Fan Notes from Wayne County Ohio Speedweek Finale

Cory Eliason talks things over with Gio Scelzi (Tom Myers) 6/22/2019 Orrville, Ohio - It was a beautiful, sun shiny Saturday and a large and race ready crowd showed up to see the final race of Ohio Sprint Speed Week for 2019. The fans and racers were weary of the rain so the great weather on Saturday really brought out the folks.

There were 50 cars in the pits and with a great forecast, everyone was ready for some good fun and fast racing. Notable racers on hand included Tony Stewart, who had his car ready to go, Chad Kemenah, Parker-Price Miller, Gio Scelzi, Rico Abreu and Justin Peck, who was driving the G1 car tonight. Throw those guys together with the regular All Stars, the Wayne County guys, some of the best Attica-Fremont guys and some Atomic regulars and you have yourself a really nice field of cars. I don’t think Christopher Bell made it to any of the Speed Week events this year. Maybe next year?

I arrived around 3:45 and the place was filling up already. The pits were full and the parking lot was getting crowded. The track looked smooth and tacky as they were watering it and running it in. With 50 cars, there would be 5 heats, 10 cars each for 8 laps. There would be a C-main and a B-main. Because the pits were so crowded, all the cars would qualify and then be weighed and parked in the infield until qualifying was over.

I noticed a few more guys running their right rears with the inside “outside.” Reutzel does it all the time, tonight I see Jac doing it as well as Paul McMahon. I wonder what the thinking is on this? Maybe the way the tires are made may make a traction and handling difference if mounted this way, with the white letters not showing?

Parker Price-Miller During hot laps, the track started to get dusty and dry. Your fast qualifier was D.J. Foos, the very first guy to go out. Andrew Palker, who was the 32nd car to time, clocked in 2nd quickest overall. Jac was third fastest followed by Abreu, Reutzel, Blaney, Conley, Peck, Lee Jacobs and Brandon Wimmer. The track was dry slick in most places now and as a result, kind of mixed up the qualifying and heat race lineups…mixed up to the point of getting interesting because some of the regular front runners weren’t necessarily in front. For example, Zearfoss timed 37th, with Wilson timing 40th and McMahan timing 43rd.

Before the heats, some racers were scrambling to make changes. Reutzel changed gears and also changed his fuel nozzles, probably in an attempt to de-tune his engine because of the slick track. Zearfoss was doing the same, inserting air restrictors into his air stacks.

Heat 1 had Wimmer on the pole with Reutzel outside of him. Row 2 was Jac and Foos with PPM and Cory Eliason making up the third row. On the start, Haud got a great run out of turn 2 to take the lead and the crowd let out a roar…. only to have Wimmer and Reutzel tangle coming out of 4. Wimmer kept going, but Reutzel had stopped up against the front stretch guardrail. Reutzel had to go to the tail for a complete restart. At the start, Haud, who now started in Reutzel’s spot, grabbed the lead and held on for the win.

The finish was Haud, Foos, PPM and Wimmer and these four would transfer to the feature. After restarting at the tail, Reutzel could only get back up to 7th. After the heat was over, Reutzel gave Wimmer quite the bump from behind on their exit from the track.

The heat 2 lineup was Jess Stiger and Gerard McIntyre on row 1, Jordan Harble and Cale Conley in row 2, with Greg Wilson and Troy Kingan in the 3rd row. McIntyre wins followed by Conley, Wilson and Harble.

Tim Shaffer In the 3rd heat, Kofoid, who started 2nd, runs away for the win followed by 4th starting Abreu, Trevor Baker, who started first and Dean Jacobs up from 6th. 3rd starting Lee Jacobs faded and Zearfoss got up to 5th from 7th just missing the transfer spot. Brubaker faded from the 5th spot back to 8th. Wow, it’s dry and dusty. The grooves are extremely down low or really high blasting around the dust.

Scelzi and Peck start on the front of heat 4, with Blaney and Palker in row 2 and Stewart and Kemenah in row 3. At the start, Scelzi takes the lead followed by Peck and Blaney and Palker. On lap 2, Trey Jacobs spins after Palker was passed by Kemenah. On the restart the order is Scelzi, Peck, Blaney, and Kemenah. Jacobs spins out again on lap 4 and goes to the pits. By this time, Peck has passed Scelzi and Blaney is now coming up to challenge the two front runners. On the restart, Blaney work past Scelzi and then goes around Peck and on to the win. The finish is Blaney, Peck, Scelzi and Kemenah, followed by Stewart and Palker. Our 2nd fastest qualifier Palker faded out of a transfer and also out of a dash draw spot. The reason was a right rear going flat because of a faulty bleeder.

In the final heat, the lineup is Broc Martin on the pole with Tim Shaffer outside of him. Row 2 consists of Mitch Harble and Ryan Broughton with Skylar Gee and Hunter Schuerenburg in row 3. Broc Martin leads followed by Shaffer when Schurenburg slows to a stop on the back stretch after 1 lap. On the restart, Harble fades as Broughton claims the 3rd position. Cap Henry is up from 8th and passes Gee for the 4th and final transfer spot on lap 5. So the running order is Martin, Shaffer, Broughton and Henry. On lap 7, Gee gets under Henry as they both fight for the low groove at the turn 3 entrance and Gee runs into Henry, spinning them both out and Henry out of a transfer. McMahan had been coming up from 10th and now after the two spinners, and with 1 lap to go, McMahan sits right behind Mitch Harble, who is in the final transfer spot. On the restart, McMahan gets past Harble and transfers! Martin wins it followed by Shaffer, Broughton and McMahan.

Wow, the track is really dusty and dry, will they water it? Usually the Wayne County crew waters the track between the heats and consolation races and then again before the A-main but not tonight. Nothing. No water. I feel parched!

Buddy Kofoid won the Ohio Speedweek finale at Wayne County Now onto the dashes. I think PPM gets into the first dash because Palker didn’t transfer and ended up forfeiting his dash spot. The first dash finish is PPM, Foos, Blaney, McIntyre, Haud and Shaffer.

The second dash finish is Martin, Kofoid, Peck, Abreu, Wimmer and Conley.

Next up, the C, B and A mains! The top two C-main transfers to the B were Henry and Brubaker. The B-main transfers 4 to the A-main. Some big names in the B were Reutzel, Tony Stewart, Cole Duncan, Cap Henry, Lee Jacobs, Zearfoss and Stambaugh. The B-main lineup had Reutzel and Paulker on the front row with Harble and Stewart in row 2. When the green waived, Duncan and Hunter Lynch got together on the front straight at the turn 4 exit bringing out the yellow. At the same time Stewart is in the wall in turn 1, ending his night. When a complete restart was attempted, the All Stars didn’t like it and waived the yellow.

They did this two more times before sending Reutzel and Palker back a row to let someone else try a clean start! Okay, we get a start and Harble and Stiger get out to a lead, followed by Reutzel and Palker. On lap 4 Ruetzel breaks a motor I think, as he rolls to a stop at the turn 4 entrance to the track. On the restart Palker gets around Stiger for 2nd and T.J. Michael comes up from 14th to finish in the 4th and final transfer spot. Cap Henry had passed Zearfoss for 4th with a lap to go and then Zearfoss ran into Henry in turn 3 on the last lap taking them both out!...Handing the transfer spot to Michael. That’s two guys running into Henry tonight after Henry passed them. What’s with that?

Okay, onto the feature! PPM starts on the pole with Broc Martin alongside. In row 2 it’s Foos and Kofoid. Row 3 is Blaney and Peck. Reutzel and Eliason take a provisional and start at the back. At the start of the 35 lapper, PPM grabs the lead with Martin putting lots of pressure on. Martin slips up the track on the second lap and Kofoid goes by for the 2nd spot. The running order is PPM, Kofoid, Martin, Foos and Blaney. They run like this until a lap 8 flip for Mitch Harble, who flips over the turn 2 guard rail. He is okay. This would be the only stoppage as the race would go green the rest of the way. When the race resumes, PPM maintains the lead with Kofoid close behind. Buddy pressures the leader many times but cannot seem to stay close enough to pass. On lap 17 the leaders encounter lappers. Not long after, Blaney moves into third place, around lap 22 or 23. The dust is flying and vision is limited. I have goggles on and can barely see the cars in turn 1 and 2 from where I am sitting between turn 4 and the flag stand.

You could feel the pace of the race picking up as Kofoid and Blaney tried to catch the leader and at the same time navigate through traffic! Around lap 26 or so Kofoid gets into the turn 2 guardrail and allows Blaney to get past him for 2nd. Kofoid didn’t fade but stayed close to Blaney as Blaney set out after the leader. Blaney couldn’t close the gap on PPM but Kofoid worked his way back around Dale on lap 33 to regain 2nd. Carrying momentum, Buddy then gets a run on PPM exiting turn 2 on the last lap and races past the race long leader down the backstretch to take the lead and the win! The crowd let out a loud roar as Buddy passed the leader and won the race! I pumped my fist in the air too, man that was exciting!

Buddy “The Kid” Kofoid drove the wheels off the 11n! Wow, what a great ending to Speed Week. The top 3 were Kofoid, PPM and Blaney. Paulker was the hard charger, moving up 12 spots from 22nd to 10th. Congrats to Buddy on his first All Star win and also Dale Blaney, for winning the Speed Week Title, his 6th. Thank you All Stars and Thank you Wayne County Speedway!

Results from the All Stars...

Contingency Awards/Results: Wayne County Speedway - Saturday, June 22, 2019:
Event: 37th Annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Indy Metal
Finishing Finale

Entries: 50

C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Cory Eliason - 15.556
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: DJ Foos - 15.998
Ford Performance Heat #1: Jac Haudenschild
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Gerard McIntyre
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Buddy Kofoid
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Dale Blaney
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5: Broc Martin
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts C-Main Winner: Cap Henry
JE Pistons Dash #1: Parker Price-Miller
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Broc Martin
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Mitch Harble
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Buddy Kofoid
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Andrew Palker (+12)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Brock Zearfoss
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 16-DJ Foos, 15.998; 2. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 16.134; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 16.179; 4. A79-Brandon Wimmer, 16.432; 5. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, 16.466; 6. 26-Cory Eliason, 16.524; 7. 38K-Clay Riney, 17.206; 8. 8M-TJ Michael, 17.260; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 18.081; 10. 16M-Danny Mumaw, 99.917

Group (B)
1. 3C-Cale Conley, 16.247; 2. 5H-Jordan Harble, 17.078; 3. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 17.168; 4. 8J-Jess Stiger, 17.177; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 17.376; 6. 7-Troy Kingan, 17.726; 7. 29-Steve Butler, 17.959; 8. A45-Rusty Hickman, 17.976; 9. OOH-Hunter Lynch, 99.240; 10. 1R-Gale Ruth Sr., NT

Group (C)
1. 24-Rico Abreu, 16.146; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs, 16.402; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 16.669; 4. 45-Trevor Baker, 16.827; 5. 35b-Stuart Brubaker, 16.922; 6. 9-Dean Jacobs, 17.177; 7. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 17.233; 8. 59-Bryan Nuckles, 17.342; 9. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 17.418; 10. 40-George Hobaugh, 17.518

Group (D)
1. 57X-Andrew Palker, 16.110; 2. 11-Dale Blaney, 16.229; 3. G1-Justin Peck, 16.307; 4. 71-Gio Scelzi, 16.561; 5. 14-Tony Stewart, 16.738; 6. K4-Chad Kemenah, 16.811; 7. 97-Max Stambaugh, 17.026; 8. 5T-Travis Philo, 17.063; 9. 3J-Trey Jacobs, 17.099; 10. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 17.438

Group (E)
1. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 16.495; 2. 19-Mitch Harble, 16.520; 3. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 16.599; 4. 83M-Broc Martin, 16.819; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, 16.843; 6. 23J-Hunter Schuerenberg, 16.851; 7. 22C-Cole Duncan, 16.931; 8. 4-Cap Henry, 17.059; 9. 23-Nick Patterson, 17.117; 10. 13-Paul McMahan, 17.485

Heat #1 - Group (A) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 3-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 2. 16-DJ Foos [4]; 3. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [5]; 4. A79-Brandon Wimmer [1]; 5. 38K-Clay Riney [7]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 7. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 8. 26-Cory Eliason [6]; 9. 16M-Danny Mumaw [10]; 10. 7DK-Dylan Kingan [9]

Heat #2 - Group (B) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. O7-Gerard McIntyre [2]; 2. 3C-Cale Conley [4]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 4. 5H-Jordan Harble [3]; 5. 8J-Jess Stiger [1]; 6. OOH-Hunter Lynch [9]; 7. 29-Steve Butler [7]; 8. A45-Rusty Hickman [8]; 9. 7-Troy Kingan [6]

Heat #3 - Group (C) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 3. 45-Trevor Baker [1]; 4. 9-Dean Jacobs [6]; 5. 70-Brock Zearfoss [7]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler [9]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [3]; 8. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [5]; 9. 40-George Hobaugh [10]; 10. 59-Bryan Nuckles [8]

Heat #4 - Group (D) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 11-Dale Blaney [3]; 2. G1-Justin Peck [2]; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi [1]; 4. K4-Chad Kemenah [6]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker [4]; 7. 97-Max Stambaugh [7]; 8. 70M-Henry Malcuit [10]; 9. 5T-Travis Philo [8]; 10. 3J-Trey Jacobs [9]

Heat #5 - Group (E) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 83M-Broc Martin [1]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 3. 22B-Ryan Broughton [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [10]; 5. 19-Mitch Harble [3]; 6. 23-Nick Patterson [9]; 7. 22C-Cole Duncan [7]; 8. 4-Cap Henry [8]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee [5]; 10. 23J-Hunter Schuerenberg [6]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [2]; 2. 16-DJ Foos [1]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [4]; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre [5]; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 6. 49X-Tim Shaffer [3]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 83M-Broc Martin [1]; 2. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [3]; 3. G1-Justin Peck [2]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [4]; 5. A79-Brandon Wimmer [5]; 6. 3C-Cale Conley [6]

C-Main (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer
1. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 2. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [2]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee [6]; 4. 70M-Henry Malcuit [4]; 5. 23J-Hunter Schuerenberg [11]; 6. 40-George Hobaugh [8]; 7. A45-Rusty Hickman [5]; 8. 7-Troy Kingan [9]; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan [14]

B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 19-Mitch Harble [3]; 2. 57X-Andrew Palker [1]; 3. 8J-Jess Stiger [5]; 4. 8M-TJ Michael [14]; 5. 70-Brock Zearfoss [7]; 6. 4-Cap Henry [16]; 7. 81-Lee Jacobs [11]; 8. 35B-Stuart Brubaker [17]; 9. 38K-Clay Riney [6]; 10. 22-Brandon Spithaler [9]; 11. 29-Steve Butler [15]; 12. 23-Nick Patterson [8]; 13. 97-Max Stambaugh [13]; 14. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 15. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 16. 22C-Cole Duncan [12]; 17. OOH-Hunter Lynch [10]

A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 2. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [5]; 4. 83M-Broc Martin [2]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [8]; 6. 16-DJ Foos [3]; 7. G1-Justin Peck [6]; 8. 71-Gio Scelzi [14]; 9. O7-Gerard McIntyre [7]; 10. 57X-Andrew Palker [22]; 11. 49X-Tim Shaffer [11]; 12. 3-Jac Haudenschild [9]; 13. 3C-Cale Conley [12]; 14. W20-Greg Wilson [16]; 15. 87-Aaron Reutzel [25]; 16. 26-Cory Eliason [26]; 17. 13-Paul McMahan [20]; 18. K4-Chad Kemenah [17]; 19. 9-Dean Jacobs [19]; 20. 8M-TJ Michael [24]; 21. 45-Trevor Baker [15]; 22. A79-Brandon Wimmer [10]; 23. 8J-Jess Stiger [23]; 24. 22B-Ryan Broughton [13]; 25. 5H-Jordan Harble [18]; 26. 19-Mitch Harble [21] Lap Leaders: Parker Price-Miller (1-34), Buddy Kofoid (35)