News Director 
Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / WILLIAMS GROVE SPEEDWAY – MECHANICSBURG, PA – Presented by Kurt Smith Motorsports, The 30-lap USAC Eastern Storm main event saw Timmy Buckwalter grab the lead to start over Emerson Axsom and Briggs Danner.
Axsom challenged Buckwalter for the lead for several laps as Alex Bright challenged Danner for third with Justin Grant in fifth spot early on.
The red flag flew with seven laps completed when Brady Bacon and Robert Ballou were involved in a second turn crash. Bright’s fuel cell was damaged in the wreck and his car was leaking fuel and a small fire erupted. There were no injuries.
Grant and Thomas Meseraull passed Danner following the restart.
Axsom stayed right with Buckwalter before he’d grab the lead off the fourth corner with 17 laps completed. Daison Pursley, who started 14th, was up to third after passing Meseraull and Grant.
Pursley and Buckwalter traded the second spot in turns three and four as Axsom built a 1.5 second lead. Pursley finally made the pass stick with four laps to go.
Pursley got to Axsom next as they raced into turn three on the final lap, but Axsom, of Franklin, Ind., held on for his first career Grove win and second straight in Eastern Storm action. The top two are recent high school graduates.
Buckwalter, Grant and Meseraull completed the top five.
Danner, Mitchel Moles, C.J. Leary, Jake Swanson and Kyle Moody rounded out the top 10.
“It’s pretty cool to win here,” Axsom said. “I was able to run the top and carry momentum.”
A total of 31 USAC National Sprint Cars were on hand for the annual Eastern Storm event. Meseraull set a track record in qualifying time trials with a lap of 19.016. The previous record was 19.509 set by Kevin Thomas Jr on June 15, 2018.
The USAC heat races were won by C.J. Leary, Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou and Mario Clouser. Mitchel Moles won the semi-feature.
Anton Hernandez flipped over the first turn fence while he was lining up for the third heat race. He was uninjured.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2023 – Williams Grove Speedway – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – 16th Eastern Storm
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-19.016 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.252; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-19.281; 4. Alex Bright, 27, Heffner-19.284; 5. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-19.299; 6. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-19.305; 7. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall-19.316; 8. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-19.385; 9. Timmy Buckwalter, 20T, Lotier/Hummer-19.397; 10. Daison Pursley, 5p, KO-19.412; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2x, 2B Racing-19.420; 12. Logan Seavey, 2B, 2B Racing-19.443; 13. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-19.483; 14. Max Adams, 17GP, Dutcher-19.489; 15. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-19.558; 16. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-19.578; 17. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-19.584; 18. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-19.656; 19. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.735; 20. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-19.736; 21. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-19.754; 22. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-19.769; 23. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-19.795; 24. Preston Lattomus, 23B, Lattomus-19.907; 25. Steven Drevicki, 19, DeGre-19.957; 26. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-19.975; 27. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin/Fox-20.053; 28. Kyle Moody, 5x, Baldwin/Fox-20.154; 29. Joey Amantea, 88J, Amantea-20.172; 30. Jason Cherry, 67c, Cherry-21.324; 31. Dave Axton, 2, Axton-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Timmy Buckwalter, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Briggs Danner, 5. Joey Amantea, 6. Steven Drevicki, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Tom Harris. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. Justin Grant, 4. Max Adams, 5. Matt Mitchell, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Jason Cherry. 2:39.14 (New Track Record)
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Emerson Axsom, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Anton Hernandez. 2:41.70
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mario Clouser, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Preston Lattomus, 7. Kyle Moody. 2:43.13
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Matt Mitchell, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Joey Amantea, 7. Tom Harris, 8. Carson Garrett, 9. Steven Drevicki, 10. Preston Lattomus, 11. Matt Westfall, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Jason Cherry. 4:14.26 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Emerson Axsom (2), 2. Daison Pursley (14), 3. Timmy Buckwalter (1), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Thomas Meseraull (6), 6. Briggs Danner (3), 7. Mitchel Moles (11), 8. C.J. Leary (9), 9. Jake Swanson (18), 10. Chase Stockon (13), 11. Matt Mitchell (12), 12. Mario Clouser (8), 13. Brady Bacon (10), 14. Joey Amantea (22),15. Max Adams (17), 16. Kyle Cummins (19), 17. Logan Seavey (16), 18. Matt Westfall (23-P), 19. Charles Davis Jr. (20), 20. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 21. Alex Bright (4), 22. Robert Ballou (7), 23. Shane Cottle (21). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
**Anton Hernandez flipped while lining up for the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Timmy Buckwalter, Laps 17-30 Emerson Axsom.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Emerson Axsom-861, 2-Jake Swanson-847, 3-Kyle Cummins-817, 4-Justin Grant-800, 5-C.J. Leary-791, 6-Brady Bacon-790, 7-Mitchel Moles-718, 8-Chase Stockon-679, 9-Daison Pursley-666, 10-Robert Ballou-631.
USAC EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Emerson Axsom-227, 2-Thomas Meseraull-205, 3-Daison Pursley-194, 4-Justin Grant-188, 5-Jake Swanson-187, 6-Timmy Buckwalter-182, 7-Briggs Danner-161, 8-Robert Ballou-156, 9-Kyle Cummins-152, 10-Shane Cottle-151.
BUBBY JONES MASTER OF GOIN’ FASTER PRESENTED BY SPIRE SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT POINTS: 1-Jake Swanson-287, 2-Mitchel Moles-278, 3-C.J. Leary-268, 4-Emerson Axsom-259, 5-Brady Bacon-232, 6-Kyle Cummins-224, 7-Daison Pursley-209, 8-Chase Stockon-195, 9-Max Adams-182, 10-Matt Westfall-179.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-90, 2-Logan Seavey-53, 3-Justin Grant-48, 4-Chase Stockon-46, 5-Thomas Meseraull-37, 6-Carson Garrett-37, 7-Bryant Wiedeman-35, 8-Matt Westfall-35, 9-Brady Bacon-34, 10-Emerson Axsom-33.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17, 2023 – Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, Pennsylvania – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – 16th Eastern Storm
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Mitchel Moles
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull (19.016)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: Mario Clouser
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Mitchel Moles
Hard Charger: Daison Pursley (14th to 2nd)
Gene Franckowiak 7th Lap Leader in Memory of Bryan Clauson: Timmy Buckwalter
