ORRVILLE, Ohio — In what can only be described as the move of a lifetime, Kalib Henry won Night Four of Overwatch Precision Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Kistler Engines & Racing Products at Wayne County Speedway on Monday.
Henry started the night strong by setting the quick time, finishing second in his heat and second in the dash.
Polesitter Devon Borden took the early lead in the feature. Henry held the second position, ahead of Brandon Spithaler and Cale Thomas, as the first caution flew for Leyton Wagner as he slowed to a stop on the backstretch on lap two.
Borden pulled away from the field on the restart. Henry, Thomas and Naida followed. While Danny Dietrich and Cap Henry battled for fifth, Borden continued to pull away.
Kalib Henry took the lead on lap 8 and started to make his way through lapped traffic. With 22 laps to go, Henry’s right-rear tire gave out, causing the second caution of the night. He rejoined the tail of the field.
Borden inherited the lead, where he stayed, fending off Spithaler until disaster struck Borden as he made contact with the 29 of Logan McCandless coming out of turn four with 13 laps to go.
During the green flag laps, Kalib Henry moved up to eighth.
On the restart with 13 laps to go, Spithaler brought the field to green with Thomas, Naida, Cap Henry and Dietrich in second through fifth.
As the field came to turn 3 on the restart lap, Zach Hampton and Brock Hallett made contact, sending Hallett flipping.
On the restart, Cale Thomas made the move and passed Spithaler for the lead coming out of turn two. Darin Naida followed suit, leading to a three-car battle for the lead into turn four. Naida took the lead as Cap Henry added to the mix at the front of the pack, as Ricky Peterson and Cale Thomas made contact, causing a flat right rear for Thomas.
With 12 laps to go, Naida held onto the lead, but Spithaler and Cap Henry weren’t going to make it easy for him. As Kalib Henry weaved his way through the field and made his way to fifth.
With 9 laps to go, Hank Davis slowed on the frontstretch with a flat-right rear.
During the caution, the field was stopped on the front stretch for an open red.
With the track clear of crews and the field pushing off, Naida led the way with Spithaler, Cap Henry, Dietrich and Kalib Henry in tow. Kalib Henry set his sights on picking off those in front of him.
With 6 laps to go, Kalib Henry passed Dietrich while Naida pulled away, and Spithaler and Cap Henry battled for second and third. Kalib Henry passed Cap Henry for third with three laps
to go. As Naida and Spithaler traded the top two spots in turns one and two on lap 35, Kalib
Henry made his move, passing both of them through turns three and four as the checkers flew.
Naida and Spithaler rounded out the top three for the night.
“I normally hate this place, and my best finish is maybe 17th or something like that,” Henry joked. “But I had a talk with myself this morning and said we’re just going to go and hang this thing on the fence and hopefully put it on the front stretch. Andy [Potter] gave me a bad fast race car. He made my life so easy tonight.”
All Star Circuit of Champions promoter, Rich Farmer announced that the Saturday, June 20, Overwatch Precision Ohio Sprint Speedweek finale will be moved from Atomic Speedway to Wayne County Speedway.
According to WKYC, a car crashed into the infield during the running of the event and injured three individuals, two seriously.
The Apple Creek/East Union Township Fire Department responded to the incident and issued a statement on social media.
“Incidents such as this serve as a reminder of the importance of preparedness, training and interagency cooperation,” according to the statement. “The seamless collaboration between all responding personnel helped ensure that patients received prompt medical attention and were transported to definitive care as quickly as possible.”
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 101-Kalib Henry[2]; 2. 11N-Darin Naida[5]; 3. 22-Brandon Spithaler[4]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[6]; 5. 33W-Cap Henry[11]; 6. 3J-Trey Jacobs[7]; 7. 98-Ricky Peterson[17]; 8. 71-Parker Price Miller[10]; 9. 29Z-Zeth Sabo[13]; 10. 27H-Bryce Lucius[21]; 11. 38-Leyton Wagner[14]; 12. 17GP-Hank Davis[15]; 13. AU55-Parker Scott[16]; 14. 19-TJ Michael[19]; 15. 45-Devon Borden[1]; 16. 7*-Tyler Street[20]; 17. 20B-Cody Bova[18]; 18. 49X-Cale Thomas[3]; 19. 70-Henry Malcuit[8]; 20. 5AU-Brock Hallett[22]; 21. 97-Zach Hampton[12]; 22. 66-Ryan Newton[23]; 23. 29-Logan McCandless[24]; 24. 47-Todd King[25]; 25. 5-Kody Brewer[9]
