GAS CITY, Ind. – Defending track champion Thomas Meseraull became the first repeat winner of the year in the non-winged sprint car division at Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday night.
His wire-to-wire victory in the 25-lap feature came in a different car than the one he used to win at the track on July 10.
Derek Losh recorded his fifth 20-lap modified feature victory of the season at the Grant County quarter-mile dirt oval during the Mid-Summer Showdown.
Bill Bradley surprised Andy Bishop by passing him to the outside in turn two on the last lap to win the 15-lap street stock feature. It was Bradley’s second street stock feature win of the year here, while Bishop has three feature victories at Gas City this season.
It was a familiar smiling face in victory lane following the 15-lap hornet feature, as James Headley posted his fifth victory in the six hornet features that have been run at Gas City this year.
Brock Meyer, lead pastor of Fairmount (Ind.) Friends Church, led all four laps of the Faster Pastor school bus race during intermission. Jared Webb, assistant pastor of Lakeview Wesleyan Church in Marion, Ind. finished second. Kevin Greenlee, senior minister of Unity Christian Church in Marion, placed third, while James McKinnie, the men’s program minister for the Grand County Rescue Mission in Marion, was fourth.
Meseraull started third in the 20-car sprint car feature in the Don Whitney Racing No. 00 sponsored by Ultracell and Pro Strip. He took the lead by dipping under polesitter Tye Mihocko in turn four coming down to complete the first lap.
By lap three Kevin Thomas Jr., who started beside Meseraull, was second and Brady Bacon had advanced from seventh to third. They chased Meseraull the rest of the way to no avail and finished in those positions.
The top trio kept to basically the same line through turns one and two during the race. Thomas experimented with the low side in turns three and four several times, but neither could find anything to give them an advantage.
Mihocko finished fourth while Matt Westfall, who won at Gas City on July 17, came from 13th to finish fifth followed by Carson Short.
Chase Jones was the hard charger, as he bettered his starting position by 13 spots. He started 20th and finished seventh. Brayden Fox, Dallas Hewitt and Cody White rounded out the top 10.
Meseraull was never seriously threatened despite six restarts that allowed his rivals to draw near. Three of them occurred with three laps down. The first was for a spin in turn three by Jones. The second flew when nine-time Interstate Racing Ass’n champion Bill Balog; J.J. Hughes and Tyler Kendall got together between turns three and four. The third was when Adam Byrkett and Dustin Ingle spun in turn two.
Hughes got airborne but didn’t flip in turn three with seven laps down, and his car left the track on the back of a wrecker. Max Adams stopped on the frontstretch near turn four with 12 laps down while he was running sixth. Ricky Lewis, who qualified through winning the first B-main, was running sixth when he spun high in turn four with 16 laps down.
Losh started third in the modified feature, took the lead from polesitter Tony Anderson on the second lap, and marched on to victory. He had a half-straightaway lead by lap eight and was lapping the rear of the field by lap 13. Anderson was about a straightaway behind Losh at the checkered flag. Defending track modified champion Scott Orr was third. Dylan Woodling started tenth but finished fourth. Cole Sink rounded out the top five.
Superior Sales and Service, Aggressive, R & R Transmission, Rensselaer Iron and Metal and Talbert Manufacturing sponsor Losh’s No. 21.
Bradley’s last-lap charge by Bishop in the street stock feature was the closest finish among the main events. Bradley’s family-owned No. 22 is sponsored by Ryan’s Auto Service, Erv’s Card Shack, Frank Bennett and Shrout’s Towing and Recovery.
Jordan Conover ran in second place behind Bishop only to spin between turns three and four working lap five. Although he had to go to the back for the restart, he rebounded to finish third. Jeffery Jessup and Larry Persinger rounded out the top five.
Headley followed the rear of his son’s No. 00 for the first five laps of the hornet feature but took the lead when James Headley Jr. got off track on the backstretch and dropped to fifth, right before Brandon Lines brought out a yellow after stopping on the frontstretch.
That gave second to Cordell Moore and third to Kolton Sollars.
On the restart Headley Jr. spun into the infield and then called it a night. Headley had a half-straightaway lead over Moore at the checkered. Sollars finished third followed by Brady Hines and Charlie Teegarden.