Cleveland Goes Wire to Wire for First Weedsport Win since 2016!
WEEDSPORT, NY (June 20, 2018) – Connor Cleveland made all the right moves on Tuesday night at Weedsport Speedway, winning his heat race, drawing a front row starting spot for the 25-lap feature, then leading every circuit on the way to his first Spano Container Sportsman Shootout Series victory of the season in The Port’s Thunder on the Erie special.
Cleveland’s triumph in his No. 09 machine was worth $1,000 and was his first Weedsport win since 2016, besting a total of 41 DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds in the speedway’s final event before the lucrative Sportsman Classic on July 3.
Joining Cleveland on the front row for the Tuesday night main event was Brandon Ford, but it would be Cleveland gaining the advantage right from the drop of Dave Farney’s green flag.
Series point leader Dave Marcuccilli quickly found the third spot in his No. M1 and before long the front three of Cleveland, Ford and Marcuccilli were in a runaway out front.
A pair of yellows early on slowed the field but did not deter Cleveland as he continued to lead the way passed lap 10 as Marcuccilli moved to second around Ford on an early restart with Amy Holland, Nick Krause, Brian Pessolano, DJ Forbes, Zach Sobotka, Kevin Root and Matt Guererri in tow.
Marcuccilli was trying all he could on the outside of the speedway as the event passed the halfway mark, but the “Punisher” would be slowed on lap 14 as Will Shields slid to a stop on the front stretch to bring out the caution.
On the restart Cleveland led Marcuccilli, Ford, Krause, Holland, Root, Sobotka, Forbes, Kevin Ridley and Guererri.
Root would be the mover after the lap 14 restart, driving his No. 34 from sixth to fourth in just a hand full of laps before Sobotka brought out the night’s final caution with a flat left front tire on the back stretch.
When the race went back to green for the final six laps, the field was pretty much locked in with Cleveland cruising to his first win of the season at Weedsport in a wire to wire victory over Marcuccilli, Ford, Root and Krause in the top five.
Holland, Guererri, Jessica Power, Dave Shilling and Forbes filled the top ten positions in the 25-lap finale.
The night’s heat races were won by Guererri, Sobotka, Root and Cleveland with consolation wins going to Mark Yorker and defending track champion, Ridley.
Weedsport Speedway and the Spano Container Sportsman Shootout Series will return to action on Tuesday, July 3 for the annual Sportsman Classic presented by Industrial Tire of CNY and Stirling Lubricants, paying $2,500 to the winner.
The RUSH Late Model Series and NY6A Microsprints will join the lineup on July 3. Spectator admission on this holiday special will be only $20 a carload with a gigantic fireworks display to end the night.
“T-Mez” Thomas Meseraull would win the first ever USAC National Sprint Car event held at Weedsport on Tuesday over Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant, Chris Windom and Dave Darland.
Windom would be crowned USAC’s Eastern Storm champion over Kevin Thomas Jr.
Nate Hendrix won the 20-lap NY6A Microsprint main over Danny Knoll III and Ivan Forney.
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Thunder on the Erie
Weedsport Speedway – Weedsport, NY
Tuesday, June 19
USAC National Sprint Cars
A-Main (30-laps): 1. 20 – THOMAS MESERAULL, 2. 7BC – Tyler Courtney, 3. 4 – Justin Grant, 4. 5 – Chris Windom, 5. 36 – Dave Darland, 6. 99 – Brady Bacon, 7. 12 – Robert Ballou, 8. 33M – Matt Westfall, 9. 32 – Chase Stockon, 10. 69 – Kevin Thomas Jr., 11. 52 – Isaac Chapple, 12. 4F – Ryan Godown, 13. 7 – Timmy Buckwalter, 14. 98 – Chad Boespflug, 15. 79 – Ryan Susice, 16. 14E – Eric Jennings, 17. 30 – CJ Leary, 18. 1B – Joey Biasi, 19. 50 – Tony DiMattia, 20. 71 – Robert Bell, 21. 18 – Jarett Andretti
Heat #1: 1. 5 – Chris Windom, 2. 30 – CJ Leary, 3. 98 – Chad Boespflug, 4. 99 – Brady Bacon, 5. 50 – Tony DiMattia, 6. 14E – Eric Jennings, 7. 79 – Ryan Susice
Heat #2: 1. 7BC – Tyler Courtney, 2. 20 – Thomas Meseraull, 3. 4 – Justin Grant, 4. 52 – Isaac Chapple, 5. 33M – Matt Westfall, 6. B1 – Joey Biasi
Heat #3: 1. 36 – Dave Darland, 2. 32 – Chase Stockon, 3. 7 – Timmy Buckwalter, 4. 4F – Ryan Godown, 5. 69 – Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. 71 – Robert Bell
Spano Container Sportsman Shootout Series – DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
Feature (25-laps): 1. 09 – CONNOR CLEVELAND, 2. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 3. 18 – Brandon Ford, 4. 34 – Kevin Root, 5. 24K – Nick Krause, 6. 5 – Amy Holland, 7. 12G – Matt Guererri, 8. 52 – Jessica Power, 9. 20 – Dave Schilling, 10. 3J – DJ Forbes, 11. 31 – Corey Barker, 12. 99 – Ben Wheeler, 13. 24 – Brian Pessolano, 14. 88H – Chris Hulsizer, 15. 7S – Andrew Smith, 16. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 17. 98T – Tyler Thompson, 18. 38 – Zach Sobotka, 19. 1 – Jim Spano, 20. 1 – Mark Yorker, 21. 1T – Charlie Tibbits, 22. 1L – Jeff Lawrence, 23. 06W – Dorian Wahdan, 24. 82 – Will Shields, 25. 25G – Nick Guererri, 26. 0 – Tony Finch III
Heat #1: 1. 12G – Matt Guererri, 2. 82 – Will Shields, 3. 20 – Dave Schilling, 4. 1 – Andrew Smith, 5. 99 – Ben Wheeler, 6. 39 – Paul Carey, 7. 98T – Tyler Thompson, 8. 21X – Eric Williams, 9. 11T – Jeff Taylor, 10. 117 – CJ Castelletti, 11. 74 – Kelly Smith
Heat #2: 1. 38 – Zach Sobotka, 2. 24 – Brian Pessolano, 3. 5 – Amy Holland, 4. 1 – Jim Spano, 5. 1L – Jeff Lawrence, 6. 06W – Dorian Wahdan, 7. 1M – Tyler Murray, 8. 93C – Mike Buchanan, 9. 87S – John Strickler, 10. 18J – Jason Rood
Heat #3: 1. 34 – Kevin Root, 2. M1 – Dave Marcuccilli, 3. 3J – DJ Forbes, 4. 25G – Nick Guererri, 5. 1T – Charlie Tibbits, 6. 67 – Greg Doust, 7. 16B – Brandon Carvey, 8. 4 – Keith Stevenson, 9. 36 – Ben Bushaw, 10. 42 – Frank Sobotka
Heat #4: 1. 09 – Connor Cleveland, 2. 18 – Brandon Ford, 3. 24K – Nick Krause, 4. 52 – Jessica Power, 5. 0 – Tony Finch III, 6. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 7. 31 – Corey Barker, 8. 87 – Rocco Leone, 9. 88H – Chris Hulsizer, 10. 27Z – Dylan Zacharias
Consi #1: 1. 1 – Mark Yorker, 2. 98T – Tyler Thompson, 3. 06W – Dorian Wahdan, 4. 1M – Tyler Murray, 5. 11 – Gordy Button, 6. 21X – Eric Williams, 7. 93C – Mike Buchanan, 8. 87J – John Strickler, 9. 18J – Jason Rood, 10. 74 – Kelly Smith, 11. 117 – CJ Castelletti
Consi #2: 1. 1. 20X – Kevin Ridley, 2. 31 – Corey Barker, 3. 88H – Chris Hulsizer, 4. 87 – Rocco Leone, 5. 67 – Greg Doust, 6. 16B – Brandon Carvey, 7. 4 – Keith Stevenson, 8. 36 – Ben Bushaw, 9. 42 – Frank Sobotka
NY6A Microsprints
Feature (20-laps): 1. 15 – NATE HENDRIX, 2. 17 – Danny Knoll III, 3. 7F – Ivan Forney, 4. 15C – Cheyenna Ling, 5. 1 – Matt Smith, 6. 62 – DJ Shuman, 7. 007 – Gary Kretzer, 8. 9 – Jordan Noody, 9. 99 – Ron Strong, 10. 13 – Tyler Thompson, 11. 17K – Scott Kruetter, 12. 26 – Ricky Pritchard, 13. 66 – Lisa Kretzer, 14. 16 – Nick Groff, 15. TX7 – Dave Schilling, 16. 8 – Jim Young, 17. 29 – Darryl Ruggles, 18. 29X – Johnny Kolosek, 19. 6 – Alex Troutman, 20. 18 – Ray Sand Jr., 21. 17Z – Brandon Oddo
About Weedsport Speedway: Purchased in 2013 by Al Heinke, Weedsport Speedway has returned to a real racers track, providing a complete venue for racers, their families and friends, and for the fans looking for motorsports entertainment. Officially opened for the first time on July 24, 1955 – the Weedsport Speedway 3/8 mile dirt oval has produced a legendary list of drivers and champions including Will Cagle, Danny Johnson, Bob McCreadie, Alan Johnson, Jack Johnson, and Dave Lape to name a few. Today the facility welcomes the best of the best in dirt short track racing from the Craftsman World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the USAC National Sprint Cars, to the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds along with the DIRTcar 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Pro Stocks, and more. While racing entertainment is the focal point, Weedsport Speedway has gone the extra mile in welcoming Weedsport Productions, which brings the facility full circle with a dedicated digital entertainment team for web, television, and on site screen usage.