By: Ron Burt
It was a busy week for tri-state short track racing. Every car class you can think of had big races. The highlight was the reopening of the historic Millstream Speedway near Findlay Ohio. The tracks last race was 2016. This year they are running a limited schedule trying different car classes. Friday, June 14th the Fast On Dirt 410 Outlaw Winged Sprints and the USAC Thunder Midgets were the first two classes to have events. 37 Outlaw Sprints showed up for the 8th race in the 9 event schedule, for the 42nd Ohio Sprint Speed Week. The Outlaws raced on the newly resurfaced ½ mile, and the Thunder Midgets broke in the smaller inside oval. 21 cars showed up for the Midget series race.
Consistency wins championships and Cap Henry dominated the other competitors in the 410 Sprint Class. Leading up to the Millstream race, Cap won the series opener at Attica where he’s the 2023 track champion. The 2nd race at Fremont was cancelled because of rain. He finished third at Waynesfield Motorsports Park. Monday at Wayne County Speedway he finished 17th. Henry roared back Tuesday with a third place run at Hilltop Speedway followed by a fifth place finish at Sharon Speedway Wednesday and a second place showing Thursday at Muskingum County Speedway.
Scotty Thiel grabbed the early lead in the 30-lap feature at Millstream with Henry driving from fourth to second on the opening lap. Henry drove under Thiel for the lead on lap nine just as a caution flew for debris. Henry built up a substantial lead while the battle for second saw Zane DeVault get around Thiel on lap 12. A debris caution on lap 20 wiped out Henry’s lead, but he executed a perfect restart to once again drive away. With five laps to go Henry held a 2.1 second lead over DeVault with ninth starter Skylar Gee moving into third after a battle with Thiel and Cale Thomas. A yellow flag on the final lap set up a shootout but Henry once again nailed his restart and drove to the victory, his fourth overall win of 2024. DeVault, Gee, Thiel and 12th starter Joel Myers Jr. rounded out the top five.
The following night Danny Sams III put a huge exclamation point on his series win, leading all 35 laps for a $10,000 pay day at Atomic Speedway. Cap Henry won the series point Championship for the Fast on Dirt Outlaws.
Midget driver Zach Wigal won the feature at Millstream on the brand new inside oval. The Supermodifieds were at Lorain Raceway Park for the Super Crown Nationals. The Friday night feature winner was AJ Lesiecki. Saturdays first victory went to Jackson Lilje, and the third race and the over-all weekend championship went to Mark Sammut. On Saturday Colin Shipley and Steve Kester each picked up their first DIRTcar UMP Late Model feature wins of the season at Oakshade Raceway. Dominator Super Stock A Mains went to Jarrett Rendel and Dylan Burt. Jason Deshler won in the Oakshade Sport Compact Class. The 360 Great Lakes Super Sprints were at Butler Speedway in Quincy Michigan on Saturday evening. Corbin Gurley won his first ever Michigan CAT Feature Race Win. In Outlaw Figure 8 Late Model action, “The Gentleman” Jeffrey Shackelford won his second Jake’s 150 Saturday. The 24th Jake’s running had a record race payout with $5,500 going to first place and a record tying field of 32 cars competing in the event. For a complete rundown of area racetracks log onto Ohio Sports Blitz, on Facebook. Ron Out!
