WAYNESFIELD — A great showing of friends and family filled the grandstands for the sixth running of the Dick Spencer Memorial at Waynesfield Raceway Park Saturday. Spencer, driver, fan and personal friend of track owner Greg Shobe, was honored for his dedication to the sport of dirt track racing. The sixth running of the yearly event welcomed the single appearance for the BOSS non wing sprint cars and the first meeting of the 2016 season for the Waynesfield Mini Sprints and the USAC Midwest Thunder Midgets.
The 25 lap Rick’s Trucks & Equipment BOSS A-main was led by the Spencer family street legal sprint car in honor of Dick as the field went into a four-wide salute. Luke Hall, looking to go two-for-two on the weekend, led the field to the opening green flag alongside Chad “Chocolate” Wilson. Hall won the drag race into turn one and led the opening lap. Hall began to pull away from the field slightly as the opening laps clicked off the board. Kody Swanson who came home third in the event last year began to make a run for the lead. A slide job off of turn four put Swanson into the lead. Two cautions flew just after the pass for Toby Alfrey and Jim Dues. On the restart, Hall got a great jump and gave Swanson a run for the top spot. The drivers traded sliders with under ten laps remaining. Swanson managed to hold off Hall for the victory. Dallas Hewitt muscled into the second spot. Luke Hall came home third. Swanson was emotional in victory lane as he commented on his racing career. “He gave me a chance,” Swanson stated as he reflected on the opportunity he was given to get behind the wheel of the 21K by his car owner. Matt Westfall, Kody Swanson, Luke Hall, and Shawn Westerfield picked up the heat wins. Jim Dues and Mike Miller picked up the B-main victories.
The Performance Powder Coating AMSA Mini Sprints went wingless for the first time of the 2016 season to go head-to-head with drivers of the USAC Midwest Thunder Midgets. Two Waynesfield regulars, Nick Daugherty and Anthony Haas, led the field of 22 to the opening green flag. Daugherty took the lead into turn one and led lap one. Kobe Allison made run for the lead and ended up leading lap two before the caution flag flew. A red flag followed for the 44L of Audisty Brunk and the 17P of Austin Powell. Brunk went through a series of wild flips as the 44L went up the banking exiting turn one. Brunk left the race track with some minor injuries. Back under green, Brad Racer and Kobe Allison began to duke it for the top spot. Another series of stops restacked the field for a restart. Allison got a great jump and began to pull away from the field. Ty Tilton, Brad Racer, and Christopher Whipple formed a three-way battle for second. Tilton came out on the winning end of the battle claiming the second spot. Allison picked up the back-to-back wins. Tilton came home second with Brad Racer coming home third. Nick Corea, Gunnar Lucius, and Christopher Whipple picked up the three heat race victories.
The Quest Federal Credit Union UMP Modifieds hit the track next for 20 laps of action. Making his 2016 season debut, Dave Baldwin and current point leader Josh Scott led the field to the opening green flag. Baldwin out powered Scott into turn one and led the opening lap. Two caution flags followed. One was for the 1X of JJ Butler. The second was for the K9 of Scott Gereman. Both drivers found themselves facing the wrong direction on the racetrack. On the restart, Jeff Koz got a great jump and found himself battling with leader Josh Scott. Scott could not hold Koz off giving him the lead. Koz was scored the leader for a few laps until Scott found his momentum. With just under 10 to go, Scott passed Koz to reclaim the lead. The final five laps had Koz trying to catch up to Scott. Despite heavy lap traffic, Josh Scott picked up his second win on the season. Jeff Kox was scored in second with Zach Schroeder score taking third. Jeff Koz, Mike Learman, and Scottie Williams took the heat race trophies. Darryl Banks picked the win of the B-main.
The Block Insurance Tough Truck A-main was a mix of good driving and a little bit of luck. Bill Keeler and Kelcy Helmig led the field to the opening green flag. Helmig did not get the track started at the starting cone forcing the field to backup just a bit into turn one. Keeler took the early lead and led the opening lap. Erik Wolleson in the 51 ran the bottom side of the racing surface and ended up battling with almost everyone in the top five. Matt Twining in the 1W had a little bit of luck on his side as he managed to complete the 15 lap event with the hood flapping up directly in his view. Twining later made contact with the 316 of Ben Hower on the bottom side of the front stretch. Hower went around exiting turn four leaving Twining nowhere to go. Twining went on to finish 7th. As laps began to wind down, Mike Hicks found a way around Keeler for the top spot. Hicks went on to claim his third win on the season. Bill Keeler held off challengers behind him to finish second. Chris Hicks finished in third. The Hicks duo, Chris and Mike, as well as Devon Helmig picked up the heat race wins.
The Indian Lake Outfitter Compacts saw a driver making their season debut starting on the pole. Nicholas Bertke and David Yoder led the field to green. There was no clear cut leader for the A-main on the opening lap as the field went two and three wide trying to sort out the running order. Nick Glasgow was a man on a mission as he pushed his 85 car to the max. David Yoder eventually took the lead out of the large battle making him the number one target for Glasgow. As laps winded down, Glasgow began to think the race was over. As Yoder came out of turn three, the 95 began to slow and drop off the pace down the front stretch. Glasgow seized the opportunity to take away the lead from Yoder. A gaggle of cars including Andru Troyer, Robbie Tuttle, Nicholas Bertke, and James Sorrell went three wide to avoid Yoder slowing down. Once the dust settled, Nick Glasgow came away with the win. Andru Troyer finished in second with Robbie Tuttle coming home in third. Glasglow was grinning ear-to-ear as he pulled his car into victory lane. The victory was the second on the year for the current points leader. Glasgow also picked up a heat race win with Justin Durflinger picking up the other.
Waynesfield will sit silent next Saturday. Racing returns for the Open Wheel Showdown on July 23. The event will feature nothing but open wheel racing from the Satellite Connections Non Wing Sprints, the K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders, and the Quest Federal Credit Union UMP Modifieds. Pit side gates open at 4 p.m. with the first green flag of the night flying at 7 p.m.
