CANTON, Ill. – Going where nobody else dared on Saturday night, Thomas Meseraull worked a treacherous and fine line around the top of turns one and two at Spoon River Speedway to earn his first POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League victory.
Meseraull capped the night with a broken front end due to a broken steering gear bolt during his set of celebratory donuts.
Colten Cottle landed the pole position as the high point man entering the feature, with Mario Clouser starting second. Neither Cottle nor Clouser commanded the opening circuit as third-starter Korey Weyant snuck by them on the bottom and into the race lead.
Weyant and Cottle ran out front in the early running, but Jarett Andretti quickly maneuvered by Cottle into the second and set his sights on Weyant for the lead. By halfway, Andretti was hounding Weyant and finally made his move on lap 15 with a side-by-side move down the frontstretch.
Andretti assumed the lead on lap 16, but the battle was only beginning. With Andretti, Weyant and Meseraull going nearly three-wide, the Spoon River fans were treated to an epic mid-race brawl for the top spot. Meseraull made his presence felt on lap 18 with a high-side pass around both Weyant and then Andretti to move his No. 00 to the point.
A lap 19 caution abruptly brought the action to a screeching halt and re-stacked the field with six laps to go. However, nobody offered a match to Meseraull’s run out front and he snagged his first POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League victory at Spoon River Speedway.
Rounding out the podium along with Meseraull was Andretti, Cottle, Wesley Smith and Clouser.
Smith, Logan Faucon, Weyant and Meseraull won the heat races.
The finish:
Thomas Meseraull, Jarett Andretti, Colten Cottle, Wesley Smith, Mario Clouser, Riley Kreisel, Korey Weyant, T.J. Artz, Justin Standridge, Slater Helt, Kory Schudy, Jack Wagner, Andy Baugh, Mitchell Davis, Anthony Nicholson, Jadon Rogers, Katlynn Leer, Logan Faucon, Mitch Wissmiller, Koby Barksdale.