Wayne County Speedway
May 19, 2012
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Burkin wins BOSS feature; Sheppard, Morehouse and Gardner also winners at NAPA AUTO PARTS WCS

by Ryan Pearson
ORRVILLE, Ohio (May 18) Under beautiful skies officials at NAPA AUTO PARTS Wayne County Speedway swung open the gates for our first installment of the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series; Lias Tire Super Late Models; Bremenour Electric Modifieds and the Thrifty Discount Muffler Pure Stocks. The fans were treated to door handle to door handle racing in all divisions.  Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic sponsored the evening’s action.
 
Dallas Hewitt and Wooster, Ohio Danny Mumaw lead the field down to the green flag for the start of the B.O.S.S feature event. As the cars fired off contact ensued between Hewitt and Mumaw in front of the entire starting field. Mumaw took the brunt of incident which resulted in the fan favorite to retire for the evening with extensive front end damage. All other sprint cars dodged the wreaking sprints and were able to continue. A complete restart was on tap which saw Tom Rhoades and Tony Beaber moved to the front row. Flagman Jason Flory waved the green flag high in the air and Rhoades jumped to the lead. An early caution flew for Grafton, West Virginia’s Andre Layfield who spun by himself. By lap five Rhoades held a comfortable lead ahead of Beaber and Fenton, Michigan’s Steve Irwin. Beaber attempted to hold off Irwin but Irwin slipped past Beaber. As Rhoades held a sizeable lead eyes were on the white and green sprinter of Mike Burkin who started fifteenth. On lap five Burkin had made his way to fourth. Burkin on a tear to the front had joined the battle that was waging for the second position making it a three car battle with Irwin, Beaber and Burkin. As these three cars sliced and diced for position Landon Simon joined the fray to also wage war with the leaders. Rhoades lead disappeared and on lap eleven Irwin caught Rhoades and applied pressure to the leader. As the leaders raced into turn three Irwin dove under Rhoades and executed a perfect slide job to snag the lead on lap twelve. On lap fourteen Burkin moved into to second getting around Simon; Irwin held point ahead of Burkin, Simon, Beaber and Kirk Jefferies. On lap sixteen the leaders closed in on the back markers. Burkin chased down Irwin and on lap nineteen he jammed in hard under Irwin making a text book slide job to wrestle the lead away from Irwin. On lap twenty the caution flag flew for Simon who was running third. Layfield rode the cushion to rip through the field and on lap twenty he found himself sitting sixth after starting shotgun on the field and causing an early caution. On the restart Burkin went back to his favorite groove around the cushion as Irwin dove under trying to make the inside line work for him. Burkin drove away from Irwin to take the win. Burkin was followed to the checkers by Irwin, Rhoades, Layfield and Beaber. Simon, Rhoades and Irwin won heats.

It was a former track champion front row as Ryan Markham and Charlie Duncan led the stout field of Lias Tire Super Late Models to the green flag. Duncan used the high side to power ahead of Markham. On lap four Duncan led Russ King, Ron Davies, George Lee and Dave Hornikle. Five laps in and things got interesting at the front as Duncan led but King and Davies both were putting pressure on the leader. Davies took to the high side to try to pass King and Duncan. King kept peeking under Duncan. The epic battle for the lead continued for several laps as the top three cars were waging a full on battle. With the great battle up front eighth starting Brandon Sheppard from Farmer City Illinois found the cushion in turn one and two to his liking and moved up to fourth. King kept working on Duncan and eventually motored past Duncan to take the lead with Davies in tow. Davies had to slip by Duncan by working the middle of the track. On lap twelve the caution flew for Rick Armstrong who spun. Under caution Duncan retired to the pits with mechanical issues. When the racing resumed eyes turned back to the Rocket house car being piloted by Sheppard who closed up on Davies. Sheppard several times had a great run on Davies but the veteran shut the door each time. Sheppard pulled the ole okey doke as they flew down the back stretch it looked as he was going to go high then a the last second dove under Davies to get beside him. He then completed the pass in as they raced off turn four and set his sights on King. Sheppard slipped past Davies by using the low side of the race track but he quickly returned to the cushion throwing a rooster tail of dirt on the guard rail as he raced off turn two each lap. On lap eighteen King was feeling the heavy pressure of Sheppard. King fighting off the hard charger couldn’t hold him off any longer relinquished the lead to Sheppard. At the checker flag Sheppard came home the winner. He was followed by King, Davies, George Lee, Cory Conley and Shane McLoughlin. King, Markham and Duncan won heat races.
 
In the Bremenour Electric Modifieds Norm Aronhalt and Kyle Brown who made his first start of the 2012 season brought the field to the green flag. Last week feature winner Aronhalt again jumped to the lead ahead of Brown and Kevin Morehouse. On the third lap the leader Aronhalt spun in turn four bringing out the caution and handing the lead to Morehouse. That is all Morehouse needed as he ran away from the field. Aronhalt worked his way back to second after going to the tail and attempted to catch Morehouse. It was too little to late as Morehouse took the checkers. Aronhalt, Brown, Jim Nicely and Larry Kugel rounded out the top five. Winning heat races were Brown and Aronhalt.
 
In the Thrifty Discount Muffler Pure Stocks Brandon Gardner and Charlie Duncan led the field to the green flag. Gardner stepped out ahead of Duncan who usually drives the Halls Auto Sales Super Late Model to take the lead. Gardner lead but a tight fierce battle waged for fourth as Tory Gibbs and Josh Miller raced door handle to door handle for several laps. On lap eight the caution flew as both Gibbs and Miller spun in turn three. Duncan closed on the rear bumper of Gardner and tried to pass on the outside lane. Gardner held him off. On the final lap Duncan made a bonsai move and dove under Gardner. The pass wouldn’t stick and Gardner pulled ahead to take the win. Duncan, Tony Cline, Gary Hoopingarner and Shaun Cains rounded out the top five. Duncan and Gardner won heat races.
 
For additional information contact Jason or Kristin Flory at: 330-465-2365, or email at kristinu2@yahoo.com. For news, updates and schedule visit the Wayne County Speedway website at www.waynecountyspeedway.com. Wayne County Speedway is located nine miles east of Wooster, or 15 miles west of Massillon on US Rt. 30, then one mile north on Carr Road.
 
B.O.S.S. Wingless Sprints (20 Cars)
Heat #1
1. Landon Simon 2. Danny Mumaw 3. Chuck Wilson 4. Nick Patterson 5. Lewie Christian 6. Alec Martin DNS: Andre Layfield
Heat #2
1. Tom Rhoades 2. Tony Beaber 3. Dallas Hewitt 4. Aaron Middaugh 5. Mark Cassella 6. Duffy Smith 7. Rob Chaney
Heat #3
1. Steve Irwin 2. Dustin Smith 3. Derek Hastings 4. Kirk Jeffries 5. Mike Burkin 6. Brandon Spithaler
Feature:
1. Mike Burkin 2. Steve Irwin 3. Tom Rhoades 4. Andre Layfield 5. Tony Beaber 6. Kirk Jefferies 7. Dallas Hewitt 8. Derek Hastings 9. Dustin Smith 10. Nick Patterson (#23) 11. Lewie Christian 12. Chuck Wilson 13. Alec Martin 14. Aaron Middaugh 15. Landon Simon 16. Rob Chaney 17. Mark Cassella 18. Duffy Smith 19. Danny Mumaw DNS: Brandon Spithaler
 
Lias Tire Super Late Models (26 Cars)
Heat #1
1. Ryan Markham 2. Dave Hornikle 3. Cory Conley 4. DJ Cline 5. David Liles 6. Thomas Baker 7. Eric Smitley 8. Chester Elliott 9. Blaine Aber
Heat #2
1. Charlie Duncan 2. George Lee 3. Brandon Sheppard 4. John Lobb 5. Travis Mensching 6. JR Gentry 7. Larry Baldwin 8. Johnny Moore
Heat #3
1. Russ King 2. Ron Davies 3. Shane McLoughlin 4. Mark Gardiner 5. Rick Bond 6. Rick Armstrong 7. Larry Bellman 8. Don Conley
B-Main
1. JR Gentry 2. Rick Armstrong 3. Thomas Baker 4. Blaine Aber 5. Larry Bellman 6. Don Conley 7. Larry Baldwin 8. Chester Elliott
Feature:
1. Brandon Sheppard 2. Russ King 3. Ron Davies 4. George Lee 5. Cory Conley 6. Shane McLoughlin 7. Ryan Markham 8. Dave Hornikle 9. JR Gentry 10. DJ Cline 11. John Lobb 12. Rick Bond 13. David Liles 14. Eric Smitley 15. Travis Mensching 16. Blaine Aber 17. Charlie Duncan 18. Rick Armstrong 19. Mark Gardiner 20. Thomas Baker
 
Bremenour Electric Modifieds (13 Cars)
Heat #1
1. Norm Aronhalt 2. Kevin Morehouse 3. Nathon Loney 4. Eric Singhaus 5. Larry Kugel 6. Jon Sluka 7. Charlie Summers
Heat #2
1. Kyle Brown 2. Bruce Miller 3. Sid Danials 4. Jim Nicely 5. Rory Reed 6. Dave Bodkins
Feature:
1. Kevin Morehouse 2. Norm Aronhalt 3. Kyle Brown 4. Jim Nicely 5. Larry Kugel 6. Bruce Miller 7. Nathon Loney 8. Sid Danials 9. Charlie Summers 10. Dave Bodkins 11. Eric Singhaus 12. Rory Reed 13. Jon Sluka
 
Thrifty Discount Muffler Pure Stocks (16 Cars)
Heat #1
1. Brandon Gardner 2. Jeremy Lynch 3. Tory Gibbs 4. Josh Miller 5. Gary Hoopingarner 6. Todd Gallion 7. Roger Drouhard
Heat #2
1. Charlie Duncan 2. Tony Cline 3. Jeremy Dickerson 4. Shaun Cains 5. Brandon Craver 6. Tyler Nicely 7. Dennis Amstutz
Feature:
1. Brandon Gardner 2. Charlie Duncan 3. Tony Cline 4. Gary Hoopingarner 5. Shaun Cains 6. Brandon Craver 7. Josh Miller 8. Roger Drouhard 9. Todd Gallion 10. Tyler Nicely 11. Dennis Amstutz 12. Tory Gibbs  13. Jeremy Lynch DNS: Chase Alexander, Jon Preston and Mike Hudson