Westfall Wins at Waynesfield

Matt Westfall won the Non Wing Sprint Car Feature at Waynesfield Raceway Park Saturday Night. - Bill Weir Photo
Matt Westfall won the Non Wing Sprint Car Feature at Waynesfield Raceway Park Saturday Night. - Bill Weir Photo
Matt Westfall won the Non Wing Sprint Car Feature at Waynesfield Raceway Park Saturday Night. – Bill Weir Photo

From Waynesfield Raceway Park

First to take the track was the Buckeye Machine Non Wing sprint cars for their 25 lap A-main.  With 26 cars signing in to compete, three heat races determined the first 15 starting spots in the A-main.  The final five spots came in through one 10 lap B-main.  Mike Dunlap, Luke Hall, and Matt Westfall came away victorious in the preliminary heat races.  Andy Conley in the 14C came away with the B-main victory with Stratton Briggs, Stuart Hanft, Mark Silva, and Lee Underwood transferring to the A-main.  Underwood managed to put a slider on Jimmy Snead coming to the checkered flag to steal the final transfer spot.  With the field set and an inversion of six, Cole Ketchan and Tyler Hewitt led the powerful field to the opening green flag.  Into turn one and two, Tyler Hewitt took the early lead shuffling Ketchan back to second.  Matt Westfall, who started on the outside of row two made a run on Ketchan for second.  The run was a success when Westfall found himself not only around Ketchan, but Hewitt as well putting him in the lead as the first yellow flag waved.  The 6 of Stuart Hanft spun on the top side of turn three and began to slide down the banking.  Something was definitely wrong with the 6 car as it continued to slide down the banking with no sign of functioning brakes.  Hanft was towed from the scene and scored finishing twenth.  Westfall led the field to the restart.  Hewitt got a good jump but not as good as Westfall who took off down the back stretch.  Westfall would build a lead up and watch it diminish as lap traffic began to build at the halfway signal.  Hewitt used this to his advantage to steal the lead while Westfall got caught up behind lap traffic.  With ten to go, Westfall continued to fight lap traffic when he made minor contact with a lap car entering turn three.  This slight mishap did not faze Westfall as he never lost sight of the lead.  Hewitt ran low on steam fighting deep in traffic allowing Westfall to reclaim the lead.  With just five laps remaining in the A-main, Stratton Briggs prompted the first red flag of the evening when his car went upside down in turn two.  Briggs climbed out under his own power uninjured.  A final restart allowed Westfall to build up a second and a half lead over Hewitt and take the win.   Tyler Hewitt finished in second with Luke Hall finishing in third.  Lee Underwood, who just slid into a transfer spot in the B-main, advanced ten spots to pick up the hard charger award.

The Block Insurance Tough Trucks hit the track next for their 15 lap A-main.  Ben Hower in the 316 and Chris Hicks in the 71 led the field to the green flag.  The front row remained side-by-side into turn two before finally separating on the exit of the corner.  Hicks took the early lead and led the opening the lap.  Larry Fox fought the wheel on his 28 holding off a challenging Jerry Sawmiller directly behind him.  Sawmiller and his powerful 60 prevailed and claimed the spot from Fox.  Bill Keeler, a weekly double duty driver, put his truck into the mix before settling for a spot inside the top five at the halfway mark.  Mike Hicks in the 33 held down the runner up spot giving Chris the space he needed to battle lap traffic.  As laps began to tick away, Mike decided to give Chris a run for his money.  Mike put his 33 right on the backend of Chris as he was fighting lap traffic.  The battle mixed with lap traffic sent the Hicks duo three wide as the field came to the white flag.  Mike continued on the bumper into turn four before giving Chris the win.  Mike Hicks settled for second place run with Jerry Sawmiller coming home in third.  Chris emerged from behind the wheel showing fans his trademarked victory pose in Best Performance victory lane.  JJ Butler in the 1J  came home in tenth and was the recipient of the hard charger award.

The Post Agri Service UMP Modifed A-main was eventful from the drop of the green flag.  Tony Anderson and Weasel Phlipot led the field to the green to get the 20 lap feature underway.  Phlipot had trouble getting his 52 to start dropping him back three spots by the time the field entered turn two.  No laps would be completed as the yellow flew for the 5H of Brian Hogan who spun off of turn three sending the 24 of Terry Grilliot into the infield.  Both cars suffered very minimal damaged and rejoined the field for the complete restart.  The second start was still not good for Phlipot as he once again could not get the car rolling fast enough into turn two.  Phlipot once again dropped back three to four spots once it was all said and done.  Anderson used this to his advantage as he began to pull away from the field.  Two laps crossed off the ledger when the yellow flag came out again for the 112 of Chris Ullery.  Ullery came to a stop on the top side of turn four.  The car was taken to the hotpit where his crew determined the car could not be repaired in the allotted three laps.  A second caution for Brian Hogan would result in his removal from the racing surface when he spun two laps later after the field returned to green flag racing.  This caution was a good one for the fans as it allowed the field to restack.  Anderson had a powerhouse behind him in the form of Randy Lines.  Lines was highly discussed during hot laps as a prime competitor and driver to beat.  Lines took the lead away from Anderson shortly after the restart pushing Anderson back to second.  Matt Westfall began to make a run through the field before finding an open spot in third.  Jerry Bowersock would fall victim to the a caution with 13 laps to go in turns three and four.  Bowersock was well inside the top ten at the time of the crash battling heavily with the 116 of Jimmie Haager.  A series of restarts were bad for many drivers.  The first restart prompted a caution for the 0% of Derrick Austin and the 58P of Jim Post as they both tangled together entering turn two.  Both slid to the bottom of the racing surface making contact with the inside tire marker.  The second restart fell victim to a caution coming to the flag.  Three drivers, Cody Basiniger, Terry Grilliot, and David Treon, connected forming a roadblock on the inside of the track.  The tire marker on the bottom of turn four was also relocated a few feet because of the accident.  Third time was a charm as green flag racing resumed.  Lines took off posting some of the fastest laps of the night.  He continued this powerful run with a final yellow coming with just eight laps remaining.  The 44 of Zach Schroeder and the 52 of Weasel Phlipot got together in the exit of turn two.  Both drivers were running inside the top ten challenging in the lead pack.  The race went caution free for the remainder with Lines in the top spot.  He posted some impressive lap times leading him directly to victory lane.  Matt Westfall just could not catch up posting a second place finish.  Tony Anderson, who led the race early on, finished third.  Matt Twining picked up the hard charger award advancing 12 spot in the A-main.

The Performance Powder Coating AMSA Mini Sprints hit the track next for their 20 lap feature.  First and second in points started one and two in the A-main.  Rod Henning and Gary Campbell led the field to the green flag.  Both drivers are only separated by 40 points and a good points night could further or tighten the gap.  Henning took the early lead leaving Gary Campbell in the dust.  Campbell did not trail Henning for long as he exited the track for a mechanical issue just a few laps into the A-main.  With Campbell out, Helterbran took his spot and challenged for the lead.  That challenge was cut off when the E99 of Gage Etgen brought out the first caution when his car spun around in turn two.  Etgen made no contact with any other object and was able to return to the racing surface.  On the restart, things got crazy when the red flag was thrown immediately after the green for two cars tumbling in the middle of one and two.  Riley VanHise landed on his side with Brad Racer doing most of the airborne action.  Gunnar Lucius also found himself caught up in the mess but managed to stop before becoming involved.  After a brief cleanup and car removal, green flag flew again for a second restart.  This one would hold for three laps and enough time for Rod Henning to get into lap traffic and put some distance between him and Helterbran.  Rob Winks in the 55 ran into problems when his wing began to peel back off the car exiting turn two.  The aerodynamics on the 55 began both a hindrance and a safety issue causing him to stop on the high side exiting turn four.  Winks pushed the 55 into the infield by himself disgusted with such an odd mechanical problem.  On the restart, Henning got a great jump and continued his wrath of pulling away from the field.  The 20 of Tyler Kendall began to smoke as laps began to dwindle.  Henning came away with the win.  Michael Helterbran and his 00 finished in the runner-up spot.  Chris Bounds started third and finished third.  Craig Stower was the recipient of the hard charger award for advancing ten spots sponsored by Foz Speed Partz.

After a good heat run and a lucky inversion draw, Jordan Iiams and Jeff Zwiebel starting side-by-side for the opening green flag of the 15 lap Indian Lake Outfitter compact A-main.  Iiams was forced to start on the tail of heat race number two for arriving after pill draw had closed in the pits.  Despite this, Iiams was ready to run as if everything was online and functioning properly.  Iiams led the opening lap as a battle to determine spots two through five developed.  Justin Durflinger, young but seasoned driver, threaded the needle to the extreme as he pushed the 17 through the field.  Yoders decided to do the same for a shot at the win.  All of the battling allowed Iiams to pull away from the field and never look back.  The Yoder duo would go three wide with Waughtel late in the race to take fourth and fifth.  Durflinger held down the second spot as the 1H of Jeff Zwiebel fell back to fifth.  Waughtel battled with Zwiebel for the fifth spot for a majority of the late race laps until Waughtel took it permanently.  Jordan Iiams crossed the line as the winner by over a second.  Just Durflinger took home second with the first of the Yoders taking third.  Harvery Yoder finished in fourth and was the winner of the hard charger award.

The Powerpuff Block Insurance Tough Truck event was an exciting event allowing the ladies of the racing community to get behind the wheel for a fun exhibition race.  Tracy Hower and Abbey Wering, both relatives of weekly tough truck drivers, led the field to the green flag.  Werling took the lead early before Hower powered back.  Fans in the stands cheered loudly for their favorite driver with some fans even coaching from behind the catch fence.  After the ten laps expired, Sam Seeling came away with the victory.  Former Waynesfield flag woman Bridgit Brunk came home in second.  Kelse Twining came home in third holding off Abbey Werling.  Jamie Hunter rounded out the top five with Kim Johnston, Regina Tousley, Erica Fox, and Tracy Hower rounding out the field.  Each of the ladies expressed their excitement about being on the 1/3rd mile but admit it was a nerve racking experience.  The powerpuff returns in the month of September for the compact edition.

Back in action next Saturday night, August 23 with another full program of racing including the Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprints, Performance Powder Coating ASMA Mini Sprints, Post Agri Service UMP Modifieds, Block Insurance Tough Trucks, and Indian Lake Outfitter Compacts.  The wheel of prizes will be set up behind the flagstand with prizes up for grabs.  Adult general admissions is just $12, Kids 11-15 are $6 with 10 & under FREE.  Pit admittance is $25.  Pit side gates open at 4PM and grandstand gates open at 5PM.  Warm Ups are scheduled for 6PM with the first green flag flying at 7PM.  Get all the latest information online at www.waynesfieldracewaypark.net, on Facebook, or by following @OfficialWRP on Twitter.

Saturday’s race was another Contingency Connection event offering nearly $2000 in awards each week and $100,000 over the 2014 season from national manufacturers.  Contingency awards are in addition to cash purse payouts.  See a track official for details on the Contingency Connection and how it can help racers when bills become due.

 

 

Waynesfield Raceway Park

August 16, 2014

RACE RESULTS

Indian Lake Outfitters Night

Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprints (26 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 2B-Mike Dunlap[2]

2. 22-Dallas Hewitt[4]

3. 63-Huston Hewitt[7]

4. 14G-Rod Henning[1]

5. 87-Paul Dues[5]

6. 14C-Andy Conley[9]

7. 72-Stratton Briggs[8]

8. 63D-Jim Dues[6]

9. 24L-Lee Underwood[3]

Heat 2 – Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 9N-Luke Hall[6]

2. 24P-Tyler Hewitt[9]

3. 14-Cooper Clouse[7]

4. 43G-Rob Guy[5]

5. 12-Kent Wolters[4]

6. 5-Mark Silva[1]

7. 8-Lewie Christain[3]

8. 9-Dave Disinger[8]

9. 25B-Mark Blausey[2]

Heat 3 – Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 54-Matt Westfall[1]

2. 41K-Cole Ketchan[2]

3. 17-Kevin Myers[5]

4. 23S-Kyle Simon[7]

5. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[8]

6. 19-Jimmy Snead[6]

7. 6-Stuart Hanft[4]

8. 5W-Jeff Williams[3]

B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 14C-Andy Conley[1]

2. 72-Stratton Briggs[4]

3. 6-Stuart Hanft[6]

4. 5-Mark Silva[2]

5. 24L-Lee Underwood[10]

6. 19-Jimmy Snead[3]

7. 5W-Jeff Williams[9]

8. 63D-Jim Dues[7]

9. 8-Lewie Christain[5]

10. 9-Dave Disinger[8]

11. 25B-Mark Blausey[11]

A-Main – (25 Laps)

1. 54-Matt Westfall[4]

2. 24P-Tyler Hewitt[2]

3. 9N-Luke Hall[5]

4. 2B-Mike Dunlap[6]

5. 14-Cooper Clouse[8]

6. 14G-Rod Henning[10]

7. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[15]

8. 41K-Cole Ketchan[1]

9. 23S-Kyle Simon[12]

10. 24L-Lee Underwood[20]

11. 87-Paul Dues[13]

12. 14C-Andy Conley[16]

13. 17-Kevin Myers[9]

14. 5-Mark Silva[19]

15. 43G-Rob Guy[11]

16. 72-Stratton Briggs[17]

17. 63-Huston Hewitt[7]

18. 12-Kent Wolters[14]

19. 22-Dallas Hewitt[3]

20. 6-Stuart Hanft[18]

Hard Charger: 24L-Lee Underwood[+10]