Lernerville Race Recap 7/4 Hupp wins BOSS Thriller, McClellan and Conant victorious in RUSH action

Logan Hupp made a bold last turn pass on Dustin Smith to claim the BOSS Wingless Sprint feature at Lernerville Speedway on Independence Day.  In other action, Chad McClellan was victorious in the RUSH Late Model Feature and David Conant took the RUSH Sportsman Modified feature. 

Last year's BOSS feature winner Jack Sodeman Jr. and Joe Ligouri paced the 20 car, 25 lap feature to green. Sodeman took the early advantage, while Hupp quickly moved into 2nd from the 4th starting spot.  Hupp then was able to overtake Sodeman for the lead on the outside off turn 4 on lap 3.

 Brandon Spithaler, who took a wild ride off turn 1 in hot laps but was able to make repairs, held off Mike Miller in a battle for 3rd over the first 10 laps.  Spithaler begun to pull away from Miller, and then ran down Sodeman to take 2nd on lap 13. Meanwhile out front, Hupp continued to lead in clear air but Spithaler slowly closed the gap into the second half of the feature.  Just as the leaders were about to reach lap traffic, Gale Ruth Jr. spun off turn 1 to bring out the first and only caution of the Amain on Lap 18.

Spithaler's woes continued as he suffered a flat tire prior to the restart, sending him to the tail. This setup a restart order of Hupp, Miller, Sodeman, Dustin Smith  and Tony Beaber.  Miller dove low on the restart, while Hupp used the momentum up top to barely keep the lead. Smith overtook Sodeman for 3rd and then began to close on the two leaders.

A great three car battle for the lead ensued in the final five laps between Hupp, Miller and Smith. Multiple lead changes took place between the three drivers with each officially leading laps. Miller took the lead on lap 21, while Smith and Hupp raced close behind for 2nd.

 Miller and Smith made contact racing for the lead off turn 4 on lap 22, which slowed their momentum and allowed Hupp to retake the lead on the inside.  Smith then used a well-executed slide job to pass Hupp for the lead at the white flag lap. 

Smith again took the very low line off turn two on the final lap, while Hupp followed closely behind.  Coming into three and four, this time Hupp dove low and slid past Smith to take the advantage.  Hupp then held off Smith coming to the line by just 0.138 seconds in an epic finish. 

Miller followed closely behind in 3rd, while Sodeman and Tony Beaber rounded out the top five.  

Hupp was victorious in his first appearance at the Sarver oval in his #2M Buckeye Machine sprint.  The race officially saw six different lead changes at the line among four different drivers, four of which came within the last five laps.  Lernerville Hall of Famer Johnny Beaber worked his way from the 16th starting spot to finish 9th.

25 Lap BOSS Sprint Feature:
Fin. (Start)
1. (4)  Logan Hupp - Columbus, IN
2. (7)  Dustin Smith- Russiaville, IN
3. (6) Mike Miller - Wapakoneta, OH
4. (1) Jack Sodeman Jr. - North Jackson, OH
5. (8) Tony Beaber - Gibsonburg, OH
6. (10) Michael Fischesser - Cincinnati, OH
7. (12)  Derek Hastings - Forest, OH
8. (11) Aaron Middaugh - Polk, OH
9. (16) Johnny Beaber - Gibsonburg, OH
10. (5)  Andy Feil - New Castle, PA

Lap Leaders: Sodeman 1-2, Hupp 3-20, Miller 21, Hupp 22-23, Smith 24, Hupp 25
Heat Winners: Hupp, T. Beaber, M. Miller
Bmain Winner: Johnny Beaber
Car Count: 26

30 RUSH Late Models were in the Pits

Next on the card was the 25 Lap RUSH Late Models event. Chad McClellan started on the pole after winning the John Buzzard Memorial Dash.

 But it was Andrew Wylie who took the early lead after starting from the outside pole.  McClellan then used the cushion to power by Wylie to lead lap 4.  McClellan looked to be the class of the field, as he extended his lead over Wylie while lapping many cars.  The race went green until Lap 19 when the 21J of Jamie Wrightsman spun off turn 1.  

All lap cars went to the tail which set up a restart with McClellan, Wylie, Rick Singleton, and Ryan Wilson.  McClellan once again raced to the lead, while Singleton was able to move into 2nd.  McClellan looked to have the race in control, but another yellow slowed the field with three to go as the 99FM of Robby Marhefka went for a ride off turn 3.  

The winner of three straight RUSH touring features,  Singleton now started right to the inside of McClellan on the final restart of the race.  Ryan Montgomery had taken advantage of the previous restart to now move into 3rd.

On the restart, the trio of McClellan, Montgomery and Singleton raced three wide for the lead off turn 2.  Once again, McClellan used the momentum on the outside to take the point. Montgomery also was able to move into 2nd around Singleton.

From there, McClellan was able to hold off both Montgomery and Singelton to earn his first Lernerville victory.  Montgomery came from 12th to finish 2nd, while Singleton, Alan Dellinger and Dennis Lunger rounded out the top five.  Dellinger earned the hard charger as he came all the way from 20th to finish 4th.

25 Lap RUSH Late Model Feature:
1. Chad McClellan - Stoystown
2.  Ryan Montgomery - Fairmont, WV
3. Rick Singleton - Front Royal, VA
4. Alan Dellinger - Hermitage
5. Eric Wilson - Cortland, OH
6. Andrew Wylie -  Saltsburg
7. Dennis Lunger  - Albion
8.  John Waters - Whitesville, NY
9.  Josh Double - Bristolville, OH
10.  Bobby Rohrer - Waterford 


Lap Leaders: Wylie 1-2, McClellan 3-25
Heat Winners: Singleton, Waters, Lunger
Bmain Winner: Joe Martin
Car Count: 30

Not to be outdone, the newly formed RUSH Sportsman Modified provided another great battle for the victory in their 15 Lap Amain.   The New York duo of #62 David Conant and #3A Adam Hilton raced side-by-side for much of the 15 lap event.  Conant seemed better in 3 and 4, while Hilton was stronger off the bottom in 1 and 2. Conant edged ahead of Hilton by a slim margin each time at the line from lap 8 through lap 13.  In the closing laps, Conant was finally able to clear Hilton to take the victory by a mere 0.272 seconds. 

All three divisions provided plenty of excitement and close racing throughout the night.  Next week, Fab Four Racing returns following two straight off weeks from the regular four division show.