Markham, Morrow back in victory lane; Hensel, Gunn, Shaw repeat winners at Wayne County Sppedway

Written By: Randy Worrell (Ranger)

ORRVILLE – Ashland’s Ryan Markham, as they say, is no stranger to victory lane. The veteran Super Late Model pilot, though, was just a little bit hungrier to park his familiar 5M in the winner’s circle on Saturday night. 

The defending O’Reilly Auto parts Wayne County Speedway champion in the Malcuit Tavern-backed division had endured an uncustomary slow start to his 2023 season but scored his initial victory in highlighting another Fast Five racing series event at the lightning-fast 3-8-mile oval near Orrville. 

Brandon Morrow joined Markham as another first-time winner this season at WCS by scoring an equally impressive triumph in the McKenzie Concrete Super Stock main event – and the first in the division’s King of the County Series presented by Platinum Designs of Mansfield – while Tyler Gunn stayed red-hot in picking up back-to-back victories in the Pine Tree Towing and Recovery Sprint Car feature. Defending JoyRide Mini Stock champion Doug Hensel recorded his third victory of the season with fellow track title holder Colton Shaw dominating action in the Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service Center Modified action. 

With Markham and last week’s feature winner JR Gentry on the front row of the SLM 25-lapper, all eyes were glued to the WCS legends and the duo failed to disappoint.  

Gentry rocketed to the initial lead and held the point through lap eight until Markham drew even with Gentry at the stripe before a simultaneous caution waved in slowing action. On the restart, Gentry moved down a lane on the paper-clipped shaped track with the pair racing side-by-side through lap 15 before Markham raced to the outside of Gentry on the treacherous high side of turn 2 a few laps later to grab the point. 

Markham stayed ahead of the fast-closing Gentry in securing the victory with Cody Scott coming home third, Kyle Moore, in his SLM season debut in fourth, and Wes Morrison in fifth. 

“Been a tough season for sure, but we never give up and we’re really happy for sure to be here in victory lane,” said Markham. “The track was awesome tonight, but the top side of the track, and the berm off turn two especially, was really tough. You gotta keep your nose out of the cushion up there and luckily, we did, and it all worked it out.” 

Morrow has been super-fast in his No. C9 Super Stock over the past few seasons, including wins in the speedway’s 2021 and 2022 season openers, but arguably was at his best on Saturday.  

Morrow trailed early leader Moore, in the potent Daugherty 21D, through the first four laps before powering past the defending track champion a lap later. Although Moore stayed glued to the back bumper of Morrow throughout the remaining 10 circuits, Morrow led Moore by 2 seconds at the stripe in securing the popular victory. Moore raced home second ahead of Larry Kugel, Braden Tucke, and Codee Schneider. 

“We don’t race every week, but when we do we want to be prepared and to come out here and beat the best is pretty awesome,” Morrow said. “The track was perfect, and although the cushion was tough, we were fast, and l can’t thank all the people who help us out on this thing. To beat Kyle and Braden and all these guys is really tough.” 

Gunn has been on point all season long in the black and red No. 91, but combined speed with a little patience on Saturday, as well. Gunn, starting alongside the equally as fast Ricky Peterson in the third row, trailed pole-sitter Leyton Wagner, Jordan Ryan, a runner-up finisher at Attica on Friday, former track champ Danny Mumaw, the Benjamin Steel 2 of Peterson, defending champion Henry Malcuit and ninth-starting Trey Jacobs at the start. 

Wagner, a soon-to-be high school senior from western Pennsylvania, set a torrid pace in his family-owned 38 with a Peterson and Gunn in tow. Wagner’s solid run came to a halt on lap 22 with mechanical issues with Gunn riding the extreme high side to the lead just inches ahead of Peterson as the caution flew for Wagner. 

Peterson exited the speedway during the caution with a flat right rear and was forced to rejoin the field from the rear. Gunn stayed ahead of the field for his second win in as many weeks with Malcuit, Ryan, Jacobs – who came from the rear after an early spin, and Bryan Nuckles in fifth.  

“I had to be a little patient at the start, but once l got by Danny (Mumaw) around lap 10 l thought l still had a chance to get near the front,” Gunn said. “It’s too bad Ricky had that flat tire, because l think it would’ve been a great race to the end as he’s always fast and on the cushion. We think we can be competitive here in the next few weeks in these big races coming up.” 

Shaw survived a plethora of cautions in notching his second win of the season in the Modifieds after suffering misfortune after leading a week ago.  

Shaw dominated from the outset by grabbing the lead on the opening lap from his third starting spot. Jimmy Humphrey, though, stayed within striking distance along with Casey Butler with Humphrey pulling to a few car lengths on several occasions before retiring from the event with mechanical issues late in the feature.  

Shaw crossed the line with a five second advantage over last week’s winner Ron Miller, Brent Coffman, Jacob Myers, and Richard Grogg. 

“I was just hoping that we could have gone caution free, but man l hate all those yellows when leading,” Shaw said. “The track was really nice, and we could run all over. We were good up top in one and two, but could run the bottom, too. Just glad to be standing here in victory lane and hope we can get a few more.” 

Hensel went from disappointment a week ago to a more familiar place on Saturday night.  

After getting eliminated early on in last week’s main event, the veteran wasted little time in moving to the front by grabbing the point from Tony Bruce, Sr., who led much of the opening laps a week ago as well, on lap four. 

Hensel hustled his No. 18 to the cushion while out front, but in customary fashion, had to survive a late-race caution with a pack of drivers chasing him to the stripe led this week by Billy Dawson. Dawson raced door-to-door with Hensel in the closing laps but fellshort by less than a half-second at the wire. Chaz Dawson, Cody Musselman, and David Potter rounded out the top five. 

“We’ve got a fast car, but also a lot of experience in these cars and l feel that makes a difference, too,” said Hensel. “Even though it’s a short race (12 laps), we’re also racing cars that aren’t built to be raced, so it’s hard to just beat and bang up there on the cushion without breaking something.  

“You got to get up front, but also be smart. It’s so tough, though, because there’s so many guys that are fast every week.” 

The speedway returns to action next Saturday with another edition of the Fast Five series followed by back-to-back All Star Circuit of Champions Speedweek events on Sunday and Monday evenings June 11 and 12. 

Fast 5 Super Series 05-27-2023
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Sprint Cars – Pine Tree Towing & Recovery

Qualifying
1.4*-Tyler Street, 14.564; 2.9-Trey Jacobs, 14.789; 3.70-Henry Malcuit, 14.820; 4.25R-Jordan Ryan, 14.969; 5.91-Tyler Gunn, 14.974; 6.38K-Chris Myers, 15.035; 7.2P-Ricky Peterson, 15.229; 8.38-Leyton Wagner, 15.406; 9.16-Danny Mumaw, 15.443; 10.17-Reece Saldana, 15.631; 11.6J-Jonah Aumend, 15.776; 12.7DK-Dylan Kingan, 15.817; 13.25-Jamie Myers, 15.842; 14.57N-Tyler Newhart, 16.018; 15.D12-Jason Dolick, 16.170; 16.7-Troy Kingan, 16.260; 17.2-Joe Adorjan, 16.376; 18.187-Tyler Wiles, 16.477; 19.20-Danial Burkhart, 16.548; 20.59-Bryan Nuckles, 29.505;

Heat 1 –  (8 Laps)
1. 2P-Ricky Peterson[2] ; 2. 25R-Jordan Ryan[3] ; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[4] ; 4. 17-Reece Saldana[1] ; 5. 25-Jamie Myers[5] ; 6. 7-Troy Kingan[6] ; 7. 20-Danial Burkhart[7]

Heat 2 –  (8 Laps)
1. 38-Leyton Wagner[2] ; 2. 91-Tyler Gunn[3] ; 3. 9-Trey Jacobs[4] ; 4. 59-Bryan Nuckles[7] ; 5. 6J-Jonah Aumend[1] ; 6. 2-Joe Adorjan[6] ; 7. 57N-Tyler Newhart[5]

Heat 3 –  (8 Laps)
1. 16-Danny Mumaw[2] ; 2. 38K-Chris Myers[3] ; 3. 70-Henry Malcuit[4] ; 4. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[1] ; 5. D12-Jason Dolick[5] ; 6. 187-Tyler Wiles[6]

A-Main –  (25 Laps)
1. 91-Tyler Gunn[5] ; 2. 70-Henry Malcuit[4] ; 3. 25R-Jordan Ryan[3] ; 4. 9-Trey Jacobs[9] ; 5. 59-Bryan Nuckles[11] ; 6. 16-Danny Mumaw[2] ; 7. 17-Reece Saldana[10] ; 8. 38K-Chris Myers[8] ; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[12] ; 10. 25-Jamie Myers[13] ; 11. 2-Joe Adorjan[17] ; 12. 2P-Ricky Peterson[6] ; 13. 38-Leyton Wagner[1] ; 14. 7-Troy Kingan[16] ; 15. D12-Jason Dolick[15] ; 16. 6J-Jonah Aumend[14] ; 17. 187-Tyler Wiles[18] ; 18. 4*-Tyler Street[7] ; 19. 20-Danial Burkhart[19] ; 20. 57N-Tyler Newhart[20]

Modifieds – Flynn’s Tire

Qualifying
1.O1-Colton Shaw, 19.066; 2.60-Jimmy Humphrey, 19.570; 3.33-Bob Moskey, 19.648; 4.99-Casey Butler, 19.652; 5.69-Ryan Robey, 19.868; 6.16-Caden Alexander, 19.944; 7.185-Ron Miller, 20.221; 8.21-Dwayne Powell, 20.817; 9.69M-Jacob Myers, 20.852; 10.56-Ed Vallette, 20.915; 11.36-Brent Coffman, 20.941; 12.18P-Brian Pyles, 21.210; 13.78-Richard Grogg, 21.474;

Heat 1 –  (8 Laps)
1. O1-Colton Shaw[4] ; 2. 185-Ron Miller[1] ; 3. 69-Ryan Robey[2] ; 4. 69M-Jacob Myers[5] ; 5. 36-Brent Coffman[6] ; 6. 78-Richard Grogg[7] ; 7. 33-Bob Moskey[3]

Heat 2 –  (8 Laps)
1. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[4] ; 2. 99-Casey Butler[3] ; 3. 16-Caden Alexander[2] ; 4. 21-Dwayne Powell[1] ; 5. 56-Ed Vallette[5] ; 6. 18P-Brian Pyles[6]

A-Main –  (20 Laps)
1. O1-Colton Shaw[3] ; 2. 185-Ron Miller[2] ; 3. 36-Brent Coffman[9] ; 4. 69M-Jacob Myers[7] ; 5. 78-Richard Grogg[11] ; 6. 99-Casey Butler[8] ; 7. 69-Ryan Robey[5] ; 8. 56-Ed Vallette[10] ; 9. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[6] ; 10. 16-Caden Alexander[4] ; 11. 21-Dwayne Powell[1] ; 12. 18P-Brian Pyles[12] ; 13. 33-Bob Moskey[13]

Super Stocks – McKenzie Concrete

Qualifying
1.O-Larry Kugel, 19.928; 2.C9-Brandon Morrow, 19.944; 3.18-Braden Tucke, 20.562; 4.77-Rob Melzer, 20.624; 5.910-Tyler Wiles, 20.827; 6.14-Codee Schneider, 20.916; 7.21D-Kyle Moore, 21.299; 8.U4-Paul McVicker, 21.840; 9.3B-Kyle McAfee, 23.100; 10.25-Jim Ramsey, 99.000; 11.771-Brandon Craver, 99.000; 12.O15-Logan Duncan, 99.000;

Heat 1 –  (8 Laps)
1. 21D-Kyle Moore[1] ; 2. 18-Braden Tucke[3] ; 3. 910-Tyler Wiles[2] ; 4. O-Larry Kugel[4] ; 5. 3B-Kyle McAfee[5] ; 6. 771-Brandon Craver[6]

Heat 2 –  (8 Laps)
1. C9-Brandon Morrow[4] ; 2. 77-Rob Melzer[3] ; 3. U4-Paul McVicker[1] ; 4. 14-Codee Schneider[2] ; 5. 25-Jim Ramsey[5] ; 6. O15-Logan Duncan[6]

A-Main –  (15 Laps)
1. C9-Brandon Morrow[3] ; 2. 21D-Kyle Moore[2] ; 3. O-Larry Kugel[5] ; 4. 18-Braden Tucke[6] ; 5. 14-Codee Schneider[4] ; 6. 910-Tyler Wiles[1] ; 7. 77-Rob Melzer[8] ; 8. 771-Brandon Craver[11] ; 9. U4-Paul McVicker[7] ; 10. 3B-Kyle McAfee[9] ; 11. 25-Jim Ramsey[10] ; 12. O15-Logan Duncan[12]

Late Models – Malcuit’s Tavern

Qualifying
1.14JR-J.R. Gentry, 17.432; 2.11-Ryan Abel, 17.591; 3.59-Larry Bellman Jr., 17.658; 4.19-Cody Scott, 17.667; 5.5M-Ryan Markham, 17.671; 6.24-Jerry Aber, 18.329; 7.J28-Jason Henderson, 18.407; 8.21-Wes Morrison, 18.423; 9.2C-Clint Coffman, 18.623; 10.92B-Austin Bright, 18.949; 11.1*-Kyle Moore, 19.118;

Heat 1 –  (8 Laps)
1. 5M-Ryan Markham[2] ; 2. 59-Larry Bellman Jr.[3] ; 3. 14JR-J.R. Gentry[4] ; 4. 1*-Kyle Moore[6] ; 5. 2C-Clint Coffman[5] ; 6. J28-Jason Henderson[1]

Heat 2 –  (8 Laps)
1. 19-Cody Scott[3] ; 2. 24-Jerry Aber[2] ; 3. 21-Wes Morrison[1] ; 4. 11-Ryan Abel[4] ; 5. 92B-Austin Bright[5]

A-Main –  (25 Laps)
1. 5M-Ryan Markham[1] ; 2. 14JR-J.R. Gentry[2] ; 3. 19-Cody Scott[6] ; 4. 1*-Kyle Moore[5] ; 5. 21-Wes Morrison[7] ; 6. 92B-Austin Bright[10] ; 7. 11-Ryan Abel[3] ; 8. 59-Larry Bellman Jr.[8] ; 9. 24-Jerry Aber[4] ; 10. 2C-Clint Coffman[9] ; 11. J28-Jason Henderson[11]

Mini Stocks – Joy Ride Transportation

Heat 1 –  (6 Laps)
1. 18-Doug Hensel[1] ; 2. 23P-Kyle Petit[2] ; 3. 66-Johnny Bruce Sr.[7] ; 4. 5-Jordan Twinem[8] ; 5. 18X-Dustin Bedlion[3] ; 6. 100-David Potter[5] ; 7. 420-Robert Searls[4] ; 8. 54C-Clayton Evans[9] ; 9. 17-Wayne Newbury[6]

Heat 2 –  (6 Laps)
1. 7C-Billy Dawson[4] ; 2. 89-Travis Hutton[2] ; 3. 42JR-Chaz Dawson[1] ; 4. 42R-Bryan Wilson[8] ; 5. 8-Cory Brown[6] ; 6. 8A-Dakota Graciani[7] ; 7. 98-Austin McIllvain[5] ; 8. 7-Daytona Hensley[3]

Heat 3 –  (6 Laps)
1. 2-Justin Cranmore[6] ; 2. 71-Anthony Collins[8] ; 3. 7CM-Cody Musselman[7] ; 4. 278-Zack Hershey[5] ; 5. 9-Dakota Wells[2] ; 6. 11-Trent Bishop[4] ; 7. 33S-Justin Shreve[1] ; 8. 29-Mitch Reichard[3]

A-Main –  (12 Laps)
1. 18-Doug Hensel[4] ; 2. 7C-Billy Dawson[5] ; 3. 42JR-Chaz Dawson[3] ; 4. 7CM-Cody Musselman[8] ; 5. 100-David Potter[16] ; 6. 5-Jordan Twinem[10] ; 7. 2-Justin Cranmore[2] ; 8. 71-Anthony Collins[9] ; 9. 18X-Dustin Bedlion[13] ; 10. 89-Travis Hutton[7] ; 11. 23P-Kyle Petit[6] ; 12. 98-Austin McIllvain[20] ; 13. 17-Wayne Newbury[25] ; 14. 42R-Bryan Wilson[11] ; 15. 8-Cory Brown[14] ; 16. 54C-Clayton Evans[22] ; 17. 11-Trent Bishop[18] ; 18. 7-Daytona Hensley[23] ; 19. 66-Johnny Bruce Sr.[1] ; 20. 8A-Dakota Graciani[17] ; 21. 278-Zack Hershey[12] ; 22. 9-Dakota Wells[15] ; 23. 420-Robert Searls[19] ; 24. 33S-Justin Shreve[21] ; 25. 29-Mitch Reichard[24]