[sprinter14]

Matus Scores Popular Win For Mercer Crowd with BOSS

The "Wheelman" Brandon Matus of Wampum, Pennsylvania picked up his first career traditional sprint car victory Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park in Mercer, Pennsylvania with the Mo Vaughn Transport - Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series. Home track advantage certainly was no handicap, but Matus proved that you can overcome a bad starting draw and come away with victory. Starting last in the final heat race, Matus appeared to be "buried" deep in the program. Yet a run to second place in the heat earned himself a spot in the Precise Racing Redraw where Matus would pull the "4" starting pill out of eight and Matus would parlay that to his first series win over a stout 30 car field.

National Sprint Car rookie of the year, Cooper Clouse led the field to green, but outside pole sitter Andy Feil got out to a quick early lead. Immediately, third starting Brandon Spithaler and sixth starting Shawn Westerfeld flexed their muscle with quick moves up to challenge at the point. The first caution flag flew on lap 3 when Justin Owen spun to a stop. On the ensuing restart, Feil blasted to the lead once again, but jumped the cushion in turn 4, spinning down the track and collecting third running Westerfeld.

Back under green, The "Evans City Earthmover" Brandon Spithaler assumed command and appeared to be the man to beat. On lap eight, the third caution flew when Dustin Smith came to a stop in turn 4. On the restart, the field failed to complete a lap before a gaggle of cars began spinning with several cars taking evasive action. At least 3 cars did 360 spins, but in the end, Arnie Kent collected a helpless Dustin Smith, eliminating him from competition.

As the field rolled around the Mercer oval under caution, leader Brandon Spithaler lost a radiator hose and went up in a cloud of steam, turning the lead over to Brandon Matus. But the drama was far from over. Back under green the field completed only 3 more laps before Michael Fischesser spun in turn 2 collecting several cars that included Chuck Wilson and Justin Owen who both flipped.

Finally back under green, the field was able to reel off 10 consecutive green flag laps with Matus holding off a Cinderella run from Gale Ruth Jr. and Jack Sodeman Jr. One final caution would fly on lap 21 when Cody Gardner rolled to a stop in turn 4. With what appeared to be a Western PA podium sweep in store, the final 4 laps became a survival test. Third running Sodeman was one of 3 cars who would do 360 spins and continue under green in the closing laps. Brandon Matus powered on to his first career BOSS win with Ruth second and "The Magic Man" Mike Miller magically appearing in third after a quiet run to the front. BOSS newcomers Cooper Clouse and Kent Wolters completed the top 5 with Arnie Kent, Chad Wilson, Sodeman, Aaron Middaugh and Bob McMillen rounding out the top 10.

Heat race winners were Gale Ruth Jr, Shawn Westerfeld, Brandon Spithaler and Andy Feil. "Bad" Chad Wilson from Toledo, Ohio scored an impressive B-Main win. The Mo Vaughn Transport BOSS sprints are now off for a week before returning to action June 5th and 6th with a doubleheader weekend at Limaland Speedway and Lawrenceburg Speedway.

COMPLETE RESULTS:

Event #3 of 21
Mercer Raceway Park ; Mercer, PA - 5/23/2015

Mo Vaughn Transport B.O.S.S 410 Sprints (30 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position

Heat 1 - Moose Racing (Anaheim, CA): (8 Laps - Top 4 transfer to A-Feature)
1. 1R-Gale Ruth Jr.[3] ; 2. 14c-Cooper Clouse[4] ; 3. 31-Chuck Wilson[1] ; 4. 12-Kent Wolters[2] ; 5. 46-Cody Gardner[7] ; 6. 5-Bob McMillin[8] ; 7. 3-Joe Butera[6] ; 8. 53-Steve Little[5]

Heat 2 - Lias Tire / American Racer (Indiana, PA): (8 Laps - Top 4 transfer to the A-Feature)
1. 89-Shawn Westerfeld[2] ; 2. 18-Arnie Kent[8] ; 3. 82-Mike Miller[4] ; 4. 4-Michael Fischesser[1] ; 5. 14-Chad Wilson[6] ; 6. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[7] ; 7. 77-Dustin Smith[5] ; 8. 33-Brent Matus[3]

Heat 3 - Hoosier Racing Tire: (8 Laps - Top 4 transfer to the A-Feature)
1. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[3] ; 2. 26-Justin Owen[6] ; 3. 25-Jack Sodeman[4] ; 4. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[1] ; 5. 97s-Scott Hardman[2] ; 6. 79-Dick Mahoney[5] ; 7. 12x-Wes Libert[7]

Heat 4 - Buckeye Machine (Forest, OH): (8 Laps - Top 4 transfer to the A-Feature)
1. 08-Andy Feil[3] ; 2. 13-Brandon Matus[7] ; 3. 59J-Kirk Jeffries[6] ; 4. 76-Davey Jones[4] ; 5. 4J-Jacob Gomola[5] ; 6. 97-Andy Fike[2] ; 7. 00-Doug Feil[DNS]

B-Main - FAST Signs (Dayton, OH): (10 Laps - Top 6 transfer to the A-Feature)
1. 14-Chad Wilson[2] ; 2. 46-Cody Gardner[1] ; 3. 77-Dustin Smith[10] ; 4. 4J-Jacob Gomola[4] ; 5. 33-Brandon Matus[13] ; 6. 5-Bob McMillin[5] ; 7. 3-Joe Butera[9] ; 8. 97s-Scott Hardman[3] ; 9. 79-Dick Mahoney[7] ; 10. 53-Steve Little[12] ; 11. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[6] ; 12. 12x-Wes Libert[11] ; 13. 97-Andy Fike[8] ; 14. 00-Doug Feil[14]

Mo Vaughn Transport B.O.S.S. A-Main - (25 Laps)
1. 13-Brandon Matus[4] ; 2. 1R-Gale Ruth Jr.[5] ; 3. 82-Mike Miller[10] ; 4. 14c-Cooper Clouse[1] ; 5. 12-Kent Wolters[13] ; 6. 18-Arnie Kent[7] ; 7. 14-Chad Wilson[17] ; 8. 25-Jack Sodeman Jr.[11] ; 9. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[15] ; 10. 5-Bob McMillen[22] ; 11. 4J-Jacob Gomola[20] ; 12. 33-Brent Matus[21] ; 13. 59J-Kirk Jeffries[12] ; 14. 4-Michael Fischesser[14] ; 15. 46-Cody Gardner[18] ; 16. 89-Shawn Westerfeld[6] ; 17. 26-Justin Owen[8] ; 18. 31-Chuck Wilson[9] ; 19. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[3] ; 20. 77-Dustin Smith[19] ; 21. 08-Andy Feil[2] ; 22. 76-Davey Jones[16]


Bonus Award Winners:

The Bridge Restaurant of Sidney, OH - "Hard Charger" - Bob McMillin (+12) - $50

Lynn Cook "a racer's friend" of Dayton, OH - "Hard Luck Award" - Shawn Westerfeld - $50

Hochstetler Truck and Auto Repair - "Steel Block Award" - Jacob Gomola - $50

Apple Metal Polishing of Eldorodo, OH - "Lucky Pill Draw" - Steve Little - Free Pit Pass/Hot Dogs for the crew ($40)

A Plus Automatic Transmission of Mansfield, OH - "Perseverance Award" - Arnie Kent - $50

McMillin Apiaries of Wampum, PA - "Sweet Move of the Race" - Kent Wolters - $25

Design 500 of Seattle, WA - "Rusty McClure Tribute Award" - Aaron Middaugh - $100 certificate from Design 500

Lias Tire of Indiana, PA - "American Racer Bonus Award" - Michael Fischesser - Free Tire

Hoosier Tire Midwest - "Hoosier Tire Bonus Award" - Brandon Matus - Free Tire