Fan Notes from Saturday's All Star Show at Wayne County

Tim Shaffer (Hutch Xtreme Racing Photos) (Tom Myers ) 4/21/18 – Slightly warmer weather combined with opening night excitement brought a good crowd out to Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio for the first of many All Star races scheduled here this season. The track had new dirt on it and proved to be smoother too as Spencer Bayston broke the track record in qualifications with a lap of 13.808.

32 winged sprints were in the pits to do battle for the $5000 top prize. Three other events in Ohio kept the car count from being much higher. The All Star and Wayne County regulars on hand were joined by Spencer Bayston, Tim Shaffer, Lee Jacobs, Bryan Sebetto, Travis Philo, Jack Sodeman Jr. and Cole Duncan. Bryon Sebetto was driving the Buch 13 car this weekend… Paul McMahon will resume piloting the car next weekend. Cole Duncan was in the Helms 17 while Caleb Helms had a family commitment Saturday and couldn’t race.

Jordan Ryan has been having quite a rough start to the season. Friday at Attica his motor wouldn’t run right. So for Saturday, they brought the second car that Dean Jacobs will pilot at Mansfield next weekend. This second car had the team’s 2nd motor in it. This 2nd motor was supposed to be repaired and ready to go. Last year, it would blow oil every time they tried to use it so they sent it back to the engine builder for fixing. I was told that they were keeping their fingers crossed……… Well, after 1 lap it started smoking. They nursed it through the heats and then it stopped running. Wow, I hope they can get their motors figured out for next weekend!

Carson Macedo (Hutch Xtreme Racing Photos) I wondered where Dale Blaney was this weekend and found out that he injured his hand and won’t be back racing until June. Andrew Paulker, who is a regular at Wayne County and also has raced full time with the All Stars was absent as well. I couldn’t verify but was told he is waiting on a motor.

Usually, the Wayne County guys are pretty fast and just last year, Danny Mumaw was fighting Joey Saldana for an All Star win here. Tonight however, Danny couldn’t get his motor to run and fellow Wayne County regular Brad Haudenschild scratched from the B main. This was the first race for both of them so hopefully the bugs will be worked out for next weekend.

One of the crew guys for Chase Baker saw me standing there taking pictures and said, “Aren’t you that guy who writes stories?” And I replied that I was and he asked me if I was starting to write again because he thought I had taken a year or so off. I replied, “No, I have been writing all along but I am sure some of the readers have taken some time off from my articles!” That comment produced a good laugh and just then young Chase came over…. so I said, “Chase, an old, wise driver once told me that you should drive with your eyes closed because you can concentrate better that way. “ Chase smirked and said that it would be nice if the car would drive itself more and then he mentioned something about not having autopilot and then we both acknowledged that yes, these cars do need driver input.

Chad Kemenah (Hutch Xtreme Racing Photos) As the sun went down and the wind got cooler, I was very happy that the track only had 2 classes and were speeding the program along as fast as possible. There were 4 heats and the top 5 transferred to the main. In heat 3 Jack Sodeman Jr. slammed into the turn 1 infield tire. He would not return. The track was holding moisture well so there wasn’t much passing in the heats.

Before the B main started, my Dad, who had just arrived, decided he didn’t like the cold and then he left. A few minutes later my cell phone was ringing and Dad was calling to say he was stuck in the parking lot. It was very soft in spots because of all the rain and you had to be careful. So I raced out there and luckily there were 4 husky fellows I was able to flag down and we pushed the car to the gravel and then sent Pops on his way. Very thankful that folks were willing to lend a helping hand.

So, I then raced back up to the stands and listened to the guy sitting next to me telling me all about the late models and asking me about a guy who raced here a few years ago but hasn’t ……ever since an altercation in the pits or something…….well, I know nothing about late models or their drivers…except for that guy who cheats all the time and has the futuristic looking black hauler…..And I kind of want to keep it that way.

Tim Shaffer won Saturday's All Star feature at Wayne County After the B main and 2 dashes, we had the starting lineup. Carson Macedo was on the pole next to Chad Kemenah. Spencer Bayston and PPM made up the second row. Bayston had a black car this weekend but the car was red last weekend….as well as the car pics posted on social media. So I asked about it and was told that they have 2 cars and the black one they were racing this weekend was the Mansfield car. Lee Jacobs and Dave Blaney made up row 3 with Carl Bowser and Tim Shaffer making up row 4.

So, the feature starts and Kemenah grabs the lead and pulls out to a good margin…followed by Macedo, PPM and Bayston. The race went green until lap 10 when the action stopped for a spinner in turn 2. At the restart, Kemenah again stayed out in front but Shaffer was up from 8th to pass PPM for 3rd and set sail after Macedo and Kemenah. A lap or two later, Shaffer passed Macedo and was reeling in Kemenah as traffic came into play. Behind the top 3, PPM, Lee Jacobs, Dave Blaney, Jac Haudenschild and Spencer Bayston waged a torrid battle for position. On lap 20 or so Shaffer passed Kemenah for the lead in turns 3 and 4 using a furious slider and sped away for the win. Macedo got by Kemenah a lap or two later for 2nd. Kemenah ended up holding on for third. Tim was fast and he was getting faster the longer the race went.

Thank you Wayne County Speedway for a good race and a good surface and a fast program. I was heading home at 9:00pm! Thank you All Star Sprints for a great evening. See you again at the next race!