one at Anderson yet this year.”
Armstrong said his car got better after the 80-lap mark and had problems passing cars early in the race.
“We had tires left, we just ran out of laps,” he said.
Aaron Pierce moved around Dakoda Armstrong on the second circuit, and the running order remained unchanged until Nick Hamilton spun on lap 30.
Following the restart, Roahrig once again started pulling away from the rest of the field, with Santos, Swanson, Pierce and Armstrong racing in close formation.
Swanson got inside of Santos on lap 47 entering turn three and set his sights on Roahrig.
The second caution flag waved on lap 56 when Doug Fitzwater ignored the black flag.
That gave Swanson the opportunity to make a run on Roahrig with Santos continuing to hold down the third position. But Roahrig again pulled away from the pack.
The race was red-flagged on lap 90 when Caleb Armstrong made heavy contact with the turn three wall while running fourth after a suspension part broke.
Roahrig maintained the lead for the final 35 laps with Swanson able to keep him in sight, while Dakoda Armstrong climbed from fifth to third after passing Santos on lap 111.
Roahrig topped qualifying with a lap of 11.183 seconds, besting Santos’s time of 11.262 seconds and Swanson’s best lap of 11.279 seconds.
The finish:
1. Tyler Roahrig; 2. Kody Swanson; 3. Dakoda Armstrong; 4. Bobby Santos III; 5. Aaron Pierce; 6. Jerry Coons Jr.; 7. Travis Welpott; 8. Cory Setser; 9. Nick Hamilton; 10. Justin Harper; 11. Chris Jagger; 12. Rob Keesling; 13. Caleb Armstrong; 14. Billy Wease; 15. Doug Fitzwater.