Weedsport, New York\u2026\u2026\u2026Thomas Meseraull returned to victory lane and Chris Windom returned to center stage as the king of \u201cEastern Storm\u201d for the second consecutive year Tuesday night in the debut at Weedsport Speedway for the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars.<\/p>\n
With a one-point lead over Kevin Thomas, Jr. heading into the 30-lap main event, the arithmetic to earn the \u201cEastern Storm\u201d title was clear for Windom: beat KTJ and the championship is his.<\/p>\n
Windom started from the tenth position while Thomas rolled off from seventh despite a multitude of misfortune that dogged him throughout the early portion of the night.\u00a0 In his heat race, the Dynamics, Inc. machine suffered a blown engine that sent the team into a thrash to swap the engine out and slide another bullet in between the frame rails.<\/p>\n
From the get-go, the two were involved in a midfield dog-fight that had them stuffed in a four and five-deep croissant of traffic on the outer edges of the top-ten.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, up front series Rookie Timmy Buckwalter was challenging pole sitter and fellow Pennsylvanian Tony DiMattia for the race lead, which he would conquer on the third lap with an inside pass midway down the back straightaway.\u00a0 One lap later, Thomas Meseraull would slot into second behind Buckwalter.<\/p>\n
Back to the title chase, Windom and Thomas were involved in sea of organized chaos with racecars occupying the track from top to bottom to left field.\u00a0 Windom, who fell as deep as 13th<\/sup>\u00a0in the first third of the race, inched his way forward until he was able to sneak by Thomas on the 12th<\/sup>\u00a0lap for the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0spot.<\/p>\n Back at the front, it was a two-car breakaway with Buckwalter and Meseraull separating themselves from the crowd.\u00a0 The two were set to duke it out as Meseraull climbed to the inside of Buckwalter between turns one and two.<\/p>\n However, on the 14th<\/sup>\u00a0lap, Buckwalter\u2019s bid to become the first \u201cfirst-time\u201d USAC National Sprint Car feature winner of the 2018 season came to an abrupt halt when he bounced off the turn one wall, then ricocheted into Meseraull and spun sideways against the turn two wall.\u00a0 Buckwalter would restart from the tail, ultimately finishing 13th<\/sup>\u00a0while Meseraull soldiered on as the race leader.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was doing a great job,\u201d Meseraull praised. \u00a0\u201cHe was entering higher into (turn) one and catching the curb earlier and I was slide jobbing myself. \u00a0I\u2019d run it in on the bottom of one and catch the curb as late as I could because I felt like I wasn\u2019t hitting it so hard. \u00a0Basically, he got in real high and, honestly, I thought I crashed him, but I didn\u2019t intend to.\u00a0 Then (Crew Chief) Sean (Michael) told me he got into the fence and got the thing all upset. \u00a0My line was a lot different and I really didn\u2019t have anywhere to go. \u00a0It was very tricky into one. \u00a0The only way I could describe it is you go down the straightaway and there\u2019s a 90 degree turn and there\u2019s only 100 feet until I make it all work. \u00a0That sounds like a lot, but it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n On the ensuing restart, Courtney emerged as the main contender to Meseraull\u2019s throne.\u00a0 Meseraull was undeterred, using the turn two concrete as an extension of the racetrack by bouncing his right rear off the wall to propel him down the back straight, something that was brought into the discussion between driver and crew chief earlier in the night.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the heat race, Sean told me Tyler (Courtney) was gone in the heat race,\u201d Meseraull recalled. \u00a0\u201cHe said \u2018you got to slide it in there and bang it off the wall. \u00a0That\u2019s what Tyler\u2019s doing.\u2019 \u00a0I told him, exact words, \u2018Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll crash it in the feature. \u00a0He says, \u2018No, no, no. \u00a0I\u2019m not saying you weren\u2019t driving it hard. \u00a0So, I said, \u2018Oh, I know I was driving it hard. \u00a0I\u2019m just saying I will hang it out and bang it off the fence come feature time. \u00a0Don\u2019t worry.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Courtney was hot on the heels of Meseraull\u2019s Chris Dyson Racing\/Thetford \u2013 ProtectAll \u2013 Norcold \u2013 Penske Shocks\/Maxim\/Speedway Chevy by the midway point.\u00a0 Both were entering low in turn one, then sliding up to the outside turn two wall in unison.\u00a0 Meseraull felt the pressure and kicked himself into another gear as he hit lapped traffic with less than five laps to go.\u00a0 Instead of waiting, picking and choosing, he got into the zone, utilizing a line influenced by Buckwalter laps before.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really the first time I got to the outside of a car,\u201d Meseraull remembered.\u00a0 \u201cI pretty much just picked Buckwalter\u2019s entry and ran it in their harder and banged the wall sooner. \u00a0The curb was better there, but I didn\u2019t feel I had as much time to let the car to slow down before I got to it. \u00a0We put the Knoxville mufflers on tonight to try to kill some horsepower out of the Speedway motor, so it was quiet. \u00a0I could hear Tyler behind me, then all of a sudden, I could hear somebody thundering.\u00a0 I could hear him, I could hear him. \u00a0It put me in attack mode. \u00a0I\u2019m just fortunate he didn\u2019t get quite close enough because that car\u2019s been rolling really good lately.\u201d<\/p>\n On the final lap, Courtney was within a couple car lengths of Meseraull, looking for any slippage that he could take advantage of, but Courtney connected with the turn two wall just a tad too much, allowing Meseraull to break away and close out his first series victory of the year over Courtney, Justin Grant, Windom and Dave Darland.<\/p>\n It had been a bit of a struggle for Meseraull and the CDR team through the first five races of \u201cEastern Storm\u201d as they fought to find the right combination following finishes of 9th<\/sup>, 11th<\/sup>, 20th<\/sup>, 12th<\/sup>\u00a0and 9th<\/sup>.\u00a0 At Weedsport, the team found the Midas touch.\u00a0 Incidentally, the issue was not a lack of horsepower, but too much underneath the hood.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t actually know what kind of power this thing makes,\u201d Meseraull admitted. \u00a0\u201cI can imagine it makes over 900. \u00a0The motors have a curve to them. \u00a0When you\u2019re coming off the corner, the thing gets about 3000 to 4000 RPMs.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to be touching the gas and it will just explode on you. \u00a0With my motor, you pretty much have to run it on the peddle. \u00a0if you want half throttle, you run half throttle.\u00a0 If you want full throttle, you stand on it. \u00a0With this motor, you give it half throttle and it\u2019s just screaming. \u00a0We had it choked up, muffled down, we got the smaller injectors and we got more air filter.\u00a0 We literally did everything to choke it down. \u00a0We were running the same gear we\u2019d run at Terre Haute here tonight. \u00a0I would\u2019ve run 40 points less in my car. \u00a0I think that was really the key. \u00a0We took out a bunch of gear.\u00a0 The thing would come off the corner, it would be kind of lazy and it wouldn\u2019t blow the tires off down the straightaway. \u00a0You really have to be able to get this thing to the ground. \u00a0Our car rolled across the scales at 1400 pounds with me in it and it makes over 900 horse.\u00a0 You can do the math. \u00a0It\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Meseraull provided the first win for car owner and two-time American Le Mans Series champion driver Chris Dyson, the first New York car owner to win a USAC National Sprint Car feature since 1991 when Dick Hammond and Gohr Racing were victorious with driver Danny Smith at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois.<\/p>\n While Meseraull owned the night, the week belonged to Windom, who collected two wins among his five \u201cpodium\u201d finishes and a fourth-place result en route to his second consecutive \u201cEastern Storm\u201d crown.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty simple going in, we knew we had to beat him,\u201d Windom said point blank. \u00a0\u201cI got bottled up the first ten laps or so and it seemed like every move I made was wrong, which got me really frustrated. \u00a0I fell back to 12th<\/sup>\u00a0or 13th<\/sup>\u00a0at one point, but I knew we had a good racecar, so I didn\u2019t want to overreact. \u00a0I had to start picking my battles and I started picking the cars off and I drove all the way to fourth. \u00a0It\u2019s been a grueling week for everybody on this team. \u00a0it shows what they\u2019re made of to be able to come out and do this six nights straight without any issues and bring home the title.\u201d<\/p>\n Windom is keenly aware that eight of the previous 11 \u201cEastern Storm\u201d champions have ultimately won the USAC National Sprint Car title later that season.\u00a0 Windom believes the correlation ultimately lies in the jelling process that takes place over a weeklong period of long days and long nights, which ultimately pays valuable dividends throughout the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you can come out here and run like this six nights in a row, it really brings you together,\u201d Windom said. \u00a0\u201cEspecially for Derek and I, we\u2019ve had our ups and downs this year. \u00a0We\u2019ve been good, but this is really a momentum booster for us to come out here and do this. \u00a0Hopefully it correlates with the rest of the season and we can go back-to-back.\u00a0 We\u2019re just going to keep trying to win as many races as possible, do our jobs and I think we\u2019ll be just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Weedsport Speedway included Chris Windom (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix\/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Timmy Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chad Boespflug (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).<\/p>\n ————————————-<\/p>\n USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 19, 2018 \u2013 Weedsport Speedway \u2013 Weedsport, New York \u2013 12th<\/sup>\u00a0Annual \u201cEastern Storm\u201d<\/p>\n QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-15.483 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.497; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.605; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.610; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-15.619; 6. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-15.678; 7. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-15.796; 8. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR\/Chapple-15.804; 9. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.804; 10. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-15.838; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson\/Marshall\/Newman-15.879; 12. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight\/Curb-Agajanian-15.905; 13. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.064; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.354; 15. Ryan Godown, 4F, R & M-16.370; 16. Eric Jennings, 14E, Pinkerous-16.774; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-16.800; 18. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.110; 19. Ryan Susice, 79, Mahoney-17.490; 20. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-NT; 21. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-NT.<\/p>\n SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Leary, 3. Boespflug, 4. Bacon, 5. DiMattia, 6. Jennings, 7. Susice. NT<\/p>\n COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Meseraull, 3. Grant, 4. Chapple, 5. Westfall, 6. Biasi. 2:10.62 (New Track Record)<\/p>\n CHALK STIX\/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Stockon, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Godown, 5. Thomas, 6. Bell. 2:16.73<\/p>\n FEATURE: (30 laps \u2013 starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (3), 2. Tyler Courtney (11), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Chris Windom (10), 5. Dave Darland (12), 6. Brady Bacon (6), 7. Robert Ballou (20), 8. Matt Westfall (14), 9. Chase Stockon (9), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7), 11. Isaac Chapple (8), 12. Ryan Godown (15), 13. Timmy Buckwalter (2), 14. Chad Boespflug (13), 15. Ryan Susice (19), 16. Eric Jennings (16), 17. C.J. Leary (4), 18. Joey Biasi (17), 19. Tony DiMattia (1), 20. Robert Bell (18), 21. Jarett Andretti (21). NT<\/p>\n —————————-<\/p>\n **Ballou flipped during qualifying. Andretti flipped during qualifying.<\/p>\n FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 DiMattia, Laps 3-13 Buckwalter, Laps 14-30 Meseraull.<\/p>\n KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (20th<\/sup>\u00a0to 7th<\/sup>)<\/p>\n WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Timmy Buckwalter<\/p>\n ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Chad Boespflug<\/p>\n NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1217, 2-Courtney-1179, 3-Windom-1179, 4-Ballou-1050, 5-Stockon-1046, 6-Bacon-1030, 7-Darland-983, 8-Grant-950, 9-Leary-949, 10-Boespflug-823.<\/p>\n FINAL EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-452, 2-Thomas-433, 3-Courtney-419, 4-Ballou-397, 5-Bacon-382, 6-Stockon-358, 7-Darland-355, 8-Grant-334, 9-Buckwalter-299, 10-Meseraull-296.<\/p>\n FINAL CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTERS POINTS: 1-Courtney-25, 2-Darland-23, 3-Ballou-22, 4-Chapple-21, 5-Westfall-17, 6-Meseraull-16, 7-Windom-15, 8-Grant-15, 9-Thomas-14, 10-Bacon-13.<\/p>\n NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 6 \u2013 Lincoln Park Speedway \u2013 Putnamville, Indiana \u2013 \u201cBill Gardner Sprintacular\u201d<\/p>\n