Thunder on the Hill Goes to Anderson
The headlining division of the evening was the O'Reilly TORA Late Model series, showcasing some of the best talent in the central states area. John Anderson, who has been one of the most dominant drivers in the country in 2007, left nothing on the table as he clean swept both days of racing, winning nearly every race in which he started.
Friday night Anderson finished a close runner-up to Kelly Boen in their heat race. That was the only time the Omaha driver passed the stripe in any position other than first. He easily landed his Shop Quik Racing Team #2 owned by Greg Junghans in Victory Lane on Friday night for yet another win on the year. No one had anything for Anderson as Boen, David Turner, and Al Purkey rounded out the top 5.
Saturday night was same song different verse as Anderson won his heat race after starting in the back, placing him at the front of the passing point chart to start on the front of the Alternative Pest Mangement Pole Dash, of which he captured. That placed him on the pole of the 40 lap Main Event to close out the season for the O'Reilly TORA Series and Thunderhill Speedway. Anderson led the first 10 laps before Purkey used a lapped car as a pick off of turn 2 to take over the top spot. After various caution laps Anderson lined up behind Purkey for the restart and with 5 laps to go hit the afterburners, blowing by Purkey and on to the win to cap off an impressive weekend. Purkey would finish second, followed by Boen and Delbert Smith. Heat race winners on Saturday included Purkey, Anderson, and Earl Kinderknecht with John Kuchar winning the B Feature. On Friday night Purkey, Boen, and Mike Wiarda were heat race victors while Kuchar won the B Feature.
The series points leader heading into the final weekend, Kyle Berck, had bad luck all weekend but was ahead enough to clinch the points title by starting Saturday night's A Feature. It was his first ever O'Reilly TORA Championship. He won the title by a mere 20 points over Delbert Smith and 30 over John Anderson.
