Skyline Speedway
June 22, 2012
_____________________________________

Garnes Great in Tru-Tech Late Model action at Skyline Speedway

by Scott Wolfe
STEWART, OHIO- Another great night of racing at Billy Jarrell's Skyline Speedway saw two newcomers to victory lane-- Roy Roush, Tuppers Plains, Ohio in the Malta Windows AMRA Modifieds and Nathan Skaggs, Circleville, Ohio in the 410 Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association 25-lap A-main. In the Tru-Tech AMRA Late Model main, Chris Garnes, Evans, West Virginia picked up his fifth Skyline win of the year, while Cole Mayle posted a last lap win over Coleton Perine. Overall, 67 cars in four classes saw competition.

In the torrid OVSCA 410 Outlaw sprint main, the competition was whetting its chops in the absence of Danny Smith, who hit the road for Speedweek competition. The Veteran Smith had won the last five consecutive OVSCA mains.

Friday night, it would be a different story as young motocross champ and second-year driver Nathan Skaggs took the lead from Josh Davis on lap four and never looked back in posting his first-ever 410 win. Davis was looking for the clean sweep after posting a fast time of 12:81 on the 3/8 mile bullring, then easily claiming the first heat victory. Davis looked to be good out of the gate, but after a lap three restart Skaggs' tires fired and the up-and-coming youngster took the lead then after a five-lap tango with Davis began to pull away from the pack.

Grafton, WV driver Andre Layfield and Wayne McPeek battled for the duration of the 25-lap affair with Layfield, up a couple positions from his starting slot anchoring down third. Dave Dickson and Aaron Higgins moved up three spots after a five-way battle with Kory Crabtree, Mark Imler and Wes McGlumphy. Lance Webb spun a great web of success with a solid run into the top ten.

As the race approached the 17-lap mark, Bob Tucker clipped an infield tire and brought out the race's second caution. Skaggs pulled away on the restart, but Davis tried to reel him in without success. Skaggs' Beasley Trucking GF-1 Chassis/Shaver Powered #2 blitzed onto victory and into victory lane for the very first time. McPeek-- the West Virginia Invader-- anchored down third over Layfield and a steady run by rookie Ryan Broughton.

Said Skaggs, "Me & Harold (Beasley) have been working on the slick tracks all year long & we experimented some tonight, got some bite off the turns and this GF-1 chassis really started working great."

The top ten were Skaggs, Davis, McPeek, Layfield, Broughton, Crabtree, Dave Dickson, Aaron Higgins, Lance Webb, and Wes McGlumphy. The hard charger in the sprints was Lance Webb moving up five positions from 14th to 9th.

Despite heavy attrition, the AMRA Late Model Feature was a dandy! South Parkersburg's Tyler Carpenter, "The Kamikaze Kid" overcame an early race caution to lead the first 14 laps. Eventual winner, Chris Garnes actually took the lead on the second circuit but a spin reverted the field back to the previous lap. Carpenter's car fired healthily off the wave of the green and resumed the lead just past the halfway point.

Both Carpenter and Garnes were good on the bottom. Garnes dogged Carpenter for several laps, trying to make a pass, only to have the caution fly for a spinning Bub Crum, who had the race of his late-model career going with a solid fourth place run. Fifth place Corey Conley was tabbed with the caution after getting called for making contact with Crum.

Conley protested then went pitside with Crum back in fourth, followed by a high flying Fast Freddie Carpenter. Andy Bond had gone to the tail on the first lap and was on the move; Mike Martin had picked up five positions and Justin Powell advanced seven slots in great charges. Before going pitside Jason Gillian had advanced four spots.

When the race resumed with a do-over of lap thirteen, Carpenter and Garnes went side-by-side for three laps, then Garnes went by, and stretched out his lead for an uneventful win. Crum's fine run ended with a broken front suspension, dropping him from 4th to 11th. Tyler Mountain, WV driver Harold Redman, Jr. started third and finished third, repelling constant threats from Conley, Crum and Carpenter throughout the race.

Garnes, who earlier drove his first sprint race, said, "I'm beat. I got some good laps of seat time in the sprint, but I'm not used to this (double duty). He (Carpenter) had the line where I was fast and needed to be. It was just a matter of getting around. After the caution I knew I had to make my move. Once I got the line it was time to hold on."

Rounding out the top ten were Garnes, Tyler Carpenter, Harold Redman, Jr., Freddie Carpenter, Ronnie Mayle, Andy Bond, Ralph Withem, Mike Martin, Justin Powell, and Jason Gillian.

The hard charger in the Tru-Tech AMRA Late Models was Andy Bond moving up eleven positions from 17th to sixth.

The Malta AMRA Modified main was a repeat of two weeks ago when Doug Henry won on a last lap pass of Roy Roush to win by inches. This time around the battled continued, only this time Roush would bring home the checkered flag in the Jimmy Owens Chassis/Caldwell Engines R2.

Always a clean, but hard charging racer, Henry tried everything he could in an effort to overtake Roush. A few weeks ago Roush felt a late race bobble may have cost him the race. This Friday, the veteran Roush was perfect at hitting his marks despite having his tires glaze over late in the race.

Henry had several good runs on the outside making a fiery two-wide battle at times. All the while, 4-time winner Jeremy Berwanger, the Murray City Bandit, made it a three-way battle in the early portions of the race. Late in the fire-fight Roush drifted high out of turn two twice and Henry dived low only to have Roush shut the door on what proved to be a very popular Skyline victory.

Tyler Carpenter, Andy Bond, and J.C. Casto shuffled around for position much of the race, but finished right where they started. Jeremy Blake charged into the top ten and picked up four positions to outs Mark Lunning, Jerad Willis, and Toby Roush. Kyle Bond finished out of the top ten but had a good run, advancing four spots and last week's winner Mike McPherson--up from the Consi--moved up five spots.

Rounding out the top ten were Roy Roush, Doug Henry, Jeremy Berwanger, Tyler Carpenter, Andy Bond, JC Casto, Jeremy Blake, Mark Luning, Jerrad Willis, and Toby Roush. The hard charger in the MALTA Windows AMRA Modifieds was Dusty Boley moving up six positions from 18th to 12th.

Noted the winner Roush, "I was just trying to hang on and get her through the rough. I knew Doug was back there and didn't want to make any mistakes. I got a little loose at the end, but I still had good forward bite. This Jimmy Owens Chassis has been just great for me...a real race changer."

Cole Mayle ousted early leader Coleton Perine on the last lap for the Mike's Auto Body Mini-Wedge Main. Perine led nearly the entire run only to have lapped traffic factor into the out come. Rounding out the finish was Cole Mayle, Coleton Perine, Zach Carr, Coleman Evans, Austin Washburn, Skylar Zimmerman, Martin Gibson, Jr., Kasey Rankin, Kalista Barnes, and Corey Miller.

Next Friday, June 29 is the 4th Annual Greg Schilling Memorial featuring a $17,000 purse and $1,699 payday for the winner of the MALTA AMRA Road Warrior event. A "Kid's Gold Rush" is upcoming July 6th with a couple hundred dollars in coins up for grabs in a fun night for the youngsters.

The summary:

Tru-Tech AMRA Late Models (20)
Fast Time: Tyler Carpenter 14:89
Heat One: Tyler Carpenter, Bub Crum, Ronnie Mayle, Jason Gillian, Mike Martin, Darrin Roush, George Klintworth
Heat Two: Chris Garnes, Cory Conley, Freddie Carpenter, Ralph Withem, Rodney Gibson, Justin Powell, James Joy
Heat Three: Harold Redman, Jr., Pete Crum, Bob Adams, Jr., Eric Francis, Tony Roush, Andy Bond
B-Main: Darrin Roush, Andy Bond, Justin Powell, George Klintworth, James Joy (DNS)
Feature: Chris Garnes, Tyler Carpenter, Harold Redman, Jr., Freddie Carpenter, Ronnie Mayle, Andy Bond, Ralph Withem, Mike Martin, Justin Powell, Jason Gillian, Bub Crum, Bob Adams, Jr., Cory Conley, Pete Crum, Tony Roush, Eric Francis, Rodney Gibson, Darrin Roush (DNS)

410 Sprint Cars (16)
Fast Time: Josh Davis 12:81
Heat One: Josh Davis, Nathan Skaggs, Andre Layfield, Wes McGlumphy, Greg Mitchell, Eric Martin, Aaron Higgins, Bob Tucker
Heat Two: Wayne McPeek, Mark Imler, Ryan Broughton, Kory Crabtree, Dave Dickson, Chris Garnes, Lance Webb, Jeff Conrad
Feature: Nathan Skaggs, Josh Davis, Wayne McPeek, Andre Layfield, Ryan Broughton, Kory Crabtree, Dave Dickson, Aaron Higgins, Lance Webb, Wes McGlumphy, Eric Martin, Chris Garnes, Mark Imler, Bob Tucker, Jeff Conrad, Greg Mitchell (DNS)

MALTA Windows AMRA MODIFIEDS (19)
Heat One: Roy Roush, Tyler Carpenter, Mark Luning, Toby Roush, Gary Gould, Rick Venham, Jr., Dusty Boley
Heat Two: Doug Henry, Andy Bond, Jerrad Willis, Jeremy Blake, Chad Roush, Mike McPherson
Heat Three: Jeremy Berwanger, JC Casto, Robbie Evans, Tyler Evans, Kyle Bond, Brian Gould
B-Main: Rick Venham, Jr., Mike McPherson, Dusty Boley, Brian Gould
Feature: Roy Roush, Doug Henry, Jeremy Berwanger, Tyler Carpenter, Andy Bond, JC Casto, Jeremy Blake, Mark Luning, Jerrad Willis, Toby Roush, Kyle Bond, Dusty Boley, Gary Gould, Mike McPherson, Tyler Evans, Chad Roush, Rick Venham, Jr., Robbie Evans

Mike's Auto Body Mini-Wedges (12)
Heat One: Cole Mayle, Kasey Rankin, Lucas Shaw, Kalista Barnes, Corey Miller, Martin Gibson, Jr. (DNS)
Heat Two: Coleman Evans, Coleton Perine, Zach Carr, Skylar Zimmerman, Caleb Riggs, Austin Washburn
Feature: Cole Mayle, Coleton Perine, Zach Carr, Coleman Evans, Austin Washburn, Skylar Zimmerman, Martin Gibson, Jr., Kasey Rankin, Kalista Barnes, Corey Miller, Lucas Shaw, Caleb Riggs (DNS)