Once again, the Buckeye Machine BOSS series treated fans to a stellar field of cars in both quality and quantity last night at Lawrenceburg Speedway. An incredible field of 39 cars with drivers representing 6 states were signed in for competition. The spacious Dearborn County facility saw perhaps its largest crowd of the season to witness a traditional sprint car event on the fast, high banked 3/8 mile oval.
The 25 lap main event was run with only one caution flag on lap #10 and all 22 starters not only finished the event, but managed to do so on the lead lap on the dry-slick feature surface. In the end, it was California native Thomas Meseraull driving the Dave Stensland #41picking up his second career BOSS feature win.
The 22 car field was paced to the green flag by Tampa, Florida native Joe Ligouri. However, it was outside front row starter Shawn Westerfeld who rocketed to the early lead. Meseraull wasted little time in advancing from 4th to 2nd and set up the chase for the lead. Through the early stages, the local hero Westerfeld appeared to be the man to beat. Then a lap #10 caution for a flat tire on BOSS points leader Mike Miller brought out the race’s only caution flag.
On the restart, Meseraull knew it was his chance to make the winning move and he threw a slide job on Westerfeld who crossed over to retake the lead. The next 2 laps saw the pair swap the top spot multiple times with Meseraull officially taking the race lead at the stripe on lap #12. Once in front, Meseraull began to open up a commading lead as the laps clicked away very quickly on the track that became very hard to pass on.
At the finish, it was Meseraull over Westerfeld. Ligouri, Tyler Courtney, and Landon Simon completing the top 5 finishers. Rounding out the top 10 were Joss Moffatt, Dickie Gaines, Michael Fischesser, Logan Hupp and Shane Cottle. Hupp was up to 9th from the 20th starting spot and was the only driver able to do much passing, but enough to earn himself the Bridge Restaurant “Hard Charger” Award worth an extra $50.
Preliminary heats were won by Ligouri, Gaines, Courtney and Simon. The twin “B” Mains were taken by Chris Gurley and BOSS regular Chad Wilson. Also in preliminary hot laps, J.T. Stapp of Brownsburg took one of the hardest and wildest rides of the year in BOSS competition, flipping numerous times in turn 1 and 2. The car was heavily damaged but thankfully Stapp was able to walk away under his own power.
Up next for the Buckeye Machine BOSS Tour is the largest track on the schedule, the “Monster Half Mile” At Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 21st. This event last year at PPMS saw 11 lead changes among 5 different drivers in a 21 lap main event with series champion Tony Beaber picking up the win. Officials expect another strong field of cars on the ultra competitive Monster in 2 weeks!