By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, Ohio (October 8, 2016) – Chris Windom closed out the 2016 season at Eldora Speedway by winning the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series feature event at Eldora Speedway. Windom battled with Dallas Hewitt, Thomas Meseraull and Dustin Smith late in the feature, making the winning slide job on Hewitt for the lead with two laps to go for the victory.
The win was Windom’s second in a row at Eldora following his USAC Silver Crown Series victory two weeks ago at the 4-Crown Nationals. Unlike the dominating performance during the Silver Crown event Windom had a thrilling back and forth battle for the lead that the winner found surprising.
“That was a hell of a race there the whole time,” said Windom in victory lane. “I wasn’t expecting it to be that good, but it was.”
Hewitt took the lead at the start of the 25-lap feature with Dustin Smith and 2016 BOSS champion Shawn Westerfeld behind him. By the second lap Windom moved into fourth spot around Shane Cottle and closed in on the lead trio while Meseraull moved up from 10th starting spot to take over fifth.
Windom disposed of Westerfeld for third on lap five and closed in on Hewitt and Smith to make a three car race for the lead. Slower traffic started to become a factor by lap seven. Hewitt was able to use the slower cars to his advantage while Windom and Smith raced for second. Windom was able to slide Smith for second on lap eight.
By lap nine Windom closed in on Hewitt and changed him for the lead, but Hewitt used to slower traffic to his advantage to hold off Windom on lap 10.
Smith took advantage of the slower traffic to briefly take second away from Windom. Smith then held back several challenges from Windom until while racing through traffic Meseraull drove by both of them into second on lap 18. Windom passed Smith for third and began to challenge Meseraull for second, taking over that spot one lap later.
With five laps to go Shane Cottle brought out the caution flag ending backwards in turn four. With no slower cars between the top four cars Windom immediately was able to challenge for the lead without interference from traffic.
Windom bided his time following the restart until he had an opening going into turn one with three laps to go to slide by Hewitt for the lead. Meseraull took second from Hewitt on lap 24, but could not catch Windom for the lead. Meseraull held on for second with Hewitt, Smith, and Matt Westfall rounding out the top five.
Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, Ohio
Saturday September 8, 2016
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 320 – Bill Rose, 2. 14W – Chad Wilson, 3. 16 – Justin Grant, 4. 21 – Carmen Perigo, 5. 39 – Matt Goodnight, 6. 6 – Chris Phillips, 7. 08 – Andy Feil, 8. 97J – Andy Fike. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 30 – C.J. Leary, 2. 57 – Shane Cottle, 3. 19 – Matt Cooley, 4. 11 – David Applegate, 5. 18D – Bobby Distel, 6. 71 – Stratton Briggs, 7. 0C – Chris VanderWiele, 8. 13 – Brandon Mans. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 33M – Matt Westfall, 2. 9N – Luke Hall, 3. 4F – Michael Fischesser, 4. 15 – Brandon Whited, 5. 19X – Cooper Clouse, 6. 97 – Bret Mellenbendt, 7. 3 – Joe Butera, 8. 69R – Cody Gardner. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 5 – Chris Windom, 2. 89 – Shawn Westerfeld, 3. 23S – Kyle Simon, 4. 74 – Drew Rader, 5. 53 – Steve Little, 6. 26 – John Watson, 7. 13H – Ian Hunter, 8. 24 – Landon Simon. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps): 1. 9X – Thomas Meseraull, 2. 18K – Dallas Hewitt, 3. 17B – Nick Bilbee, 4. 4J – Justin Owen, 5. 5M – Bob McMillin, 6. 86 – Rick Holley, 7. 91X – Aaron Middaugh, 8. 2DI – Dustin Ingle. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Heat Race #6 (8 Laps): 1. 77 – Dustin Smith, 2. 7X – Logan Hupp, 3. 27 – Zach Morrow, 4. 32M – Derek Hastings, 5. 04 – Drew Abel, 6. 97H – Scott Hardman, 7. 1J – Jeremy Shambaugh, 8. 71C – Barney Craig. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
B-Main #1 (12 Laps): 1. 15 – Brandon Whited, 2. 6 – Chris Phillips, 3. 19X – Cooper Clouse, 4. 5M – Bob McMillin, 5. 21 – Carmen Perigo, 6. 39 – Matt Goodnight, 7. 91X – Aaron Middaugh, 8. 2Di – Dustin Ingle, 9. 08 – Andy Feil, 10. 97J – Andy Fike, 11. 3 – Joe Butera, 12. 4J – Justin Owen, 13. 97 – Bret Mellenbendt, 14. 86 – Rick Holley, 15. 69R – Cody Gardner. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
B-Main #2 (12 Laps): 1. 04 – Drew Abel, 2. 74 – Drew Rader, 3. 32M – Derek Hastings, 4. 53 – Steve Little, 5. 18D – Bobby Distel, 6. 11 – David Applegate, 7. 26 – John Watson, 8. 71 – Stratton Briggs, 9. 1J – Jeremy Shambaugh, 10. 0C – Chris Vanderwiele, 11. 97H – Scott Hardman, 12. 13H – Ian Hunter, 13. 71C – Barney Craig. (First three finishers transferred to the A-Main)
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 5 – Chris Windom, 2. 9X – Thomas Meseraull, 3. 18K – Dallas Hewitt, 4. 77 – Dustin Smith, 5. 33M – Matt Westfall, 6. 89 – Shawn Westerfeld, 7. 4F – Michael Fischesser, 8. 320 – Bill Rose, 9. 17G – Justin Grant, 10. 17B – Nick Bilbee, 11. 15 – Brandon Whited, 12. 7X – Logan Hupp, 13. 19X – Cooper Clouse, 14. 23S – Kyle Simon, 15. 6 – Chris Phillips, 16. 57 – Shane Cottle, 17. 74 – Drew Rader, 18. 04 – Drew Abel, 19. 19 – Matt Cooley, 20. 27 – Zach Morrow, 21. 14 – Chad Wilson, 22. 32M – Derek Hastings, 23. 9N – Luke Hall, 24. 30 – C.J. Leary.