First Time Visit for Small Block Supers and Fans Wowed by Competitiveness
Written by Outlaw 350 Supemodified Sprint Series PR
NEW PHILADELPHIA, OH (August 9)
While some teams approach first-ever visits by the Team Willis Outlaw 350 Supermodified-Sprint Series (OSS) to new tracks, Sawyer Stout (Norwalk, OH) accepts the challenge wholeheartedly and digs right in, as evidenced by the hard-fought victory Saturday night at the 3/10-mile Midvale Speedway.
By the time the trackside announcer could get to victory lane Stout had already dislodged the steering wheel and
tossed it forward, the helmet came off and up on the wing he went, shouting “I love the challenge of new tracks and welcome them wide armed”. The excitement was fueled, knowing that he was able to withstand everything that runner-up Kenny Sharp (Port Clinton, OH) through at him during the final five laps.
Going into the night, the word was that you can’t pass at Midvale, but the OSS teams quickly dispelled that theory
as several advances were made throughout the 30-lap finale, including Stout’s 7-position charge to the front. “I
hope you guys liked this show tonight, with all of the passing and side-by-side racing,” shouted Stout from victory
lane to the approval of the fans.
Cody Gallogly (Baltimore, OH) darted from his outside front starting slot to take early command of the race, and set sail with the Neubauer Family Racing roadster, but got hooked up too well; exceeding his qualifying time by more than .3 of a second for 3 laps. Per OSS ‘breakout’ rules, the yellow flag was displayed on lap 10 and Gallogly was relegated to the rear of the field.
This put A.J. Lesiecki (Bowling Green, OH) to the point on the restart, but he was in a similar predicament as
Gallogly, knowing that the track had gotten progressively faster. Lesiecki was trying to be cautious of his speed on
the restart, but at the same time had Kenny Sharp (Port Clinton, OH), Frank Neill (Vickery, OH), Clayton Karl
(Wellington, OH) and Stout lining up beside and behind him coming down for the green.
On lap 16, Doug Neubauer (Pickerington, OH) looped it on the front stretch to bring out a caution. Lesiecki,
through signals from his pit crew, was aware that his speeds had increased dramatically and he was in danger of
breaking out. At the ‘choose cone’ on the restart, he chose the bottom, rather than the outside as he had done on
the previous restart, with Stout choosing the outside. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to win because of my speed,
so I dropped to the low side and allowed Stout to take the outside, hoping in could drop in behind him”, explained
Lesiecki post-race.
Stout did indeed charge to the front on the restart, as did Sharp, with Lesiecki settling into third. The race went
green from that point forward. Stout opened up a six-car lead over Sharp, but that went away as they approached
lapped traffic with five laps to go. Sharp briefly took the lead, but Stout went to the unheard of third groove at
Midvale to take back the top spot he was able to hold to the checkered flag. Sharp and Lesiecki completed the
podium followed by Neill and Gallogly to complete the top five.
Jim Valentine Fast Time Award – Danny Shirey 13.355 (track record)
Big & Little Carts Let’s Celebrate 3, third quick time – Kenny Sharp 13.645
Snow Otter Memorabilia Rookie of the Race – Cody Gallogly
Lang’s Automotive Hard Charger – Sawyer Stout (7 positions)
Quest Restoration Last Car on Lead Lap Award – Rich DeWitt, Jr.
Quest Restoration Last Car Running Award – J.D. Evans
Brian’s Automotive/Gibson’s Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 1: Tyler Capodice/Kenny Sharp/Danny Shirey/A.J. Lesiecki/
Cody Gallogly/Todd Buchanan/J.D. Evans
Brian’s Automotive/Gibson’s Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 2: Sawyer Stout/Frank Neill/Clayton Karl/Hunter Young/
Sam Stout/Rich DeWitt, Jr/Doug Neubauer
30-lap feature: 1)Sawyer Stout 2)Kenny Sharp 3)A.J. Lesiecki 4)Frank Neill 5)Cody Gallogly 6)Tyler Capodice
7)Hunter Young 8)Danny Shirey 9)Todd Buchanan 10)Rich DeWitt, Jr. 11)Doug Neubauer 12)Sam Stout 13)J.D.
Evans 14)Clayton Karl
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