Moore and Young thrill hometown crowd with DIRTcar victories!
Written By: Randy Worrell (Ranger)
ORRVILLE – When local ace Kyle Moore and his Platinum Designs Racing Team went Super Late Model racing in late May, nobody knew what to expect. There were a lot of doubters, even after Moore’s combined 30-plus win total of 2022. That all changed on Sunday night. Moore outdueled Senoia, GA, touring star Ashton Winger in a thrilling flag-to-flag victory during the 40-lap DIRTcar Summer Nationals’ season finale at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Wayne County Speedway near Orrville. Moore’s win was worth $5,000 in his Brad Moore-prepared Rocket, while Winger’s runner-up finish netted the 23-year-old his first series championship in the 38th annual running of the Hell Tour and an additional $10,000 for securing the Week-5 title as well. While the ‘Mansfield Madman’ recorded his first Wayne County Speedway and DIRTcar series Super Late Model triumph, Painesville’s Nate Young etched his name in the record books with his inaugural checkered flag in the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals 25-lap main event. Young’s victory, his second of the season at WCS and eighth overall of 2023, earned the ‘Northcoast Nightmare’ and his family-owned team $1,500. While Brandon Morrow isn’t a week-in-week-out competitor in the speedway’s McKenzie Concrete Super Stock division, the veteran certainly knows his way to victory lane as Morrow hustled his C9 machine to a dominant win in the 15-lap feature event, his second trip to WCS victory circle in 2023. Billy Dawson capped the evening’s festivities by earning his sixth victory of the season, but his first-ever at WCS, with a victory in the always-exciting JoyRide Mini Stock 12-lapper. Full results and summaries of Moore and Young’s historic victories in the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Super Late Model and Summit Racing Equipment Modified series’ first-ever visit to Wayne County Speedway can be found at www.dirtcarsummernationals.com or on Facebook at Summer Nationals. Morrow has been super-fast in his limited visits to WCS this season, and Sunday was no exception. Morrow jumped to an early lead in the event, and then withstood numerous cautions and late-race charges from Moore in securing the victory. Moore, after starting from the inside pole position, battled his way to the front in the closing stages of the race despite falling to as far back as seventh following some early-race front end damage to the Daugherty 21D. Moore pulled alongside Morrow on lap 12, and briefly led the event with a perfectly executed slider in turns 3 and 4 before Morrow regained the top spot entering the front stretch. Morrow sped to victory in the final three circuits ahead of Moore, Codee Schneider, Mike Hensel, and Zach Myers. Points leader Braden Tucke, who entered the event with a 17-point cushion over Moore, battled mechanical woes during the evening and was credited with an 11th-place finish. “We were on-point from the start,” said Morrow. “It’s been a long few weeks since we got upside down here in our last race, but the guys had this thing dialed in tonight. I knew Kyle would eventually make a run, and he did, but we raced each other clean, and l had enough momentum to cut back under him. It just all worked out tonight.” Dawson, with five overall wins in 2023 coming in, was looking to shake the bridesmaid tag at WCS and the youngster accomplished the feat during the event’s night capper. Dawson tucked in behind point leader and pole sitter Doug Hensel at the start of the race, but soon grabbed the point as Hensel exited the speedway with a broken front axle just a few circuits into the 12-lap affair. Dawson soon took command and then withstood a lap-9 caution and the cushion-banging charge of both Robert Searls and Johnny Bruce Sr., before finishing ahead of Searls, Travis Hutton, Cody Musselman, and Kenny Long. It was a jubilant victory lane celebration for Dawson’s first-ever trip in parking his No. 7 on WCS’s front stretch. “This feels awesome, and it’s been a long time coming,” said Dawson. “I’ve been close many times, but there’s some really fast guys that race here, and this feels great.” WCS returns to action with its Fast Five program next Saturday night featuring the FAST series sprint cars’ fourth of five visits of 2023 to the speedway and the second race of the three-race King of the County series presented by Integrity Auto and Truck Sales of Bucyrus. An average of 30-plus Pine Tree Towing and Recovery 410 sprint cars have graced the pit area in the previous three FAST visits with Henry Malcuit, Tyler Street, and Cody Bova visiting victory lane. Hot laps begin at 6 p.m. with racing at 7:15.