By Randy Worrell
ORRVILLE – By almost every measure, Saturday nights field of cars was the strongest and most stout of the 2022 season at the O’Reilly Auto Parts at Wayne County Speedway.
And the 3-8-mile oval was once again up to the task as well.
Chris Myers became just the second repeat winner this season in the Pine Tree Towing and Recovery Sprint Cars by leading every lap of the Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association/Rick Susong Memorial headliner, while Ryan Markham stayed red-hot by besting a talented Malcuit Tavern Super Late Model contingent in picking up his sixth overall victory. Kyle Moore doubled up for the second week in a row by claiming both the McKenzie Concrete Super Stock and Elite Munitions Modified mains with Chaz Dawson becoming just the fourth JoyRide Mini Stock driver to visit the Summit Racing Victory Lane with his first win of the campaign.
Myers, who last won at WCS on May 28, inched closer to Henry Malcuit in the chase to the season championship by leading all 25 laps from his front-row starting slot. Myers held off Kory Crabtree, also a former winner at WCS, Tyler Street and Ricky Peterson, both feature winners at WCS in 2022, and western Pennsylvania-based youngster Leyton Wagner in fifth at the stripe.
Crabtree, second in the OVSCA point standings behind Bryan Nuckles, dogged Myers the entire race, eventually pulling to within a few car lengths in heavy traffic before a caution waved on lap 15. Myers once again set sail when the green replaced the yellow until lap 22 when Joe Adorjan left the ballpark by tumbling over the turn 2 guardrail. Adorjan was unscathed but was done for the evening while running in 15th before the crash.
Myers survived one last ditch effort on the restart from Crabtree, but held on as Street, Peterson, Wagner, and Malcuit diced it up behind the familiar Tony Popa-owned yellow 38K. Malcuit crossed the stripe sixth, with Skyler Gee, Andrew Palker, Jamie Myers, and Nuckles completing the top 10.
“We’ve struggled some recently, but this a tough place,” said Myers. “The track is so fast and if you can win here, you’re doing something. We hit the lapped cars just right as they stayed mostly on the bottom. Everything worked in our favor tonight.”
A scary incident took place in in the third heat, however, as Wyatt Zimmerman, who timed in third quick in qualifying, bicycled in turn 4 before his Shayne Mixon-owned 51 catapulted over the four-tiered guardrail exiting the turn and flipping into the catch fence. Following a few anxious moments, the WCS regular climbed from his battered machine shaken but uninjured. A delay of an hour followed as track crew members repaired the protective barriers.
Rick Susong Memorial 08-06-2022
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Sprint Cars – Pine Tree Towing & Recovery
Qualifying
1.19-Trey Jacobs, 14.506; 2.4*-Tyler Street, 14.579; 3.51M-Wyatt Zimmerman, 14.850; 4.9-Ricky Peterson, 14.888; 5.38K-Chris Myers, 14.916; 6.99-Skyler Gee, 14.959; 7.70-Henry Malcuit, 15.007; 8.83X-Nate Reeser, 15.070; 9.23P-Nick Patterson, 15.296; 10.59-Bryan Nuckles, 15.456; 11.11C-Kory Crabtree, 15.655; 12.38-Leyton Wagner, 15.729; 13.20-Danial Burkhart, 15.793; 14.1M-Jamie Myers, 15.860; 15.6J-Jonah Aumend, 15.897; 16.OOH-Hunter Lynch, 15.911; 17.7DK-Dylan Kingan, 15.925; 18.1B-Keith Baxter, 16.061; 19.D12-Jason Dolick, 16.093; 20.7A-Dave Dickson, 16.353; 21.2-Joe Adorjan, 16.778; 22.23H-Ron Hamlin, 17.938; 23.9P-Andrew Palker, 26.220;
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 70-Henry Malcuit[2] ; 2. 19-Trey Jacobs[4] ; 3. 9-Ricky Peterson[3] ; 4. 59-Bryan Nuckles[1] ; 5. OOH-Hunter Lynch[6] ; 6. D12-Jason Dolick[7] ; 7. 20-Danial Burkhart[5] ; 8. 23H-Ron Hamlin[8]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 11C-Kory Crabtree[1] ; 2. 38K-Chris Myers[3] ; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[4] ; 4. 1M-Jamie Myers[5] ; 5. 9P-Andrew Palker[8] ; 6. 83X-Nate Reeser[2] ; 7. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[6] ; 8. 7A-Dave Dickson[7]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 38-Leyton Wagner[1] ; 2. 99-Skyler Gee[3] ; 3. 23P-Nick Patterson[2] ; 4. 1B-Keith Baxter[6] ; 5. 6J-Jonah Aumend[5] ; 6. 2-Joe Adorjan[7] ; 7. 51M-Wyatt Zimmerman[4]
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 38K-Chris Myers[2] ; 2. 11C-Kory Crabtree[4] ; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[6] ; 4. 9-Ricky Peterson[5] ; 5. 38-Leyton Wagner[9] ; 6. 70-Henry Malcuit[7] ; 7. 99-Skyler Gee[8] ; 8. 9P-Andrew Palker[14] ; 9. 1M-Jamie Myers[11] ; 10. 59-Bryan Nuckles[10] ; 11. D12-Jason Dolick[16] ; 12. 1B-Keith Baxter[12] ; 13. 83X-Nate Reeser[17] ; 14. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[20] ; 15. 6J-Jonah Aumend[15] ; 16. 20-Danial Burkhart[19] ; 17. 7A-Dave Dickson[23] ; 18. 23H-Ron Hamlin[22] ; 19. 2-Joe Adorjan[18] ; 20. 23P-Nick Patterson[1] ; 21. OOH-Hunter Lynch[13] ; 22. 19-Trey Jacobs[3] ; 23. 51M-Wyatt Zimmerman[21]