From Brian Liskai
FREMONT, Ohio – Thomas Meseraull moved to Indiana a few years ago to race against the best non-wing sprint drivers in the world. It’s been a tough learning experience for the San Jose, California native. But, things are beginning to turn around as he took the feature win Sunday during his first ever visit to Fremont Speedway.
The Fremont race caps a six-race mini-series for non-wing racing presented by Hoosier Tire that included stops at Gas City, Indiana, Waynesfield Motorsports Park and Eldora Speedway in Ohio. Meseraull’s victory guarantees him a starting spot in the Aug. 7 Jack Hewitt Classic at Waynesfield Motorsports Park.
“I haven’t won one all year…I’ve got one win but it wasn’t that thrilling so I’m just excited to win this one,” said Meseraull in the Engine Pro Victory Lane beside his Geiger Seamless Gutters, Pizza Hut of Fort Wayne, Indiana backed #57. “I’ll race hard in the heat at Waynesfield to try and get to start up front in the feature. Otherwise we’ll be in the back trying to chase down Matt Westfall…he’s just been on kill out there.”
In the Fremont Fence Dirt Trucks battle with the stock cars, defending Fremont Speedway track champion Steve Endicott scored his second victory of the weekend as he took the checkered flag on Saturday night as well. It was Endicott’s third victory of 2010 and his 10th career win at “The Track That Action Built.”
“It was a good weekend. We struggled a little bit in the second feature last night but we got it worked out today. All we do to this truck is change the tires…that’s it. The only thing we did to this from last year was rebuilt the motor and put it back in,” said Endicott beside his BMS Engines, Fostoria Bait and Tackle, Crown Battery backed #8 truck. “I want to thank Bob’s crew (Dible), mine couldn’t make it tonight and Bob’s Machine Shop of Fostoria.”
Steve Irwin grabbed the early lead of the sprint feature with Rob Chaney, Gregg Dalman, Meseraull and Daron Clayton in tow. Meseraull made a great move in turns three and four to move from fourth to second on lap three. He blasted by Irwin a lap later and began to pull away. Meanwhile, Irwin, Chaney, Clayton, Dalman and 11th starter Westfall were waging a terrific battle for second. By lap 10, Meseraull had a sizeable lead, but Irwin, Chaney, Clayton and Westfall were trading slide jobs for second. Clayton would grab third on lap 11 with Westfall moving into fourth a lap later with Chaney and Roger Shammo in tow.
Meseraull would catch lapped traffic on lap 12 and made some daring moves to maintain a big lead. Clayton would steal second from Irwin on lap 16, bringing Westfall to third. Westfall would drive under Clayton into second on lap 20 just as the first caution would fly. Meseraull would have four lapped machines between himself and Westfall with Irwin third, Shammo in fourth and 13th starting Mike Linder in fifth.
Meseraull could not pull away despite the lapped machines, as Westfall quickly dispatched them and set his sights on the #57. Meanwhile, Linder, who normally runs each week with a wing, used the bottom of the track to take third on lap 23 as Irwin ran fourth and local 305 winged sprint driver Shammo in fifth. Meseraull would maintain a three car length advantage the rest of the way for the win with Westfall, Linder, Shammo and Casey Shuman rounding out the top five. Local winged sprint driver Bryan Sebetto would come from the tail after an early race tangle to take sixth with Mike Miller, Irwin, Dalman and 20th place starter Mike Brecht rounding out the top 10.
“I have to thank a friend up in the stands who gave me some pointers about this place and Landon Simon, he always lets me stay the night in Ohio. Kyle, his cousin gave me some pointers on driving it down on the bottom of three and across the track. It seemed to help. It kind of blocked slide jobs and it was digging. It is so tight getting into one here and I kept making mistakes and I knew Matt was behind me and I kept telling myself ‘don’t drive it off the track.’ You have to run these sprint races like it’s the last lap every lap,” added Meseraull beside his Physical Medical Consultants, Bud’s Auto, Bell Helmets, ProShocks, Kercher Engines backed sprinter. “I have to thank Paul Hazen…he prepares this car. I absolutely do nothing to this race car. I only deserve 40 percent of the credit and Paul deserves 60.
In the 20-lap dirt truck/stock car feature, Brian Sorg would grab the early led with Paul Brown Jr., Craig Holland and Tim Bowen in pursuit. Holland would take second on lap two, bringing Bowen into third and eighth place starter Endicott to fourth with Chuck Roelle rounding out the top five. Endicott would dispose of Bowen on lap three and move into second on lap five. Endicott would drive off the bottom of turn four on lap 7 to take the lead from Sorg. Sorg would not give up as they raced side by side into turn one. Sorg could not maintain the high line and went off the track, ending his great run.
On the restart the running order was Endicott, Bowen, Roelle, Holland, Bob Dible, Keith Sorg, Kent Brewer, Dan Hennig, Steve Sabo and Art Howey Jr. Endicott would pull away while the battle for second was a dandy between Bowen and Roelle. Dible would move into fourth on lap 9 and would make it a three truck/stock car battle for second. The caution would fly on lap 13 to bunch up the field. And the truck on the move was Brewer who had taken third. A lap and another caution. A lap and another caution as Bowen’s top three run would end with a flat tire. Another lap and another caution. With five laps to go the running order was now Endicott, Brewer, Dible, Roelle, Hennig, Sabo and Howey.
Brewer would try a couple of inside moves on Endicott, but to no avail. Endicott would not budge off his middle line and went on to take the win with Brewer, Dible, Hennig and Sabo rounding out the top five.
Fremont Speedway will be back in action Saturday, Aug. 7 on Burger King Night with the 410 winged sprints, 305 sprints and dirt trucks/stock cars in action. For more information go to www.fremontohspeedway.com
Fremont Speedway – 8/1/2010
R & R Auto Wrecking Night
410 Non-Wing Sprints (29 Cars)
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 31-Chuck Wilson; 2. 9X-Rob Chaney; 3. O-Steve Irwin; 4. 49T-Gregg Dalman; 5. 312-Mike Linder; 6. 41-Steve Ott; 7. OO-Joe Irwin; 8. 40-Travis Hery; 9. 5-Tim Cole; 10. 34-Luke Hall
Heat 2 – Bell Racing Products (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 4G-Casey Shuman; 2. 16-Bryan Sebetto; 3. 54-Matt Westfall; 4. 82-Mike Miller; 5. 63-Jim Dues; 6. 2H-Dallas Hewitt; 7. 4M-Jamie Miller; 8. 312F-Rich Farmer; 9. J1-Mark Shultz
Heat 3 – Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 57-Thomas Meseraull; 2. 92-Darren Clayton; 3. 2-Mike Galajada; 4. 10S-Roger Shammo; 5. 14-Chad Wilson; 6. 9N-Jon Nelson; 7. 48-Mike Burkin; 8. 8-Mike Brecht
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 41-Steve Ott; 2. 2H-Dallas Hewitt; 3. 9N-Jon Nelson; 4. 4M-Jamie Miller; 5. 8-Mike Brecht; 6. 34-Luke Hall; 7. 48-Mike Burkin; 8. 40-Travis Hery; 9. J1-Mark Shultz; 10. OO-Joe Irwin; 11. 18-Mark Irwin; 12. 5-Tim Cole
A-Main – (30 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 57-Thomas Meseraull[4]; 2. 54-Matt Westfall[11]; 3. 312-Mike Linder[13]; 4. 10S-Roger Shammo[7]; 5. 4G-Casey Shuman[9]; 6. 16-Bryan Sebetto[12]; 7. 82-Mike Miller[6]; 8. O-Steve Irwin[1]; 9. 49T-Gregg Dalman[3]; 10. 8-Mike Brecht[20]; 11. 14-Chad Wilson[15]; 12. 31-Chuck Wilson[8]; 13. 9X-Rob Chaney[2]; 14. 2-Mike Galajada[10]; 15. 2H-Dallas Hewitt[17]; 16. 41-Steve Ott[16]; 17. 63-Jim Dues[14]; 18. 9N-Jon Nelson[18]; 19. 92-Darren Clayton[5]; 20. 4M-Jamie Miller[19]
Hard Charger: 312-Mike Linder[+10]
Dirt Trucks & Stocks (21 Trucks)
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (7 Laps – Top 10 Transfer)
1. 8-Steve Endicott; 2. 4X-Brian Sorg; 3. 7B-Tim Bowen; 4. 23J-Jason Jimison; 5. 16-Steve Sabo; 6. 6-Linda Sabo; 7. 4-Josh Lozano
Heat 2 – Bell Racing Products (7 Laps – Top 10 Transfer)
1. 32H-Dan Hennig; 2. 4S-Keith Sorg; 3. 99-Art Howey Jr.; 4. 21K-James Kepling; 5. 84-Ron Kepling; 6. 17-Bob Dible; 7. 52G-Stacey Gazarek
Heat 3 – Heat 3 (7 Laps – Top 10 Transfer)
1. 3R-Chuck Rolle; 2. 8KB-Kent Brewer; 3. 71-Craig Holland; 4. P51-Paul Brown Jr.; 5. 23M-Brad Mitten; 6. 92-Loren Schwochow
A-Main – (20 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 8-Steve Endicott[8]; 2. 8KB-Kent Brewer[9]; 3. 17-Bob Dible[17]; 4. 32H-Dan Hennig[11]; 5. 16-Steve Sabo[13]; 6. 99-Art Howey Jr.[10]; 7. 23M-Brad Mitten[15]; 8. 21K-James Kepling[12]; 9. 6-Linda Sabo[16]; 10. 52G-Stacey Gazarek[20]; 11. 3R-Chuck Rolle[5]; 12. 4X-Brian Sorg[2]; 13. 7B-Tim Bowen[3]; 14. 4S-Keith Sorg[7]; 15. 71-Craig Holland[1]; 16. P51-Paul Brown Jr.[4]; 17. 4-Josh Lozano[19]; 18. 23J-Jason Jimison[6]; 19. 84-Ron Kepling[14]
Hard Charger: 17-Bob Dible[+14]