By Brian Liskai
WAYNESFIELD, Ohio – Cale Thomas held off a late race charge from Danny Dietrich to win the third night of the 42nd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Waynesfield Raceway Park by just .001 seconds. Thomas’ victory came despite a broken rear suspension piece after he collided with the front stretch wall midway through the 30-lap Ti 22 Performance FAST on Dirt Series A-main.
“I could get runs off of four and then pick off a car in one. I was able to get off the rubber when I had to manage the lapped cars. I’ve seen enough videos of leaders who force their way through lapped cars and it doesn’t always end well. Sometimes you just have to follow them and hope whoever is behind you isn’t faster,” said Thomas beside his Spanky’s Pizza, Shelluke’s Bar, Automatic Fire Protection; Ohio Refrigeration, Ohio Heating, Engler Machine, BH 41, TMH Holdings, Berryman Racing Shocks, Keizer Wheels backed machine.
The victory is the fourth of the year for Fairland, Indiana’s Thomas and his Jay Kiser Racing team.
Friday night’s Ohio Speedweek winner Cap Henry grabbed the lead at the drop of the green but it was seventh place starter Dietrich – who had set fast time in qualifying and won his heat from fourth – who shot from seventh to second in the opening lap, who got the huge crowd’s attention with Danny Sams and Thomas in tow. Thomas took third on lap two just before a race stoppage for a flipping Sterling Cling.
When the green flew again, Thomas began pressuring Dietrich for second and finally took the spot on lap nine. Four laps later Thomas executed a slider in turns one and two to steal the lead from Henry while Sams moved into third. With 10 laps to go Dietrich started to come alive, moving back into third and challenging Henry for second, finally taking the spot with just four laps to go.
Thomas was trapped behind lapped cars and Dietrich quickly closed. Coming to the white flag Dietrich was all over Thomas. On the final two sets of turns, Dietrich dove under Thomas and the drag race was on to the checkers.
The 42nd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek heads to Wayne County Speedway near Orrville, Ohio for night #4 of the nine race series on Monday, June 10.
Waynesfield Raceway Park
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Ohio Sprint Speedweek
FAST 410 Sprints –
Qualifying
1.48-Danny Dietrich, 11.232; 2.28M-Conner Morrell, 11.585; 3.34-Sterling Cling, 11.592; 4.29M-Logan McCandless, 11.595; 5.5T-Travis Philo, 11.600; 6.4*-Tyler Street, 11.658; 7.45B-Devon Borden, 11.668; 8.23-Cale Thomas, 11.692; 9.22-Cole Duncan, 11.817; 10.24D-Danny Sams III, 11.824; 11.W20-Greg Wilson, 11.871; 12.27-Emerson Axsom, 11.905; 13.33W-Cap Henry, 11.916; 14.5AU-Brock Hallett, 11.933; 15.1-Nate Dussel, 11.947; 16.22G-Riley Goodno, 12.093; 17.15K-Creed Kemenah, 12.106; 18.101-Caleb Henry, 12.120; 19.35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.121; 20.99-Skylar Gee, 12.142; 21.29-Zeth Sabo, 12.199; 22.11N-Kasey Jedrzejek, 12.228; 23.9-Trey Jacobs, 12.242; 24.4-Zane DeVault, 12.272; 25.49x-Tim Shaffer, 12.299; 26.81-Lee Jacobs, 12.312; 27.17-Dylan Norris, 12.361; 28.60-Jordan Charge, 12.444; 29.47-Todd King, 12.448; 30.19M-TJ Michael, 12.482; 31.71H-Max Stambaugh , 12.490; 32.X-Mike Keegan, 12.491; 33.5J-Jake Hesson, 12.563; 34.25-Chris Myers, 12.671; 35.2-Ricky Peterson, 12.711; 36.68G-Tyler Gunn, 12.727; 37.55T-Mckenna Haase, 12.831; 38.2X-Gage Etgen, 12.904; 39.9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.058; 40.29F-DJ Foos, 99.992; 41.87-Paul Dues, 99.993; 42.1S-James Saam, 99.994;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps)
1. 48-Danny Dietrich[4] ; 2. 28M-Conner Morrell[1] ; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[6] ; 4. 34-Sterling Cling[2] ; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[8] ; 6. 29M-Logan McCandless[3] ; 7. 1-Nate Dussel[10] ; 8. 45B-Devon Borden[7] ; 9. 5AU-Brock Hallett[9] ; 10. 5T-Travis Philo[5] ; 11. 47-Todd King[11]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps)
1. 22G-Riley Goodno[1] ; 2. 23-Cale Thomas[4] ; 3. 101-Caleb Henry[2] ; 4. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[3] ; 5. 9-Trey Jacobs[5] ; 6. 71H-Max Stambaugh [6] ; 7. X-Mike Keegan[7] ; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[8] ; 9. 1S-James Saam[11] ; 10. 29F-DJ Foos[9] ; 11. 87-Paul Dues[10]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps)
1. 24D-Danny Sams III[1] ; 2. 22-Cole Duncan[4] ; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom[2] ; 4. 29-Zeth Sabo[5] ; 5. 49x-Tim Shaffer[6] ; 6. 35-Stuart Brubaker[3] ; 7. 25-Chris Myers[9] ; 8. 19M-TJ Michael[8] ; 9. 17-Dylan Norris[7] ; 10. 2X-Gage Etgen[10]
Heat 4, Group D – (8 Laps)
1. 15K-Creed Kemenah[1] ; 2. 33W-Cap Henry[4] ; 3. 99-Skylar Gee[2] ; 4. 4-Zane DeVault[3] ; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs[5] ; 6. 60-Jordan Charge[6] ; 7. 68G-Tyler Gunn[9] ; 8. 55T-Mckenna Haase[10] ; 9. 2-Ricky Peterson[8] ; 10. 5J-Jake Hesson[7]
B-Main 1 – (12 Laps)
1. 5T-Travis Philo[2] ; 2. 35-Stuart Brubaker[4] ; 3. 71H-Max Stambaugh [3] ; 4. 45B-Devon Borden[10] ; 5. 29M-Logan McCandless[1] ; 6. 60-Jordan Charge[5] ; 7. 17-Dylan Norris[16] ; 8. X-Mike Keegan[7] ; 9. 2-Ricky Peterson[17] ; 10. 9Z-Duane Zablocki[11] ; 11. 55T-Mckenna Haase[13] ; 12. 47-Todd King[21] ; 13. 87-Paul Dues[22] ; 14. 19M-TJ Michael[12] ; 15. 1-Nate Dussel[6] ; 16. 1S-James Saam[15] ; 17. 25-Chris Myers[8] ; 18. 68G-Tyler Gunn[9] ; 19. 2X-Gage Etgen[19] ; 20. 5J-Jake Hesson[20] ; 21. 5AU-Brock Hallett[14] ; 22. 29F-DJ Foos[18]
A-Main 1 – (30 Laps)
1. 23-Cale Thomas[4] ; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[7] ; 3. 33W-Cap Henry[1] ; 4. 24D-Danny Sams III[2] ; 5. 4*-Tyler Street[9] ; 6. 22-Cole Duncan[5] ; 7. 99-Skylar Gee[12] ; 8. 101-Caleb Henry[10] ; 9. 15K-Creed Kemenah[3] ; 10. 22G-Riley Goodno[6] ; 11. 27-Emerson Axsom[11] ; 12. 28M-Conner Morrell[8] ; 13. W20-Greg Wilson[17] ; 14. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[14] ; 15. 49x-Tim Shaffer[19] ; 16. 71H-Max Stambaugh [23] ; 17. 4-Zane DeVault[16] ; 18. 9-Trey Jacobs[18] ; 19. 29-Zeth Sabo[15] ; 20. 5T-Travis Philo[21] ; 21. 34-Sterling Cling[13] ; 22. 35-Stuart Brubaker[22] ; 23. 45B-Devon Borden[24] ; 24. 81-Lee Jacobs[20]