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Westerfeld Decimates BOSS Field at Portsmouth
Last night marked the historic first ever visit to Portsmouth Raceway Park in Portsmouth, Ohio for the Rick's Trucks & Equipment / Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series. Having hosted 2 USAC shows in the mid 90's, this was the first wingless sprint visit to the riverside speed plant in 21 years. Despite 95 degree brutal heat, an excellent crowd was on hand and track owner Tim Coleman had the race track prepped perfectly! The fans got to see defending tour champion "The Guilford Gasser" Shawn Westerfeld, of Guilford, Indiana put on a clinic of wingless driving as he destroyed the field in a non stop, green to checker 25 lap main event that took just shy of 8 minutes to complete.
A total of 25 outlaw wingless sprints signed in for competition at the home of the $100,000 to win Dirt Track World Championship. Three heat race events found Michael Fischesser winning the first heat race. A loaded second heat was won by Westerfeld with Cooper Clouse making a great run from the tail to steal the 3rd and final redraw spot. Heat three was won by Brandon Spithaler who literally ran from 5th to first in one lap! The 10 lap B-Main was taken by Kody Swanson who had trouble and dropped from his heat race.
The 25 lap A-Main found Shawn Westerfeld and Dustin Smith occupying the front row with Todd Kane and Michael Fischesser in row 2. Cody Gardner and Brandon Spithaler made up the third row. An initial start was waved off when Dustin Smith and Todd Kane made contact on the backstretch with Kane looping around in turn 3. At the second drop of longtime starter Bob Smith's green flag, Shawn Westerfeld wasted no time in laying down the law that he would rule the first visit ever to PRP. He opened up a sizable margin immediately leaving Dustin Smith in a 3 way battle with Michael Fischesser and Cooper Clouse for runner-up honors.
Deep in the pack, all eyes were on 16th and 17th starting Kody Swanson and Justin Owen who had run 1-2 in the B-Main. Both drivers were on a mad drive to the front. Swanson got to 5th place but in the process packed the right rear wheel full of the heavy PRP clay cushion and developed a vibration that slowed his run. It was still good enough to pick up the "Bridge Restaurant Hard Charger Award" advancing 11 positions. Owen advanced 9 spots coming from 17th to finish 8th.
Meanwhile, up front, Westerfeld was on cruise control slicing through lapped traffic like a fighter pilot in a dog fight. He lapped up to 8th place and won by the second largest margin in BOSS history with an 11.400 second victory over Dustin Smith who held on in a torrid battle over Michael Fischesser who was third. Cooper Clouse had the fans on their feet blasting the PRP concrete with a shower of clay in every corner but had to settle for 4th place. Swanson with the packed right rear slipped past an ailing Cody Gardner to take 5th. Gardner had a tire going away relegating him to 6th barely holding off a late charge from Carmen Perigo. Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were Owen, Drew Rader, and Stratton Briggs who was celebrating his 19th birthday!
Nineteen of the 20 starters finished the race. Westerfeld parked on the front stretch to a thunderous round of applause. He then climbed atop the cage of his Orville Wright Motorsports #89 to salute the crowd who braved the high temperatures to enjoy the show!
The BOSS tour now finishes the brutal month of July with a doubleheader next weekend. Night one on Friday night will see the series visiting another facility for the first time ever, Twin Cities Raceway Park in North Vernon, Indiana. One night later, the 3rd annual Jason Soudrette Memorial will take place at Lawrenceburg Speedway. Watch for details to be announced tomorrow on both of these great races!
Event #12 of 22
Portsmouth Raceway Park
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Starting Position [*]
Buckeye Machine of Forest, OH Heat 1 - (8 Laps, Top 5 to A)
1. 4-Michael Fischesser[2] ; 2. 69-Todd Kane[5] ; 3. 71-Stratton Briggs[1] ; 4. 08-Andy Feil[8] ; 5. 40x-Adam Strausser[4] ; 6. 71s-Dwayne Spille[3] ; 7. 3-Joe Butera[7] ; 8. A79-R.J. Perkins[9] ; 9. 320-George Willard[6]
Lias Tire / American Racer Heat 2 - (8 Laps, Top 5 to A)
1. 89-Shawn Westerfeld[1] ; 2. 77-Dustin Smith[3] ; 3. 14c-Cooper Clouse[7] ; 4. 21-Carmen Perigo[5] ; 5. 14-Chad Wilson[2] ; 6. 4J-Justin Owen[6] ; 7. 53-Steve Little[4] ; 8. 86-Rick Holley[8]
Hoosier Race Tire Heat 3 - (8 Laps, Top 5 to A)
1. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[5] ; 2. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[2] ; 3. 9G-Cody Gardner[1] ; 4. 74-Drew Rader[3] ; 5. 18D-Bobby Distel[6] ; 6. 5-Bob McMillin[8] ; 7. 21K-Kody Swanson[7] ; 8. 44-Joe Liguori[4]
Superior Bearing & Supply B-Main - (10 Laps, Top 5 to A)
1. 21K-Kody Swanson[6] ; 2. 4J-Justin Owen[2] ; 3. 53-Steve Little[3] ; 4. 86-Rick Holley[8] ; 5. 320-George Willard[10] ; 6. 5-Bob McMillin[3] ; 7. 71s-Dwayne Spille[1] ; 8. A79-R.J. Perkins[7] ; 9. 3-Joe Butera[4] ; 10. 44-Joe Liguori[9]
Rick's Trucks and Equipment of Kenton, OH A-Main 1 - (25 Laps)
1. 89-Shawn Westerfeld[1] ; 2. 77-Dustin Smith[2] ; 3. 4-Michael Fischesser[4] ; 4. 14c-Cooper Clouse[9] ; 5. Kody Swanson[16] ; 6. 9G-Cody Gardner[5] ; 7. 21-Carmen Perigo[11] ; 8. 4J-Justin Owen[17] ; 9. 74-Drew Rader[12] ; 10. 71-Stratton Briggs[8] ; 11. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[7] ; 12. 69-Todd Kane[3] ; 13. 53-Steve Little[18] ; 14. 40x-Adam Strausser[13] ; 15. 14-Chad Wilson[14] ; 16. 08-Andy Feil[10] ; 17. 86-Rick Holley[19] ; 18. 18D-Bobby Distel[15] ; 19. 320-George Willard[20] ; 20. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[6]
The Bridge Restaurant of Sidney, OH - $50 Hard Charger - Kody Swanson +11
The JF Construction of Bucyrus, OH - $50 Hard Luck Award - Bob McMillin
The Hochstetler Trucking of Ashland, OH - $50 Perseverance Award - Rick Holley
The A Plus Automatic Transmission of Mansfield, OH - $50 Steel Block Bonus - Kody Swanson
The Apple Metal Polishing of Eldorodo, OH - $50 Lucky Pill Draw - Rick Holley
The McMillin Apiaries of Wampum, PA - $25 Sweet Move of the Night - Brandon Spithaler
Lias Tire / American Racer of Indiana, PA - Free American Racer Tire - Dustin Smith
Hoosier Racing Tire of Lakeville, IN - Free Hoosier Tire - Shawn Westerfeld
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