"I have to thank my step Dad and my Mom they gave me a set of tires for my birthday a few weeks ago and with out that we would not be here.  A couple of my crew members gave me the oil for the engine as a birthday present also."  An emotional Hanna said in Victory Lane.  "It was an awesome race, Ric Pfeifer and Steve Stacy raced me clean, and only a few yellow flags at Anderson, it was great.  I was really hanging on there at the end, my brakes started to go about lap 50-55 so I was really hoping for no more yellows, and we almost got it."

Hanna took the lead in the first turn after the green, with Pfeifer falling in behind for second, and Stacy third and Steve Minich, Jr. in four. As these drivers raced for the lead Rick Rinehart worked his way up to fifth challenging Minich. 2008 Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman champion Tony Dager was working his way up also when he was forced to retire on the 36^th lap due to overheating.

Justin Alsip’s season started with a bang he did not want as he found the third turn wall early in the race after something broke on the car. While the car was severely damaged Alsip was able to walk away very sore but unhurt. There were no other cars forced to be taken off by the wrecker until the 58^th lap when Rookie of the Year contenders Josh Timmerman and Jacob Owens tangled coming out of the fourth turn when Owens slid up into Timmerman forcing him into the wall. Owens was able to continue and finished seventh.

Eric Barcus and Rinehart were in a tight race for fourth when they came together in the third and fourth turns and both spun on the 65^th lap. Barcus was forced to retire, and Rinehart restarted at the tail of the field. He recovered to finish ninth for a record 27 Top Ten finishes in Howe Late Model Sportsman races out of 28 starts.

2006 Series Champion Sterkowitz lost two laps early when he had a mechanical problem. He made up both laps and was moving up through the field, but ran out of laps finishing sixth. Mark Lambert, running his first full season with the Late Model Sportsman series earned the Racing Electronics Hard Charger Award starting 20^th and finishing eighth on the lead lap.

Hanna earned the Turn One High Performance Steering Lap Leader Award for leading the most laps during the race. He also earned the Howe Racing Award, and the McGunegill Engine Performance Award.

The next Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman race will be the Baer Field 50 on Memorial Day, May 25^th at Baer Field Speedway in Ft. Wayne, IN. The Sportsman will be joined by the CRA Street Stocks and Vore’s Welding & Steel CRA FWD Compacts. For more information see www.craracing.net.