WAYNESFIELD, Ohio — Cale Thomas held off a late race charge from Danny Dietrich to win the third night of the 42nd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Waynesfield Raceway Park by .001 seconds.
Thomas’ victory came despite a broken rear suspension piece after he collided with the frontstretch wall midway through the 30-lap Ti 22 Performance FAST on Dirt Series A-main.
“I could get runs off of four and then pick off a car in one. I was able to get off the rubber when I had to manage the lapped cars. I’ve seen enough videos of leaders who force their way through lapped cars and it doesn’t always end well. Sometimes you just have to follow them and hope whoever is behind you isn’t faster,” said Thomas.
The victory is the fourth of the year for Fairland, Indiana’s Thomas and his Jay Kiser Racing team.
Friday night’s Ohio Speedweek winner Cap Henry grabbed the lead at the drop of the green but it was seventh place starter Dietrich – who had set fast time in qualifying and won his heat from fourth – who shot from seventh to second in the opening lap, who got the huge crowd’s attention with Danny Sams and Thomas in tow. Thomas took third on lap two just before a race stoppage for a flipping Sterling Cling.
When the green flew again, Thomas began pressuring Dietrich for second and finally took the spot on lap nine. Four laps later Thomas executed a slider in turns one and two to steal the lead from Henry while Sams moved into third.
With 10 laps to go Dietrich started to come alive, moving back into third and challenging Henry for second, finally taking the spot with just four laps to go.
Thomas was trapped behind lapped cars and Dietrich quickly closed. Coming to the white flag Dietrich was all over Thomas. On the final two sets of turns, Dietrich dove under Thomas and the drag race was on to the checkers.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 23-Cale Thomas[4] ; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[7] ; 3. 33W-Cap Henry[1] ; 4. 24D-Danny Sams III[2] ; 5. 4*-Tyler Street[9] ; 6. 22-Cole Duncan[5] ; 7. 99-Skylar Gee[12] ; 8. 101-Caleb Henry[10] ; 9. 15K-Creed Kemenah[3] ; 10. 22G-Riley Goodno[6] ; 11. 27-Emerson Axsom[11] ; 12. 28M-Conner Morrell[8] ; 13. W20-Greg Wilson[17] ; 14. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[14] ; 15. 49x-Tim Shaffer[19] ; 16. 71H-Max Stambaugh [23] ; 17. 4-Zane DeVault[16] ; 18. 9-Trey Jacobs[18] ; 19. 29-Zeth Sabo[15] ; 20. 5T-Travis Philo[21] ; 21. 34-Sterling Cling[13] ; 22. 35-Stuart Brubaker[22] ; 23. 45B-Devon Borden[24] ; 24. 81-Lee Jacobs[20]
