Wayne County Speedway
Familiar fast five turn up the heat on Santmyer Energy Night at Wayne County Speedway
Written By: Randy Worrell (Ranger)
ORRVILLE – Long shots and streaks of different winners have been nothing new at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway in 2023.
For the first time in 13 events, however, each of the speedway’s victorious Fast Five Series drivers returned to an all-familiar place on Saturday night; Summit Racing Victory Lane.
Despite heavy overnight rains and a brief afternoon shower, the 3-8-mile ultra-fast surface was in near-perfect shape as “Orrvile’s Historic Oval” hosted Santmyer Energy Night under equally impressive skies.
Defending track champions Henry Malcuit (Pine Tree Towing and Recovery Sprint Cars), Ryan Markham (Malcuit Tavern Super Late Models), and Doug Hensel (JoyRide Transport Mini Stocks) each returned to their winning ways, while CoDee Schneider notched his second McKenzie Concrete Super Stock victory with Painesville semi-regular Nate Young solidifying himself as one of the region’s premier Modified talents with his ninth overall triumph of the season with a hard-fought win in the Flynn’s Tire & Service Center-backed division. In all, the fast five notched their 22nd through 26th overall victories of 2023.
Hensel’s victory came with added significance as well, as his fifth win of the season came in the second of the three-race King of the County Series program events. Hensel and Chaz Dawson, a second-place finisher on Saturday, enter the last King of the County series races, for all divisions on Sept. 30, in a virtual deadlock for the top spot. The speedway will host the first of three Late Model K of C specials next Saturday Aug. 5 presented by the Best Western Wooster Plus Hotel and Conference Center.
Malcuit, who last visited victory lane on opening night back on April 15, returned to top form in besting the talent-laden 22-car sprint car field. Malcuit took command from early leader Danny Mumaw from his outside row two starting slot on lap 11 and sped to victory in the 25-lap lid lifter.
Mumaw put heavy pressure throughout, however, on Malcuit’s family-owned 70 but came up just short at the stripe followed by a fast-closing Trey Jacobs (from eighth), Broc Martin, making his long-awaited first start at WCS in nearly 450 days (about 1 year 3 months) and just sixth of the season in fourth, with Enon Valley PA’s high school senior-to-be Leyton Wagner turning in another solid showing by riding home fifth. Jason Dolick came in sixth, with Tyler Gunn, Indiana invader Corbin Gurley, Tyler Street, and Sean Rayhall rounding out the top ten.
Malcuit, who recently spent a few weeks in Pete Grove’s 70, returned to his Red Malcuit backed machine for his fifth win in the last two seasons at WCS.
“it’s been a tough stretch, but my dad (Mark), and uncle (Brad), had our car really comfortable tonight,” Malcuit said. “I don’t always like to bang the cushion in turns one and two, but that’s where you need to be to run with and beat the fast guys we have here, because Danny set a fast pace out front. It feels really good to be able to do this with our family team, and plan on staying in it the rest of the season.”
With Jerry Aber, Larry Bellman, Kyle Moore, who was victorious in the previous two SLM mains including the recent DIRTcar Nationals, Markham, a rejuvenated Dave Hornikel, and four-time 2023 winner JR Gentry occupying the first three rows of the 25-lap main, the highly anticipated event took the track next.
Bellman jumped to the early lead, with Markham grabbing the point after a three-wide battle that included a hard-charging Moore moving into second. Moore led until lap 17 with Markham never more than two car lengths behind before “The Mansfield Madman” shredded a tire down the front straight ending his bid for a third victory in a row.
Markham inherited the lead and sped to victory, his fourth of the year to go along with 14 top-five and 20 top-ten finishes of the season despite a slow start to the 2023 campaign.
“Tonight, just like we’ve done all season, we never gave up,” said Markham. “Kyle has that thing rolling right now and he’s a heckuva talented driver, but we stayed close to him and got alongside him right before he blew the tire. It would have been a great finish, and l hated to see that, but we’ll take a win any way we can in this division.”
The 12-lap Mini Stock King of the County 12-lapper hit the speedway next, with Hensel, after starting eighth, and Chaz Dawson from ninth, each making their way to the front. Action was halted early on, however, as fourth-starting Mitch Reichard launched his 29 machine over the turn 2 embankment to bring out the red. Earlier in the evening, David Potter barrel rolled his No. 100 down the pit entrance drive during the second heat. Fortunately, both drivers escaped injury.
When action resumed, Hensel took command and glued his familiar 18 to the speedway’s high-side cushion with Dawson never more than a car length back. Hensel hung on for his fifth win of the season less than a second in front of Dawson’s 42JR mount with Johnny Bruce Sr, Zack Hershey, and Cody Musselman founding out the top five.
“Track position was key tonight, like it is every night, because all these guys are so fast,” said Hensel. “I knew Chaz was back there as l looked at the scoreboard, and could hear him, too. Billy Dawson was just as fast too before he went to the pits (flat tire), but the only way someone was going to go around me was to go through the parking lot.”
The Super Stocks were up next for their 15-lapper, and Kyle McAfee from his outside front row looked primed to record his first win of the season by setting a blistering pace from the outset.
Larry Kugel and Don Baney joined the fray early with June 24 winner CoDee Schneider also making his way to the front in his ex-Rott Shop 14. Schneider crept into second by lap 12 and inherited the lead when McAfee’s red and black No. 3 looped it around out of four collecting Kugel in the process. Both drivers were unharmed in the scary-looking accident but were done for the night.
Schneider led the remaining three circuits ahead of Baney, Braden Tucke, last week’s winner Rob Melzer and Brandon Craver. “To get a win here, and then a second, is just awesome,” said Schneider. “I’m just ecstatic how this season is going and hopefully we can keep it going. “i was putting some pressure on Kyle before that incident, but l hate seeing that happen to anyone and hope they’re both okay and cars weren’t damaged heavily. I’m just thrilled to be here in victory lane.”
The Modifieds hit the speedway for the night capper, and with Young and eight-time 2023 winner and defending track champ Colton Shaw starting second and fourth respectively, all eyes were on the ensuing battle and the action failed to disappoint.
Young grabbed the point and rim-rode around the high side of the speedway in his fast 42, with Shaw’s General Lee 01 never out of sight. A lap 14 caution gave Shaw another crack at overpowering Young, but a green-white-checkered finish following a lap 19 yellow set up a thrilling finish.
Young went to the bottom of turns 1 and 2 on the restart with Shaw sailing around the cushion that set up a turn 4 slider attempt that came up just a few feet short as Young drove to the middle exiting the turn and third WCS victory that included the DIRTcar victory two weeks ago.
“I’ve had some great battles with Colton here and have come out on the wrong end on a few of them,” said Young. “I went to the bottom on that last restart to protect the bottom, and yeah l was pretty nervous in doing that. I knew (Colton) was going to make a run but it’s hard to carry the momentum off four on a slider and we were able to hang on.
“We have a busy schedule coming up, but hopefully we’ll be back a few times late in the year.”
The speedway will welcome back its Fast Five program next Saturday, with the much-anticipated Kids Night and Danny Gardner Memorial for Super Stocks highlighting the Aug. 12 Fast Five Series visit.
Media Results for 7/29/2023 at Wayne County Speedway – Orrville, OH
410 Sprint Cars 22 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:34:06.835
1. 70-Henry Malcuit[4]; 2. 16-Danny Mumaw[3]; 3. 9-Trey Jacobs[8]; 4. 83M-Broc Martin[2]; 5. 38-Leyton Wagner[9]; 6. D12-Jason Dolick[12]; 7. 91-Tyler Gunn[6]; 8. 12-Corbin Gurley[10]; 9. 4*-Tyler Street[5]; 10. 19-Sean Rayhall[1]; 11. 38K-Chris Myers[13]; 12. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[20]; 13. 6J-Jonah Aumend[7]; 14. 7-Troy Kingan[11]; 15. 57N-Tyler Newhart[15]; 16. 187-Tyler Wiles[14]; 17. 11-Nathan McDowell[21]; 18. 20-Danial Burkhart[16]; 19. 18-Todd Hinton[22]; 20. (DNF) 99-Cameron Nastasi[18]; 21. (DNF) 9H-Lance Heinberger[19]; 22. (DNF) 2-Joe Adorjan[17]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:15.661
1. 4*-Tyler Street[4]; 2. 83M-Broc Martin[1]; 3. 16-Danny Mumaw[3]; 4. 12-Corbin Gurley[5]; 5. 38K-Chris Myers[2]; 6. 20-Danial Burkhart[7]; 7. 9H-Lance Heinberger[6]; 8. (DNF) 18-Todd Hinton[8]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:06:44.860
1. 38-Leyton Wagner[3]; 2. 9-Trey Jacobs[4]; 3. 6J-Jonah Aumend[1]; 4. 7-Troy Kingan[6]; 5. 187-Tyler Wiles[7]; 6. (DNF) 2-Joe Adorjan[5]; 7. (DNF) 7DK-Dylan Kingan[2]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:07:19.332
1. 91-Tyler Gunn[4]; 2. 70-Henry Malcuit[3]; 3. 19-Sean Rayhall[2]; 4. D12-Jason Dolick[1]; 5. 57N-Tyler Newhart[5]; 6. 99-Cameron Nastasi[7]; 7. (DNF) 11-Nathan McDowell[6]
Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:02:22.645
1. 4*-Tyler Street, 00:14.514[8]; 2. 9-Trey Jacobs, 00:14.964[2]; 3. 91-Tyler Gunn, 00:15.106[18]; 4. 16-Danny Mumaw, 00:15.135[21]; 5. 38-Leyton Wagner, 00:15.176[16]; 6. 70-Henry Malcuit, 00:15.183[11]; 7. 38K-Chris Myers, 00:15.190[5]; 8. 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 00:15.191[7]; 9. 19-Sean Rayhall, 00:15.243[12]; 10. 83M-Broc Martin, 00:15.356[13]; 11. 6J-Jonah Aumend, 00:15.628[19]; 12. D12-Jason Dolick, 00:15.644[3]; 13. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:15.677[20]; 14. 2-Joe Adorjan, 00:15.975[1]; 15. 57N-Tyler Newhart, 00:16.091[15]; 16. 9H-Lance Heinberger, 00:16.407[10]; 17. 7-Troy Kingan, 00:16.519[14]; 18. 11-Nathan McDowell, 00:16.620[4]; 19. 20-Danial Burkhart, 00:16.777[17]; 20. 187-Tyler Wiles, 00:16.841[6]; 21. 99-Cameron Nastasi, 00:16.987[9]; 22. 18-Todd Hinton, 00:18.320[22]
Super Late Models 17 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:16:41.204
1. 5M-Ryan Markham[4]; 2. 59-Larry Bellman[2]; 3. 14JR-JR Gentry[6]; 4. 1*-Kyle Moore[3]; 5. 71-Dave Hornikel[5]; 6. 24-Jerry Aber[1]; 7. 2C-Clint Coffman[12]; 8. 7-Nick Cox[7]; 9. 41-Randy Pollock[17]; 10. 2R-Ryan Davis[10]; 11. 24X-Jason Skelly[9]; 12. 36-Brent Coffman[14]; 13. 69R-Doug Baird[13]; 14. (DNF) 612-Race Gardiner[16]; 15. (DNF) 92B-Austin Bright[11]; 16. (DNF) 3-Thomas Baker[8]; 17. (DNS) J28-Jason Henderson
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:09:46.061
1. 5M-Ryan Markham[2]; 2. 1*-Kyle Moore[4]; 3. 3-Thomas Baker[1]; 4. 71-Dave Hornikel[3]; 5. 24X-Jason Skelly[7]; 6. 92B-Austin Bright[6]; 7. 69R-Doug Baird[8]; 8. (DNF) J28-Jason Henderson[5]; 9. (DNS) 41-Randy Pollock
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:08.865
1. 59-Larry Bellman[3]; 2. 7-Nick Cox[2]; 3. 14JR-JR Gentry[4]; 4. 24-Jerry Aber[1]; 5. 2R-Ryan Davis[6]; 6. 2C-Clint Coffman[5]; 7. 36-Brent Coffman[7]; 8. 612-Race Gardiner[8]
Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:01:01.815
1. 1*-Kyle Moore, 00:17.429[16]; 2. 14JR-JR Gentry, 00:17.515[5]; 3. 71-Dave Hornikel, 00:17.632[2]; 4. 59-Larry Bellman, 00:17.641[14]; 5. 5M-Ryan Markham, 00:17.728[8]; 6. 7-Nick Cox, 00:17.980[9]; 7. 3-Thomas Baker, 00:18.041[10]; 8. 24-Jerry Aber, 00:18.387[11]; 9. J28-Jason Henderson, 00:18.460[15]; 10. 2C-Clint Coffman, 00:18.471[6]; 11. 92B-Austin Bright, 00:18.479[12]; 12. 2R-Ryan Davis, 00:18.648[13]; 13. 24X-Jason Skelly, 00:18.668[7]; 14. 36-Brent Coffman, 00:19.604[4]; 15. 69R-Doug Baird, 00:19.855[3]; 16. 612-Race Gardiner, 00:21.113[1]; 17. 41-Randy Pollock, 00:21.936[17]
UMP Modifieds 12 Entries
A Feature 20 Laps | 00:13:59.276
1. 42-Nate Young[2]; 2. 01-Colton Shaw[4]; 3. 187-Took Wiles[3]; 4. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[8]; 5. 69-Ryan Robey[6]; 6. 33-Robbie Ledger[5]; 7. 185-Ron Miller[1]; 8. 36-Brent Coffman[10]; 9. 21-Dwayne Powell[9]; 10. 8X-David Giaugue[11]; 11. (DNF) 99-Casey Butler[7]; 12. (DNS) 22G-Jesse Griffitts
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:05:44.245
1. 01-Colton Shaw[4]; 2. 187-Took Wiles[2]; 3. 69-Ryan Robey[1]; 4. 99-Casey Butler[3]; 5. 21-Dwayne Powell[5]; 6. 8X-David Giaugue[6]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:26.384
1. 42-Nate Young[4]; 2. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[3]; 3. 185-Ron Miller[1]; 4. 33-Robbie Ledger[2]; 5. 36-Brent Coffman[5]; 6. (DNF) 22G-Jesse Griffitts[6]
Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:01:07.832
1. 01-Colton Shaw, 00:18.562[9]; 2. 42-Nate Young, 00:18.594[10]; 3. 99-Casey Butler, 00:19.266[1]; 4. 60-Jimmy Humphrey, 00:19.319[11]; 5. 187-Took Wiles, 00:19.381[3]; 6. 33-Robbie Ledger, 00:19.756[7]; 7. 69-Ryan Robey, 00:19.793[4]; 8. 185-Ron Miller, 00:19.960[6]; 9. 21-Dwayne Powell, 00:20.350[2]; 10. 36-Brent Coffman, 00:21.021[8]; 11. 8X-David Giaugue, 00:21.396[5]; 12. 22G-Jesse Griffitts, 00:21.838[12]
Super Stocks 11 Entries
A Feature 15 Laps | 00:14:17.928
1. 14-Codee Schneider[4]; 2. 27B-Don Baney[3]; 3. 18-Braden Tucke[7]; 4. 77-Rob Melzer[8]; 5. 771-Brandon Craver[5]; 6. (DNF) 4Z-Zach Myers[6]; 7. (DNF) 3B-Kyle McAfee[2]; 8. (DNF) 0-Larry Kugel[1]; 9. (DNF) 77H-Matt Hensel[9]; 10. (DNS) 44-Zack Hockensmith; 11. (DNS) 015-Logan Duncan
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:07:50.984
1. 14-Codee Schneider[2]; 2. 27B-Don Baney[4]; 3. 0-Larry Kugel[3]; 4. 18-Braden Tucke[6]; 5. 77-Rob Melzer[1]; 6. 3B-Kyle McAfee[7]; 7. 015-Logan Duncan[5]; 8. 771-Brandon Craver[8]; 9. 4Z-Zach Myers[9]; 10. (DNF) 77H-Matt Hensel[10]; 11. (DNS) 44-Zack Hockensmith
Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:03:01.147
1. 27B-Don Baney, 00:20.749[5]; 2. 0-Larry Kugel, 00:20.808; 3. 14-Codee Schneider, 00:20.897[2]; 4. 77-Rob Melzer, 00:21.160[4]; 5. 015-Logan Duncan, 00:21.219[9]; 6. 18-Braden Tucke, 00:21.242[7]; 7. 3B-Kyle McAfee, 00:21.402[6]; 8. 771-Brandon Craver, 00:22.051[8]; 9. 4Z-Zach Myers, 00:22.101[1]; 10. 77H-Matt Hensel, 00:23.192[10]; 11. (DNS) 44-Zack Hockensmith
Mini Stocks 21 Entries
A Feature 12 Laps | 00:35:38.514
1. 18-Doug Hensel[8]; 2. 42JR-Chaz Dawson Jr[9]; 3. 66-Johnny Bruce Sr[6]; 4. 278-Zack Hershey[12]; 5. 7CM-Cody Musselman[11]; 6. 1*-Wes Staley[17]; 7. 18X-Dustin Bedlion[3]; 8. 97S-Brock Searls[14]; 9. 98X-Austin McIlvain[18]; 10. 41-Gene Arkenburgh[15]; 11. 12-JR Graser[10]; 12. 3-Dylan Tanner[21]; 13. (DNF) 54C-Clayton Evans[13]; 14. (DNF) 71-Anthony Collins[5]; 15. (DNF) 23P-Kyle Petit[2]; 16. (DNF) 7C-Billy Dawson[7]; 17. (DNF) 419-Robert Searls[1]; 18. (DNF) 29-Mitch Reichard[4]; 19. (DNS) 8A-Dakota Graciani; 20. (DNS) F7-Josh Ramirez; 21. (DNS) 100-David Potter
Heat 1 6 Laps | 00:03:12.694
1. 419-Robert Searls[7]; 2. 66-Johnny Bruce Sr[6]; 3. 29-Mitch Reichard[2]; 4. 12-JR Graser[3]; 5. 54C-Clayton Evans[4]; 6. (DNF) 8A-Dakota Graciani[5]; 7. (DNS) F7-Josh Ramirez
Heat 2 6 Laps | 00:10:19.268
1. 42JR-Chaz Dawson Jr[5]; 2. 18X-Dustin Bedlion[1]; 3. 71-Anthony Collins[3]; 4. 7CM-Cody Musselman[7]; 5. 97S-Brock Searls[4]; 6. 1*-Wes Staley[6]; 7. (DNF) 100-David Potter[2]
Heat 3 6 Laps | 00:03:47.277
1. 18-Doug Hensel[6]; 2. 23P-Kyle Petit[2]; 3. 7C-Billy Dawson[3]; 4. 278-Zack Hershey[5]; 5. 41-Gene Arkenburgh[1]; 6. 98X-Austin McIlvain[4]; 7. (DNF) 3-Dylan Tanner[7]
