Ryan Markham Takes Wayne County Late Model Win
6 min readORRVILLE – Kyle Moore has been nothing short of dominant this racing season and the trend continued in similar style on Saturday night.
Moore scored his 13th and 14th feature wins of the year by picking up victories in both the McKenzie Concrete Super Stock and Elite Ammunition Modified series classes at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway near Orrville.
Five-time track champion Ryan Markham scored his first win of the season in the Malcuit Tavern Super Late Model division while Doug Hensel continues to prove virtually unbeatable with his fourth triumph in the JoyRide Transport Mini Stock main event. Brandon Daugherty capped the beautiful but cool evening at Orrville’s Historic Oval by claiming victory in the Mod Lite feature.
Moore started seventh on the grid in the 20-lap Modified main event and grabbed the lead for good on a lap five restart from early leader Colton Shaw. Shaw, who inherited the point from Jimmy Humphrey on lap three after Humphrey was forced to restart on the tail end of the field, stayed within striking distance of the “Mansfield Madman’s” R88 machine after surrendering the lead to Moore on a lap five restart.
Moore, who ran the many different lanes of the speedway, used his customary high side in building a five-car length advantage at the finish with Shaw, DJ Cline, and Scott Peltz dicing it up for second through fourth during most of the event. Shaw nipped Cline at the stripe for the runner-up spot with Peltz fourth and Humphrey charging back through the field to claim fifth.
“Wow, what a race track we had tonight,” said Moore beside his Larry Reed-owned machine. “I couldn’t get to the top on every restart, and l kept seeing Colton down there so l stayed low more than l usually do. Once l got to the top is when l felt comfortable, but man that was fun. There’s nothing else like it when you ride the cushion around turns one and two. What an awesome racetrack.”
Moore doubled-up his good fortune on City Service Towing-Good Ole’ Boy Trucking night by claiming the 15-lap Street Stock main in similar fashion.
Moore lined up eighth in his Bob Daugherty-owned 21D mount and grabbed the point on a lap six restart. Front row starters Chase Alexander and Brad Hensel, along with veteran Took Wiles and Moore, made it an early four-car battle before Wiles’ night ended after tagging the infamous turn 2 guardrail. Moore grabbed the point on a lap six restart and never looked back.
Braden Tucke made a late-race charge to challenge Moore in the closing laps, however, but settled for second with a fast-closing Rob Melzer claiming third ahead of Alexander and Tyler Wiles, who went pitside early in the event after shredding a tire and restarting at the tail.
Ashland’s Markham, who, along with most folks in the area, survived Monday night’s devastating storm, to post his initial trip to WCS victory lane.
Markham became the third feature winner of the night to start from the fourth row on the ultra-fast 3-8-mile but trailed defending track champion Mitch Caskey and Mansfield invader Dave Hornikel through lap 10.
Markham moved into second on lap 12, then inherited the lead when Caskey retired from the event with mechanical problems on lap 14. Brett Bee moved into contention before spinning a lap later while running second, before Markham and Hornikel made inadvertent contact in turn 1 on the restart with both spinning to a stop. Markham returned to his original spot and led the remaining 10 circuits followed by Wes Morrison, Larry Bellman, Nick Cox, and Justin Chance.
“We did lose power at home, but we keep our race car at Mom and Dad’s place, so we were able to get a little bit done this week,” said Markham beside his family-owned 5M. “This is a brand-new race car for us (Black Diamond chassis), and it worked well. Mitch was strong before he dropped out, and l’m not sure what happened with Dave on that restart. The track was fast and maybe just misjudged the entry down there a little, but we got our spot back and it all worked out.”
Doug Hensel has been a man on a mission in the ultra-competitive Mini Stock division and he continued that trend on Saturday. The driver of the black No. 18 made it four-for-four on the evening by starting inside row five and moved into second by the end of the second lap behind early leader David Dawson.
Dawson’s night came to a scary end on lap three, though, when he rolled his machine at least four times exiting turn 1. Dawson escaped injury but was done for the evening. Jordan James stayed glued to Hensel’s bumper the next few laps before mechanical woes sent the 83 pitside, as Hensel went on to score his fourth win of the season at WCS and seventh overall. Justin Cranmore, Dustin Bedlion, Ryan Carder, and Anthony Collins rounded out the top five.
The Mod Lites were the last to hit the speedway but were certainly not outdone.
John Large grabbed the early lead with Darrick Hubbard Jr., Brandon Daugherty, and Alan Dellinger in tow. Dellinger’s night came to a screeching halt on lap 4 after barrel rolling five times through turns 1 and 2. Dellinger escaped uninjured but was done for the night. When the yellow replaced the red, Large exited to the infield with mechanical problems with Daugherty grabbing the lead a lap later.
Daugherty hung on for the victory followed by Carson Hubbard, Jereme Bean, Nick Large and Evan Large.
The Fast Five series returns in full force next Saturday as the 410 sprints return to the card with the traveling FAST series making their first and only appearance of the season for a $3,000-to-win, $350-to-start main event.
Late Models
Heat 1- 5 Markham, 71- Hornikel, 92- Chance, 59 – Bellman, 217- Howard Fraley, 19- Alan Baker, 7-Cox, 92- Austin Bright
Heat 2- 8- Bee, 21- Wes Morrison, 79- Caskey, 55 – Chuck Kimble, 69 – Doug Baird, 64 – Mike McGinnis, 11 – Ryan Abel, 45– Tom Denzinger
Feature- 1. Markham, 2. Morrison, 3. Bellman, 4. Cox, 5. Chance, 6. Bee, 7. Fraley, 8. Baird, 9. McGinnis, 10. Hornikel, 11. Caskey, 12. Denzinger, 13. Baker, 14. Abel, 15. Kimble, 16. Bright
Modifieds
Heat 1- R88-Moore, 15- Peltz, 95- Darrick Hubbard Jr., 27- Casey Butler, 69- Ryan Robey, 78- Richard Grogg, 75- Tristen Blackford, 911- Colton Lehman
Heat 2- 01 – Shaw, 4- DJ Cline, 4G- Bill Griffith, 60-Humphrey, 185- Ron Miller, 21- Dwayne Powell, 11- John Preston, 99- Mark Gardner99
Feature – 1. Moore, 2. Shaw, 3. Cline, 4. Peltz, 5. Humphrey, 6. Griffith, 7. Grogg, 8. Miller, 9. Robey, 10. Hubbard Jr., 11. Powell, 12. Butler, 13. Preston, 14. Lehman, 15. Bickford, 16. Gardiner
Mini stocks
Heat 1- 83- James, 151- Sean Rush, 98- Dawson, 29- Mitch Reichard, 36- Daniel Spayde, 99- Chris Mullinex, 3- Dylan Tanner, 8- Cory Brown, 54- Clayton Evans
Heat 2- 18H- Brad Hensel, 18X- Bedlion, 23- Kyle Petit, 2- Cranmore, 11- Matt Short, 12- JR Graser, 100- David Potter, 89- Travis Hutton, 278- Zack Hershey
Heat 3 – 18- D. Hensel, 711- Kenny Long, 3- Carder, 71- Collins, 420- Kevin Markey, 19- Wes Staley, 17- Wayne Newbury, 311- Johnny Bruce Sr.
Feature- 1. D. Hensel, 2. Cranmore, 3. Bedlion, 4. Carder, 5. Collins, 6. Long, 7. Bruce Sr., 8. Markey, 9. Spayde, 10. Newbury, 11. Potter, 12. Tanner, 13. Brown, 14. Reichard, 15. Staley, 16. James, 17. Hershey, 18. Dawson, 19. B. Hensel, 20. Petit, 21. Mullinex, 22. Rush, 23. Hutton, 24. Short
Super stocks
Heat 1- 18- Tucke, 771- Brandon Craver, 187- Tyler Wiles, 27- Don Baney Jr., 910- Don Rutt, U4- Paul McVicker, 77- Melzer, 5- Luke Sprouse
Heat 2- 21D-Moore, 15- Alexander, 28- B. Hensel, 187- Took Wiles, 70- Paul Holmes, 8- Kevin Ake, 313- Virgil Masters
Feature – 1. Moore, 2. Tucke, 3. Melzer, 4. Alexander, 5. Ty. Wiles, 6. Holmes, 7. Rutt, 8. Ake, 9. McVicker, 10. B. Hensel, 11. Sprouse, 12. Craver, 13. Baney Jr., 14. Masters, 15. To. Wiles
Mod Lites
Heat 1 – 25- Daugherty, 7- J. Large, 11H- D. Hubbard, 77- N. Large, 0- Tim Callahan
Heat 2 – 34- Emmett Myers, 11C- C. Hubbard, 49- Bean, 73- E. Large, 27- Darryll Hoon Jr.
Feature – 1. Daugherty, 2. C. Hubbard, 3. Bean, 4. N. Large, 5. E. Large, 6. Myers, 7. Callahan, 8. Dellinger, 9. J. Large, 10. D. Hubbard, 11. Hoon Jr.