Dwight Leppo wins first career 358 feature at Trail-Way

From Kalida Landis

Hanover, PA — (May 8, 2015)– It didn’t take Dwight Leppo long to make an impression in his first Trail-Way race of 2015. Five minutes, 57.97 seconds to be exact.

Leppo, a low budget racer who just got his motor together on Saturday, started on the pole and led every lap in running away to the first sub six-minute 25-lap “358” sprint car feature in the history of Trail-Way Speedway Friday night.

Despite that, the race couldn’t end soon enough for the New Oxford driver.

“It seemed like it took forever,” said Leppo upon exiting the family Auchey’s Body Shop/Joe Messinger’s Home Improvement #4 in victory lane, “This is the first full race I ran this year. We went to Lincoln and shook the car down last week, but we had some issues and didn’t qualify.”

“The car didn’t feel that good,” said Leppo, “And I can’t believe it was a track record.”

Those who watched the race had no doubt. A competitive but small field kept Leppo from having to deal with lapped traffic most of the race. Leppo’s final margin of victory over runner-up Cody Fletcher was 2.15 seconds, with points leader Isaac Sneeringer, hard charger Jeff Halligan, and one-time winner JB Cunningham rounding out the top five.

Heats for the nine 358 sprinters were won by Leppo and David Holbrook. Holbrook and Dave Thrush both experienced mechanical problems and were unable to start the feature.

Friday May 8, 2015
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
For Immediate Release

HOOSIER TIRE MID-ATLANTIC 358 SPRINT CARS
FEATURE (25 Laps) – 1. 4-Dwight Leppo; 2. 66A-Cody Fletcher; 3. 19Z-Isaac Sneeringer; 4. 45H-Jeff Halligan; 5. 19-JB Cunningham, Jr.; 6. 19D-Wyatt Hinkle; 7. 13-Ryan Higgins; 8. 77-David Holbrook (DNF); 9. 22T-Dave Thrush (DNF). Time – 5:57.97 (New 25-lap track record)
Lap Leaders: Dwight Leppo (1-25)

358 Sprint Heat 1 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 4-Dwight Leppo; 2. 66A-Cody Fletcher; 3. 19D-Wyatt Hinkle; 4. 22T-Dave Thrush; 5. 45H-Jeff Halligan (DNF). Time – 2:24.72
358 Sprint Heat 2 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 77-David Holbrook; 2. 19-JB Cunningham, Jr.; 3. 19Z-Isaac Sneeringer; 4. 13-Ryan Higgins. No time.