GAS CITY, Ind. — Tyler Hewitt collected $2,000 for winning the 25-lap non-winged 410 sprint car feature to highlight a 145-car, six-division show on Saturday at Gas City I-69 Speedway during the first night of the two-day Fall Festival of Speed.
Ethan Barrow won the 25-lap IMCA Xcaliber Graphics Indiana RaceSaver winged 305 sprint car feature while Russ Gamester took the top honors among the open midget field in another 25-lapper. Ryan Moran won the 20-lap MMSA/AMSA 1,000cc mini-sprint feature. Chris Hicks won the 20-lap main event for the tough trucks and Donnie Gentry closed the show by winning the main event for the AVSCA vintage sprint cars.
Hewitt’s team is One More Time Motorsports, which is fitting because Hewitt nabbed one more victory in the last sprint feature at Gas City in 2019, having won here on Aug. 9. His Maxim powered by an Evan Jackson-tuned Chevy engine is sponsored in part by John and Sherril Long. Alfred Hewitt is the winning chief mechanic.
Hewitt started on the pole in the 20-car field and led all 25 laps to beat the “Flying Fireman,” Shane Cockrum, to the line by 0.724 of a second. Cockrum started fifth but took second on lap three by passing Harley Burns.
Cockrum threw everything he had at Hewitt. He did a wheelie in turn four on lap five and had another moment on lap 18 when Cole Ketcham snuck under him to get second, but Cockrum got the spot back on the next lap with a move to the outside entering turn three. Cockrum was able to pull right up to the rear of Hewitt’s yellow No. 97 in turn four with three laps to go, but Hewitt fought him off for the victory.
Ketcham finished third. The 2019 track champion, Thomas Meseraull, placed fourth after getting by Anthony D’Alessio with a move to the outside in turn two on the last lap. Meseraull did a wheelie on the frontstretch at the checkered, causing a scramble behind him.
Barrow started fifth in the IMCA RaceSaver 305 winged sprint car feature in his Tom White & Company Real Estate No. 14, but he was second only to polesitter Jeff Wimmenauer by lap two, got the lead on lap three, and led the rest of the way. After that his biggest challenge was navigating through lapped traffic, which he did successfully.
Bradley Sterrett passed Wimmenauer for second with a move to the outside as they were going through turn two and onto the backstretch on lap 22. Barrow was long gone by that time though and had a 6.769-second margin of victory over Sterrett. Anton Hernandez started seventh but finished third followed by Meseraull, who was doing double duty, and Wimmenauer.
Gamester earned the pole for the midget feature and led all 25 laps of it, stepping out smartly on each restart to win by a straightaway over Chett Gehrke. Emerson Axsom, who just turned 15, ran in third and had a good battle with Gehrke and later Kendall Ruble, but when he slowed down for a red flag with 13 laps down the right-front of his car dug into the dirt and its right-front tie rod broke, ending his night.
Ruble went on to take third followed by Alex Watson, who was the USAC SpeeD2 winner. Newlywed Cody Beard rounded out the top five.
After a brief rain delay, the mini-sprint drivers took to the track for their feature. Polesitter Max Brannam led the first five laps until Moran passed him to the inside in Turn 1 and went on to lead the rest of the way in the Riley Creek Sportswear No. 01.
Cody Trammel passed Brannam for second on lap eight and finished in the runner-up spot. Chris Miller placed third, Anthony Haas was fourth and Keith Langley finished fifth.
Polesitter Hicks was worn out but happy after leading all 20 laps of the tough trucks feature. Andy King finished second followed by Devon Helmig, Bryan Martin and Chris Bitters.
Gentry used an inside move in turn four to pass Tate Young on lap nine and went on to win what turned out to be a timed event for the vintage sprint cars. Young finished second followed by Patrick Stewart, Danny Pittman and Jamie York.