6.25.22 Wayne County Speedway Results

ORRVILLE – It’s nearly impossible these days to visit Wayne County Speedway’s victory lane without being a bad-fast race car driver. Henry Malcuit was sneaky-fast on Saturday night, too. Malcuit grabbed the top spot from early leader Zach Ames on lap 24 in claiming the thrilling 30-lap FAST series sprint car main event that highlighted action as “Orrville’s Historic Oval” ushered out the month of June with a bang before next weekend’s annual rite of summer July 4th holiday. JR Gentry joined Malcuit in victory circle by picking up his first WCS win this season in the Malcuit Tavern Super Late Model division, while Colton Shaw grabbed win two of the season in the Elite Ammunition Modifieds. Brad Moore stayed red-hot with a McKenzie Concrete Super Stock victory while Justin Cranmore took the top spot on the podium with a last-lap pass in the JoyRide Transport Mini Stock feature. With every “Fast Five” main event coming down to the wire on Saturday, the consensus among victory lane visitors was that the 3-8-mile paper-clip shaped oval was in bad-fast shape to match. With Ames, in just his second season of sprint car competition, vaulting to the point from his front-row starting spot by riding his customary high-side lane, Malcuit stayed in contention by utilizing the bottom to middle lanes of the ultra-racy surface. Ames built a straightaway advantage by lap eight, with Malcuit moving into second a lap later with Sean Rayhall motoring into third from row four. Although Ames sat a blistering pace, the action behind the top three was just as furious. Cody Bova, Jack Sodeman Jr., FAST point leader Nate Dussell, Lee Jacobs, Jordan Ryan and 11th-starting Trey Jacobs was in hot pursuit. By lap 17, Malcuit had closed to within five car lengths of Ames’ Bonzai Bruns-wrenched red No. 8 before Dylan Kingan tipped over in turn 1 to bring out the red. Rayhall also went pit side after suffering damage by colliding with Kingan’s disabled mount, as Bova moved into third and Trey Jacobs climbing to fourth in the Prosser 19 machine. Ames and Malcuit continued their race-long duel when the green replaced the yellow until Malcuit made a move to the bottom of turn 2 following a lap 23 caution to take the lead. Ames stayed glued to the bumper of the Red Malcuit Inc. 70 the rest of the way but settled for second ahead of Bova, Trey Jacobs, Ryan, Dussell, Lee Jacobs, Sodeman, Chris Myers, and 16th-starting Danny Mumaw. “The track was just awesome, and even though l wasn’t quite sure who was leading the race, l kept moving my wing back and we got better and better as the race went on,” said Malcuit. “Eventually I could see (Ames) was slowing just a little in lapped traffic, and then we had a great race after l caught him. It is a pleasure racing side-by-side with a guy like Zach because you know he is going to race you clean. “I have to thank my dad (Mark Malcuit), and Uncle Brad (Malcuit) for all they do for me, and getting our sponsor Sugarcreek Cartage their first win, too.” The Late Models were up next, as Larry Bellman, Ryan Markham, Gentry, and Mitch Caskey immediately put some distance on the field from the start in the 25-lapper. Markham took the lead on lap four, with Gentry following which resulted in a door-to-door battle for the next 12 laps. Caskey moved into second behind Gentry on lap 16, with Bellman third, Wes Morrison fourth and Markham fifth by lap 19. Gentry hung on for his first WCS win of the season followed by Caskey, Markham, who made a high side move in turns 3 and 4 on the final lap to snare third ahead of Bellman and Morrison. “We had a really good car and a great track to race on,” said Gentry. “We are spoiled here by how good the racing surface is, and by guys like Mitch and Ryan to race with. Me and Ryan went at it for a lot of laps, then l knew Mitch would be fast and coming when he got into second. “Ryan’s one of the greatest competitors we have had over the years, and Mitch is the future of our sport. It feels good to finally get our first win here this season.” The Super Stocks were primed for a possible first-time winner on Saturday, as Braden Tucke and Rob Melzer occupied the front row, with perennial favorite Moore lining up 11th on the grid. Although Tucke bolted to the lead early ahead of Don Baney Jr., and Melzer, all eyes were on the Daugherty 21D of Moore. Moore moved into second on lap nine, then the lead on lap 11. Although Tucke stayed within striking distance the remaining four laps, Moore raced to his 15th overall victory of 2022 ahead of Tucke, Baney Jr., Melzer, and the Wiles clan of Took in fifth and son Tyler in sixth. The Mini Stocks hit the ground running yet again, with Chaz Dawson leading the early laps ahead of race favorites Justin Cranmore and Doug Hensel, who was bidding to earn his fourth straight WCS victory and fifth overall. Cranmore led by lap seven of the 12-lap event, before a bobble in turn 4 enabled Hensel to grab the lead. Hensel appeared to be on his way to victory before mechanical problems slowed his progress in turns 3 and 4 with two laps remaining. Cranmore took advantage of the slowing Hensel on the race’s final corner to claim the victory with Hensel second, Dawson third and Kyle Petit fourth. “There’s a lot of fast, fast race cars in this division,” said Cranmore. “It’s unfortunate that Doug had some trouble there at the end, but l’ve been looking at the back of his car all season long. We will take the win.” The Modifieds hit the speedway last but ended the evening’s festivities in spectacular fashion. DJ Cline and Shaw jumped to the front of the pack from the get-go and stayed that way during the entire course of the 20-lap finale. After drag racing down the front chute on lap 15, Shaw stayed out front until Cline made one final attempt in turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Cline’s green No. 4 nudged the back end of Shaw’s 01 machine, momentarily sending Shaw sideways before hanging on at the stripe ahead of Cline, Jimmy Humphrey, Alex Sickkinen, and Ron Miller. “(DJ) almost got me sideways there out of four, but that’s racing.” said Shaw. “It feels good to win again, but what a great race. Our car ran well, and the track was awesome.” The Fast Five series will be in action the next two Saturdays with the Sean McConathey Memorial for Mini Stocks slated for July 2, and the second visit from the OVSCA sprint cars on July 9. The much-anticipated DirtCar Summer Nationals for Late Models and Modifieds visits WCS on Sunday July 17.

FAST Sprints Heat 1 – 20-Bova, 81-L. Jacobs, 38-C. Myers, 1MC-Wayne McPeek, 25-Ryan, 16-Mumaw, 14-Wyatt Zimmerman, 10-Justin Adams, 5-Eric Martin Heat 2- 23-Sodeman Jr., 14-Rayhall, 8-Ames, 9P-Ricky Peterson, 1-Jamie Myers, 9-Andrew Palker, 23P-Nick Patterson, 15-Mitch Harble Heat 3- 1-Dussell, 4-Tyler Street, 19-T. Jacobs, 70-Malcuit, 12-Dolick, 7-Kingan, 6-Jonah Aumend, 2-Joe Adorjan B-Main – Mumaw, Palker, Zimmerman, Kingan, Harble Feature – 1. Malcuit, 2. Ames, 3. Bova, 4. T. Jacobs, 5. Ryan, 6. Dussell, 7. L. Jacobs, 8. Sodeman, 9. C. Myers, 10. Mumaw, 11. Peterson, 12. Palker, 13. J. Myers, 14. McPeek, 15. Street, 16. Dolick, 17. Rayhall, 18. Kingan, 19. Zimmerman, 20. Harble Late Models Heat 1- 14 Gentry, 5m Markham, 79 Caskey, 69 Baird, 17 EvansHeat 2- 59 Bellman, 217 Fraley, 11 Abel, 21 Morrison, 23 ShepherdFeature – 1. Gentry, 2 Caskey, 3. Markham, 4. Bellman, 5. Morrison, 6. Fraley, 7. Baird, 8. Evans, 9. Abel, 10. Shepherd Super Stocks Heat 1- 70-Holmes, 18-Tucke, 27B-Baney Jr., 8A-Ake, 910-Rutt, 21-Moore, 2-William Sidel, 44-Hockensmith Heat 2 – 187-Took Wiles, 187-Tyler Wiles, 77-Melzer, 39-Tony Paynter, U4- Paul McVicker, 313-Virgil Masters, 15-Chase Alexander Feature – 1. Moore, 2. Tucke, 3. Baney Jr., 4. Melzer, 5. Took Wiles, 6. Tyler Wiles, 7. Rutt, 8. Ake, 9. McVicker, 10. Holmes, 11. Masters, 12. Alexander, 13. Paynter, 14. Sidel, 15. Hockensmith Mini Stocks Heat 1- 18h B Hensel, 311 Bruce, 42jr Dawson, 420 Hutton, 3c Carder, 3 Tanner, 12 Gaser, 9k Noel, 23p Petit, 1* Lester, 71 CollinsHeat 2- 2 Cranmore, 18 D Hensel, 18x Bedlion, r7 Ramirez, 36s Spayde, 77 Rannigan, 100 Potter, 8 Brown, 19s Staley, 151 RushFeature – 1. Cranmore, 2. D. Hensel, 3. Dawson, 4. Petit, 5. B. Hensel, 6. Bedlion, 7. Carder, 8. Bruce Sr., 9. Spayde, 10. Rannigan, 11. Graser, 12. Brown, 13. Lester, 14. Tanner, 15. Potter, 16. Collins, 17. Hutton, 18. Rameriz Modifieds Heat 1- 01 Shaw, 4 Cline, 185 Miller, 60 Humphrey, 21 PowellHeat 2- 20 Sickkinen, 99 Gardiner, 69 Robey, 78 Grogg Feature – 1. Shaw, 2. Cline, 3. Humphrey, 4. Sickkinen, 5. Miller, 6. Robey, 7. Powell, 8. Gardiner, 9. Grogg