June 4, 2022 Results

Written By: Randy Worrell

ORRVILLE – Whether a driver believes in luck – good or bad – they all agree it is more difficult to shake a run of misfortune than to stay up front. Tyler Street put all put his recent gremlins in the rearview mirror on Saturday night. The Fredericktown pilot led wire to wire to score an impressive Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association victory in highlighting the O’Reilly Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway’s Fast Five Series program at Orrville’s Historic Oval. A pair of familiar faces – and a former track champion – joined Street in victory lane as Kyle Moore continued his WCS domination by winning both the McKenzie Concrete Super Stock and Elite Ammunition Modified mains, while Doug Hensel stayed red-hot in picking up the JoyRide Transport Mini Stock feature. 2013 WCS track champion Corey Conley made a rare visit and wired the field in winning the Malcuit Tavern Super Late Model 25-lapper. The Pine Tree Towing and Recovery sprint cars were first to hit the speedway but would begin their 25-lap main with an ominous beginning, which ironically involved Street and fifth-starting Leyton Wagner. As the sprint cars were making their final preparations before taking the grid in the OVSCA feature, Wagner climbed the right rear of Street down the backstretch and climbed the turn 3 embankment before flipping onto the pit entrance lane. Although Wagner was uninjured, the New Castle, Pennsylvania youngster was done for the night. Once the green was finally waved, it was all Street from his inside front row starting spot. The 22-year-old immediately took the high line and built a commanding lead. Although Street was long gone, in typical WCS fashion the action was just starting. Nick Patterson was on the move early from 10th, racing into fifth with 10 laps remaining as Henry Malcuit, Andrew Palker, Zach Ames from eighth, Patterson, and Trey Jacobs diced it up in traffic. Jacobs, who suffered a mechanical issue earlier in the event, went pit side with five laps remaining before a yellow on lap 22 bunched the field one final time. Although Malcuit got under Street briefly on the restart, Street sped away for his first WCS victory in his Vantage, Valley Heating and Cooling No. 4, with Patterson getting by Malcuit for second in the closing laps, as Palker rode home fourth, Ames fifth, Danny Mumaw sixth, with Chris Garnes from an earlier spin, Wayne McPeek, Danial Burkhart, and Chris Myers rounding out the top 10. “This is so awesome, we’ve been fast here for a couple of years, but it seems that we’ve either been crashed out or something happens,” said Street. “After the incident with (Leyton Wagner) before the start, l knew our right rear was going flat because I could feel it under that last yellow. We blew this motor a few years ago, but Kistler Engines got it back together and it was strong tonight. We have struggled to make the bigger races, but our goal is to put it in the show (when Ohio Speedweek comes to town on June 13).” Conley started on the point in the late model main and was flawless in leading every lap of the event in picking up his second victory in as many nights following a win at Hilltop Speedway on Friday. The Wellsburg, West Virginia veteran built a straightway advantage early over Larry Bellman, Cody Scott in his 2022 debut, Ryan Markham, last week’s winner Mitch Caskey and Brett Bee. Caskey retired to the pits after moving into fourth on lap five, with Scott nabbing second from Bellman a few laps later. Howard Fraley raced into fourth with Bee maintaining fifth. Although Scott closed to within striking distance with three to go, Conley held with the top five unchanged in his familiar blue and white 14. “There’s a lot of fast late models up here, and l wanted to go to the top of the track early but felt pretty comfortable on the bottom,” said Conley. “Sometimes leading is not the place you want to be, but I thought if l hit my marks it was going to be tough to pass me on the bottom. It all worked out this weekend.” The 15-lap super stock main hit the 3-8 mile next, with Rob Melzer and Tyler Wiles occupying the front row. Melzer grabbed the point early, before the two made inadvertent contact in turn 1. Melzer returned to the point after the restart, with Jason Ammons applying heavy pressure to the 77 of Melzer before Ammons looped his machine in turn 4 on lap six. All eyes, however, were glued to the 21D Bob Daugherty-owned machine of Moore. Moore methodically picked his way to the front by riding the extreme high side of the speedway in the McKenzie concrete, Elite Ammunition-backed mount before taking command for good on lap 11. Melzer hung on for second with Brandon Craver, Tyler Wiles after going to the tail earlier, and Braden Tucke rounding out the top five. Starting position seems to be the least of Doug Hensel’s obstacles, as the driver of the black, blue, and pink 18 rolled to his third win of the season at the WCS and fourth consecutive overall victory. Hensel hustled to the point from his ninth-starting spot on lap four, then withstood the challenges of Jordan James and Justin Cranmore. Hensel, Cranmore, and James broke away from the pack by lap six, before James went pit side a lap later. Cranmore stayed within striking distance the rest of the way but settled for the runner-up slot ahead of Kyle Petit, Dustin Bedlion, and Johnny Bruce, Sr. When the modified main wrapped the evening’s festivities, the only question left unanswered was could anyone challenge Moore in the 20-lap finale. Although it certainly was not easy, ‘The Mansfield Madman’ romped to another victory in his Larry Reed-owned, Ports Petroleum R88. Moore grabbed the lead following an opening lap yellow, then withstood heavy pressure from Colton Shaw and Ripley, West Virginia invader Lance Elson. Shaw stayed glued to Moore throughout much of the event on the bottom side of the recently widened speedway, with Moore banging the cushion in his familiar high groove. A lap 13 caution allowed Shaw one last shot but could not make a low side move in turns 1 and 2 stick, with Elson grabbing second from Shaw on lap 16. One final yellow again bunched the field a lap later, but Moore cruised to the victory ahead of Elson, Shaw, DJ Cline, and Jimmy Humphrey. The WCS will now sit idle next Saturday in preparation of the annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek stop on Monday June 13. The popular RaceSaver 305 sprint cars will also be on the card. Visit WCSOhio on Facebook and on the web at www.waynecountyspeedway.com for a full preview of the event in the following days. Wayne County Speedway | Orrville’s Historic OvalOVSCA Sprints Heat 1- 3-Jacobs, 4-Street, 9-Palker, 23-Patterson, 7A-Dave Dickson, 001B-Garrett Mitchell, 001R-Greg Mitchell, 11-Kory Crabtree Heat 2- 8-Ames, 70-Malcuit, 42-Garnes, 20-Burkhart, 91-Aaron Middaugh, 6-Jonah Aumend, 23H-Ron Hamlin Heat 3- 1-McPeek, n38-Wagner, 16-Mumaw, 38K-Myers, 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 2-Joe Adorjan, 14-Wyatt Zimmerman Feature- 1.Street, 2. Patterson, 3.Malcuit, 4.Palker, 5. Ames, 6. Mumaw, 7. Garnes, 8. McPeek, 9. Burkhart, 10. Myers, 11. Crabtree, 12. Dickson, 13. Aumend, 14. Greg Mitchell, 15. Garrett Mitchell, 16. Jacobs, 17. Middaugh, 18. Wagner Late Models Heat 1- 19-Scott, 5M-Markham, 69-Doug Baird, 59-Bellman, 11-Ryan Abel, 217-Fraley, J28- Jason Henderson Heat 2- 14-Conley, 8-Bee, 79-Caskey, 7-Nick Cox, 24-Jason Skelly, 21-Wes Morrison, 17-Tyler Evans Feature- 1. Conley, 2. Scott, 3. Bellman, 4. Fraley, 5. Bee, 6. Markham, 7. Morrison, 8. Baird, 9. Abel, 10. Skelly, 11. Cox, 12. Caskey, 13. Henderson, 14. Evans Super Stocks Heat – 187-Tyler Wiles, 10x-Ammons, 77-Melzer, 70-Paul Holmes, 187-Took Wiles, 21-Moore, 771-Craver, 910-Don Rutt, 27-Don Baney, 18-Tucke, U4-Paul McVicker, 2-William Sidel Feature- 1. Moore, 2. Melzer, 3. Craver, 4. Tyler Wiles, 5. Tucke, 6. McVicker, 7. Took Wiles, 8. Baney, 9. Rutt, 10. Ammons, 11. Sidel, 12. Holmes Mini Stocks Heat 1- 2-Cranmore, 18-Hensel, 89-Hutton, 29-Matt Reichard, 98-David Dawson, 97S-Brock Searls, 100-David Potter, 54-Clayton Evans, 092-Darrell Taylor Heat 2- 23-Petit, 77-Billy Parsons, 311-Bruce Sr., 34-Terry Griffin, 420-Kevin Markey, 36-Daniel Spayde, 16-Jolene Voshel, 19-Wes Staley Heat 3- 83-James, 71-Anthony Collins, 18X-Bedlion, 34-David Keagy ll, 17-Wayne Newbury, 12-JR Graser, 99-Chris Mullinex, 8-Cory Brown Feature – 1. Hensel, 2. Cranmore, 3. Petit, 4. Bedlion, 5. Bruce Sr., 6. Collins, 7. Reichard, 8. Dawson, 9. Griffin, 10. Keagy ll, 11. Markey, 12. Graser, 13. Searls, 14. Potter, 15. Parsons, 16. Spayde, 17. James, 18. Hutton, 19. Newbury, 20. Brown Modifieds Heat 1- 88-Moore, 4-Cline, 60-Humphrey, 185-Ron Miller, 11-Jon Preston, 59-Andrew Myers, 21-Dwayne Powell Heat 2- 01-Shaw, 17-Elson, 21R-Randy Bauknecht, 69-Ryan Robey, 4-Cline, 78-Richard Grogg, 99-Mark Gardner, 911-Colton Lehman Feature – 1. Moore, 2. Elson, 3. Shaw, 4. Cline, 5. Humphrey, 6. Robey, 7. Miller, 8. Preston, 9. Bauknecht, 10. Jim Plance, 11. Grogg, 12. Powell, 13. Myers, 14. Gardiner, 15. Lehman