Westfall sweeps dual features at Waynesfield Raceway Park.

August 29, 2010
WAYNESFIELD, Ohio

by Gerry Keysor

After Mother Nature poured on Waynesfield Raceway Park the last two Saturdays, she finally smiled down with blue skies and comfortable temperatures for a great night of racing at the 1/3 mile bullring. The racing action was nothing short of amazing all night with “The Flyin Buckeye” Matt Westfall sweeping both Lee's Hyraulics Non Wing Sprint features. Brian Post picked up the win in the makeup Post Agri-Service UMP Modified feature, while Jerry Bowersock nabbed the 2nd Modified feature. Beau Stewart won a thrilling AMSA Mini Sprint feature, and Justin Durflinger ran away with the JR and Sons Service Center Compact feature.

Starting off racing action was the makeup Lee's Hydraulics Non Wing Sprint feature from July 24th. Just as the green flag was waving, the yellow immediately was thrown for debris, causing drivers to stack up, with the 43g of Chad Grear ending up the victim of a flat right rear after contact during the melee. The field was reset with Grear watching from the infield. #18k Todd Keen would jump out to the lap 1 lead before caution would fly again, this time for the #63 of Jim Dues. As the field restarted, Leipsic, Ohio's Mike Brecht, aboard the P&W Machine #8b, powered around the 18k to grab the lead. Brecht tried to set sail from the field, but the E&E Machine and Tool #54 of Matt Westfall started his march from his 5th starting spot making his way to the 2nd spot on lap 6. The Team Fenner, PPC sponsored # 34 of “The Ohio Hammer” Luke Hall, made his way up to 4th spot on lap 8, but that was as far as he'd get in this feature, as an ill handling race car kept his hands full the remainder of the race. On lap 10, the battle for the lead would catch fire as Westfall threw a huge slide job on Brecht grabbing the lead, but Brecht battled back with a crossover move down the back straight away taking the lead back briefly before Westfall used his momentum on the highside of turns 3&4 to take the lead for good. On lap 15, the #0 of Steve Irwin, the 2009 Lane Automotive Michigan Traditional Sprints Points champion, had made his way into 4th past Keen and was reeling in the leaders. On lap 19, Irwin got around Hall for 3rd. On the final lap, Irwin made one final attempt to get past the #8b of Brecht and succeeded, nabbing the 2nd spot at the checkered. Westfall's win marked his 5th in 7 races at WRP in 2010 with the other 2 races ending in runner up finishes for the Pleasant Hill, Ohio native. Steve Irwin, Mike Brecht, Luke Hall and #7 Dustin Trost would complete the top 5.

Next up would be the make up feature for the Post Agri-Service UMP Modifieds. As the green flag flew the #15 of Nick Katterhenry and the #93 of Josh Greber would do battle for the point, with Greber squirting to the lead. Mean while the 45p of Brian Post would lurk in 3rd minding his time. Katerhenry would challenge for the lead on lap 4, dueling with Greber until the caution flag flew on lap 5 for an accident involving the #5x of Jerry Bowersock and the #18 of Ryan Sutter, Bowersock would take his mount to the pit area and prepare for the regular racing program later in the evening. As the green flag waved again the ZERO of Brent Hole made his way up to the 4th spot after starting 10th. Lap 9 would see Post make his way around the #15 of Katterhenry and move into 2nd. With just 5 laps remaining, Post powered by Greber and set notching his 2nd win at WRP in 2010. Greber, Katterhenry, Hole, and #20 “The Hippy” Bill Keeler would complete the top 5.

With the make up features completed, the regularly scheduled racing program got underway. With a total car count well over 100, and a great crowd in the stands, there was no shortage of action. The AMSA Mini Sprints would take the track first in feature action. When the green flag flew, Kevin Roberts Sr. showed his strength right away, powering to the lead before caution would fly on lap 2 for the spinning #11 of David Applegate. On the restart, Roberts would lead the field down to the green with #55 Rob Winks in tow. On lap 3, #28h “Hot” Rod Henning, and #27 Beau Stewart would power by Winks to grab 2nd and 3rd respectively. As lap 6 clicked by, Henning was starting to reel in Roberts, but caution would fly once again for a spinning #11 Applegate. His night would end for bring out the yellow for a 2nd time. On the restart, Winks would be docked for jumping, as he was side by side with Stewart at the restart cone. Roberts once again hold the lead, but business was definitely picking up behind him as Henning and Stewart battled side by side for 2nd for the next several laps while still staying close to Roberts, as the field came down to see 2 laps remaining, the top 3 were starting to see lapped traffic, and that set the stage for an amazing finish. Henning powered to the rear bumper of Roberts, while Stewart went to the high side and used momentum to carry the Foz Racing #27 to the lead on the final lap. Henning would just clear Roberts for 2nd, as Roberts came home 3rd, #1h Nick Daugherty who was celebrating his 26th birthday at WRP finished 4th, and #22 Ryan Broughton would complete the top 5. Heat races were won by Daugherty, Henning, and Kevin Roberts Sr. The B Main was won by #22b Brad Racer who returned from a easy roll over in his heat race.

Next up was the 2nd Lee's Hydraulics Non Wing Sprint Car feature. The inversion wheel was Matt Westfall's friend as the 4 spun on the inversion wheel would give Westfall the pole for the 25 lap A Main based upon his win in heat race #4. Westfall would not waste the opportunity, jumping out to the lead over #9k Kevin Thomas Jr. and #5j Joss Moffat. Scary moment on lap one as the #0 of Steve Irwin would spin in the middle of the field, doing 2 full rotations in turn 2 and keeping the car rolling, keeping the yellow flag from coming out. During that incident, the #20 of Tom Rhoades made contact with another vehicle. Rhoades would bring his car to a stop in turn 4, prompting a yellow flag with 1 lap complete. When racing resumed it was Westfall pulling out to a 8 car length lead, but Kevin Thomas Jr began to close, running way up on the high side of the speedway. On lap 10, Thomas had closed to within 4 car lengths of Westfall while the battle for 3rd caught fire behind them. The #41 of Steve Ott, #19 of Joe Bares, and #5j of Joss Moffat running 2 and 3 wide as they battled for 3rd. On Lap 11, Bares would clip the infield tire in turn 4, knocking the safety cone into the middle of the front stretch, prompting another yellow flag, but before the cars slowed, a unrelated incident occurred as #0 Steve Irwin flipped in turn 2, bringing out the red flag. Irwin would walk away from the accident under his own power. On the restart, Westfall led the field to the green flag, but Kevin Thomas Jr's car would not be able to carry the same speed as before the caution. Thomas would fall to Moffat and others as he slid back to a 9th place finish. Moffat would set his sights on Westfall but would never close to more than 8 car lengths with #34”The Ohio Hammer” Luke Hall making his way to 3rd. Thats the way they would finish with #37d Mike Dunlap making his way to 4th and #2 Mike Galadja finishing 5th after starting 13th. In victory lane, Westfall said that sweeping both features definitely made up for coming up one spot short of winning the 2nd Annual Jack Hewitt Classic back on August 7th. Jack Hewitt was on hand with his 2 seater raffling off 2 rides, with the 2nd winner starting the A Main in the back of the #21. JR and Sons Service Center Compact competitor Chuckie Chronister would win the 'Ride of a Lifetime” on what turned out to be his birthday. What a way to celebrate for Chuckie! Heat races were won by #9k Kevin Thomas Jr., #19 Joe Bares, #14 Chad Wilson, and # 54 Matt Westfall. B Main was won by #8b Mike Brecht. Kudos to #5c Tim Cole making his 3rd ever sprint car start, staying out of trouble and logging laps last night.