By Mike Swanger
The regular season wrapped up Saturday night at NAPA Jani Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway on Snap On Tools Little Badger Tool Sales night and it was a night of wild action with three track championships on the line as this season the points were determined by the drivers 10 best night of points.
California’s Buddy Kofoid would grab the lead of the Pine Tree Towing & Recovery Sprint feature with Jordan Ryan and Danny Mumaw right behind the 16 year old Kofoid. Mumaw, the points leader and needing a fifth place finish to win the crown, took over second from Ryan, who was second in the points standing as the night started. Following a stoppage of action on lap 7 for Steve Butler, the return of the green would see Kofoid and Mumaw, who were the heat winners, pull a couple of sliders on each other on the next circuit and as they went into turn one on lap 9, they both went for the same real estate of the track and both went flipping into the turn one guardrail, bringing out the red flag, ending both drivers race and Mumaw’s chances of winning the track championship. This would put Castalia’s Ryan into the lead with Texas’ T J Michael on his tail and as the race went back to green, those two would put on an amazing display of driving as they would exchange the lead nearly twice on every lap as Ryan would take the point coming out of turn two and Michael would regain the top spot coming out of turn four. Michael would be the leader of lap 11 through 15 as Ryan would be recorded as the leader for the next two circuits followed by Michael’s retaking the lead for laps 18 and 19 when Ryan would take over for good. As those two were dueling for the lead, only a couple of car lengths behind was another two car battle between Chase Baker and Clay Riney as they were flip flopping for third and waiting for the leaders to make a mistake. Ryan and his Harbach Electronics, Burns Electric and B & B Drain Service #9 would pull away to win his second feature of the year and secure his first track championship at WCS. Michael would hang on to second as Riney edged past Baker for third with Trey Jacobs filling out the top five.
Brandon Craver would pop into the lead from his third starting position and set the pace for the opening 6 laps of the CorBon Super Stock main with Coshocton’s Matt Shroyer in his tire tracks. Shroyer would take his Appearance Supply Kompany #15s into the lead on lap 7 and never look back to claim his first win of the season. Bob Daugherty and Paul Holmes would be chasing the points title as they were running second and third in the feature but Holmes would pull off with motor issues with five laps to go as Daugherty would clinch his second straight championship with the second place finish. As the white flag flew, T A Perrine was third but mechanical issues with his car allowed Gary Hensel Jr. to edge past Craver for third as Tyler Nicely pocketed fifth. Dustin Daugherty and Holmes posted the heat wins.
The Modifieds made their third visit to ‘Orrville’s Historic Oval’ and extreme North Eastern Ohio’s Joel Watson would be the third different winner as he took the N.W.R., and H & K Construction #92 past Jimmy Smith on lap 2 and cruise to his first trip into the Summit Racing victory lane. Smith held off Nathan Loney and Chris Basich in the middle part of the 20 lap feature but Basich would pull off on lap 14 and Loney would drop out two circuits later as Brad Goff would mount a charge on Smith for second during the last three laps and would settle for third followed by Brandon Welker and Robbie Ledger. Heat winners were Watson and Smith. It was also announced that the Modifieds would be part of the Ohio Dirt Blow out on September 21st and 22nd.
It was the first Sam Huffman Memorial for the WQKT 104.5 Mini Stocks with $500 going to the winner. The race went red before the field could get down the back stretch as Gary Hensel Jr. went up and over the turn two embankment to bring out the first stop. Hensel Jr. would continue in the race. Jordan James took the pole position and lead the tightly bunch field for the first three laps as the red waved again for Cory Staley’s roll over in turn four. With the green flag back out, Wes Staley would pursue James and tried every way he could to get around James’ Ugly Duck, Brad’s Auto Body and Thompson’s Memorials #83 but could never wrestle the lead away as James would win by less than a car length. Brad and Doug Hensel would finish third and fourth while last chance winner Dustin Bedlion notched fifth from his 17th starting position to collect the NewFast Racing $100 Hard Charger award. Kyle Petit, Cory Staley, James and Wayne Newbury bested the heat wins. It was announced that Doug Hensel was the Track Champion but after inquiries and double and triple checking the points, Jordan James won by two points over Doug Hensel, 534 to 532 points, using the top ten points night of the season for all drivers.
The next racing action comes up Sunday, September 2nd with the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions returning for their third trip to Wayne County Speedway for the $10,000 to win Pete Jacobs Memorial. Caleb Helms was the winner last season. The CorBon Super Stocks will also be in action as McKenzie Concrete will sponsor the $1,000 to win feature. Regular times are set for next Sunday.
For more information, check the website at www.waynecountyspeedway.com or on facebook at facebook/waynecountyspeedway.
NAPA JANI AUTO PARTS WAYNE COUNTY SPEEDWAY RESULTS
Saturday, August 25, 2018
PINE TREE TOWING & RECOVERY SPRINTS
Heat 1 Buddy Kofoid, Nick Patterson, Troy Kingan, Chase Baker, Henry Malcuit, Steve Butler, Jamie Myers, Shawn Hubler
Heat 2 Danny Mumaw, Trey Jacobs, Jordan Ryan, T J Michael, Clay Riney, Tyler Dunn, Dylan Kingan
Feature Jordan Ryan, T J Michael, Clay Riney, Chase Baker, Trey Jacobs, Nick Patterson, Jamie Myers, Tyler Dunn, Troy Kingan, Dylan Kingan, Buddy Kofoid, Danny Mumaw, Steve Butler, Henry Malcuit, Shawn Hubler