On Saturday night it was the Pine Tree Towing and Recovery Sprint Cars that took center stage.
The Ti22 FAST series returned to the ultra-fast 3-8-mile for the second time this season in joining the speedway’s highly competitive 410-winged warriors and the combination failed to disappoint.
Findlay-area driver Ricky Peterson wowed the crowd by picking up his first win of the season, and first career FAST series victory as well, by leading the final three circuits of the 30-lap, $3,000-to win headliner at “Orrville’s Historic Oval.”
Peterson, in the Jerry-McClure-owned No. 9, threw his hat in the ring, among a host of others, in becoming one of the favorites in the fast-approaching $15,000-to-win Pete Jacobs Memorial (Sunday, Sept. 4) by taming the treacherous high side cushion around the paper-clip shaped oval from his sixth starting spot.
Peterson ducked in behind pole-sitter Cody Bova at the start, with 2022 winners Tyler Street and Henry Malcuit close behind. Peterson traded spots with Lee Jacobs through lap 11 for fourth and fifth, while FAST point leader Nate Dussell, and fast charging Sean Rayhall and Danny Mumaw in tow. A lap14 yellow wiped out a straightaway lead for Bova, before Street, at the time, executed the move of the race by picking off Malcuit on the high side, and ducking below Bova in turns 1 and 2 on the restart for the race lead.
Another yellow on lap 17 bunched the field, with Bova contacting the turn 2 guardrail while running second on the restart, forcing the opening night winner to the Hutch Extreme Photos work area for repairs. Bova rejoined the field, but the action was halted on lap 21 for a Trey Jacobs flip in turn 2. On the ensuing restart, Malcuit made a patented slidejob on Street for the lead, but Street’s momentum exiting turn 2 sent the Vantage No. 4 over the rear of the Red Malcuit Inc. 70 which resulted in Street losing several spots.
Disaster struck, however, on lap 22 as a melee in turn 1 collected a slew of front-runners. Lee Jacobs, running fourth, Rayhall sixth, and Mumaw seventh were involved in the crash with Chris Myers, Jack Sodeman, and Wyatt Zimmerman also involved.
Malcuit took the lead on the restart with Peterson grabbing second with Dussell third and Street a close fourth. Peterson closed in on Malcuit on lap 25 before grabbing the lead on lap 27 in turn 4. Peterson hung on for the win with Malcuit second, Street third, with Dussell fourth, WCS regular Nick Patterson fifth from 20th, Bova, Leyton Wagner, Mitch Harble, Jonah Aumend, and Jamie Myers completing the top 10.
“This is huge for us,” said Peterson from victory lane. “We’ve won here before, so l knew we could do it, but we have been struggling a little bit. I can’t thank the entire McClure Team enough, and Bonsai (Bruns, legendary sprint car mechanic) has been helping us and this feels great. I looked at the scoreboard with eight or nine laps left and thought ‘man, l better get going.’ The track was great and it all worked out for us.”
Sprint Cars – Pine Tree Towing & Recovery
Qualifying
1.70-Henry Malcuit, 14.449; 2.4*-Tyler Street, 14.612; 3.81-Lee Jacobs, 14.641; 4.1-Nate Dussel, 14.726; 5.19-Trey Jacobs, 14.909; 6.9-Ricky Peterson, 15.019; 7.23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr., 15.044; 8.16-Danny Mumaw, 15.130; 9.9P-Andrew Palker, 15.148; 10.38K-Chris Myers, 15.163; 11.29-Zeth Sabo, 15.181; 12.15-Mitch Harble, 15.222; 13.14-Sean Rayhall, 15.226; 14.8M-TJ Michael, 15.271; 15.23-Nick Patterson, 15.355; 16.38-Leyton Wagner, 15.378; 17.20B-Cody Bova, 15.477; 18.1M-Jamie Myers, 15.482; 19.51M-Wyatt Zimmerman, 15.791; 20.6J-Jonah Aumend, 16.013; 21.2-Joe Adorjan, 16.142; 22.9G-Cody Gardner, 16.220; 23.20-Danial Burkhart, 16.271; 24.10-Justin Adams, 16.411; 25.D12-Jason Dolick, 16.427; 26.7DK-Dylan Kingan, 99.000;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps)
1. 9-Ricky Peterson[2] ; 2. 70-Henry Malcuit[4] ; 3. 19-Trey Jacobs[3] ; 4. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr.[1] ; 5. 16-Danny Mumaw[5] ; 6. 8M-TJ Michael[8] ; 7. 2-Joe Adorjan[9] ; 8. 15-Mitch Harble[7] ; 9. 29-Zeth Sabo[6]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps)
1. 20B-Cody Bova[1] ; 2. 4*-Tyler Street[4] ; 3. 1M-Jamie Myers[5] ; 4. 6J-Jonah Aumend[6] ; 5. D12-Jason Dolick[8] ; 6. 10-Justin Adams[7] ; 7. 23-Nick Patterson[2] ; 8. 9P-Andrew Palker[3] ; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[9]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps)
1. 14-Sean Rayhall[1] ; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs[4] ; 3. 1-Nate Dussel[3] ; 4. 38K-Chris Myers[2] ; 5. 38-Leyton Wagner[5] ; 6. 51M-Wyatt Zimmerman[6] ; 7. 20-Danial Burkhart[8] ; 8. 9G-Cody Gardner[7]
A-Main – (30 Laps)
1. 9-Ricky Peterson[6] ; 2. 70-Henry Malcuit[3] ; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[2] ; 4. 1-Nate Dussel[9] ; 5. 23-Nick Patterson[20] ; 6. 20B-Cody Bova[1] ; 7. 38-Leyton Wagner[15] ; 8. 15-Mitch Harble[22] ; 9. 6J-Jonah Aumend[11] ; 10. 1M-Jamie Myers[8] ; 11. 20-Danial Burkhart[21] ; 12. 10-Justin Adams[17] ; 13. 9G-Cody Gardner[24] ; 14. 2-Joe Adorjan[19] ; 15. 81-Lee Jacobs[4] ; 16. 16-Danny Mumaw[13] ; 17. 14-Sean Rayhall[5] ; 18. 23JR-Jack Sodeman Jr.[10] ; 19. 38K-Chris Myers[12] ; 20. 51M-Wyatt Zimmerman[18] ; 21. 19-Trey Jacobs[7] ; 22. D12-Jason Dolick[14] ; 23. 9P-Andrew Palker[23] ; 24. 8M-TJ Michael[16]