T-Mez wins the Jack Hewitt Classic

3219MeseraullWJH — Thomas Meseraull (with Jack Hewitt ) won the Jack Hewitt Classic at Waynesfield Raceway Park Mike Campbell Photos

Thomas Meseraull (with Jack Hewitt ) won the Jack Hewitt Classic at Waynesfield Raceway Park Mike Campbell Photos — Thomas Meseraull (with Jack Hewitt ) won the Jack Hewitt Classic at Waynesfield Raceway Park
Mike Campbell Photos

Sprint car hall of famer and racing legend Jack Hewitt was honored Saturday at Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield, Ohio. The 7th running of the yearly event was any sprint car fans dream seeing three different classes of open wheel sprint car racing. “This is just a really exciting event for the drivers and fans”, stated Jack Hewitt as teams began to fill the pits. Jack Hewitt has called Waynesfield Raceway Park his favorite track repeatedly and plans to keep the Hewitt classic at WRP for many years to come.

In a spontaneous schedule change, the Performance Powder Coating Non Wing Mini Sprints were first to take the track as they went head-to-head with the drivers of the USAC midgets. Waynesfield regulars Nick Daughrtey and Ty Tilton led the field of 21 cars to the opening green flag. Daughrtey won the drag race into turn two and led the opening lap. Rod “Hot Rod” Henning, who started on the inside of row two, made a successful run for the lead early on in the A-main. By the time 12 laps had been completed, Henning was already deep into lap traffic as he led the field. The first caution of the race came near the halfway mark when the 14 of Gary Campbell went around in the second corner. Campbell was running in sixth at the time of the caution. One lap would pass on the restart when the field was brought to a stop when Corey Bedwell rolled his number eleven upside down. Bedwell was able to restart the car and come away with a sixth place finish. Two more cautions followed as Chase Dunham and Ty Tilton went at it for third. Tilton would fall back in the field later on in the race. Rod Henning came away with the victory. Brad Racer, who made some pretty intense moves to hold on, finished in second. Nick Daughrtey finished in third. Allen Poe picked up the hard charger award with Dunham and Henning claiming the heat race wins.

The Jack Hewitt Classic featuring the Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprints saw 29 cars signing in, competing for 20 A-main starting spots. Landon Simon and Thomas Meseraull led the field to the start after Luke Hall jumped into a backup car to start the A-main. Landon Simon won an impressive drag race into turn one and led the opening lap. Early on, Simon began to build up a slight lead over Meseraull as the field began to span out all over the racing surface. Just when fans thought Simon was going to pull away completely, Meseraull turned on the jets. By lap eight, Meseraull was right on the backdoor of Simon. A risky slider exiting turn two put Meseraull into the top spot and Simon back to second. This lead change paved the way for Meseraull to pull away and build up a three plus second lead over Simon. With the lead secured, second place became the spot to battle for. As the field closed in on the halfway signal, Dallas Hewitt reeled in Simon to claim second. Hewitt would try to close in on Meseraull but found lap traffic made that close to impossible. Thomas Meseraull came away with the $3000 win. Dallas Hewitt came home second with Kody Swanson, nudging his way in late in the race, finishing third. Last years winner Justin Grant finished fourth and picked up the hard charger award. Luke Hall, Landon Simon and Thomas Meseraull claimed the heat race victories. Landon Simon came home with the dash and Mike Dunlap with the B-main.

The K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders made their final appearance of the season at WRP with a field of 19 making the call. Hud Horton and Phil Gressman paced the field to the start of the 25 lap A-main. Gressman jumped out to the early lead shuffling Horton back to second as lap one was recorded. The front two were nose to tail through lap three when a hurricane rained on their game of chase. Randy Hannagan began to catch up on Horton and Gressman to make a run for the top spot. Hannagan moved into the second spot on lap five as he put his 22H to the cushion exiting turn two. Hannagan continued by making a run for the lead one lap later. A top to bottom sweeping slidejob put Hannagan into the top spot. Nothing, including three-wide lap traffic phased Hannagan giving him a one-way ticket to Tim Hogan’s Carpet & Flooring of Lima victory lane. NRA point leader Max Stambaugh came home in second, three seconds back behind Hannagan. Stambaugh also picked up the hard charger award. Jared Horstman, who led the NRA points earlier in the season, came home in third. Shawn Dancer, JR Stewart, and Jared Horstman picked up the heat race wins.

Racing returns to Waynesfield Raceway Park next Saturday night August 1st for a full program of racing featuring the Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprint Cars, Performance Powder Coating AMSA Mini Sprints, Post Agri Service UMP Modifieds, Block Insurance Tough Trucks, and the Indian Lake Outfitter Compacts. Grandstand gates open at 4PM with racing at the normal 7PM start time. Full race and track information can be found online at www.waynesfieldracewaypark.net, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

The 7th Annual Jack Hewitt Classic offered drivers the opportunity to run for larger payouts. As a partner of the Contingency Connection, all drivers in attendance received prize packs from Contingency Connection sponsors helping lower the cost of racing. Waynesfield Raceway Park is proud to be a member of the Contingency Connection again in 2015.

Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprints (29 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9N-Luke Hall[2]
2. 69R-Dallas Hewitt[3]
3. 21K-Kody Swanson[1]
4. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[5]
5. 12-Kent Wolters[4]
6. 37D-Mike Dunlap[8]
7. 97X-Tyler Hewitt[9]
8. 18K-Todd Keen[6]
9. 18SR-Bob Distel[7]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 24-Landon Simon[4]
2. 24P-Rod Henning[2]
3. 31-Tom Rhodes[6]
4. 21-Travis Hery[1]
5. 40-Justin Grant[3]
6. 2K-Kevin Klatte[5]
7. 32M-Derek Hastings[8]
8. 99-Sheldon Haudenchild[10]
9. 24L-Lee Underwood[7]
10. 320-George Willard[9]

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 18X-Thomas Meserawll[4]
2. 17B-Nick Bilbee[2]
3. 9X-Gary Taylor[5]
4. 23S-Kyle Simon[1]
5. 5A-Toby Alfrey[7]
6. 4T-Josh Turner[6]
7. 17M-Kevin Myers[9]
8. 96-Riley VanHise[3]
9. 74-Drew Rader[8]
10. 14-Daryl Daugherty[10]

Dash – (6 Laps – finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 24-Landon Simon[4]
2. 9N-Luke Hall[2]
3. 17B-Nick Bilbee[5]
4. 18X-Thomas Meserawll[1]
5. 24P-Rod Henning[6]
6. 69R-Dallas Hewitt[3]

B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 37D-Mike Dunlap[10]
2. 18K-Todd Keen[1]
3. 99-Sheldon Haudenchild[14]
4. 2K-Kevin Klatte[2]
5. 74-Drew Rader[8]
6. 24L-Lee Underwood[3]
7. 32M-Derek Hastings[4]
8. 18SR-Bob Distel[7]
9. 96-Riley VanHise[6]
10. 17M-Kevin Myers[9]
11. 14-Daryl Daugherty[12]
12. 320-George Willard[11]
13. 97X-Tyler Hewitt[13]
14. 4T-Josh Turner[5]

A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. 18X-Thomas Meserawll[4]
2. 69R-Dallas Hewitt[6]
3. 21K-Kody Swanson[7]
4. 40-Justin Grant[14]
5. 17B-Nick Bilbee[3]
6. 24-Landon Simon[1]
7. 9X-Gary Taylor[9]
8. 24P-Rod Henning[5]
9. 31-Tom Rhodes[8]
10. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[10]
11. 12-Kent Wolters[13]
12. 32M-Derek Hastings[-]
13. 74-Drew Rader[20]
14. 23S-Kyle Simon[12]
15. 37D-Mike Dunlap[16]
16. 21-Travis Hery[11]
17. 5A-Toby Alfrey[15]
18. 18K-Todd Keen[17]
19. 99-Sheldon Haudenchild[18]
20. 2K-Kevin Klatte[19]
Hard Charger: 40-Justin Grant[+10]

K & L Ready Mix NRA 360 Sprints (19 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 49-Shawn Dancer[2]
2. 22H-Randy Hannagan[3]
3. 11-Tim Allison[6]
4. 11N-Ed Neumeister[1]
5. 10J-Jarod DeLong[4]
6. 5W-Jeff Williams[7]
7. 23-Devon Dobie[5]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 6S-JR Stewart[4]
2. 28H-Phil Gressman[2]
3. 6M-Max Stambaugh[5]
4. 22R-Kevin Roberts[1]
5. 19-Dallas Hewitt[6]
6. 50B-Mike Burns[3]

Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 17-Jared Horstman[2]
2. 17H-Hud Horton[4]
3. 83-Kyle Sauder[6]
4. 8J-Jess Stiger[5]
5. 12J-Tyler Moore[3]
6. 57-Mike Dunlap[1]

A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 22H-Randy Hannagan[3]
2. 6M-Max Stambaugh[8]
3. 17-Jared Horstman[4]
4. 28H-Phil Gressman[2]
5. 17H-Hud Horton[1]
6. 49-Shawn Dancer[6]
7. 6S-JR Stewart[5]
8. 83-Kyle Sauder[9]
9. 11-Tim Allison[7]
10. 22R-Kevin Roberts[11]
11. 10J-Jarod DeLong[13]
12. 12J-Tyler Moore[15]
13. 8J-Jess Stiger[12]
14. 11N-Ed Neumeister[10]
15. 19-Dallas Hewitt[14]
16. 5W-Jeff Williams[16]
17. 50B-Mike Burns[17]
18. 57-Mike Dunlap[18]
Hard Charger: 6M-Max Stambaugh[+6]

Performance Powder Coating Mini Sprints/USAC HPD Midgets (21 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 66-Chase Dunham[2]
2. 42-Ty Tilton[4]
3. 22B-Brad Racer[1]
4. 41-Alex Watson[9]
5. 28K-Ron Kimmel[7]
6. 72-Josh Chess[6]
7. 14S-Jacob Stickle[11]
8. 65-Chris Bounds[8]
9. 76-Allen Poe[10]
10. 44-Ron Coleman[5]
11. 4X-Bradley Ashford[3]

Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 28H-Rod Henning[5]
2. 14G-Nick Daughrtey[3]
3. 81H-Anthony Haas[1]
4. 14-Gary Campbell[8]
5. 11-Corey Bedwell[9]
6. 21B-Ryan Barr[4]
7. 50-Craig Stower[10]
8. IVO-Andrew Heitkamp[2]
9. 17-Darin Collins[7]
10. 26-Michael Prine[6]

A-Main – (20 Laps)
1. 28H-Rod Henning[3]
2. 22B-Brad Racer[5]
3. 14G-Nick Daughrtey[1]
4. 66-Chase Dunham[4]
5. 14-Gary Campbell[8]
6. 11-Corey Bedwell[10]
7. 28K-Ron Kimmel[9]
8. 41-Alex Watson[7]
9. 76-Allen Poe[17]
10. 81H-Anthony Haas[6]
11. 17-Darin Collins[18]
12. 14S-Jacob Stickle[13]
13. IVO-Andrew Heitkamp[16]
14. 26-Michael Prine[20]
15. 42-Ty Tilton[2]
16. 65-Chris Bounds[15]
17. 50-Craig Stower[14]
18. 72-Josh Chess[11]
19. 44-Ron Coleman[19]
20. 4X-Bradley Ashford[21]
Hard Charger: 76-Allen Poe[+8]