By Mike Swanger
With a number of NAPA employees in the stands for the evenings races along with another good crowd on a beautiful night for racing, they would see some great action and some history made at ‘Orrville’s Historic Oval’. The Kar Connection Super Late Models would be competing in the Attica Raceway Park/NAPA Wayne County Speedway Late Model Series and after getting rained out at ARP the night before, they were ready to go hammer down. Doug Drown and Jerry Aber would lead the field to the green flag with Drown jumping into the lead. Matt Irey would grab second but Charlie Duncan, Larry Bellman, 2 time series winner and current points leader Ryan Markham, Cody Scott and JR Gentry were all bunched together and on lap four some contact was made that sent Irey sliding into the infield and he did not return to the action. On the restart, Drown once again put some distance between he and the rest of the field as Duncan claimed second with Markham, Scott and Gentry in a three way battle for third. Gentry would leapfrog over Markham and Scott for third on lap 11 and then on a restart following a caution on lap 13 would put the pressure on Duncan for second. The next two laps would see those two drivers flip flop second place as Drown had about a ten car length lead as Markham and Scott raced for 4th. With nine circuits to go, Gentry cleared Duncan for good and started to reel in Drown. Driving the El Campesino Restaurant, McDonald’s and Accu Force #14, Gentry of Wooster, would take the top spot away from Drown coming out of turn four on lap 21, bringing the crowd to it’s feet. As Gentry took the lead, Scott would be passing Markham and Duncan for third. As the checkered flag waved, Gentry would win his first of the year at NAPA WCS and his second win in the ARP/WCS Series in four years. Drown, Scott, Duncan and Markham followed. Heat winners were Scott and Drown.
Ryan and Brad Haudenschild would duel early on for second as Shawn Hubler, Chris Myers and Danny Mumaw would be in a tight race for fourth. They would go three wide coming out of turn two on lap 7 and some contact was made that saw Mumaw’s ride getting a flat tire that sent him to the pits for a new tire and return. Driving the El Campensino Restaurant and King Inspection #57x, Palker would not be challenged and pulled into the Summit Racing Victory Circle for the second time this season. As Ryan and Haudenschild continued their battle for second, 10th starting Sean Zemunik joined in and with five circuits left, took third from Haudenschild. As they crossed the finish line behind Palker, Ryan held off Zemunik as Haudenschild took fourth and Mumaw recovered to fill out the top five as he powered past Myers and Hubler at the same time going into turn three on lap 23. Ryan and Mumaw claimed the heat wins
Mansfield’s Bob Daugherty hustled into the lead on the opening lap from his fourth starting position and the only thing that slowed him down was a multitude of cautions in the Lowes Super Stock feature. Piloting the Char’s Cars, Gionino’s Pizzeria and Hursh Engines #21d, Daugherty notched his fifth win of the season. The back half of the top five would change each lap as Dustin Daugherty would finish second although T A Perrine would slide into second in the middle part of the race before dropping out with mechanical woes. Brandon Craver would finish third with Tyler Nicely and Tod Bevilacqua rounded out the top five as Paul Holmes and Bob Daugherty won the heat races.
In the early years of NAPA WCS, there were many ‘Powder Puff’ races for the women, but until last night, no women had ever won a regular feature according to track historians. Sixteen year old Brianna Hensel of Apple Creek took the lead on the last lap of the WQKT 104.5 Mini Stock feature and win her 1st feature and make history. On a last lap restart, driving the JoyRide Transportation and DJ Directional Service #28 that is usually driven by Brad Hensel, Brianna, who started 14th with some cars not starting in front of her, powered past Stephen Crowe for the win. Hensel kept slowly working her way through the field as Michael Stewart led the first two laps before Crowe took over for the first of his two times in the lead as Wes Staley took the lead at the halfway mark and led the next four laps until his motor expired giving the lead back to Crowe and setting up Brianna’s last lap pass for the win. Dustin Bedlion would claim third as Corey Staley and Jeff Slykhuis followed. Roger Olar, Bedlion and Jordan James posted the heat wins.
All the racers were racing for nightly and yearly ‘Racer Rewards’ from the Contingency Connection program on Saturday night.
Next Saturday night, July 15th will have the winner of the Kar Connection Super Late Model feature earning a spot in the following week’s Buckeye Late Model Dirtweek and the ‘Don Gross Memorial’ that will be a $4,000 to win feature. Also next Saturday will be the second night of the ‘Summer Series’ for both the Lowes Super Stocks and the WQKT 104.5 Mini Stocks. The Vintage American Race Cars will be on hand also. Gates will open at 3 pm and racing at 7 pm. For more info, go to www.waynecountyspeedway.com
NAPA WAYNE COUNTY SPEEDWAY RESULTS
Saturday, July 8, 2017
KAR Connection Super Late Models
Heat 1 Cody Scott, JR Gentry, Charlie Duncan, Ryan Markham, Jim Nicely, Allen Baker, Ben Mott, Nate Potts, Ryan Eddleblute, Shane Campbell
Heat 2 Doug Drown, Jerry Aber, Matt Irey, Larry Bellman, Jim Gingery, Brett Bee, Al Farriss, Blaine Aber, Austin Goon, Randy Davis
Feature JR Gentry, Doug Drown, Cody Scott, Charlie Duncan, Ryan Markham, Brett Bee, Ben Mott, Jim Gingery, Jim Nicely, Nate Potts, Larry Bellman, Al Farriss, Austin Goon, Jerry Aber, Ryan Eddleblute, Matt Irey, Allan Baker, Shane Campbell, Blaine Aber dns, Randy Davis dns
Fisher Performance Sprints
Heat 1 Jordan Ryan, Shawn Hubler, Troy Kingan, Steve Butler, Chris Myers, Jason Dolick, Tyler Dunn, Kris Davis, Nick Patterson#33, Bill Ault
Heat 2 Danny Mumaw, Andrew Palker, Nick Patterson#23, Brad Haudenschild, Sean Zemunik, Jamie Myers, Clay Riney, Chase Baker, Mitch Harble
Feature Andrew Palker, Jordan Ryan, Sean Zemunik, Brad Haudenschild, Danny Mumaw, Chris Myers, Shawn Hubler, Jamie Myers, Jason Dolick, Clay Riney, Tyler Dunn, Steve Butler, Chase Baker, Kris Davis, Nick Patterson#33, Bill Ault, Nick Patterson#23, Troy Kingan, Mitch Harble