Owen Steals Lernerville / Leiby Dominates Mercer
6 min read
Summer finally arrived this weekend as 90 degree afternoons greeted the BOSS touring series in the Keystone state for a pivotal doubleheader weekend. Justin Owen would provide some last lap heroics stealing Friday night’s Lernerville Speedway win from race long leader Carmen Perigo. Owen would lead the last 100 feet to claim the win. On Saturday, Chandler Leiby would win his heat race, redraw the pole position, and never be challenged leading all 25 laps in convincing fashion to score his first ever BOSS win in only his second appearance with the tour.
Friday night’s program began with 29 cars signed in for action. The 3 fastest qualifiers in each of the heat race groups were Matt Westfall in group 1 with a 16.229, Carmen Perigo in group 2 with a 16.045 and Dustin Ingle in group 3 with a 16.075. With the 4 fastest cars inverted in each heat, the top 2 finishers in each would go to the night’s redraw for A-Main starting spots. Justin Owen would win heat race one over Westfall. Heat 2 was won by the night’s overall fast timer, Perigo with Cody Gardner second. The third heat race was won by Brandon Spithaler with Kory Crabtree in the runner-up spot. A wild and exciting B-Main event saw Parker Frederickson from 9th to score the victory. Clarklake, Michigan’s Brian Ruhlman took a tumble in the B and was transported and released from Butler Hospital after being shaken-up.
The 25 lap main event would see Perigo lead the field to green with Cody Gardner alongside. Owen would start from the 3 spot with Westfall outside of row 2 while Spithaler and Crabtree began from row 3. Perigo shot straight to the point to grab the lead, but Owen was in tow immediately and in less than 3 laps, 8th starting A.J. Flick had already moved to 3rd. The field stayed clean and green for much of the 25 lap event. Perigo apprached lapped traffic almost precisely at the halfway mark with the running order still seeing Owen, Flick, Matt Westfall and Brandon Spithaler in the top 5. As the laps clicked away, the drama built as the top 3 cars began to close up for what promised to be an amazing finish. But on lap 22, Joey Biasi ran out of room between a competitor and the frontstretch wall. He then executed a series of tumbles, both barrell rolling and then flipping end over end. Thankfully, he emerged okay, but pretty badly shaken. He too was transported to Butler Hospital for observation.
With the final restart at hand, Perigo again showed the way. The final few circuits, Justin Owen was throwing his 4J machine into turns 1-2 harder and higher each lap, looking for the momentum to carry him around the leader. With the white flag waving, he flirted dangerously close to the outer limits of Lernerville’s red clay. With a head of steam down the back straight, it was a win it or wear it move that stuck! Owen slipped around the outside of Perigo and led the last 100 feet of the event. Flick held on for 3rd while Westfall and Dustin Ingle completed the top 5. Kory Crabtree, Brandon Spithaler, Chandler Leiby, Cody Gardner and Brandon Matus completed the top 10.
On Saturday, the tour traveled to Michael’s Mercer Raceway Park. A field of 24 cars signed in for 3 heat races. Track promoter Ed Michael and BOSS owner Aaron Fry agreed to split the cost to start ALL 24 cars in the night’s main event. Matt Westfall was quick time in group 1 with a 16.275. Group 2 was led by Steve Little with a 16.483 and Dustin Ingle bested the third group with a 16.300. Once again, the top 2 heat finishers would move into the redraw. Carmen Perigo won heat one with Matt Westfall second. Cody Gardner won heat 2 over Arnie Kent. Chandler Leiby held off Justin Owen to claim heat 3.
In the 25 lap main event, Leiby drew the pole position with Gardner again pulling the 2 spot. Kent and Perigo made up row 2 with Owen and Westfall in row 3. At the drop of the green, Chandler Leiby set sail and opened up a commanding lead with Gardner in tow. Leiby gradually distanced himself from Gardner and began knifing his way through lapped traffic. Westfall closed or Gardner to battle for the runner-up spot as the 2 cars on the move were 14th starting Parker Frederickson and 17th starting Steve Little! With 2 cautions and one red flag, Leiby was able to keep putting lapped cars between himself and Gardner. His final 2 restarts, Leiby had 5 or more cars between himself and the second place battle.
Back under green for the final run, Leiby was again checked out. Westfall was able to move past Gardner for the second spot and Parker Frederickson’s charge got him all the way to third in the closing laps. Gardner held on for 4th place and Steve Little took “hard charger” honors getting up to fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Dustin Ingle, Arnie Kent, Carmen Perigo, Andy Feil and Korbyn Hayslett. Twenty of the 24 feature starters finished the race with Leiby lapping all but the top 9.
The tour now moves on the Waynesfield Raceway Park this Wednesday night July 3rd for the “Jack Hewitt Classic”. This event will pay $2,000 to win and $300 to start. Also, a reminder, the pair of early season events rained out at Fremont Speedway (May 4 and June 15), so a make-up event has been scheduled for Saturday, July 13th.
Box Scores
BOSS / Lernerville Speedway
Friday, June 28, 2019
29 Entries
TCB Speed – Heat 1: 1. 4J-Justin Owen[3] ; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[4] ; 3. 119-Chandler Leiby[2] ; 4. B1-Joey Biasi[5] ; 5. 53-Steve Little[6] ; 6. 08-Andy Feil[9] ; 7. 66-Mark Rossey[7] ; 8. 20B-Cody Bova[8] ; 9. 16K-Ben Knight[DNS] ; 10. 18-Arnie Kent[DNS]
Hoosier Race Tire – Heat 2: 1. 21-Carmen Perigo[4] ; 2. 9G-Cody Gardner[2] ; 3. 2-A.J. Flick[3] ; 4. 9-Dustin Webber[1] ; 5. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[7] ; 6. 23s-Russ Sansosti[8] ; 7. 49-Brian Ruhlman[5] ; 8. 86-Rick Holley[6] ; 9. 27-Zach Morrow[9] ; 10. 331-Shamus O’Donnell[DNS]
Performance Powder Coating – Heat 3: 1. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[2] ; 2. 60-Kory Crabtree[3] ; 3. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[4] ; 4. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett[1] ; 5. Brandon Matus[6] ; 6. 23-John Stehman[7] ; 7. 31-Buddy Lowther[8] ; 8. wee34-Parker Frederickson[5] ; 9. 76-Davy Jones[9]
Precise Racing – B-Main: 1. wee34-Parker Frederickson[9] ; 2. 23-John Stehman[3] ; 3. 23s-Russ Sansosti[2] ; 4. 86-Rick Holley[8] ; 5. 27-Zach Morrow[10] ; 6. 31-Buddy Lowther[6] ; 7. 20B-Cody Bova[7] ; 8. 66-Mark Rossey[4] ; 9. 08-Andy Feil[1] ; 10. 76-Davy Jones[11] ; 11. 49-Brian Ruhlman[5] ; 12. 16K-Ben Knight[DNS] ; 13. 331-Shamus O’Donnell[DNS] ; 14. 18-Arnie Kent[DNS]
25 Lap – A-Main: 1. 4J-Justin Owen[3] ; 2. 21-Carmen Perigo[1] ; 3. 2-A.J. Flick[8] ; 4. 33M-Matt Westfall[4] ; 5. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[9] ; 6. 60-Kory Crabtree[6] ; 7. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[5] ; 8. Chandler Leiby[7] ; 9. 9G-Cody Gardner[2] ; 10. 5-Brandon matus[15] ; 11. 23-John Stehman[17] ; 12. 53-Steve Little[13] ; 13. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[14] ; 14. 86-Rick Holley[19] ; 15. 23s-Russ Sansosti[18] ; 16. 9-Dustin Webber[11] ; 17. wee34-Parker Frederickson[16] ; 18. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett[12] ; 19. 27-Zach Morrow[20] ; 20. B1-Joey Biasi[10]
The Bridge Restaurant “Hard Charger” – A.J. Flick
All Pro Cylinder Heads “Perseverance Award” – Zach Morrow
Apple Metal Polishing “Lucky Pill Draw” – Andy Feil
All Star Performance “Sweet Move” – Kory Crabtree
Precise Racing “Hard Luck” – Ben Knight
Cowen Truck Line “Steel Block” – Chandler Leiby
Hoosier Race Tire Bonus – Dustin Ingle
BOSS / Michael’s Mercer Raceway Park
Saturday, June 29, 2019
24 Entries
TCB Speed – Heat 1: 1. 21-carmen Perigo[3] ; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[4] ; 3. 5-Bob McMillin[1] ; 4. 9-Dustin Webber[5] ; 5. 08-Andy Feil[2] ; 6. 27-Zach Morrow[7] ; 7. 18D-Bibby Distel[6] ; 8. 1R-Gale Ruth Sr.[8]
Precise Racing / Hoosier Tire – Heat 2: 1. 9G-Cody Garnder[1] ; 2. 18-Arnie Kent[2] ; 3. 23-John Stehman[3] ; 4. 44-Joe McEwen[5] ; 5. wee34-Parker Frederickson[7] ; 6. 53-Steve Little[4] ; 7. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett[6] ; 8. 86-Rick Holley[8]
Performance Powder Coating – Heat 3: 1. 119-Chandler Leiby[2] ; 2. 4J-Justin Owen[1] ; 3. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[3] ; 4. 60-Kory Crabtree[5] ; 5. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[4] ; 6. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[6] ; 7. 31-Buddy Lowther[7] ; 8. 86L-Michael Lutz[8]
25 Lap – A-Main: 1. 119-Chandler Leiby[1] ; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[6] ; 3. wee34-Parker Frederickson[14] ; 4. 9G-Cody Gardner[2] ; 5. 53-Steve Little[17] ; 6. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[15] ; 7. 18-Arnie Kent[3] ; 8. 21-Carmen Perigo[4] ; 9. 08-Andy Feil[13] ; 10. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett[20] ; 11. 23-John Stehman[8] ; 12. 27-Zach Morrow[16] ; 13. 5-Bob McMillin[7] ; 14. 9-Dustin Webber[10] ; 15. 44-Joe McEwen[11] ; 16. 18D-Bobby Distel[19] ; 17. 86-Rick Holley[23] ; 18. 27K-Jeremy Kornbau[18] ; 19. 4J-Justin Owen[5] ; 20. 57B-Brandon Spithaler[9] ; 21. 60-Kory Crabtree[12] ; 22. 1R-Gale Ruth Sr[22] ; 23. 86L-Michael Lutz[24] ; 24. 31-Buddy Lowther[21]
The Bridge Restaurant “Hard Charger” – Steve Little
Apple Metal Polishing “Lucky Pill Draw” – Dustin Webber
All Star Performance “Sweet Move” – Parker Frederickson
All Pro Cylinder Heads “Hard Luck” – Justin Owen
Cowen Truck Line “Steel Block” – Chandler Leiby
Hoosier Race Tire Bonus – Justin Owen
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