From Randy Worrell
ORRVILLE – Whether a driver believes in luck – good or bad – they all agree it is more difficult to shake a run of misfortune than to stay up front. Tyler Street put all put his recent gremlins in the rearview mirror on Saturday night.
The Fredericktown pilot led wire to wire to score an impressive Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association victory in highlighting the O’Reilly Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway’s Fast Five Series program at Orrville’s Historic Oval.
The Pine Tree Towing and Recovery sprint cars were first to hit the speedway but would begin their 25-lap main with an ominous beginning, which ironically involved Street and fifth-starting Leyton Wagner. As the sprint cars were making their final preparations before taking the grid in the OVSCA feature, Wagner climbed the right rear of Street down the backstretch and climbed the turn 3 embankment before flipping onto the pit entrance lane. Although Wagner was uninjured, the New Castle, Pennsylvania youngster was done for the night.
Once the green was finally waved, it was all Street from his inside front row starting spot. The 22-year-old immediately took the high line and built a commanding lead. Although Street was long gone, in typical WCS fashion the action was just starting. Nick Patterson was on the move early from 10th, racing into fifth with 10 laps remaining as Henry Malcuit, Andrew Palker, Zach Ames from eighth, Patterson, and Trey Jacobs diced it up in traffic. Jacobs, who suffered a mechanical issue earlier in the event, went pit side with five laps remaining before a yellow on lap 22 bunched the field one final time.
Although Malcuit got under Street briefly on the restart, Street sped away for his first WCS victory in his Vantage, Valley Heating and Cooling No. 4, with Patterson getting by Malcuit for second in the closing laps, as Palker rode home fourth, Ames fifth, Danny Mumaw sixth, with Chris Garnes from an earlier spin, Wayne McPeek, Danial Burkhart, and Chris Myers rounding out the top 10.
“This is so awesome, we’ve been fast here for a couple of years, but it seems that we’ve either been crashed out or something happens,” said Street. “After the incident with (Leyton Wagner) before the start, l knew our right rear was going flat because I could feel it under that last yellow. We blew this motor a few years ago, but Kistler Engines got it back together and it was strong tonight. We have struggled to make the bigger races, but our goal is to put it
The WCS will now sit idle next Saturday in preparation of the annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek stop on Monday June 13. The popular RaceSaver 305 sprint cars will also be on the card. Visit WCSOhio on Facebook and on the web at www.waynecountyspeedway.com for a full preview of the event in the following days.
OVSCA Sprints
Heat 1- 3-Jacobs, 4-Street, 9-Palker, 23-Patterson, 7A-Dave Dickson, 001B-Garrett Mitchell, 001R-Greg Mitchell, 11-Kory Crabtree
Heat 2- 8-Ames, 70-Malcuit, 42-Garnes, 20-Burkhart, 91-Aaron Middaugh, 6-Jonah Aumend, 23H-Ron Hamlin
Heat 3- 1-McPeek, n38-Wagner, 16-Mumaw, 38K-Myers, 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 2-Joe Adorjan, 14-Wyatt Zimmerman
Feature- 1.Street, 2. Patterson, 3.Malcuit, 4.Palker, 5. Ames, 6. Mumaw, 7. Garnes, 8. McPeek, 9. Burkhart, 10. Myers, 11. Crabtree, 12. Dickson, 13. Aumend, 14. Greg Mitchell, 15. Garrett Mitchell, 16. Jacobs, 17. Middaugh, 18. Wagner