Koehler King at Anderson

Ron Koehler of South Bend, Indiana, captured Saturday’s 30 lap feature win at the Anderson Speedway. Jimmy McCune was second, with Jason Fuller, Hank Lower and Greg Wheeler fifth in the Pepsi Night at the races presented by Wings, etc. Twenty three beautiful racecars descended upon Anderson Speedway under a cloudless blue sky. Temperatures in the middle 80s brought the slick track surface of first hot laps where many teams struggled to find the balance in their cars. In the second session the 19 Tiffin academy of Hair Design car driven by Jimmy McCune thundered against the turn four fence. The Durnwald team thrashed to exchange front end hardware and resurrected their evening. In qualifying the track record of 10.414 second set by Geoff Kaiser was not seriously jeopardized as the fastest of the field resided in the 10.7 second bracket. Kaiser’s 71K Geiger Developing/Nickles MAC Tools entry struggled for grip this night and clocked well over his world record mark. Greg Wheeler clocked in with his 10.799 second lap in the LA Electric/ Swanson 7 and Hank Lower’s 10.888 lap went fourth overall. In the end it was San Jose California’s Thomas Meseraull in the Blake Racing 81 lapping at 10.774 seconds just behind the resilient McCune with his 10.704 fast qualifier lap. In the first heat Sam Davis lined the 43 car beside Ryan Myers in the 55r. Tim Cox brought the Batts number 6 with Jerry Caryer’s 75c in row two ahead of Hank Lower’s 37 and fast qualifier McCune. At the green it was Davis disappearing into the evening breeze while Cox, Myers and McCune battled for second. In the end Cox rounded Myers and held off McCune. Myers ended up fourth and Lower fifth. The second heat saw the 10 of Jim Dolph and the Tag Hale owned 5h driven by Brandon Whited out front while 71 K Geoff Kaiser and the 100 of Chad Delagrange filled row two. Jason Fuller and Meseraull comprised the third pairing and again the green flag flew. The 10 of Dolph quickly backed through the field as handling ills soured his front row go. Whited was unstoppable in the ten lap race, showing no mercy to second place finisher Kaiser, while Meseraull motored third over Delagrange and fifth fastest qualifier Jason Fuller. The third heat lined the 100x of Tom Paterson and Goshen, IN, driver Kris Leming in the 9 car ahead of Ron Koehler in the 10 along side Eddie Kelly of Indianapolis in the Speedchasers number 64 Third fastest qualifier Greg Wheeler lined up fifth next to Tom Geren in the 11G. After a botched start the 10 of Koehler took the lead on the second try and left Paterson and the field to battle for second. Eddie Kelly claimed the spot over Wheeler, while Paterson and Leming rounded out the top five. Twenty two cars lined up for the feature event as the fastest six cars were inverted courtesy of the blind draw. The front row cars of Ron Koehler in the Wooden Indian Motel number 10 and Jason Fuller’s Old Dominion Freight Lines/Hensley Fabricating number 17 would bring the field to the green flag. Row two starters Hank Lower and Greg Wheeler crowded close behind while Thomas Meseraull and fast qualifier Jimmy McCune shadowed in the third row. After a spirited send off from the Anderson crowd, the field posed for the start. And what a start! Koehler’s outside line found the first turn ahead of Fuller while Lower and Wheeler locked horns. The pack of snarling sprinters whipped around the speedway with Koehler leading the way over Fuller and Lower. McCune, fifth on lap one, claimed fourth from Wheeler two laps later. Koehler continued to lead through lapped traffic as the gap over Fuller increased to nearly two seconds. Moments later that gap was nearly gone as Koehler hesitated behind a lapped car and Fuller closed to seven lengths. Koehler moved out again as McCune rounded Lower for third and began chasing down Fuller. The only caution came on lap twenty seven as Sam Davis found the fence in turn four after jumping the right rear tire of Brandon Whited. The cars slowing down left no room as Ryan Myers’ 55r also caught a wheel, this one belonging to the 64 of Eddie Kelly. Myers and Davis were unhurt and their cars stowed in the infield. Leader Koehler calmly paced the field knowing Fuller, who turned twenty nine years old this day, would love a tall trophy for his birthday. Jimmy McCune was third after starting sixth and appeared to ready for more. The green flew again and Koehler opened a small lead over Fuller who was overtaken by McCune when the white flag came out. Koehler flashed across the line ahead of McCune, Fuller, Hank Lower and Greg Wheeler. Meseraull was sixth, Jerry Caryer seventh, Chad Delagrange eighth, Tim Cox ninth, and Eddie Kelly rounded out the top ten A jubilant Ron Koehler emerged from the winning racer with the enthusiasm not expected from a seventy year old, unless of course he just won the race. “I haven’t won a race since, maybe, 2001” he shared with the crowd. “I’ve been coming to Anderson Speedway since 1971, and this is my first feature win here! The money is nice,” Koehler went on, “but this, (holding up the trophy) this means more than words can say!” The winners pictures were shared with the people from Wings, Etc., the growing chicken wing restaurants located throughout Indiana. Second place McCune was pleased with the effort “although a win at Anderson is what we want. I love this place, and I didn’t know if we’d be any good after our crash in hot laps. Dave and the guys got it back together. We just came up a little short.” Finishing third, Jason Fuller related to the crowd that he had lost the brakes in his car early on. “That caution was it for me. I knew I couldn’t keep Jimmy behind me without my brakes. I am happy to finish third, I guess, but that trophy sure would’ve been nice!” Car owner Steve Elliott appeared happy to put the 2007 points championship leading car back in the trailer after the wild night. As track announcer Denny Adams so aptly described it. “Anderson Speedway has taken many bites from Ron Koehler over the years. Tonight Ron Koehler took a bite out of Anderson Speedway.” Well said. The HOSS is off next weekend to gear up for the Marshfield (WI) Super Speedway event August 25. For more information click www.hossracing.com www.andersonspeedway.com or www.marshfieldspeedway.com