PLYMOUTH, Ind. – Veteran competitor Kody Swanson won the inaugural 500 Sprint Car Tour by leading the final 65 laps.
Swanson set fast time during qualifying Friday at the Plymouth Motor Speedway and following the inversion started fourth.
The invert put Billy Wease and Derek Bischak on the front row with two-time Lucas Oil Little 500 winner Tyler Roahrig starting on the inside of the second row.
Wease got the jump at the start chased by Bischak, Swanson, Roahrig and Dakota Armstrong.
Swanson made the decisive move on the tenth circuit when he went to the outside groove to pass both Bischak and Wease coming off the second corner.
“I had a good car early and was waiting for a window to open up,” Swanson said. “They were racing for the lead and broke each other’s momentum and I had to take the shot. I had to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Roahrig dropped back to the fifth spot after 25 laps and started to climb back toward the front when the first caution flag waved on lap 45 for a spin by Taylor Ferns, who was running sixth at the time.
A second caution flag waved on lap 50 when Davey Hamilton Jr. spun which set up a battle for the second spot between Wease and Roahrig.
With Roahrig running the low line and Wease on the outside the two raced side by side for seven laps before Roahrig got the position.
At the finish it was Roahrig, Wease, Armstrong and Boby Santos III rounding out the top five.
“It’s really cool to win the first race with the tour,” Swanson said. “The 500 Sprint Car tour is really cool, I didn’t know if we would ever have a pavement series again.”
Roahrig said he couldn’t get going at the start of the race and lost several positions and had to work back through the traffic.
“We were pretty good after that yellow and was able to get around Billy (Wease), but Kody (Swanson) was long gone,” he said. “Before the yellow, I was catching the leaders, just got to be better next time.”
Wease said his car was pretty good the first half of the race, but following the caution periods had trouble maintaining grip.
“I was trying to hold him (Roahrig) off, but just didn’t have no more grip and was spinning the tires,” he said.
Armstrong said the track surface changed three-times during the 75-lap feature.
“The bottom was really good for us early and I gained some positions and then got caught up in traffic,” he said.
“The caution came out of of no where and then there was grip on the high side, you had to do some rim riding.”
Following her spin on lap 45, Ferns was able to drive from the back of the field to finish 6th and Hamilton came home in seventh after his spin on lap 50.
The finish:
Feature (75 Laps): 1) Kody Swanson; 2) Tyler Roahrig; 3) Billy Wease; 4) Dakota Armstrong; 5) Bobby Santos III; 6) Taylor Ferns; 7) Davey Hamilton Jr.; 8) Derek Bischak; 9) Kyle O’Gara; 10) Tony Main; 11) Russ Gamester; 12) Travis Welpott; 13) Quinton Saayman; 14) Chris Jagger; 15) Cory Butler; 16) Nick Marcott; 17) Justin Harper; 18) Tom Paterson