By Aaron Fry
Only one time in MPD Racing BOSS history has any driver won back-to-back championships. That was Shawn Westerfeld during the 2015 and 2016 tours. Last night, the defending champion, Ricky Lewis, could not have had a better night to begin his quest for a repeat crown. The Oxnard, California driver quick-timed his heat race, won from the fourth starting position, then started 5th in the 25-lap main event, going on to lead the final 9 laps to score the win.
Lawrenceburg Speedway’s new promoter, Shane McHenry, accepted the show with the BOSS series on short notice and was rewarded with a very nice car count. After Atomic Speedway canceled early Friday, tour promoter Aaron Fry and McHenry reached a quick deal and with unanimous series driver support, the event was relocated.
Twenty-five sprint cars drew into the program, split into three preliminary heat races. The groups were led in qualifying by Kayla Roell, Tyler Kendall and Lewis. J.J. Hughes picked up the win over two-time tour champion Shawn Westerfeld in Dave Poske’s Performance Parts heat race number one. Saban Bibent would capture Outsider’s Merchandise & Apparel heat race number two over Anton Hernandez.
The third and final heat race of the night was one for the ages as no less than 5 cars battled hard all 8 laps for the top 2 redraw spots in the Elizabeth Gardner Photography heat race. In the end, it was Lewis going from fourth to win followed by Jesse Vermillion.
The ten lap B-Main found 10 cars racing for 5 transfer spots. The drivers would race green to checker, making in the fourth consecutive preliminary race to do so. It was Lima, Ohio’s Dustin Ingle taking the checkers first over Brian Ruhlman, Paul Dues, Ryan Barr and Blake Vermillion.
The Victory Fuel redraw saw Jesse Vermillion and J.J. Hughes pull the front row starting spots with Bibent and Westerfeld starting from row 2. Lewis and Hernandez would begin their main event runs from the third row.
At the drop of starter Tim Montgomery’s green flag, Rancho Cucamonga, California transplant J.J. Hughes raced to a huge lead. Now a resident of Jasper, Indiana, he took the John Hughes 76 to a commanding lead until a lap 11 caution. With his lead erased, this this let the field close in, but only one car was able to power past over the final 14 laps which saw 2 red and 2 yellow flags.
Young Kayle Roell was victim of a big fire exiting turn 4 but thankfully climbed from the K O Motorsports 5K unharmed. Late in the race, Joss Moffatt was on the unfortunate end of a conglomerate of cars entering turn 3 as he went over a wheel and rode out a hard series of barrel rolls near the inside of the track. The 21-year sprint car veteran was only shaken, but not seriously injured.
In the end, Lewis sailed home into the brisk Dearborn County night taking the top prize of $2,000 plus a free Hoosier race tire. Lewis was piloting the Stensland Motorsports number 41 sponored by Physical Medical Consultants, Morris Farms, D’s Transport, J&M Racing, Masilla Valley Transportation and Wild Bill’s Barbecue. Hughes, who may not have been caught if not for the race interruptions, held on for a fine second place. Arlington, Texas native Anton Hernandez had an eventful run in the Kenny Baldwin 5, rounding out the podium with a broken jacob’s ladder.
Kyle Shipley and Garrett Abrams completed a stout top 5 finishers. The balance of the top 10 included Korbyn Hayslett, Rylan Gray, Nick Bilbee, Shawn Westerfeld and Tyler Kendall.
Again, we extend a sincere “thank you” to Shane and Tina for hosting the series! Next up for the BOSS tour is Saturday, May 4th at the always spectacular Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio. Make plans now to be there. More details will be posted in the coming days.
BOX SCORE
ARP Fasteners Qualifying
Group 1: 1. 5K-Kayla Roell 14.698, 2. 17-Nick Bilbee 14.747, 3. 76-J.J. Hughes 14.815, 4. 4J-Shawn Westerfeld 14.856, 5. 06-Rylan Gray 14.880, 6. 97-Austin Nigh 15.141, 7. 21B-Ryan Barr 15.243, 8. 53-Steve Little 15.312, 9. 41-Owen Barr 16.329
Group 2: 1. 20-Tyler Kendall 14.592, 2. 5-Anton Hernandez 14.805, 3. 98-Saban Bibent 14.871, 4. 5J-Joss Moffatt 15.003, 5. 32-Garrett Abrams 15.183, 6. 2di-Dustin Ingle 15.239, 7. 24L-Lee Underwood 15.473, 8. 49-Brian Ruhlman 15.584
Group 3: 1. 41-Ricky Lewis 14.709, 2. 87-Paul Dues 14.819, 3. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett 15.221, 4. 5-Jesse Vermillion 15.244, 5. 73-Blake Vermillion 15.292, 6. 0g-Kyle Shipley 15.353, 7. Bryan Brewer 15.818, 8. 26-Cody Williams 16.196
Poske’s Performance Parts – Heat 1: 1. 76-Hughes[2] ; 2. 4J-Westerfeld[1] ; 3. 06-Gray[5] ; 4. 17-Bilbee[3] ; 5. 5K-Roell[4] ; 6. 21B-Barr[7] ; 7. 97-Nigh[6] ; 8. 53-Little[8] ; 9. 41-Barr[9]
Outsider’s Merchandise & Apparel – Heat 2: 1. 98-Bibent[2] ; 2. 5-Hernandex[3] ; 3. 20-Kendall[4] ; 4. 32-Abrams[5] ; 5. 5J-Moffatt[1] ; 6. 2di-Ingle[6] ; 7. 49-Ruhlman[8] ; 8. 24L-Underwood[7]
Elizabeth Gardner Photography – Heat 3: 1. 41-Lewis[4] ; 2. 5-J.Vermillion[1] ; 3. 0g-Shipley[5] ; 4. 1H-Hayslett[2] ; 5. 19-Brewer[7] ; 6. 87-Dues[3] ; 7. 73-B.Vermillion[5] ; 8. 26-Williams[8]
MSD Ignitions – B Main: 1. 2di-Ingle[2] ; 2. 49-Ruhlman[5] ; 3. 87-Dues[3] ; 4. 21B-Barr[1] ; 5. 73-B.Vermillion[6] ; 6. 53-Little[7] ; 7. 41-O.Barr[10] ; 8. 24L-Underwood[8] ; 9. 26-Williams[9] ; 10. 97-Nigh[4]
MPD Racing – A Main: 1. 41-Lewis[5] ; 2. 76-Hughes[2] ; 3. 5-Hernandez[6] ; 4. 0g-Shipley[9] ; 5. 32-Abrams[11] ; 6. 1H-Hayslett[12] ; 7. 06-Gray[7] ; 8. 17-Bilbee[10] ; 9. 4J-Westerfeld[4] ; 10. 20-Kendall[8] ; 11. 2di-Ingle[16] ; 12. 5-J.Vermillion[1] ; 13. 19-Brewer[15] ; 14. 49-Ruhlman[17] ; 15. 73-B.Vermillion[20] ; 16. 21B-Barr[19] ; 17. 5J-Moffatt[14] ; 18. 98-Bibent[3] ; 19. 5K-Roell[13] ; 20. 87-Dues[18]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads – Hard Charger: 32 Abrams +6
All Star Performance Hard Luck – Joss Moffatt
Cowen Truck Line Inc Steel Block Bonus – Owen Barr
Hoosier Tire Bonus Award – Ricky Lewis