Pretorius Scores Career First While Lewis Wins His Third

Zack Pretorius Emma Keller Photo

From Aaron Fry
A weekend pair of events in the Hoosier state saw great fields of cars and some very competitive racing over the weekend. The MPD Racing Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series was 30 cars strong at Circle City Raceway on Friday night with Yorktown, Indiana’s Zack Pretorius picking up his first career sprint car win in convincing fashion. A day later, 25 cars signed in at the Lawrenceburg Speedway with Ricky Lewis charging from 7th to win with a late race pass on Scotty Weir that had fans on their feet the final 3 circuits.

Friday night at Circle City, it was Brayden Fox setting overall quick time in ARP Fasteners qualifying at 13.467 to lead group one. Andrew Prather and Matt Westfall quick timed groups two and three. Unfortunately, Prather bicycled on his final qualifying lap, striking the turn one wall and rolling over, ending his night.

Preliminary heat race wins went to Nick Bilbee, Tyler Kendall and Chance Crum. Rylan Gray claimed the MSD Ignitions B-Main event. Tennessee’s Anthony Nicholson redrew the pole for the 25 lap MPD Racing A-Main with Pretorius alongside. Korbyn Hayslett and Nick Bilbee started from row 2 with Kendall and Crum making up row 3. Pretorius would grab the early lead and never look back. As the race wore on, he widened his advantage and was the only car to encounter lapped traffic and he worked it to perfection.

The race was for the runner-up spot as Bilbee, Luke Hall, Kendall, Nicholson and Hayslett battled hard all race long for spots in the top 5. At the stripe, it was Bilbee holding off Hall, Kendall and Nicholson completing the top 5. The balance of the top 10 would be Chance Crum, Matt Westfall, Ricky Lewis, Kyle Shipley and Korbyn Hayslett.

The next night at Lawrenceburg, Jake Swanson was the overall fastest qualifier with a lap at 14.589 to lead group 2. Ricky Lewis and Shawn Westerfeld paced the other 2 sessions. Heat race wins went to Kyle Shipley, Jake Swanson and Jack Hoyer while the B Main was claimed by Kayla Roell.

The main event found Scotty Weir and Kyle Shipley pacing the field to starter Tim Montgomery’s green flag. Hoyer and Nick Bilbee started from row 2 with Swanson and Todd Hobson in row three. Weir would grab the early lead, but on lap 2 a major incident stopped the race. Bilbee and Hoyer made contact off turn 4 causing a chain reaction incident that sent Rylan Gray and Blake Vermillion flipping into the front stretch fencing. Gray was shaken but walked into the ambulance and was released after being checked out. Vermillion emerged unhurt but along with Gray and Hoyer was out of the event.

Back under green, Weir showed the way with Shipley, Swanson and Bilbee battling for the runner-up spot. The driver on the move was Ricky Lewis, who had started seventh. As the laps clicked away, Lewis drove high up against the unforgiving concrete wall off turn 2, methodically passing race cars. With less than 5 laps remaining, he stole the lead from Weir and drove off into the Dearborn County night, winning for the third time in four BOSS starts. Weir held on for second over Bilbee, Swanson and Hobson. The balance of the top 10 included Kyle Shipley, Luke Hall, Garrett Abrams, Korbyn Hayslett and Kayla Roell.

Next up for the BOSS tour is this coming weekend’s twin bill. Friday night, June 28 will find them in action at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, Ohio and on Saturday, June 29th at the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania’s Motor Speedway near Imperial.

The July 5-6 Pennsboro, West Virginia weekend was canceled, however, BOSS promoter Aaron Fry has partnered with Wayne County Speedway promoter Jason Flory, to add the tour on Friday, July 5 in an event with the sibling series, the Ti22 Performance FAST On Dirt winged 410 sprint cars! Make plans to attend these events, PLUS, the Jack Hewitt Classic at Waynesfield Raceway Park on Wednesday, July 3!

BOX SCORES

Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series – Race #3
Circle City Raceway ; Indianapolis, IN
Friday, June 21, 2024
30 Entries

ARP Fasteners Qualifying
Group 1: 1. 53F-Brayden Fox 13.467, 2. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett 13.658, 3. 32-Garrett Abrams 13.660, 4. 17-Nick Bilbee 13.740, 5. 4J-Shawn Westerfeld 13.850, 6. 23s-Luke Hall 13.851, 7. 27-Evan Mosley 13.867, 8. 4-Brayden Clark 13.954, 9. 37-Dave Gross 99.999, 10. 41-Ricky Lewis NT

Group 2: 1. 16k-Andrew Prather 13.643, 2. 9z-Zack Pretorius 13.780, 3. 97-Austin Nigh 13.878, 4. 20-Tyler Kendall 13.887, 5. 0g-Kyle Shipley 13.915, 6. 25-Blake Vermillion 14.203, 7. 16s-Jackson Slone 14.430, 8. 5w-Kyle Willis 14.874, 9. 26w-Cody Williams 15.264, 10. 69x-James Boice 16.146

Group 3: 1. 33m-Matt Westfall 13.786, 2. 5-Jesse Vermillion 14.069, 3. 16-Anthony Nicholson 14.087, 4. 26-Chance Crum 14.092, 5. 33-Jake Scott 14.146, 6. 11-Jack Hoyer 14.251, 7. 06-Rylan Gray 14.317, 8. 53-Steve Little 14.505, 9. 4c-Daylan Chambers 14.599, 10. 16B-James Boyd 15.014

Poske’s Performance Parts – Heat 1: 1. 17-Bilbee[1] ; 2. 1H-Hayslett[3] ; 3. 53F-Fox[4] ; 4. 23s-Hall[6] ; 5. 32-Abrams[2] ; 6. 4-Clark[8] ; 7. 4J-Westerfeld[5] ; 8. 27-Mosley[7] ; 9. 41-Lewis[10] ; 10. 37-Gross[9]

Outsider’s Merchandise & Apparel – Heat 2: 1. 20-Kendall[2] ; 2. 9z-Pretorius[4] ; 3. 0g-Shipley[1] ; 4. 97-Nigh[3] ; 5. 25-B.Vermillion[5] ; 6. 16s-Slone[6] ; 7. 26w-Williams[8] ; 8. 69x-Boice[9] ; 9. 5w-Willis[7] ; 10. Prather[DNS]

Elizabeth Gardner Photography – Heat 3: 1. 26-Crum[1] ; 2. 16-Nicholson[2] ; 3. 5-J.Vermillion[3] ; 4. 33m-Westfall[4] ; 5. 11-Hoyer[6] ; 6. 06-Gray[7] ; 7. 33-Scott[5] ; 8. 53-Little[8] ; 9. 4c- Chambers[9] ; 10. 16B-Boyd[10]

MSD Ignitions – B Main: 1. 06-Gray[3] ; 2. 4J-Westerfeld[4] ; 3. 41-Lewis[10] ; 4. 4-Clark[1] ; 5. 33-Scott[6] ; 6. 16s-Slone[2] ; 7. 26w-Williams[5] ; 8. 4c-Chambers[12] ; 9. 27-Mosley[7] ; 10. 53-Little[9] ; 11. 16B-Boyd[13] ; 12. 37-Gross[12] ; 13. 69x-Boice[8] ; 14. 5w-Willis[DNS] ; 15. 16k-Prather[DNS]

MPD Racing – A Main: 1. 9z-Pretorius[2] ; 2. 17-Bilbee[4] ; 3. 23s-Hall[10] ; 4. 20-Kendall[5] ; 5. 16-Nicholson[1] ; 6. 26-Crum[6] ; 7. 33m-Westfall[12] ; 8. 41-Lewis[18] ; 9. 0g-Shipley[8] ; 10. 1H-Hayslett[3] ; 11. 53F-Fox[7] ; 12. 33-Scott[20] ; 13. 06-Gray[16] ; 14. 11-Hoyer[15] ; 15. 32-Abrams[13] ; 16. 97-Nigh[11] ; 17. 4-Clark[19] ; 18. 25-B.Vermillion[14] ; 19. 5-J.Vermillion[9] ; 20. 4J-Westerfeld[17]

All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads – Hard Charger: 41 – Lewis +10

All Star Performance – Hard Luck: 06 – Gray

Hoosier Tire Bonus – free tire: 9z – Pretorius

Cowen Truck Line – Lucky Pill Draw: 16s – Slone

Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series – Race #4
Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway
Saturday, June 22, 2024
25 Entries

ARP Fasteners Qualifying
Group 1: 1. 41-Ricky Lewis 14.598, 2. 20-Tayte Williamson14.601, 3. 0g-Kyle Shipley 14.861, 4. 44-Todd Hobson 14.985, 5. 5-Jesse Vermillion 15.076, 6. 97-Austin Nigh 15.301, 7. 5k-Kayla Roell 15.311, 8. 9-Dustin Webber 15.331, 9. 26w-Cody Williams 15.745

Group 2: 1. 2B-Jake Swanson 14.589, 2. 23s-Luke Hall 14.756, 3. 47-Scotty Weir 14.919, 4. 21B-Ryan Barr 15.067, 5. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett 15.091, 6. 06-Rylan Gray 15.231, 7. 53-Steve Little 15.874, 8. 22-Brian Heitkamp 19.263

Group 3: 1. 4J-Shawn Westerfeld 14.858, 2. 17-Nick Bilbee 14.910, 3. 11-Jack Hoyer 15.170, 4. 32-Garrett Abrams 15.397, 5. 25-Blake Vermillion 15.642, 6. 73-Zach Lamb 16.143, 7. 5A-Toby Alfrey 16.170, 8. 69x-James Boice 18.518

Poske’s Performance Parts – Heat 1: 1. 0g-Shiply[2] ; 2. 44-Hobson[1] ; 3. 41-Lewis[4] ; 4. 5-J.Vermillion[5] ; 5. 97-Nigh[6] ; 6. 5K-Roell[7] ; 7. 20-Williamson[3] ; 8. 26w-Williams[9] ; 9. 9-Webber[8]

Outsider’s Merchandies & Apparel – Heat 2: 1. 2B-Swanson[4] ; 2. 47-Weir[2] ; 3. 23s-Hall[3] ; 4. 1H-Hayslett[5] ; 5. 21B-Barr[1] ; 6. 53-Little[7] ; 7. 06-Gray[6] ; 8. 22-Heitkamp[8]

Elizabeth Gardner Photography – Heat 3: 1. 11-Hoyer[2] ; 2. 17-Bilbee[3] ; 3. 4J-Westerfeld[4] ; 4. 32-Abrams[1] ; 5. 25-B.Vermillion[5] ; 6. 73-Lamb[6] ; 7. 5A-Alfrey[7] ; 8. 69x-Boice[8]

MSD Ignitions – B Main: 1. 5K-Roell[1] ; 2. 06-Gray[5] ; 3. 73-Lamb[3] ; 4. 9-Webber[10] ; 5. 20-Williamson[4] ; 6. 26w-Williams[7] ; 7. 69x-Boice[9] ; 8. 5A-Alfrey[6] ; 9. 53-Little[2] ; 10. 22-Heitkamp[8]

MPD Racing – A Main: 1. 41-Lewis[7] ; 2. 47-Weir[1] ; 3. 17-Bilbee[4] ; 4. 2B-Swanson[5] ; 5. 44-Hobson[6] ; 6. 0g-Shipley[2] ; 7. 23s-Hall[8] ; 8. 32-Abrams[12] ; 9. 1H-Hayslett[11] ; 10. 5K-Roell[16] ; 11. 4J-Westerfeld[9] ; 12. 5-J.Vermillion[10] ; 13. 97-Nigh[13] ; 14. 9-Webber[19] ; 15. 21B-Barr[14] ; 16. 20-Williamson[20] ; 17. 73-Lamb[18] ; 18. 11-Hoyer[3] ; 19. 25-B.Vermillion[15] ; 20. 06-Gray[17]

All Pro Cylinder Heads – Hard Charger: 41 – Lewis +6

All Star Performance – Hard Luck: 25 – B.Vermillion

Hoosier Tire Bonus – free tire: 41 – Lewis

Cowen Truck Line – Lucky Pill Draw: 53 – Little