For Immediate Release
Orrville, Ohio
By Mike Swanger
The Pines Golf Course Banquet room was filled to capacity Saturday night as four Wayne County Speedway champions and the top ten drivers in each class received their 2018 awards. In the Pine Tree Towing & Recovery Sprints, Jordan Ryan collected his first Wayne County Speedway championship as he posted two feature wins and two second place finishes along with two fourth and fifth place runs and total up 484 points for the crown. Along with the trophy, a jacket and a big picture of his car, Pine Tree Towing & Recovery gave Ryan a brand new drivers suit. Danny Mumaw would be the runner up with 470 points with three feature wins and five heat wins which was the most in the Sprints as it was his 7th straight finish in the top ten. Trey Jacobs would make it into the top ten in points for the first time with 451 points as he grabbed two second place finishes to best his nine top 10 finishes to take third in the points. For the second year in a row, Tyler Dunn would finish fourth in the points with 418 markers as his eight top tens were highlighted by a season best second place finish. Also chalking up his 7th straight year in the top ten, Nick Patterson ended up the season with 382 points for his fifth place finish as he racked up four top tens lead by a 3rd place finish. Picking up the rookie of the year, Henry Malcuit was sixth in the points with 358 points with a best placing of 8th and finished in the top 15 in ten of the 11 points races. Seventh place finisher was Steve Butler with 339 markers with 2 top tens in his second straight year in the top ten. Clay Riney has made the top ten in all four of his race seasons at WCS and this year his 310 points put him 8th in the standings with a third place besting his 4 top tens. Taking ninth in the points was Brad Haudenschild with 294 points with two top tens and filling out the top ten was Troy Kingan as he posted his 5th straight top ten with 260 points.
Ryan Markham would collect his 6th Wayne County Speedway championship and all the perks as his 11 top tens were led by two feature wins, three seconds and fourths, a third, a fifth and an eighth along with five heat wins to top the Kar Connection Super Late Models with 520 points. Markham also won the Attica Raceway Park/ Wayne County Speedway Challenge for the third time in five years. Brad Malcuit, a five time track champion, would be second in the points with 474 points topped by two seconds, two thirds and two fifth in his nine top tens. J R Gentry would gather in third place with 418 markers for his 7th straight year in the top ten as he notched a win along with a 3rd, 5th, 6th and 9th in his five top tens. For the first time ever, D J Miller scored a top ten placing as his 7 top tens highlighted by two fifth place runs gave him 413 points for fourth. Mitch Caskey’s six top tens with a best finish of 3rd earned him 394 points and fifth place along with the rookie of the year for the Late Models plus he won the Never Ever Won (NEW) race and also finished third in the ARP/WCS challenge. Taking sixth place was Charlie Duncan with 392 markers as he had five top tens with a best finish of second with a 4th and fifth backing that up for his 7th straight top ten spot. In his first year at WCS, Craig Hartong scored a 7th place in the final standings with 388 points with a 7th place race finish topping his six top tens. Cody Scott ended the season in 8th place with 359 points with 2 wins in his seven top tens and taking second in the ARP/WCS challenge. Ninth place in the point standings went to Jerry Aber with 346 points as he scored four top tens with a fourth being his best race finish in his fourth straight top ten finish. Rounding out the top ten was Jim Nicely with his fifth straight top ten season with 313 points collecting four top tens during the season with a seventh place best finish.
The only driver to repeat as track champion was Bob Daugherty as his season high CorBon Super Stock four feature wins, four seconds and three thirds with seven heat wins totaled up to eleven top tens and 556 points to gather in all of the awards for his third overall crown and his fourth top ten finish in seven seasons. Runner up Brandon Craver scored 504 points with eleven top tens with three seconds and three thirds and five heat wins spotlighting his third straight season in the top ten. T A Perrine wrapped up the season in third with 491 points as he posted the biggest win of the season by winning the Danny Gardner Memorial. He also had a second and two thirds in his ten top tens in his second straight top ten season. Three wins and seven top tens lead the way for Paul Holmes to finish fourth with 476 points and his third consecutive top ten. Gary Hensel Jr. racked up 9 top tens with a third place best finish and five fourth place runs to score 469 points for his fifth place final spot in his 4th straight top ten. Reaching his 7th straight top ten, Tyler Nicely totaled 451 markers with nine top tens and two fourth place runs to secure sixth place. Two second place race finishes in eight top tens placed Jordan James in seventh with 416 points and the second year in a row being in the top ten. Don Rutt made it into the top ten for the first time as his four top tens gathered him 392 points for eighth place in the standings. Scoring a ninth place in the standings was Chris Albright as hid two fifth place runs topped his 6 top ten events for 359 points for his 5th top ten in a row. Wrapping up the top ten was Dustin Daugherty with 356 points from his six top tens for his first top ten.
The WQKT 104.5 Mini Stock championship was won by Jordan James as he claimed four checkered flags along with a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and a 6th with two fifths added in for 534 points and his first championship at Wayne County Speedway. Doug Hensel ended up in the runner up position with 532 points as his 11 top tens were highlighted by a win, four seconds, three thirds and a season high eight heat wins on his way to a 6th straight top ten. Third place was claimed by Brad Hensel who scored 518 points in nine top tens that was lead by four feature wins, a second and three thirds to put him in the top ten for the sixth consecutive season. Wes Staley took fourth with 495 points on his nine top tens with a win and three seconds topping his season in his fourth top ten in a row. Cory Staley ended the season in fifth place with 485 points with a win and three seconds highlighting his second straight top ten season. Finishing the year in sixth place was Dustin Bedlion with nine top tens with a fourth place feature finish his best for 446 points. Six top tens and finishes of third, fifth, seventh and 3 eighths gave Stephen Crowe 415 points and 7th in the final points. Taylor Mazzoleni piled up 394 points with four top tens topped by two 6th place finishes for eighth in the point standings. Tying for ninth place were Michael Stewart and Wayne Newbury as both had four top tens with Stewart’s best finish of fourth and Newbury’s best was fifth place in race action. Both drivers gathered in 390 points.
The Super Stock ‘Summer Series’ crown went to Dustin Daugherty as in the four race series he compiled 162 points with finishes of two thirds, one fourth and ninth. Brandon Craver was second with 156 tallies on a second, fourth, eighth and tenth. Third went to Gary Hensel Jr. with 154 points as he recorded finishes of third, fourth, fifth and thirteenth.
In the Mini Stock ‘Summer Series’ Brad Hensel claimed the title as he started the series off with a 17th place finish and then reeled of three straight wins to pile up 177 points for the crown. Jordan James was second with 155 points on the strength of a win and two seconds while Dustin Bedlion took third with 136 points on finishes of fourth, seventh, 11th and 19th.
Watch for news and schedule announcements in the near future for Wayne County Speedway for the 2019 racing season.
Jason and Kristin Flory and all of the staff want to thank all the fans, the drivers and the crews for a great 2018 season.
