Ballou Conquers BOSS Record Field At Eldora
4 min readThe drivers came prepared for it. The fans have come to expect it. For the Mo Vaughn Transport / Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series, a very high car count at the Eldora finale is typical. However, this years event set a new record for the tour and the highest traditional sprint car count in the buckeye state since the Mopar Million at Eldora in 2003. This year, fifty-six race teams signed in to battle on the 1/2 mile high banked Rossburg clay oval. It was Rocklin, California driver Robert Ballou who emerged victorious over the large field. Ballou started in the #3 position in the 25 lap main event and took the lead from outside front row starter Dustin Smith on lap 5 and led the final 21 circuits.
The evening began with six heat races which were won by 2015 BOSS champ Shawn Westerfeld, Ballou, J.T. Stapp, Tyler Courtney, Scotty Weir, and Cody Gardner. Twin B-Main events were taken by Schuerenberg and Landon Simon. The top 2 finishers in each heat race were then entered into a redraw for the top 12 A-Main starting spots. The newly crowned series champ Westerfeld would be on the pole alongside the inaugural tour champion Dustin Smith.
At the drop of the green flag, it was Smith grabbing the early lead with 3rd starting Ballou quickly into the #2 spot with a mad scramble for position behind the lead duo. Smith held strong for the first 4 laps on the “Big E” but Ballou’s many laps at Eldora proved too much as he took command working lap #5 and would never look back.
As the race ran caution free well past the halfway point, Ballou entered heavy lapped traffic with a straight stretch lead. The race’s only caution flew for debris and that was also the only threat to the leader. But on the restart, he reasserted his command of the field and drove on to victory. Bryan Clauson had a very nice run from 13th starting position up to finish 2nd in the McGhee owned #7. Despite passing 11 cars, Clauson was NOT the hard charger of the event as this feature saw more passing than any event on the 2015 tour.
Third place finisher Chad Boespflug in the Hazen #57 started from 10th, while 4th place finisher Hunter Schuerenberg in the Walker #11 charged from 19th to earn the hard charger award! Rounding out the top 5 was Scotty Weir who came from 12th with the rest of the top 10 being Tyler Courtney, Dallas Hewitt, Cody Gardner, Todd Kane and Logan Jarrett.
Mo Vaughn Transport and BOSS are proud to announce Shawn Westerfeld as the 2015 tour champion. On behalf of all the tour sponsors, officials, tracks, teams and fans, we congratulate the Westerfeld team on the most consistent season in series history.
The 2015 BOSS banquet will be held on Saturday, November 14th in Cleveland, Ohio at “Gears and Cheers” Restaurant located next door to Southeast Harley Davidson. Banquet tickets are $25 per person. Watch for additional details in the coming days.
Event #21 of 21
Eldora Speedway ; Rossburg, OH
Mo Vaughn Transport B.O.S.S. 410 sprint cars (56 cars)
[#] – Starting Position
Heat 1 – Moose Racing (Anaheim, CA): (8 Laps – Top 3 to A-Feature)
1. 89-Shawn Westerfeld[2] ; 2. 21s-Dallas Hewitt[4] ; 3. 7-Bryan Clauson[9] ; 4. 11w-Hunter Schuerenberg[10] ; 5. 9x-Gary Taylor[6] ; 6. 0-Steve Irwin[7] ; 7. 96-Riley VanHise[1] ; 8. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[5] ; 9. 26-Justin Owen[3] ; 10. 97-Scott Hardman[DNS]
Heat 2 – Lias Tire / American Racer (Indiana, PA): (8 Laps – Top 3 to the A-Feature)
1. 12-Robert Ballou[10] ; 2. 14c-Cooper Clouse[1] ; 3. 9N-Luke Hall[8] ; 4. 22s-Landon Simon[6] ; 5. 53-Steve Little[3] ; 6. 14-Chad Wilson[2] ; 7. 18sr-Bob Distel[9] ; 8. 31-Chuck Wilson[4] ; 9. 7M-Brandon Moore[7] ; 10. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[5]
Heat 3 – Hoosier Racing Tire: (8 Laps – Top 3 to the A-Feature)
1. 74-J.T. Stapp[2] ; 2. 17-Max McGhee[4] ; 3. 4-Michael Fischesser[3] ; 4. 71-Stratton Briggs[1] ; 5. 32-Garrett Abrams[6] ; 6. 19-Joe Bares[7] ; 7. 59J-Kirk Jeffries[9] ; 8. 3-Joe Butera[5] ; 9. 71s-Dwayne Spille[8]
Heat 4 – Buckeye Machine & Fab (Forest, OH): (8 Laps – Top 3 to the A-Feature)
1. 23E-Tyler Courtney[2] ; 2. 77-Dustin Smith[1] ; 3. 320-Bill Rose[6] ; 4. 2M-Brandon Spithaler[9] ; 5. 5J-Joss Moffatt[5] ; 6. 23s-Kyle Simon[3] ; 7. 11-David Applegate[4] ; 8. 21-Travis Hery[7] ; 9. 44-Dickie Gaines[8]
Heat 5 – FAST Signs (Dayton, OH): (8 Laps – Top 3 to the A-Feature)
1. 18w-Scotty Weir[4] ; 2. 29-Logan Jarrett[8] ; 3. 18A-Jarrett Andretti[7] ; 4. 4T-Josh Turner[2] ; 5. 15-Brandon Whited[5] ; 6. 11B-Travis Berryhill[3] ; 7. 32M-Mike Miller[9] ; 8. 13-Brandon Matus[6] ; 9. 5-Bob McMillin[1]
Heat 6 – Kistler Engines (Fremont, OH): (8 Laps – Top 3 to the A-Feature)
1. 46-Cody Gardner[1] ; 2. 57-Chad Boespflug[3] ; 3. 69R-Todd Kane[4] ; 4. 08-Andy Feil[2] ; 5. 17N-Nick Bilbee[8] ; 6. 12-Kent Wolters[7] ; 7. 10s-Jay Steinbach[5] ; 8. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[6] ; 9. 97J-Andy Fike[9]
B-Main #1 – Southeast Harley Davidson (Cleveland, OH): (12 Laps – Top 3 to the A Feature)
1. 11w-Hunter Schuerenberg[1] ; 2. 9x-Gary Taylor[4] ; 3. 15-Brandon Whited[6] ; 4. 0-Steve Irwin[7] ; 5. 11B-Travis Berryhill[9] ; 6. 13-Brandon Matus[12] ; 7. 71-Stratton Briggs[2] ; 8. 32M-Mike Miller[15] ; 9. 32-Garrett Abrams[5] ; 10. 59J-Kirk Jeffries[11] ; 11. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[13] ; 12. 96-Riley VanHise[10] ; 13. 26-Justin Owen[16] ; 14. 97-Scott Hardman[19] ; 15. 5-Bob McMillin[18] ; 16. 71-Dwayne Spille[17] ; 17. 3-Joe Butera[14] ; 18. 19-Joe Bares[8] ; 19. 4T-Josh Turner[3]
B-Main #2 – Indy Race Parts (Indianapolis, IN): (12 Laps – Top 3 to the A Feature)
1. 22s-Landon Simon[1] ; 2. 2M-Brandon Spithaler[2] ; 3. 17N-Nick Bilbee[6] ; 4. 08-Andy Feil[3] ; 5. 53-Steve Little[4] ; 6. 44-Dickie Gaines[17] ; 7. 14-Chad Wilson[7] ; 8. 23s-Kyle Simon[8] ; 9. 7M-Brandon Moore[16] ; 10. 10s-Jay Steinbach[12] ; 11. 18sr-Bob Distel[10] ; 12. 91x-Aaron Middaugh[15] ; 13. 11-David Applegate[11] ; 14. 21-Travis Hery[14] ; 15. 97J-Andy Fike[18] ; 16. 5J-Joss Moffatt[5] ; 17. 31-Chuck Wilson[13] ; 18. 12-Kent Wolters[9] ; 19. 1J-Jeremy Shambaugh[19]
Mo Vaughn Transport B.O.S.S. A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 12-Robert Ballou[3] ; 2. Bryan Clauson[13] ; 3. 57-Chad Boespflug[10] ; 4. 11w-Hunter Schuerenberg[19] ; 5. 18w-Scotty Weir[12] ; 6. 23E-Tyler Courtney[8] ; 7. 21s-Dallas Hewitt[6] ; 8. 46-Cody Gardner[11] ; 9. 69R-Todd Kane[18] 10. 29-Logan Jarrett[4] ; 11. 15-Brandon Whited[23] ; 12. 320-Bill Rose[16] ; 13. 77-Dustin Smith[2] ; 14. 89-Shawn Westerfeld[1] ; 15. 9x-Gary Taylor[21] ; 16. 17-Max McGhee[9] ; 17. 18A-Jarrett Andretti[17] ; 18. 4-Michael Fischesser[15] ; 19. 17N-Nick Bilbee[24] ; 20. 2M-Brandon Spithaler[22] ; 21. 74-J.T. Stapp[7] ; 22. 9N-Luke Hall[14] ; 23. 14c-Cooper Clouse[5] ; 24. 22s-Landon Simon[20]
Bonus Award Winners
Bridge Restaurant of Sidney, OH – “Hard Charger” – Hunter Schuerenberg (+15) – $50
Lynn Cook “a racer’s friend” of Dayton, OH – “Hard Luck Award” – Brandon Moore – $50
Hochstetler Truck and Auto Repair – “Steel Block Award” – Not Claimed – $50
Apple Metal Polishing of Eldorodo, OH – “Lucky Pill Draw” – Bob Distel- $40
Plus Automatic Transmission of Mansfield, OH – “Perseverance Award” – Hunter Schuerenberg – $50
Lias Tire of Indiana, PA – “American Racer Bonus Award” – Chad Boespflug – Free Tire
Hoosier Tire Midwest – “Hoosier Tire Bonus Award” – Robert Ballou – Free Tire
Design 500 of Seattle, WA “Rusty McClure Tribute Award” – Todd Kane – $100 Design 500 gift certificate