**James Tiernan dominates Round 1 at Lanier, but Petteri Kotovaara's charge steals the show** James Tiernan was in complete control from start to finish at Lanier National Speedway, taking the pole and leading 25 laps to secure the feature win. But the real story of the night belonged to Petteri Kotovaara, who stormed through the field from P17 to finish fourth — a stunning plus-13 charge that proved the consolation winner had more left in the tank than anyone expected. Tiernan's dominance was methodical and clean. He won his heat race and never gave anyone a real opportunity to challenge him when it mattered. James Edens and Rusty L Kruger rounded out the podium, both solid but never seriously threatening the leader. The wild card was Kotovaara. Starting deep in the pack after the consolation, he picked off cars with surgical precision and made his way into contention. By the end, he was the only driver with genuine momentum, a reminder that Round 1 exposed some real speed lurking in this field that we'll definitely see again.