Luke Hall Scores BOSS Win at Waynesfield
Despite threatening skies, the Waynesfield Raceway Park pit area was packed with 39 BOSS non wing sprint cars for the 2nd Annual Dick Spencer Memorial on Saturday night. The traveling tour drivers knew they were in for a fight on the 1/4 mile bullring which is the Buckeye state’s only weekly traditional sprint track. In the end, the Waynesfield regulars were able to use the home track advantage to come out on top with Ludlow Falls, Ohio driver Luke Hall scoring his second career BOSS win aboard the Jon Nelson #9N.
Waynesfield points leader Dallas Hewitt along with Hall paced the field to the starter’s green flag. Hewitt, in search of securing the track championship blasted to the lead, only to jump the cushion in turns 1 and 2 and falling back to 8th. This allowed Hall to shoot by to a commanding early lead with Mike Dunlap in tow. All eyes were on determined BOSS drivers Mike Miller and Tony Beaber early on. Miller was on the move coming from his 8th starting spot to 4th in less than 2 laps.
Through the middle stages of the race, Miller and 11th starting Gary Taylor reeled in the second and third place cars of Dunlap and Tim Hunter. What ensued was a 4 car battle for the runner-up spot. With the 4 cars running so close and so hard, something had to give and completing lap #13 it did. Miller made his move on Hunter for the 3rd spot entering turn #1 but Taylor had a run on the pair on the inside and the drivers discovered that 2 cars would not fit into one spot. Taylor performed a quick 360 spin while Miller was cut down through the infield and into a corner marker. Both drivers had to make a stop in the work area and were relegated to the rear of the field.
Once back underway, Hall again showed he was the car to beat as he opened another big lead. Meanwhile, 9th starter Matt Westfall began to make his moves as he slipped past Hunter for the third spot. Also on the move were top BOSS runners Aaron Middaugh from 18th starting position and Kirk Jeffries from 19th who quickly found themselves into the top 10. The race then appeared to be well in hand for Hall, but a last lap caution flew when Cooper Clouse spun in turn #1 bringing out the race’s second and final caution.
Now, it was a one lap shootout to the checkers and Hall had a new threat on his rear bumper in the #54 of Matt Westfall. But Hall would not be denied his second career BOSS victory. Westfall came home second over Mike Dunlap who was third. Dallas Hewitt was able to rebound back to a 4th place finish to secure the Waynesfield track championship and Tim Hunter rounded out the top 5 positions. The rest of the top 10 found Steve Irwin 6th. Aaron Middaugh picked up the $50 hard charger bonus from Horne Performance Motorsports as he charged from 18th to finish 7th. Tony Beaber inched closer top the BOSS points lead with a consistent run in 8th. Kyle Simon brought the #22s home 9th with another BOSS regular Kirk Jeffries charging from deep in the field to crack the top 10.
In preliminary action, Mike Dunlap, Kyle Simon, Luke Hall, and Dallas Hewitt were heat race winners. The heat races proved costly on BOSS points runners Michael Fischesser, Brandon Spithaler, Chuck Wilson, and Adam Miller. Fischesser moved from 6th to 4th to cleanly take the last transfer spot before being punted late in the race. Spithaler came in leading the BOSS championship chase and appeared to be the car to beat in his heat coming from 7th to 2nd in less than 3 laps, but breaking a drag link in a frightening situation that ended with the newly crowned Lernerville Speedway track champion on the hook. Adam Miller broke a driveline and missed his heat race while Chuck Wilson fell victim to engine issues.
The 10 lap twin B-Mains were won by Tom Rhodes and Aaron Middaugh. A scary moment occurred at the start of B-Main #1 when polesitter Rhodes pushed Rod Henning into the front stretch wall sending Henning on a wild end-over-end ride down into turn #1. Thankfully Henning climbed out of the car and walked to the ambulance under his own power.
Up next for the BOSS series is a return trip to the Monster Half Mile at Pittsburgh Motor Speedway on September 28th. Last year, 29 BOSS sprint cars tackled the Monster in the fall event. Once again, this race will pay $1400 to win and $300 to start. In the spring race at Pittsburgh, the BOSS series had 11 lead changes among 5 different cars in the 20 lap main event. The series then finishes out the tour with races at Fremont Speedway on October 5th and the finale at Eldora Speedway on October 12th.
For more information on the BOSS series, visit the series website atwww.buckeyesprints.com or e-mail: sprinter14@hotmail.com. Series director Aaron Fry can be reached at 740-703-3768. Watch for exciting announcements about the 2014 season coming soon!
Complete Results
Waynesfield, OH – 8/31/13 – Event #10 of 13 (39 cars)
Underground Professionals Inc Heat #1: 1) Mike Dunlap, 2) Tim Hunter, 3) Matt Westfall, 4) Johnny Beaber, 5) Tome Rhoades, 6) Michael Fischesser, 7) Travis Hery, 8) Kent Wolters, 9) Jeff Williams, 10) Stratton Briggs
S & H Nerfs Heat #2: 1) Kyle Simon, 2) Steve Irwin, 3) Huston Hewitt, 4) Cooper Clouse, 5) Aaron Middaugh, 6) Tim Calicoat, 7) Steve Little, 8) Mark Silva, 9) Brandon Spithaler, 10) Jimmie Snead
Indy Race Parts Heat #3: 1) Luke Hall, 2) Tony Beaber, 3) Gary Taylor, 4) Chad Wilson, 5) Rod Henning, 6) Kirk Jeffries, 7) Derek Hastings, 8) Chuck Wilson, 9) Kevin Myers, 10) Lewie Christian
Underground Professionals Inc Heat #4: 1) Dallas Hewitt, 2) Mike Miller, 3) Nick Daugherty, 4) Dustin Ingle, 5) Rob Guy, 6) Joe Ligouri, 7) Jeremy Shambaugh, 8) Thomas McCance, 9) Adam Miller
Kistler Engines B-Main #1: 1) Tom Rhodes, 2) Kirk Jeffries, 3) Michael Fischesser, 4) Derek Hastings, 5) Kevin Myers, 6) Kent Wolters, 7) Stratton Briggs, 8) Travis Hery, 9) Jeff Williams, 10) Lewie Chrsitian, 11) Rod Henning, 12) Chuck Wilson
Griff’s Engines B-Main #2: 1) Aaron Middaugh, 2) Joe Ligouri, 3) Adam Miller, 4) Tim Calicoat, 5) Brandon Spithaler, 6) Jeremy Shambaugh, 7) Steve Little, 8) Rob Guy, 9) Thomas McCance, 10) Jimmy Snead, 11) Mark Silva
Dick Spencer Memorial Feature: 1) Luke Hall, 2) Matt Westfall, 3) Mike Dunlap, 4) Dallas Hewitt, 5) Tim Hunter, 6) Steve Irwin, 7) Aaron Middaugh, 8) Tony Beaber, 9) Kyle Simon, 10) Kirk Jeffries, 11) Gary Taylor, 12) Chad Wilson, 13) Dustin Ingle, 14) Joe Ligouri, 15) Mike Miller, 16) Huston Hewitt, 17) Cooper Clouse, 18) Johnny Beaber, 19) Nick Daugherty, 20) Tom Rhodes
Bonus Award Winners:
Horne Performance (Dayton, OH) – Hard Charger of the Race $50 cash bonus – Aaron Middaugh (+11)
Ernie’s Radiator Repair (Ashland, OH) – Highest Finishing Steel Motor $50 cash bonus – Johnny Beaber (18th in A-Main)
Marshall Motorsports/Buckeye Machine (Forest, OH) – Hard Luck Award $50 cash bonus – Michael Fischesser & Adam Miller
Hoosier Tire Midwest – Hoosier Tire Bonus Award (Free Tire) – Luke Hall (1st in A-Main)
Lias Tire – American Racer Tire Bonus Award ($100 Gift Certificate) – Joe Ligouri (14th in A-Main)