Skyline Speedway
June 9, 2012
______________________________________

Henry Wins Malta Mods by a Nose
Smith and Garnes Repeat Winners

by Scott Wolfe
STEWART, OHIO - Doug Henry and Roy Roush saved the best for last. Henry, the defending Malta Windows AMRA Road Warrior champion fought tooth-and-nail for twenty laps with Roush to win by no more than six inches in the exciting Malta Modified feature event Friday night at Billy Jarrell's Skyline Speedway, where a solid crowd hung around to cheer both drivers as they made a cool off lap. Chris Garnes took the 25 lap Tru-Tech Customs AMRA Super Late Model main and veteran Danny Smith grabbed his fourth Skyline Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association 410 sprint win. Zach Carr claimed the Mike's Auto Body Mini-Wedge main. 80 cars poured into the pits in four classes.

The Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association (OVSCA) 410 Sprinters on Hoosier Tires saw heat winners Danny Smith and Dave Dickson pace the field to the green flag. Smith and Dickson pulled away from the field with a torrid dual developing between Josh Davis and Kory Crabtree for third place. That duo raged wildly, swapping passes regularly for nearly 23 laps. By lap 16, Smith had distanced himself from Dickson by a straight-away.

Smith, the crafty veteran worked traffic to perfection in his JD Powered Maxim #4. Dickson was equally persistent and ran a solid second well ahead of the rest of the campaign. Davis and Crabtree continued to spar, then Nathan Skaggs joined the fray and made it a three-way race for third.

On lap 23 Jesse McCreary, amid the front-runners, snagged an infield tire and brought out the only caution of the race. After several caution laps, tires began to glaze over, staging what made for an exciting finish. Davis, who had anchored third at this juncture, fired fast out of the gate, while Dickson and Smith struggled to get their tires to fire.

Davis bagged Dickson and pulled alongside Smith exiting turn two. Smith led by a car length at the white flag, forcing Davis to make a move. Davis drove it in defiantly hard past Smith on the outside of turn one, but his surge carried him high and scrubbed off the momentum necessary to make the pass stick. Davis recovered but a turn four challenge fell short as Smith picked up his fourth Skyline win of the year. This win comes on the heels of a record setting win and time trial at I-77 Raceway Park where Smith set a new track record of 11:02.

Jimmy Stinson came on late in the race for a top five. Wes McGlumphy and Greg Mitchell each posted strong top ten runs as well.

Rounding out the top ten were Smith, Davis, Dickson, Crabtree, Stinson, Skaggs, McGlumphy, Greg Mitchell, Brian Benson, and Lance Webb. Stinson was the hard charger for the sprints moving up 5 positions from 10th to 5th. Josh Davis set fast time of 13:89.

Two young chargers set the stage for the plot of the dramatic AMRA Late Model main. K-C Burdette jumped into the early lead following a first lap caution that set up a complete restart. Burdette again blasted into the lead over Chris Garnes.

Burdette and Garnes had a racy game of cat-and-mouse, while Tony Roush and Frankie Hall had an impressive side-by-side battle for third. Both strong early, Roush and Hall gradually fell off the pace just past the halfway mark. Ralph Withem stoked the Coals of his Swartz Chassis to claim third, while Andy Bond, Freddie Carpenter, Travis Brookover, Jeff Burdette, and Tony Roush went three and four wide trying to leap-frog into the top ten. Burdette and Brookover both blasted up through the pack in solid runs, while Eric Francis masterminded a great run of his own.

Just past the halfway point Garnes settled into his groove and began to pick up the pace. On lap 17 Garnes won a side-by-side two lap dash to the point, then never looked back. Burdette came within striking distance on the final lap, but 'No Fear' Garnes had the momentum to win by several car lengths. Eric Francis was the hard charger for the late models moving up 6 positions from 18th to 12th.

Rounding out the top ten were Garnes, KC Burdette, Withem, Andy Bond, Freddie Carpenter, Travis Brookover, Jeff Burdette, Tony Roush, Frankie Hall, and Ronnie Mayle. Tyler Carpenter set fast time at 15:03.

The modified main was the race of the night. From the get-go Doug Henry took the lead. Henry led by about three car lengths before Roush reeled him in to initiate a race-long battle that brought the fans to their feet. Barring a mid-race pair of laps that Henry led by a couple car lengths, the race was a close, good old-fashioned paint-trading battle royal. Roush actually led lap five of the charge.

On lap nine Jeremy Berwanger made contact with another car was whistled for the caution. From the tail Berwanger went on an adrenaline laced mission to the top five. Much to the delight of the crowd Tyler Carpenter and Jeremy Blake mirrored the close battle of the two leaders. First Blake, then Carpenter and back and forth the teeter tottered. Aaron Pendleton and Andy Bond fought hard for a top five until Berwanger raged between the combatants to slow their progression. Rick Venham, Jr. had been in the mix, but started to fade late in the race, knocking that charger from one of his best finishes of the year. Frankie Roush blasted into the top ten with Vince Conrad at his heels.

Henry hugged the bottom and Roush went one groove up, often passing Henry going into turn one only to have Henry pull him off turn two. During the last several laps both leaders crossed the line in near dead heats. On the final lap Roush was picture perfect in maintaining momentum through the apex of turn two for a great run into three. Roush blasted by Henry cut low, but the anchor didn't hold him around the inside rail, narrowly giving Henry an open door run off turn four to the ever so close photo finish victory.

The Modified hard charger was Frankie Roush who blasted from 16th to 7th in one of the most harrowing rides of the night. Berwanger had an equally impressive run from the tail of the pack to fifth after a lap nine spin.

Rounding out the top ten were Henry, Roy Roush, Carpenter, Blake, Berwanger, Andy Bond, Frankie Roush, Aaron Pendleton, Vince Conrad, Rick Venham, Jr., and Dusty Boley.

The 17-car mini-wedge field, one of the largest ever at Skyline, saw Zach Carr, Cole Mayle, Colten Perine, and Samantha Roush put on a great show. Carr and Mayle had a race similar to the modified main, only on a smaller scale. Carr and Mayle raced nose-to-nose out of turn four on the last go-round only to have Carr win by a nose at the finish. Rounding out the top ten were Carr, Cole Mayle, Colten Perine, Samantha Roush, Caleb Brigs, Tiffany Jackson, Aiden Powell, Tanner Martin, Kasey Rankin, and Kalista Barnes.

The summary: June 8, 2012

410 Sprint Cars (14)
Fast Time: Josh Davis 13:89
Heat One: Danny Smith, Josh Davis, Greg Mitchell, Wes McGlumphy, Lance Webb, Jesse McCreary, Steve Oldaker
Heat Two: Dave Dickson, Kory Crabtree, Nathan Skaggs, Brian Benson, Jimmy Stinson, Eric Martin
Feature: Danny Smith, Josh Davis, Dave Dickson, Kory Crabtree, Jimmy Stinson, Nathan Skaggs, Wes McGlumphy, Greg Mitchell, Brian Benson, Lance Webb, Eric Martin, Bob Tucker, Jesse McCreary, Steve Oldaker

Tru-Tech AMRA Late Models (26)
Fast Time: Tyler Carpenter 15:03
Heat One: KC Burdette, Frankie Hall, Ralph Withem, Jason Gillian, Nelson Freshour, Pete Crum, Tyler Carpenter, Bobby Adams, Jr., Kenny Roberts
Heat Two: Chris Garnes, Travis Brookover, Mike McPherson, Ronnie Mayle, Justin Powell, Bub Crum, David Gibson, Corey Delancey, Chris Parks
Heat Three: Tony Roush, Andy Bond, Freddie Carpenter, Jeff Burdette, Darrin Roush, Dan Morrison, Eric Francis, George Klintworth
B-Main: Tyler Carpenter, Bub Crum, Eric Francis, Pete Crum, George Klintworth, Corey Delancey, Kenny Roberts, Chris Parks, Bobby Adams, Jr., Dan Morrison, David Gibson (DNS)
Feature: Chris Garnes, KC Burdette, Ralph Withem, Andy Bond, Freddie Carpenter, Travis Brookover, Jeff Burdette, Tony Roush, Frankie Hall, Ronnie Mayle, Nelson Freshour, Eric Francis, Darrin Roush, Mike McPherson, Tyler Carpenter, Bub Crum, Justin Powell, Jason Gillian

MALTA Windows AMRA MODIFIEDS (23)
Heat One: Doug Henry, Roy Roush, Tyler Carpenter, Jeremy Berwanger, Kyle Bond, Gary Gould, Dusty Boley, Curt Stacy
Heat Two: Jeremy Blake, Andy Bond, Aaron Pendleton, Shane Roush, Vince Conrad, Frankie Roush, Tyler Evans, Tyler Hendrix
Heat Three: Brandon Barnhart, Jeremy Roush, Rick Venham Jr., Robbie Evans, Curt Reck, Jerrad Willis, Mike McPherson
B-Main: Frankie Roush, Dusty Boley, Mike McPherson, Gary Gould, Tyler Evans, Tyler Hendrix, Curt Stacy, Jerrad Willis (DNS)
Feature: Doug Henry, Roy Roush, Tyler Carpenter, Jeremy Blake, Jeremy Berwanger, Andy Bond, Frankie Roush, Aaron Pendleton, Vince Conrad, Rick Venham, Jr., Dusty Boley, Mike McPherson, Kyle Bond, Jeremy Roush, Robbie Evans, Shane Roush, Curt Reck, Brandon Barnhart (DNS)

Mike's Auto Body Mini-Wedges (17)
Heat One: Coleton Perine, Austin Washburn, Skylar Zimmerman, Caleb Brigs, Aiden Powell, Colby Ruddlesden, Martin Gibson, Jr., Cole Mayle, Cory Miller
Heat Two: Zach Carr, Tiffany Jackson, Kasey Rankin, Samantha Roush, Kalista Barnes, Shyan Morris, Tanner Martin, Ryan Bigley (DNS)
Feature: Zach Carr, Cole Mayle, Colten Perine, Samantha Roush, Caleb Brigs, Tiffany Jackson, Aiden Powell, Tanner Martin, Kasey Rankin, Kalista Barnes, Skylar Zimmerman, Austin Washburn