Lewis Puts Exclamation Point on 2023 Season

Ricky Lewis made MPD Racing Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series history last night, scoring his sixth win of the season. It was also his third in three starts at Waynesfield Raceway Park. Lewis had already clinched the tour championship, but flew back from the west coast to end his BOSS season on a high note, his seventeenth overall win of the year.

A great field of 28 cars packed the pit area. The evening show would be rough on equipment and drivers and the action began immediately. Luke Hall, a local fan favorite, took a rough tumble in hot laps and walked away, but through for the night. ARP Fasteners qualifying saw Max Adams, Chance Crum and Matt Westfall quick timing their groups. Adams set overall fast time with a 13.121 second lap around the quarter mile oval.

Dustin Ingle, Chance Crum and Ricky Lewis would win preliminary heat races. In the third heat, Robert Ballou took a scary tumble in turn 2. As cars slowed with the red flag displayed, Andrew Cockman went over the right rear of Jack James, launching him on a vicious tumble down the front straight. Thankfully, both drivers escaped injury. The MSD Ignitions B Main event was won by Korbyn Hayslett over 2023 FAST On Dirt championship runner-up, Ricky Peterson.

The 25-lap main event would roll to starter Robert Penrod’s green flag with Lewis and Crum on the front row. The point chase drama was for the runner-up spot as Korbyn Hayslett and Isaac Chapple were tied for the position and the duo rolled off side-by-side in row 8. In a wild season ender, it almost became more about survival rather than speed. Four caution and 2 red flags would slow the action. The most serious incident of the night would involve a trio of tour stars on lap four. Dustin Ingle and Cody Gardner tangled entering turn 3, sending Gardner hard into the retaining wall, cage first and into a violent flip with Ingle also rolling over. However, it was Steve Little, attempting to take evasive action, went over the wheel of another car, and did a violent series of barrell rolls through the bottom of turn one. Miraculously, all 3 drivers climbed out, unhurt. The other red flag of the main was for Max Adams, who was simply the victim of a car off the edge of the track, trying to squeee back on, collectiong the Loomis, California driver and dumping his mount, and he too was okay.

Chance Crum had given Ricky Lewis a race early, but through the middle stages, it was Matt Westfall who worked up to challenge for the lead. During the second half of the race, Lewis had had enough restart opportunities to know how to get the jump on the field. After the lap 23 red for Adams’ flip, Lewis raced to victory over the final 2 circuits ahead of Westfall, a hard charging Korbyn Hayslett, Sterling Cling and Jadon Rogers. The balance of the top ten included Tayte Williamson, Ricky Peterson, Lee Underwood, Rylan Gray and Paul Dues.

Hayslett’s run to second secured him the runner-up spot in the final standings with Chapple third, Cody Gardner fourth and Jesse Vermillion fifth. The final points for the rest of the top 10 were Lee Underwood, Brian Ruhlman, Blake Vermillion, Steve Little and Dustin Ingle. The championship banquet will be held Saturday, December 30th at The Postmark in Chillicothe, Ohio. Watch for details on the banquet to be posted soon.

BOX SCORE

Waynesfield Raceway Park

Waynesfield, OH

Saturday, October 28, 2023

28 Entries

ARP Fasteners Qualifying

Group 1: 1. 5-Max Adams 13.121, 2. 17gp-Jadon Rogers 13.394, 3. 24L-Lee Underwood 13.464, 4. 2di-Dustin Ingle 13.659, 5. 6H-Dallas Hewitt 13.682, 6. 1H-Korbyn Hayslett 13.696, 7. 73-Blake Vermillion13.888, 8. 49-Brian Ruhlman 14.410, 9. 20-Tayte Williamson 14.482, 10. 97x-Rodney Hurst 14.954

Group 2: 1. 26-Chance Crum 13.554, 2. 87-Paul Dues 13.657, 3. 06-Rylan Gray 13.744, 4. 19-Matt Cooley 13.852, 5. 9G-Cody Gardner 13.955, 6. 28-Brandon Mattox 14.047, 7. 2-Ricky Peterson 14.369, 8. 75-Jerry Dahms 15.000, 9. 9N-Luke Hall NT

Group3: 1. 33M-Matt Westfall 13.682, 2. 34-Sterling Cling 13.841, 3. 41-Ricky Lewis 13.900, 4. 12-Robert Ballou 13.983, 5. 6-Isaac Chapple 14.005, 6. 5v-Jesse Vermillion 14.213, 7. 53-Steve Little 14.270, 8. 99-Jack James 14.767, 9. 0c-Andrew Cockman NT

Mad Tree Brewing – Heat 1: 1. 2di-Ingle[1] ; 2. 6H-Hewitt[5] ; 3. 17GP-Rogers[3] ; 4. 5-Adams[4] ; 5. 20-Williamson[9] ; 6. 49-Ruhlman[8] ; 7. 1H-Hayslett[6] ; 8. 24L-Underwood[2] ; 9. 97x-Hurst[10] ; 10. 73-B.Vermillion[7]

Outsider’s Merchandise & Apparel – Heat 2: 1. 26-Crum[4] ; 2. 87-Dues[3] ; 3. 9G-Gardner[5] ; 4. 28-Mattox[6] ; 5. 06-Gray[2] ; 6. 2-Peterson[7] ; 7. 19-Cooley[1] ; 8. 75-Dahms[8] ; 9. 9N-Hall[9]

Elizabeth Gardner Photography – Heat 3: 1. 41-Lewis[2] ; 2. 33M-Westfall[4] ; 3. 34-Cling[3] ; 4. 53-Little[7] ; 5. 6-Chapple[5] ; 6. 5v-J.Vermillion[6] ; 7. 99-James[8] ; 8. 12-Ballou[1] ; 9. 0c-Cockman[9]

MSD Ignitions – B Main: 1. 1H-Hayslett[4] ; 2. 2-Peterson[2] ; 3. 24L-Underwood[7] ; 4. 49-Ruhlman[1] ; 5. 5v-J.Vermillion[3] ; 6. 19-Cooley[5] ; 7. 75-Dahms[8] ; 8. 99-James[6] ; 9. 97x-Hurst[10] ; 10. 73-B.Vermillion[13] ; 11. 12-Ballou[DNS] ; 12. 0c-Cockman[DNS] ; 13. 9N-Hall[DNS]

MPD Racing – A Main: 1. 41-Lewis[1] ; 2. 33M-Westfall[4] ; 3. 1H-Hayslett[16] ; 4. 34-Cling[9] ; 5. 17gp-Rogers[7] ; 6. 20-Williamson[13] ; 7. 2-Peterson[17] ; 8. 24L-Underwood[18] ; 9. 06-Gray[14] ; 10. 87-Dues[6] ; 11. 6-Chapple[15] ; 12. 49-Ruhlman[19] ; 13. 26-Crum[2] ; 14. 5v-J.Vermillion[20] ; 15. 6H-Hewitt[5] ; 16. 5-Adams[10] ; 17. 28-Mattox[11] ; 18. 2di-Ingle[3] ; 19. 9G-Gardner[8] ; 20. 53-Little[12]

All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads – Hard Charger: 1H-Korbyn Hayslett +13

E A Home Supply – Lucky Pill Draw: 73- Blake Vermillion

All Star Performance – Hard Luck: 53- Steve Little

Cowen Truck Line – Steel Block: 41- Ricky Lewis

Hoosier Racing Tire – Free Tire Bonus: 41- Ricky Lewis

photo credit to: @J&T Photo