Thomas Meseraull Wins 2015 Jack Hewitt Classic – July 25, 2015
July 25, 2015
Sprint car hall of famer and racing legend Jack Hewitt was honored Saturday at Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield, Ohio. The 7th running of the yearly event was any sprint car fans dream seeing three different classes of open wheel sprint car racing. “This is just a really exciting event for the drivers and fans”, stated Jack Hewitt as teams began to fill the pits. Jack Hewitt has called Waynesfield Raceway Park his favorite track repeatedly and plans to keep the Hewitt classic at WRP for many years to come.
In a spontaneous schedule change, the Performance Powder Coating Non Wing Mini Sprints were first to take the track as they went head-to-head with the drivers of the USAC midgets. Waynesfield regulars Nick Daughrtey and Ty Tilton led the field of 21 cars to the opening green flag. Daughrtey won the drag race into turn two and led the opening lap. Rod “Hot Rod” Henning, who started on the inside of row two, made a successful run for the lead early on in the A-main. By the time 12 laps had been completed, Henning was already deep into lap traffic as he led the field. The first caution of the race came near the halfway mark when the 14 of Gary Campbell went around in the second corner. Campbell was running in sixth at the time of the caution. One lap would pass on the restart when the field was brought to a stop when Corey Bedwell rolled his number eleven upside down. Bedwell was able to restart the car and come away with a sixth place finish. Two more cautions followed as Chase Dunham and Ty Tilton went at it for third. Tilton would fall back in the field later on in the race. Rod Henning came away with the victory. Brad Racer, who made some pretty intense moves to hold on, finished in second. Nick Daughrtey finished in third. Allen Poe picked up the hard charger award with Dunham and Henning claiming the heat race wins.
The Jack Hewitt Classic featuring the Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprints saw 29 cars signing in, competing for 20 A-main starting spots. Landon Simon and Thomas Meseraull led the field to the start after Luke Hall jumped into a backup car to start the A-main. Landon Simon won an impressive drag race into turn one and led the opening lap. Early on, Simon began to build up a slight lead over Meseraull as the field began to span out all over the racing surface. Just when fans thought Simon was going to pull away completely, Meseraull turned on the jets. By lap eight, Meseraull was right on the backdoor of Simon. A risky slider exiting turn two put Meseraull into the top spot and Simon back to second. This lead change paved the way for Meseraull to pull away and build up a three plus second lead over Simon. With the lead secured, second place became the spot to battle for. As the field closed in on the halfway signal, Dallas Hewitt reeled in Simon to claim second. Hewitt would try to close in on Meseraull but found lap traffic made that close to impossible. Thomas Meseraull came away with the $3000 win. Dallas Hewitt came home second with Kody Swanson, nudging his way in late in the race, finishing third. Last years winner Justin Grant finished fourth and picked up the hard charger award. Luke Hall, Landon Simon and Thomas Meseraull claimed the heat race victories. Landon Simon came home with the dash and Mike Dunlap with the B-main.
The K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders made their final appearance of the season at WRP with a field of 19 making the call. Hud Horton and Phil Gressman paced the field to the start of the 25 lap A-main. Gressman jumped out to the early lead shuffling Horton back to second as lap one was recorded. The front two were nose to tail through lap three when a hurricane rained on their game of chase. Randy Hannagan began to catch up on Horton and Gressman to make a run for the top spot. Hannagan moved into the second spot on lap five as he put his 22H to the cushion exiting turn two. Hannagan continued by making a run for the lead one lap later. A top to bottom sweeping slidejob put Hannagan into the top spot. Nothing, including three-wide lap traffic phased Hannagan giving him a one-way ticket to Tim Hogan’s Carpet & Flooring of Lima victory lane. NRA point leader Max Stambaugh came home in second, three seconds back behind Hannagan. Stambaugh also picked up the hard charger award. Jared Horstman, who led the NRA points earlier in the season, came home in third. Shawn Dancer, JR Stewart, and Jared Horstman picked up the heat race wins.
Racing returns to Waynesfield Raceway Park next Saturday night August 1st for a full program of racing featuring the Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprint Cars, Performance Powder Coating AMSA Mini Sprints, Post Agri Service UMP Modifieds, Block Insurance Tough Trucks, and the Indian Lake Outfitter Compacts. Grandstand gates open at 4PM with racing at the normal 7PM start time. Full race and track information can be found online at www.waynesfieldracewaypark.net, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
The 7th Annual Jack Hewitt Classic offered drivers the opportunity to run for larger payouts. As a partner of the Contingency Connection, all drivers in attendance received prize packs from Contingency Connection sponsors helping lower the cost of racing. Waynesfield Raceway Park is proud to be a member of the Contingency Connection again in 2015.
RACE RESULTS