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Clouse and Swanson Score BOSS Wins in PA/OH Double



The old saying of "when you're hot, you're hot" rang true over the holiday weekend, as not only the temperatures soared into late spring, but also, the racing has heated up. In addition, two of the hottest drivers in the nation scored wins in the Rick's Trucks & Equipment BOSS series. On Saturday night, youngster Cooper Clouse of Ohio City, Ohio roared to his second win in as many starts on the tour and third career win by dominating a 26 car field at Mercer Raceway Park. Last night, it was California driver Kody Swanson capping off a near perfect weekend by winning the marquee event on the schedule, the $5,000 to win / 33 lap Hensel Memorial at Fremont Speedway defeating a stout 52 car field.



At Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday, the 26 entries ran three heat races with Brandon Spithaler charging from 9th to win heat race number one and earn the McMillin Apiaries "Sweet Move of the Night" award. Defending tour champion Shawn Westerfeld won heat race #2 from the fourth starting spot while Jack Sodeman Jr. claimed the third heat race from the outside pole. The B-Main event was won by sportsman sprint car champion, Carmen Perigo in only his second night of wingless sprint car racing.



The redraw found BOSS veteran Chad Wilson on the pole with rookie of the year candidate Andy Feil on the outside front row. At the drop of the green flag, it was Wilson grabbing the early lead with 4th starting Cooper Clouse in pursuit. Wilson led the first 2 circuits before Clouse was able to slip past for the top spot. The next mover in the field was Shawn Westerfeld who was able to get past Feil for 3rd on lap 4. Trouble befell tour stars Brandon Spithaler and Dustin Smith who were both strong contenders and both exited the race with rear end trouble. Despite four caution flags, Clouse was able to lead the final 23 circuits for the win. Westerfeld was able to track down Chad Wilson late to steal runner-up honors with Wilson nailing down a great 3rd place run. Local hero and veteran wing driver Jack Sodeman Jr put in a fine wingless effort coming from 8th to 4th with rookie of the year candidate Drew Rader rounding out the top five. Six through ten were Gale Ruth Jr, Mike Miller, Michael Fischesser, Arnie Kent, and Justin Owen who also picked up the Bridge Restaurant "Hard Charger" award.



Sunday night found the BOSS outlaw sprint car teams back at Fremont Speedway for the second time in the young season for the 4th annual "Mike Hensel Memorial". The first 3 Hensel Memorials were won by 3 different California natives. The big question was if the Cali boys could make it 4 in a row as all three returned this year. Robert Ballou, Kody Swanson, and Thomas Meseraull were all former winners and major players in this years event. But when you are hot ........ well, you know the story. After winning the Thursday night Hoosier 100 in a Silver Crown car on the dirt mile, Kody Swanson scored a pavement sprint car win in the prestigious Little 500 on Saturday. Driving a 4th different car on the weekend, Swanson became the first ever repeat winner of the Hensel Memorial driving the Kent Wolters owned #21K to make it 3 wins in 4 nights. His only defeat of the weekend came on Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway Park when he ran second to his own brother, Tanner Swanson, a pavement specialist.



A great field of 52 cars signed in for action with a unique format. The cars were divided into 5 heat race groups for single car time trials. The fastest 6 cars in each heat race were inverted with the top 4 transferring to the A-Main. Also, the heat race winners and the fastest qualifier in each group who transferred to the main, were sent to the Superior Bearing Dash for Cash that had its own $500 purse.



Shane Cottle was quick time in heat race #1 then put on a show from 6th to win the first heat. Aaron Middaugh who was third quick in the group also made the dash by running 3rd and being the fastest other qualifier to transfer to the main out of his heat. Cooper Clouse won heat race two from the outside pole with Thomas Meseraull also making the dash. Heat race #3 found Brady Bacon and Dave Darland running 1-2 from row #3 to put both cars into the dash for cash. Heat 4 saw another fast timer go from 6th to 1st as Robert Ballou picked up the prelim win as 2nd quick in the group, Landon Simon ran 3rd to go to the 10 lap / 10 car dash. Finally, heat #5 found local driver D.J. Foos winning from the pole on his home track while fast timer Kody Swanson had an off track excursion, fell to last, then charged back to third to score a spot in the redraw.



Twin B-Main events found defending BOSS champ Shawn Westerfeld and Dustin Ingle both picking up wins to transfer to the 33 lap main event. Next up was the dash redraw which was done in the "grudge" or "revenge" format. Shane Cottle in the Hazen 57 wound up with the pole position, courtesy of Dave Darland! Kody Swanson would start from the outside pole with Foos and Bacon making up row 2. Ninth starting Robert Ballou was sent to the rear of the field for an early spin, setting the stage for a fantastic drive through the field.



From the drop of the green flag though, it was Cottle grabbing the early lead. Meanwhile, chaos ensued back through the pack. The caution plagued event took 45 minutes to complete and necessitated the first ever red flag fuel stop in the history of the tour. Despite the chaos, great racing was taking place throughout the pack and Swanson roared past Cottle to lead on lap #16 and never looked back. Thomas Meseraull got by Cottle late to claim the runner-up spot with Cottle holding off a charging Robert Ballou to break up the California boys trifecta attempt. Landon Simon rounded out the top 5 with Brady Bacon, Kyle Simon, Carmen Perigo, Mike Burkin and Dave Darland rounding out the top 10. Perigo claimed the $333 hard charger bonus award advancing from 23rd to finish 8th.




A gracious Swanson gained a lot of new fans in victory lane. “What an unbelievable week. It’s hard to put into words. The Hensel family…I won this race two years ago and met them, what an awesome group of people. You see them throughout race tracks wherever we’re at…crown races, saw them at the Hoosier 100 and the Little 500…what great people to have in the sport,” said Swanson. “I’m so thankful to be a part of this event to honor Mike".



“I’m not that good at all. I’m so lucky to be driving this week for three fantastic race teams, the DePalma 63, the Hoffman 69 and tonight Kent Wolters 21…what an unbelievable group of guys. My career was in shambles and probably over and Kent picked me up and gave me another chance and I’m happy to put this in victory lane for him,” added Swanson.



Next up for the Rick's Trucks and Equipment BOSS tour is another doubleheader weekend at Limaland Motorsports Park on Friday June 10th and Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday, June 11th.