McGuire Is Skyline Master

By Scott Wolfe
STEWART, OHIO-“Blue Moon of Kentucky Keep on Shinin’ !” is the retro version of the tune Josh McGuire, Grayson, Kentucky, was singing en route to what was reported to be his 13th Skyline Speedway win in the Kryptonite AMRA Late Models Friday night at Billy Jarrell’s Skyline Speedway. “Blue #41 from Kentucky Keep on Hummin’ !” was the tune the Bluegrass master was fiddling once he took the lead from Wheelersburg’s Rod Conley on the second lap of the 25-lap $1,500 to win A-main.
Kenny Johnson, Mineral Wells, West Virginia chanted a similar victory tune in the Octane Race Products AMRA Modified A-Main, going 3-for-3 for his third consecutive Skyline win in 2013 and 7th of the season. Tracy Fritter, Zanesville, Ohio claimed the exciting Mod Lite portion of the program, and Zach Carr claimed his second Mini-Wedge main.
Racing resumes June 14 with Kryptonite AMRA Late Models, Octane AMRA Modifieds, OVSCA 410 Outlaw Sprints, and Mike’s Auto Body Mini-Wedges. Coming June 28th is the Greg Schilling Memorial AMRA Modified bash.
The 25-lap Late Model main pitted some of the best regional drivers against several nationally recognized names. McGuire and Rod “Hot Rod” Conley, defending ADRA champion, paced the field to Mike Haught’s green flag. In the wake were “Fast Freddie” Carpenter, Fast timer Joe Ramey, Chris Garnes, Travis Brookover, and Daniel Hill among others.
McGuire got a slight jump, but Conley rode the momentum off turn two to lead lap one. McGuire rode the inside rail to root Conley off the bottom and despite a constant effort, McGuire was as they say “off to the races”. In smooth, fast–actually “bad fast”- McGuire fashion, the veteran chauffer waltzed through traffic past six cars to an insurmountable lead.
A good crowd wasn’t let-down, however, as action back through the pack was torrid on the smooth 3/8 mile red clay oval. Carpenter chased down Conley; and as that battle occupied the duo, Travis Brookover began to sneak into the mix for a three-way slugfest. At one point Brookover actually took over third and was close to second only to have Carpenter sweep past both Brookover and Conley on the high side.
Brookover faded as Conley and Carpenter battled side-by-side for the middle 12 laps. A caution was whistled against K-C Burdette for making contact with the spinning Joe Ramey. That yellow tightened the second place battle even more with Conley finally taking over the position after a wheel banging “that’s racing” tango in turn three.
Action persisted throughout the pack as McGuire blasted away from the rest of the field. Garnes began to run down Brookover. They continued to dual to the checkered where Garnes won that encounter by a nose. In the Late Models, Andy Bond and Jeremy Blake were the hard chargers with each moving up four positions; Bond from 12th to 8th and Blake from 17th to 13th. Pete Crum had another smooth consistent run into the top ten along with Tony Roush.
Rounding out the top ten behind McGuire were Conley, Freddie Carpenter, Chris Garnes, Travis Brookover, Daniel Hill, Steve Bigley, Andy Bond, Pete Crum, and Tony Roush.
Heat winners were Freddie Carpenter, Rod Conley, McGuire and Dan Morrison, who took the B-main.
In the Octane AMRA Modifieds, Kenny Johnson proved why he has been a five-time AMRA champion. Johnson leaped ahead of James Dennis on the start, but Robert “Booger” Garnes dove low under Johnson in a fight for first. Johnson drove into three hard and led the first swing in what became a green-to-checkered victory for the defending AMRA champ.
As Johnson drove off into the sunset, Garnes had to defend second against nearly everyone else in the line-up. Garnes held second until the 17th circuit after fighting most the race with Mike McPherson, Gary Gould, and Andy Bond. That trio went three-wide several laps, but each time Garnes anchored the two-hole.
On lap 14, Bond secured third over McPherson then went to work on Garnes. Finally, on the 17th round Bond squeaked by. Jeremy Berwanger stormed up through the pack from 10th and bid for a top five. Meanwhile, Jesse Rupe, the defending AMRA “Rookie of the Year” posted another good run himself. Bond, Berwanger, and Rupe were the hard chargers with each moving up five positions; Bond from 7th to 2nd, Berwanger from 10th to 5th, and Rupe from 14th to 9th.
McPherson stalled Berwanger’s drive, while Gould who had a great start faded along with Dennis. Shawn Donahue and Rupe both had great charges toward the top ten. Behind Johnson were Bond, Robert Garnes, Mike McPherson, Jeremy Berwanger, Jeremy Blake, Gary Gould, Jerrod Willis, Jesse Rupe, and James Dennis.
Heat winners were Johnson, Dennis and Garnes.
Tracy Fritter dominated the Mod Lite Main. Mitch Ward anchored second most of the race but ended up losing a bout with Jeff Fornash at the finish after a lap 17 restart. Randy Kerns and Tyler Riggs had good runs early, but later suspension parts let go on Kerns’ machine. Behind the barn-storming Fritter were Fornash, Mitch Ward, Matt Ward, Tyler Riggs, Andrew Hart, Nathan Casto, Randy Kerns, Matt Hall, and Duane Durst. After an early spin Matt Ward had a great run into the top five from the tail.
Zach Carr won his second Skyline feature with an impressive run over Austin Washburn, Tanner Martin, Kasey Rankin, Kalista Barnes, Evan McPherson, and Ryan Bigley in the mini-wedges.
For more information please visit us on ******** at the Skyline page or the Skyline Venues page or visit our website at << www.skylinespeedway.net >> or call 304-539-4410, 304-542-8322 or the track phone at 740-662-4111.

The summary:

KRYPTONITE AMRA Late Models (24)
Fast Time: Joe Ramey 14:39
Heat One: Freddie Carpenter, Daniel Hill, Joe Ramey, Pete Crum, Ralph Withem, Bob Adams, Jr., Tanner Hendrix, Tyler French (DNS)
Heat Two: Rod Conley, Travis Brookover, Steve Bigley, Tony Roush, J.T. Conley, Dan Morrison, Jason Gillian, Tom Hendrix
Heat Three: Josh McGuire, Chris Garnes, K.C. Burdette, Andy Bond, Larry Bond, Jeremy Blake, Brian Eaton, T.J. Roush
B-Main: Dan Morrison, Jeremy Blake, Bob Adams, Jr., Brian Eaton, Tyler French, Jason Gillian, Tom Hendrix, Tanner Hendrix, T.J. Roush
Feature: Josh McGuire, Rod Conley, Freddie Carpenter, Chris Garnes, Travis Brookover, Daniel Hill, Steve Bigley, Andy Bond, Pete Crum, Tony Roush, Ralph Withem, Larry Bond, Jeremy Blake, Dan Morrison, J.T. Conley, Joe Ramey, Bob Adams, Jr., K.C. Burdette

OCTANE AMRA MODIFIEDS (18)
Heat One: Kenny Johnson, Vince Conrad, Andy Bond, Jeremy Berwanger, Shawn Donahue, Tyler Hendrix
Heat Two: James Dennis, Mike McPherson, Gary Gould, Kyle Bond, Jesse Rupe, Brad Stone
Heat Three: Robert Garnes, Jeremy Blake, John Burdette, Jerrod Willis, Jason Brooks, Ryan McCarley
Feature: Kenny Johnson, Andy Bond, Robert Garnes, Mike McPherson, Jeremy Berwanger, Jeremy Blake, Gary Gould, Jerrod Willis, Jesse Rupe, James Dennis, Shawn Donahue, Kyle Bond, Vince Conrad, Jason Brooks, Ryan McCarley, Tyler Hendrix, Brad Stone, John Burdette

Mod Lites (10)
Heat One: Mitch Ward, Jeff Fornash, Matt Hall, Matt Ward, Duane Durst
Heat Two: Tracy Fritter, Randy Kerns, Tyler Riggs, Nathan Casto, Andrew Hart
Feature: Tracy Fritter, Jeff Fornash, Mitch Ward, Matt Ward, Tyler Riggs, Andrew Hart, Nathan Casto, Randy Kerns, Matt Hall, Duane Durst (DNS)

Mike’s Auto Body Mini-Wedges (7)
Heat One: Zach Carr, Austin Washburn, Tanner Martin, Kasey Rankin, Evan McPherson, Kalista Barnes, Ryan Bigley
Feature: Zach Carr, Austin Washburn, Tanner Martin, Kasey Rankin, Kalista Barnes, Evan McPherson, Ryan Bigley (DNS)