Westfall Claims Waynesfield King Of The Hill
9 min read
History was made Saturday night at Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield, Ohio on a chilly evening of racing. For the first time in the tracks history, the front four rows were lined up using a King of the Hill racing format. Fans in attendance dubbed the format “the March Madness of racing”, because of the utilization of a bracket to determine the head-to-head matchups. A member of the United States military also greeted Waynesfield fans. Michael Hoenie celebrated his belated birthday at the races and his recent gradation from Paris island training as a US Marine. Hoenie escorted the American flag around the one-third mile during the opening ceremonies. On the racing side, legendary racer Jack Hewitt was on hand with both his two seat sprint car as well as his Silver Crown car to give the fans a taste of what they will see from Jack during his big return to racing. Outlaw Stock Car driver Tim Cole also utilized the Waynesfield, Ohio oval to shake down his ride. Cole turned laps in the low twelve-second bracket with a full wing board attached to the passenger side of his ride. A great night of racing, complied with all of these specials additions, made for a perfect night of family fun.
All eyes were on the Post Agri Service UMP Modifieds and their record setting race format. The top two drivers from each of the four heats automatically gained themselves a spot in the King of the Hill bracket. Drivers then went head-to-head in a two-lap shootout to either advance or be eliminated. The Post duo, Brian and Jim, managed to make it through round one of the bracket defeating Zach Schroeder and Bill Keeler. On the bottom side of the bracket, Matt Westfall and Weasel Phlipot beat out Jerry Bowersock and David Treon to advance. In the second round, Jim Post knocked off his brother Brian and Matt Westfall knocked off Weasel Phlipot after going wheel to wheel all the way to the line. Matt Westfall dominated the final matchup with Post giving him the victory and the honor to start on the pole for the A-main. Post started shotgun for the 20-lap A-main. All eight King of the Hill competitors took home nice prize packs courtesy of the Contingency Connection. Jeff Koz came away with the B-main victory advancing four final competitors to the A-main.
With the field set, cars began to roll for the 20-lap A-main. Matt Westfall and Brian Post led the field to the opening green flag. Westfall jumped out to the early lead as a battle for fifth began to develop. Keeler and Treon went side-by-side battling for the fifth spot with just two laps in the books. Their battle was halted when the yellow flag flew that same lap for the 24 of Terry Grilliot. Grilliot spun coming out of four and sliding down the front stretch before coming to a stop under the flag stand. With the field restacked for the restart, the green flag flew once again. Weasel Phlipot ran into some trouble just after the restart when his 52 began to fall back on lap five. This allowed the Post brothers to take over spots two and three on the leaderboard. Bowersock and Schroeder began a battle behind the lead pack in the midst of a group of challenging competitors. This crowd of cars eventually sent Bowersock and Schroeder three wide on the exit of turn two. The action came to a stop again on lap nine when the M1G of Matt Twining kicked up a thick dust cloud exiting turn four prompting a caution. Twining kicked up quite the dust cloud that blocked sight of the car for a brief moment in time. On the restart, Jeff Koz and Scott Gereman made contact out of four coming to the flag. The contact hurt both competitors as they were forced to drop off the pace and give up two spots by the time they were entering turn three. With Bowersock now well inside the top five, he began to set his sights on the lead. As laps began to tick down, Bowersock made a run on the Post posse. Riding the cushion into three, Bowersock managed to split Brian and Jim moving him up to third. A similar but much quicker move followed moving Bowersock into the second spot and ready to challenge Westfall directly. Despite a late race caution for Jeff Koz, Bowersock came up short allowing Westfall to come away with the win. Bowersock settled for a second place finish with Brian Post coming home in third. Brent Hole in the ZERO claimed the hard charger award advancing six spots during the A-main.
The Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprint cars were next to take the track. Coming into the 25 lap A-main, Kyle Simon led the point standings by just 36 points over Mike Dunlap. Simon needed to finish sixteenth or better to take home the championship. Tyler Hewitt and Mike Miller occupied row one and led the field to the green flag. Miller won the drag race into turn one and occupied the lead coming to the line to complete the opening lap. That lap would not count as the yellow flag flew for a collection crash exiting turn three. One sprint lost control in the turn spinning around in the middle of the racing surface. Cars coming out of three had nowhere to go and stacked up behind. Huston Hewitt, Jim Dues, Lee Underwood, Mike Dunlap, Cooper Clouse, and Kevin Myers were all involved in the six-car pileup. Some of the cars were able to return for the restart; others needed towed from the racing surface. After a medium length red flag, cars began to re-fire for the restart. The double file restart again showed Miller jumping into the top spot and leading the opening lap. Miller would lead the next two laps until Luke Hall took over on lap number three. Hall was smooth as butter in his 9N as he slid his way through the turns with little to no resistance. Any lead that Hall managed to build up was now gone when the yellow flag flew at the request of race control. Race director Dan Kelly was not happy with the way water had splashed up the racing surface entering turn one. Prior to the yellow, Miller was in a full on battle with Matt Westfall. Westfall had some power behind his 54 but Miller held him off with some good old fashion blocking. After competitors ran through the water in turn two, the green flag returned for roughly fifteen seconds. The yellow flag flew the following lap for the 14C of Andy Conley. Conley went up in the air and on his side before landing back down on four wheels on the bottom of turn four. The car was towed from the scene and Andy was uninjured. A final yellow flag came at the halfway point for Paul Dues as his 87 came to a stop in the center of turn three. The race was green for the remainder allowed Kody Swanson to make a run for the lead pack. Luke Hall began to fall back allowing Miller to reclaim the lead and take home the win. Matt Westfall came home in second, Kody Sawson finishing in third. Dustin Ingle finished just outside the top five and was awarded the hard charger award advancing ten spots. With Kyle Simon finishing forth in the A-main, he will pick up the 2014 championship. Rob Guy, the driver who was injured and airlifted from the track two weeks prior, was on hand watching from the pits his competitors and teammates. Rob was in great sprits and is doing very well on his recovery.
The Block Insurance Tough Trucks were the final event of the night. Bill Keeler, doing the double duty, and Sam Seeling, winner of the powder puff event a few weeks prior, led the field to the opening green flag. Keeler took the lead into turn one as Seeling dropped back on her first ever start. Jerry Sawmiller wasted no time working his way into second. Once there, Sawmiller had the 33 of Chris Hicks to deal with directly behind him. Hicks took the inside one lap and the outside the next, throwing everything at Sawmiller. The tactic finally paid off as the pair went two wide down the front stretch. The only caution flag of the event came with just three laps in the books for the 1J of J.J Butler. Butler’s truck went up on its side entering turn three before crashing back down on all four wheels. Butler was uninjured and walked away from the scene. On the restart, Sawmiller was ready to make his move on Keeler. Sawmiller set his sights on the lead and never looked back. Sawmiller jumped up to the top spot closing in on the halfway mark. Lap traffic began to build late in the race causing things to get a bit more complicated and entertaining. With lap traffic being so heavy, Hicks managed to catch Sawmiller and challenge for the lead. Both went side-by-side at the same moment lap traffic did the same thing. With both groups two wide, a four-way pass down the backstretch put fans on edge. Roy Miller and Kevin Knittle went at it a few spots back bouncing off each other more than a half a dozen times. The battle continued to the checkered flag of one of the most action packed tough truck events of the year. Jerry Sawmiller came away with the victory. Mike Hicks came home in second challenging for the lead on the final corner. Roy Miller edged Biller Keeler for a third place finish. Larry Fox picked up the hard charger award.
Waynesfield Raceway Park is back in action Saturday, September 27 with the return of the dirt Late Models. The Post Agri Service UMP Modifieds, Performance Powder Coating AMSA Mini Sprints, Block Insurance Tough Trucks, and Indian Lake Outfitter Compacts will also be on the program to close out the 2014 points chance. Get all the latest Waynesfield Raceway Park up-to-date information online at www.waynesfieldracewaypark.net, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
As always this week’s event is a Contingency Connection event. The Contingency Connection offers nearly $2000 in awards each week from national manufacturers. The Contingency Connection also put up an additional $900 in prizes for all eight competitors in the Modified King of the Hill. These awards are in addition to cash purse payouts. See a Waynesfield track official for more details on how the Contingency Connection can help you when race bills come due.
Buckeye Machine Non Wing Sprints (27 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 63-Kody Swanson[1]
2. 54-Matt Westfall[6]
3. 82-Mike Miller[5]
4. 2B-Mike Dunlap[9]
5. 71-Stratton Briggs[3]
6. 14C-Andy Conley[7]
7. 19-Jimmy Snead[8]
8. 9-Dave Disinger[2]
9. 69R-Brian Gross[4]
Heat 2 – Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 23S-Kyle Simon[1]
2. 9N-Luke Hall[5]
3. 24P-Tyler Hewitt[6]
4. 17-Kevin Myers[2]
5. 63D-Jim Dues[7]
6. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[4]
7. 5-Mark Silva[8]
8. 22S-Dallas Hewitt[9]
9. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[3]
Heat 3 – Heat 3 (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 24L-Lee Underwood[1]
2. 63H-Huston Hewitt[3]
3. 14-Cooper Clouse[5]
4. 31-Tom Rhodes[8]
5. 87-Paul Dues[4]
6. 25B-Mark Blausey[7]
7. 53-Steve Little[6]
8. 14G-Gary Campbell[2]
9. 12-Chris Davis[9]
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[2]
2. 14C-Andy Conley[1]
3. 19-Jimmy Snead[4]
4. 53-Steve Little[6]
5. 5-Mark Silva[5]
6. 25B-Mark Blausey[3]
7. 14G-Gary Campbell[9]
8. 9-Dave Disinger[7]
9. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[11]
10. 69R-Brian Gross[10]
11. 12-Chris Davis[12]
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 82-Mike Miller[2]
2. 54-Matt Westfall[5]
3. 63-Kody Swanson[8]
4. 23S-Kyle Simon[7]
5. 9N-Luke Hall[4]
6. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[16]
7. 24L-Lee Underwood[6]
8. 24P-Tyler Hewitt[1]
9. 71-Stratton Briggs[13]
10. 31-Tom Rhodes[12]
11. 14-Cooper Clouse[9]
12. 87-Paul Dues[15]
13. 5-Mark Silva[20]
14. 53-Steve Little[19]
15. 14C-Andy Conley[17]
16. 19-Jimmy Snead[18]
17. 63H-Huston Hewitt[3]
18. 2B-Mike Dunlap[10]
19. 17-Kevin Myers[11]
20. 63D-Jim Dues[14]
Hard Charger: 2DI-Dustin Ingle[+10]
Post AgriService UMP Modifieds (25 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 44-Zach Schroeder[1]
2. 20K-Bill Keeler[2]
3. 112-Chris Ullery[4]
4. OO-John Brooks[7]
5. 1-Buzz Jacobs[6]
6. 16-Jeff Koz[5]
7. 5H-Brian Hogan[3]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 45P-Brian Post[4]
2. 58P-Jim Post[1]
3. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[3]
4. ZERO-Brent Hole[6]
5. 34X-Brandon Vaughan[2]
6. 20M-Josh Morton[5]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 54-Matt Westfall[2]
2. 4J-David Treon[1]
3. 23J-Aaron Orr[4]
4. M1G-Matt Twining[5]
5. 24-Terry Grilliot[6]
6. 35-Tim Cornett[3]
Heat 4 – (8 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 52-Weasel Phlipot[1]
2. X-Jerry Bowersock[6]
3. 93-Josh Greber[5]
4. K9-Scott Gerdeman[2]
5. 89-Bobby Rose[4]
6. OOK-Kyle Peterson[3]
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 16-Jeff Koz[5]
2. 89-Bobby Rose[4]
3. 24-Terry Grilliot[3]
4. 35-Tim Cornett[7]
5. 5H-Brian Hogan[9]
6. 1-Buzz Jacobs[1]
7. 20M-Josh Morton[6]
8. OOK-Kyle Peterson[8]
A-Main – (20 Laps)
1. 54-Matt Westfall[1]
2. X-Jerry Bowersock[7]
3. 45P-Brian Post[2]
4. 58P-Jim Post[3]
5. 44-Zach Schroeder[5]
6. 20K-Bill Keeler[6]
7. 52-Weasel Phlipot[4]
8. ZERO-Brent Hole[14]
9. 112-Chris Ullery[9]
10. 23J-Aaron Orr[11]
11. K9-Scott Gerdeman[16]
12. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[10]
13. 4J-David Treon[8]
14. M1G-Matt Twining[15]
15. 24-Terry Grilliot[19]
16. 16-Jeff Koz[17]
17. 93-Josh Greber[12]
18. OO-John Brooks[13]
19. 89-Bobby Rose[18]
20. 5H-Brian Hogan[20]
Hard Charger: ZERO-Brent Hole[+6]
Block Insurance Tough Trucks (18 Trucks)
[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 – Heat 1 (8 Laps – Top 11 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 1S-Mike Sawmiller[3]
2. 37-Roy Miller[8]
3. 82-Kevin Knittle[4]
4. MT1-Sam Seeling[9]
5. 70-Terry Klopfenstein[2]
6. 1J-J.J Butler[1]
7. 316-Ben Hower[7]
8. 69-Ron Tousley[6]
9. 8-Robbie Tuttle[5]
Heat 2 – Heat 2 (8 Laps – Top 11 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 71-Chris Hicks[2]
2. 33-Mike Hicks[8]
3. 60-Jerry Sawmiller[7]
4. 25G-Bill Keeler[9]
5. 710-Ben Werling[1]
6. 28-Larry Fox[6]
7. 76-Allen Pow[3]
8. OJ-Shane Jacobs[4]
9. 20K-Matt Twining[5]
A-Main – (15 Laps)
1. 60-Jerry Sawmiller[3]
2. 33-Mike Hicks[5]
3. 37-Roy Miller[6]
4. 25G-Bill Keeler[1]
5. 82-Kevin Knittle[4]
6. 70-Terry Klopfenstein[9]
7. 710-Ben Werling[10]
8. 28-Larry Fox[12]
9. 1J-J.J Butler[11]
10. MT1-Sam Seeling[2]
11. 76-Allen Pow[14]
12. OJ-Shane Jacobs[16]
13. 316-Ben Hower[13]
14. 8-Robbie Tuttle[17]
15. 69-Ron Tousley[15]
16. 1S-Mike Sawmiller[8]
17. 71-Chris Hicks[7]
Hard Charger: 28-Larry Fox[+4]
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