Santos, Houk, Bartlett score wins at Anderson
ANDERSON - Lapped traffic played a significant role in Bobby Santos III second victory in the Tony Elliott Classic at Anderson Speedway.
Santos had a fast car throughout Saturday's running of the yourBigPlans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour event and posted the second fastest time during qualifying to Tyler Roahrig.
The inversion put Dakoda Armstrong on the front row for the 11th running of the Elliott Classic with point leader Kody Swanson on the outside.
Swanson grabbed the lead at the start with Kyle O'Gara moving into the second spot after 13 circuits with a pass of Armstrong while the front runners contended with slower cars.
O'Gara claimed the point on lap 31 with a pass of Swanson in lapped traffic and just eight laps later Roahrig pulled out of contention.
The first caution flag waved on lap 46 when Tony Main made contact with the turn four wall with O'Gara maintaining the lead on the restart chased by Swanson, Armstrong, Santos and Jackson Macenko.
Santos took the lead from O'Gara on lap 77 with an inside pass on the front straight in lapped traffic.
The final caution flag waved on lap 79 when the leaders tried to put Nathan Bryd a lap down. O'Gara made contact with the outside retaining wall in turn four with Armstrong also suffering damage, ending the night for both competitors.
From there Santos went on to claim his second Tony Elliott Classic victory and first at Anderson Speedway since 2021, Swanson, Macenko, Brian Vaughn and Donnie Adams Jr. rounded out the top five.
1 Bobby Santos III
2 Kody Swanson
3 Jackson Macenko
4 Brian Vaughn
5 Donnie Adams Jr.
6 Matt Dimit
7 Billy Wease
8 Nathan Byrd
9 Timmy Creech
10 Travis Welpott
11 Tony McVey
12 Kyle O'Gara
13 Dakoda Armstrong
14 Rylan Gray
15 Tony Main
16 Tyler Roahrig
17 Chris Jagger
18 Race Bible
19 Justin Harper
20 Chris Neunschwander
21 Olivia Shelbo
DNS Brady Allum
Kenyon Midget Series
With four drivers vying for the Kenyon Midget Series championship on the line, Aryton Houk claimed his second title.
The series concluded the 2026 season with the Don and Mel Kenyon Classic, the longest race of the year at 75 laps, at Anderson Speedway.
Houk led the point standings for much of the early part of the season before missing the second race at Lincoln Park Speedway for an IMSA race in Virginia.
Houk in the Wings and Wheels Foundation entry took the lead on the initial start from the pole position on Saturday, but quickly surrendered the point to K&K Marketing fast qualifier Kyle Sheard.
Sheard pulled away from the field with the running order remaining unchanged until the second caution flag waved on lap 39 when Seth Tozer spun in turn three.
The restart would change the outcome of the race. Leader Sheard broke the shifter in his midget coming to the green flag and stacked up the field with Hammond barrel rolling into turn one and the melee knocking out the cars of Andrew Wall.
That put Houk on the point chased by Taylor, Eli Fox, Johnson and Redline Ace Rookie of the Year Hunter Peri.
Johnson and Fox passed Taylor on lap 49, but four laps later he gave up two positions to Fox and Taylor and eventually spun on lap 62.
At the finish it was Houk winning by .7-seconds over Fox and Taylor to claim this first Kenyon Classic victory and second championship.
Front Wheel Drive
Front Wheel Drive champion Dustin Bartlett won his second 50-lap feature of the year on Saturday in an impressive run.
Nick Warner took the initial lead with James Allender running in second followed by Chase Lang.
Lang took the lead on the 5th circuit and Tyler Brown moved to the point a lap later.
Brown's night ended on lap 21 in a cloud of smoke which moved Bartlett to the point. At the finish it was Bartlett scoring the victory followed by Lang and Warner.
