Hammond breaks into win column
Evan Hammond scored his first career Kenyon Midget Series feature win at the Sportsdrome on 8/22/2025. (Aaron Skillman photo)
By Ken de la Bastide
CLARKSVILLE, IN – After being close in the past, Indianapolis competitor Evan Hammond broke into the win column with the Kenyon Midget Series. Hammond joins Isaac Johnson and Landon Brown as first time winners with the series in 2025 following a dominating performance at the Sportsdrome.
The 2023 Redline Ace Rookie of the Year, Hammond took advantage of the luck of the draw by starting on the pole position with Brown on the outside of the front row. At the start Hammond had the advantage chased by Brown and point leader Dameron Taylor.
The caution flag waved on the second lap when Jase Petty came to a stop against the outside retaining wall on the back straight.
On the restart Hammond maintained the lead with Johnson and Andrew Wall passing Eli Fox to move into the fourth and fifth place in the running order. Taylor got inside of Landon Brown entering turn three and Brown and Johnson swapped the third spot for several laps.
The second caution flag waved on lap 12 when Brian Richardson spun in turn two.
With the lapped car of Jason Fuller on the front row, Hammond was able to pull away from the field as the drivers in the outside row looked to get around Fuller. Driving a near perfect race, Hammond went on to win followed by Taylor, Johnson, Fox and Trisdon Brown.
“The car just came alive,” Hammond said after scoring the win. “Finally solved some adversity today. The car wasn't quite right, but we did everything we could. We took our time and made a good decision.”
He said the car drove like it was on rails and was pleased with the performance. “This is a sign of things to come,” Hammond continued. “Now I just want to go and do it again.”
Taylor said he was using older tires after winning at the Sportsdrome earlier this year with plans to save the newer rubber for the final two races of the year. “Since I won here the last time, it was okay not to get the win this time,” he said of maintaining the championship point lead. “I just tried to stay consistent and run my line on the bottom. “Definitely looking for a fourth title,” Taylor said. “Look for decent finishes in the next two races.”
Johnson said it was a good run trying to get around cars that were running the low groove. “Guys were running the bottom and with no choice we had to move to the outside,” he said. “We had a great car tonight. Points at this point don't really matter, just going to try and win the next two races.”
Johnson captured the K&K Marketing fast qualifying award with a new track record at the Sportsdrome.
Johnson and Wall took home victories in the KRJ Race Products heat races. Trisdon Brown was named the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger by gaining four positions.