Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – ORRVILLE, OH – It was an elbows-up evening in the Buckeye State for the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1, as round four of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket took “America’s Series” to a heavily-saturated Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio.
Despite receiving an inch of overnight rain, the show went on as scheduled with “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney earning the $10,000 Duffy Smith Memorial prize. The Speedweek triumph was Courtney’s first of the year, simultaneously bumping his season victory tally to five, as well as 21 for his career.
Courtney, ace of the Clauson Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 7BC, started third on the 25-lap Duffy Smith grid, using traffic to power beyond Cole Macedo for second on lap eight, all before pouncing on race leader, Cap Henry, on lap nine. Choppy track conditions as the result of heavy rain left much of the racing surface not for the faint of heart, but Courtney powered through, utilizing the very bottom of the speedway for much of his campaign while avoiding rougher patches.
“We just tried to stay as free as we could. I think we were a little too free, but I’m not sure you could be ‘too free’ on a surface like this,” Courtney said. “Just hats off to everyone here at Wayne County Speedway, and a special thanks to all of the fans for coming out and sticking through this. A lot of guys were unsure about tonight, but someone had to leave here with $10,000…it may as well be us.”
Doing everything he could to keep Courtney in range, Republic, Ohio’s Cap Henry would eventually cross the line in second, followed by Ricky Peterson, who earned a first-ever All Star podium finish, local hot shoe Trey Jacobs, and early race leader, Cole Macedo.
“I knew the bottom was where I needed to be,” Courtney added. “I knew if I could keep myself on the bottom, if anyone wanted to get around me, they were going to have to go above me.”
Traveling further east, weekday Speedweek competition will continue on Tuesday, June 13, with a one-night, $6,000-to-win stop at the always-exciting Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. Sharon’s program will conclude the first segment of the 2023 edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek, as an off day will follow on Wednesday, June 14.
Contingency Awards/Results: Wayne County Speedway | June 12, 2023:
Duffy Smith Memorial | $10,000-to-win [Show-up points, only]
Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket | N4
Kistler Racing Products Pill Draw | Entries: 40
Macri Concrete/Nunzi’s Advertising Hot Laps: Blake Hahn | 14.489
Hercules Tires Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney | 14.407
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #1 Winner: Travis Philo
Competition Suspension Inc Heat #2 Winner: Cole Macedo
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #3 Winner: Cap Henry
Kistler Racing Products Heat #4 Winner: Buddy Kofoid
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash Winner: Cole Macedo
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting and Embroidery B-Main Winner: Tim Shaffer
Rayce Rudeen Foundation Contingency Award: Tyler Newhart
Tezos A-Main Winner: Tyler Courtney
Tezos A-Main Hard Charger: Ricky Peterson (+11)
Carquest Perseverance Award: Cody Bova
Tezos A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 2. 33W-Cap Henry[4]; 3. 2-Ricky Peterson[14]; 4. 9-Trey Jacobs[12]; 5. 29M-Cole Macedo[1]; 6. 23-Zeth Sabo[9]; 7. 91-Tyler Gunn[5]; 8. 5T-Travis Philo[2]; 9. 4-Chris Windom[17]; 10. 55-Michael Kofoid[7]; 11. 45-Tim Shaffer[20]; 12. 19-Sean Rayhall[11]; 13. 22-Brandon Spithaler[21]; 14. (DNF) 97-JJ Hickle[19]; 15. (DNF) 57N-Tyler Newhart[25]; 16. (DNF) 25R-Jordan Ryan[10]; 17. (DNF) 20B-Cody Bova[23]; 18. (DNF) 7DK-Dylan Kingan[13]; 19. (DNF) 101-Cody Maroske[15]; 20. (DNF) 70-Scotty Thiel[6]; 21. (DNF) 11N-Harli White[8]; 22. (DNF) 4S-Tyler Street[24]; 23. (DNF) 38K-Chris Myers[18]; 24. (DNF) W20-Greg Wilson[16]; 25. (DNS) 7N-Darin Naida; 26. (DNS) 26-Zeb Wise LAP LEADERS: Cole Macedo (1-6), Cap Henry (7, 8), Tyler Courtney (9-25)
Classic Ink USA B Feature (10 Laps): 1. 45-Tim Shaffer[1]; 2. 22-Brandon Spithaler[3]; 3. 7N-Darin Naida[10]; 4. 20B-Cody Bova[11]; 5. 4S-Tyler Street[7]; 6. 57N-Tyler Newhart[9]; 7. (DNF) 25-Jamie Myers[4]; 8. (DNF) 20-Danial Burkhart[5]; 9. (DNF) 7-Troy Kingan[12]; 10. (DNF) 38-Leyton Wagner[8]; 11. (DNS) 29-Sye Lynch; 12. (DNS) 187-Tyler Wiles
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash (6 Laps): 1. 29M-Cole Macedo[3]; 2. 5T-Travis Philo[2]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 4. 33W-Cap Henry[6]; 5. 91-Tyler Gunn[1]; 6. (DNF) 70-Scotty Thiel[5]; 7. (DNF) 55-Michael Kofoid[7]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5T-Travis Philo[2]; 2. 11N-Harli White[5]; 3. 70-Scotty Thiel[1]; 4. 2-Ricky Peterson[3]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson[6]; 6. 187-Tyler Wiles[8]; 7. 38-Leyton Wagner[7]; 8. (DNS) 50YR-Blake Hahn; 9. (DNS) 16-Danny Mumaw; 10. (DNS) 70M-Henry Malcuit
CSI Shocks Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 29M-Cole Macedo[1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 3. 19-Sean Rayhall[5]; 4. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[2]; 5. 97-JJ Hickle[7]; 6. 20-Danial Burkhart[8]; 7. 57N-Tyler Newhart[9]; 8. (DNF) 7N-Darin Naida[6]; 9. (DNS) 28M-Conner Morrell; 10. (DNS) 99-Skylar Gee
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 33W-Cap Henry[4]; 2. 26-Zeb Wise[2]; 3. 23-Zeth Sabo[1]; 4. 9-Trey Jacobs[5]; 5. 4-Chris Windom[8]; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler[3]; 7. (DNF) 4S-Tyler Street[6]; 8. (DNF) 7-Troy Kingan[9]; 9. (DNS) 48-Danny Dietrich
Kistler Racing Products Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 91-Tyler Gunn[3]; 3. 25R-Jordan Ryan[5]; 4. 101-Cody Maroske[6]; 5. 38K-Chris Myers[7]; 6. 25-Jamie Myers[8]; 7. (DNF) 45-Tim Shaffer[4]; 8. (DNF) 20B-Cody Bova[9]; 9. (DNF) 29-Sye Lynch[1]
Hercules Tire Qualifying: 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:14.407[12]; 2. 50YR-Blake Hahn, 00:14.476[3]; 3. 45-Tim Shaffer, 00:14.534[34]; 4. 70-Scotty Thiel, 00:14.615[8]; 5. 29M-Cole Macedo, 00:14.618[20]; 6. 29-Sye Lynch, 00:14.634[33]; 7. 33W-Cap Henry, 00:14.685[21]; 8. 23-Zeth Sabo, 00:14.701[25]; 9. 26-Zeb Wise, 00:14.743[29]; 10. 55-Michael Kofoid, 00:14.747[35]; 11. 91-Tyler Gunn, 00:14.751[31]; 12. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 00:14.764[27]; 13. 9-Trey Jacobs, 00:14.781[22]; 14. 5T-Travis Philo, 00:14.815[4]; 15. 4S-Tyler Street, 00:14.867[26]; 16. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:14.897[28]; 17. 4-Chris Windom, 00:14.964[24]; 18. 25R-Jordan Ryan, 00:15.022[38]; 19. 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 00:15.030[13]; 20. 2-Ricky Peterson, 00:15.037[9]; 21. 28M-Conner Morrell, 00:15.042[14]; 22. 11N-Harli White, 00:15.118[10]; 23. 101-Cody Maroske, 00:15.137[30]; 24. 19-Sean Rayhall, 00:15.142[15]; 25. W20-Greg Wilson, 00:15.147[5]; 26. 38K-Chris Myers, 00:15.165[36]; 27. 25-Jamie Myers, 00:15.177[32]; 28. 7N-Darin Naida, 00:15.205[17]; 29. 97-JJ Hickle, 00:15.250[19]; 30. 20B-Cody Bova, 00:15.332[37]; 31. 38-Leyton Wagner, 00:15.480[7]; 32. 20-Danial Burkhart, 00:15.531[16]; 33. 57N-Tyler Newhart, 00:15.793[18]; 34. 187-Tyler Wiles, 00:15.953[6]; 35. 7-Troy Kingan, 00:16.301[23]; 36. 16-Danny Mumaw, 00:29.480[2]; 37. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 00:29.480[1]; 38. 99-Skylar Gee, 00:29.480[11]