Darland Uses Late Race Pass to Win Harvest of Sprints Feature

Dave Darland. - Bob Buffenbarger Photo
Dave Darland. - Bob Buffenbarger Photo
Dave Darland. – Bob Buffenbarger Photo

By T.J. Buffenbarger

Waynesfield, OH — (October 10, 2014) — Dave Darland used patience and struck at the right time to claim victory during Friday night’s Harvest of Sprints at Waynesfield Raceway Park. Darland took advantage a restart with six laps to go and went from third to first in two laps, passing Waynesfield Raceway Park regular Mike Miller for the victory in the Jeff Walker owned machine.

“They went to the bottom on the restart, and the top was good. Especially going in the corners,” said Darland after the race. “I had a good rhythm going around the top, so it worked out well for me.”

Afterwards Darland was extremely complimentary of the Waynesfield racing surface.

“The track was good on the top and bottom both. And for as many cars that were here and as many laps that were run it was remarkable. It is a great testament to the track prep.”

After the first start was called back when Justin Grant and Steve Irwin stopped in turn one, Chris Gurley took the lead the first lap. Hall fought back one lap later to slide Gurley in turns three and four just as Grant and Cooper Clouse took separate flips in turns one and two with Clouse flipping off the surface way into the corn field outside the race track. Both drivers were uninjured.

During the restart Hall, Gurley, and Thomas Meseraull raced three wide for the lead. Gurley and Meseraull made contact and allowed Miller to slide under both of them to go from fourth to second. Two laps later Miller wrestled the lead away from Hall. Hall then dropped back into a race for second with Meseraull, Matt Westfall and Darland.

Darland eventually passed Meseraull and Hall to get third when the caution came out with six laps to go Travis Hery went off of turn two with a broken front end.

The caution erased a sizeable lead Miller had built up and was exactly what Darland needed to challenge for the lead. Darland raced by Westfall for second during the restart and then used the top of the track to pass Miller with two laps to go. From there Darland motored to victory over Miller, Westfall, Meseraull, and Mike Dunlap.

K+L Ready Mix Non Wing Sprint Cars (44 Cars)

[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – Thirsty’s Beaverdam + Kalida (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 11D-Dave Darland[2]

2. 54-Matt Westfall[3]

3. 2B-Mike Dunlap[4]

4. 4P-Scotty Weir[6]

5. 29-Logan Jarret[9]

6. 14W-Chad Wilson[8]

7. 77-Austin Prock[5]

8. 96-Riley VanHise[1]

9. 18A-Jarret Andretti[7]

Heat 2 – Eagle Chassis (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 14-Cooper Clouse[4]

2. 12G-Chris Gurley[8]

3. 5S-Mark Silva[2]

4. 69R-Brian Gross[9]

5. 12-Kent Wolters[1]

6. 24P-Tyler Hewitt[3]

7. 68-Tyler Gunn[5]

8. 53-Steve Little[6]

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

1. 82-Mike Miller[1]

2. 9N-Luke Hall[2]

3. 24-Landon Simon[3]

4. 40-Justin Grant[6]

5. 5A-Toby Alfrey[7]

6. 31-Chuck Wilson[4]

7. 63-Huston Hewitt[9]

8. 7M-Brandon Moore[8]

9. O1-Derrek Hammond[5]

Heat 4 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 2I-Dustin Ingle[1]

2. 30-CJ Leary[5]

3. 21-Travis Hery[4]

4. O-Steve Irwin[7]

5. 401K-Travis Berryhill[8]

6. 87-Paul Dues[2]

7. 32M-Derek Hastings[9]

8. 25B-Mark Blausey[6]

9. 17-Kevin Myers[3]

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

1. 18X-Thomas Meserawll[3]

2. 2M-Max McGhee[2]

3. 18TK-Todd Keen[5]

4. 24L-Lee Underwood[8]

5. 14C-Andy Conley[6]

6. 23S-Kyle Simon[7]

7. 1M-Mike Moore[1]

8. 42-Conner Donelson[4]

B-Main #1 – (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 40-Justin Grant[2]

2. 401K-Travis Berryhill[5]

3. 4P-Scotty Weir[1]

4. 24L-Lee Underwood[3]

5. 14W-Chad Wilson[6]

6. 23S-Kyle Simon[8]

7. 68-Tyler Gunn[9]

8. 42-Conner Donelson[13]

9. 32M-Derek Hastings[10]

10. 22S-Dallas Hewitt[15]

11. 31-Chuck Wilson[7]

12. 7M-Brandon Moore[12]

13. O1-Derrek Hammond[14]

14. 96-Riley VanHise[11]

15. 12-Kent Wolters[4]

B-Main #2 – (10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature)

1. 29-Logan Jarret[3]

2. O-Steve Irwin[2]

3. 5A-Toby Alfrey[4]

4. 24P-Tyler Hewitt[6]

5. 87-Paul Dues[7]

6. 77-Austin Prock[8]

7. 1M-Mike Moore[10]

8. 25B-Mark Blausey[12]

9. 63-Huston Hewitt[9]

10. 69R-Brian Gross[1]

11. 14C-Andy Conley[5]

12. 53-Steve Little[11]

A-Main – (25 Laps)

1. 11D-Dave Darland[8]

2. 82-Mike Miller[6]

3. 54-Matt Westfall[3]

4. 18X-Thomas Meserawll[4]

5. 2B-Mike Dunlap[11]

6. 401K-Travis Berryhill[18]

7. 9N-Luke Hall[1]

8. 12G-Chris Gurley[2]

9. 30-CJ Leary[9]

10. 2M-Max McGhee[10]

11. 2I-Dustin Ingle[5]

12. 24-Landon Simon[13]

13. 4P-Scotty Weir[20]

14. O-Steve Irwin[19]

15. 29-Logan Jarret[17]

16. 5S-Mark Silva[12]

17. 21-Travis Hery[14]

18. 5A-Toby Alfrey[21]

19. 18TK-Todd Keen[15]

20. 14-Cooper Clouse[7]

21. 40-Justin Grant[16]

Hard Charger: 401K-Travis Berryhill[+12]