From Scott Wolfe
Stewart, OH — (April 28, 2012) — Despite heavy rains all day Thursday, Billy Jarrell’s Skyline Speedway crew prepped the fast three-eighths mile track for a great night of racing Friday, April 27th. Claiming the win in the powerful Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association series was Veteran outlaw Danny Smith of Chillicothe, Ohio, who won in a torrid Battle-Royal with Jimmy Stinson and Andre Layfield.
South Parkersburg, WV driver Chris Carpenter broke Chris Garnes’ winning streak with the win in the AMRA Late Model main, and Jeremy Berwanger, the Murray City Bandit, claimed the AMRA modified victory for the second straight week. Overall, 74 cars in three classes were in the pits.
At the start of the OVSCA 410 Sprint car feature, Grafton, WV’s Andre Layfield got a good start over outside polesitter, veteran Danny Smith. Last week’s winner Jimmy Stinson also bagged Smith for second and began to chase down Layfield.
The drama that ensued was a classic open wheel firestorm. Stinson challenged Layfield to take the lead going into turn one on lap six, but the move scrubbed speed off both cars allowing Smith to take the lead the next time around and for good on the eleventh circuit.
A great three-way battle saw Layfield regain the lead with Stinson and Smith in tow. Jimmy Nier momentarily took third from Smith, but Smith had a resurgence to assume the lead once again passing both Stinson and Layfield.
Stinson and Smith’s iconic JD Engines/Maxim #4 locked horns the rest of the way and with two laps to go Stinson darted by Smith. Amid heavy lapped traffic Smith returned the favor with a final kamikaze move in a feature event that saw multiple lead changes.
Not only was the up-front battle a good one, but late race surges from McPeek, Dickson, and fast-timer Josh Davis highlighted the action. Layfield had a lap 18 bout with the wall that slowed his charge. On the score-sheet Smith looked to dominate, but in between jaunts to the start-finish line prolific bursts of hardcore passing kept the Midwestern fans standing.
Smith said in victory lane, “Wow, what a race. I didn’t know if I could get back by (Stinson) the seond time. I guess the difference tonight was just being in the right spot at the right time.”
Rounding out the top ten were Danny Smith, Jimmy Stinson, Jimmy Nier, Wayne McPeek, Dave Dickson, Josh Davis, Andre Layfield, Kory Crabtree, Aaron Higgins, and Greg Mitchell. Hard chargers were Jimmy Nier and Josh Davis.