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Spithaler Dominates Wayne County in Impressive Style
The Buckeye Machine BOSS sprints, like many in the wingless sprint car world, take great pride in the competitiveness of this brand of motorsports competition. In many cases, entire events are run with all cars finishing on the lead lap and most races see many lead changes. These facts simply make what Brandon Spithaler did last night in the Tom Burkey owned Superior Tank and Trailer #57B all the more impressive. From his pole starting position, the Evans City, Pennsylvania driver literally blasted the tacky and choppy Wayne County Speedway corners. With the car rarely on 4 wheels, the "Evans City Earthmover" proceeded to lap all but the runner-up car by lap #21. Working lap 22, Spithaler cleared the second place car to put the entire field one lap in arrears, but the race's only caution flew, allowing the runner-up car to stay on the lead lap.
With Wayne County Speedway running their weekly winged 410 sprints in conjunction with BOSS, the event saw the smallest field of the year signed in for competition with 21 non wing drivers ready to battle the extremely heavy 3/8 mile oval. The evening began with 3 preliminary heat races which thrilled the fans as winning drivers came from the 5th, 6th, and 5th starting positions. Derek Hastings led much of heat race #1 but Joe Liguori made his statement coming from 5th to steal the win late as Hastings and Chuck Wilson held on to earn their way into the Buckeye Machine redraw. Heat #2 found Logan Hupp coming from 6th to defeat Dustin Smith while Chad Wilson rounded out the top 3 to go to the redraw. The 3rd and final heat race was a glorious battle between title contenders Michael Fischesser, Mike Miller, and Brandon Spithaler which saw Fischesser lead early, then fading on the heavy conditions. The crowd then looked on as Miller and Spithaler were left swapping the lead over the final laps. Spithaler was able to prevail for the win with Miller and Fischesser headed for redraw.
Toledo, Ohio driver Chad Wilson would pace the field to the green with Spithaler alongside. Fischesser and Hastings would start from row 2 with a stacked field behind them. Spithaler wasted no time in asserting his command as he opened a substantial lead in the first 5 laps. Despite the apparent runaway up front, the BOSS gladiators put on a driving clinic as the 4 way battle for the runner-up spot on the choppy conditions proved harrowing. Michael Fischesser, Chuck Wilson, Joe Liguori and Dustin Smith ran inches apart making breathtaking moves through traffic.
By the halfway mark, Spithaler was in heavy lapped traffic with a half lap lead over Fischesser and Liguori. Back in the pack, Mike Miller and Aaron Middaugh had begun to move toward the front. The race stayed green as Spithaler kept fans on the edge of their seats with bicycling and wheelies in nearly every corner. The lap 22 caution that prevented Spithaler from officially lapping the field came out when Steve Little spun in turn 2 while simultaneously Fischesser and Smith made contact taking Fischesser out of the event. The race was restarted with 4 laps remaining and on the white flag lap, series regular Adam Miller climbed the wheel of Jeremy Duposki and went for one of the highest and wildest flips in series history. Despite major roll cage damage, Miller was able to walk away unhurt.
The green flag waved for the final time with a one lap shootout to finish the event and there was no denying the Burkey #57B from its first trip to victory lane at Wayne County. Following Spithaler to the checkered was Joe Liguori, Dustin Smith, Chuck Wilson and Mike Miller. Rounding out the top 10 were Derek Hastings, Aaron Middaugh, Chad Wilson, Kirk Jeffries and Jeremy Shambuagh.
The win, the fourth of Spithaler's BOSS career, now puts him atop the all time win leaderboard with the series. This was his second win of 2014 and he now joins Logan Hupp as multi time winners this season. Both drivers have 3 more shots at making history by becoming the first driver to win 3 races in one season! The series' final 3 events will be at Montpelier Speedway in Montpelier, Indiana on Saturday, September 6th followed up by a pair of Ohio track finales at Fremont Speedway October 4th and Eldora Speedway October 11th.
Event #14 of 17
Wayne County Speedway - 8/16/2014
Buckeye Machine B.O.S.S 410 Sprints (21 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 - Southeast Harley Davidson (Cleveland, OH): (8 Laps - All transfer to the A-feature)
1. 6RR-Joe Liguori[5] ; 2. 32M-Derek Hastings[4] ; 3. 31-Chuck Wilson[6] ; 4. 59J-Kirk Jeffries[2] ; 5. 3-Joe Butera[3] ; 6. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[7] ; 7. 5-Bob McMillin[1]
Heat 2 - K-D Pizza (Wooster, Ashland, Mansfield, OH): (8 Laps - All transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2M-Logan Hupp[6] ; 2. 77-Dustin Smith[3] ; 3. 14-Chad Wilson[4] ; 4. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[2] ; 5. 24M-Adam Miller[5] ; 6. 320-George Willard[7] ; 7. 34-Troy Kingan[1]
Heat 3 - Cowen Truck Lines (Perrysville, OH): (8 Laps - All transfer to the A-feature)
1. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[5] ; 2. 82-Mike Miller[6] ; 3. 4-Michael Fischesser[3] ; 4. 13-Jeremy Duposki[2] ; 5. 97-Scott Hardman[1] ; 6. 53-Steve Little[7] ; 7. 1-Butch Beasley[4]
A-Main - (25 Laps)
1. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[2] ; 2. 6RR-Joe Liguori[7] ; 3. 77-Dustin Smith[5] ; 4. 31-Chuck Wilson[6] ; 5. 82-Mike Miller[8] ; 6. 32M-Derek Hastings[4] ; 7. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[16] ; 8. 14-Chad Wilson[1] ; 9. 59J-Kirk Jeffries[10] ; 10. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[11] ; 11. 3-Joe Butera[13] ; 12. 97-Scott Hardman[15] ; 13. 5-Bob McMillin[19] ; 14. 53-Steve Little[18] ; 15. 13-Jeremy Duposki[12] ; 16. 24M-Adam Miller[14] ; 17. 320-George Willard[17] ; 18. 4-Michael Fischesser[3] ; 19. 34-Troy Kingan[20] ; 20. 2M-Logan Hupp[9] ; 21. 1-Butch Beasley [DNS]
Bonus Award Winners:
The Bridge Restaurant of Sidney, OH - "Hard Charger" - Aaron Miggaugh (+9) - $50
Lynn Cook "a racer's friend" of Dayton, OH - "Hard Luck Award" - Michael Fischesser - $50
Hochstetler Truck and Auto Repair - "Steel Block Award" - Jeremy Shambaugh - $50
Rusty & Cap McClure of Ashland, OH - "Lucky Pill Draw" - Jeremy Duposki - Free Pit Pass/Hot Dogs for Crew
McMillin Apiaries of Wampum, PA - "Sweet Move of the Race" - Brandon Spithaler - $25 and jug of honey
Lias Tire of Indiana, PA - "American Racer Bonus Award" - Brandon Spithaler - Free Tire
Hoosier Tire Midwest - "Hoosier Tire Bonus Award" - Mike Miller - Free Tire
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