It was a big weekend of racing concluding with the 26th running of the Harvest 50 on Oct. 11 at Billy Jarrell’s Skyline Speedway where Josh McGuire claimed the 2009 crown and $1,000 bonus for winning the night before. The two days earned McGuire $7,500 for the win, his second consecutive Harvest victory.

Benton Ridge, Ohio driver and former All-Star Champ Greg Wilson claimed the first annual Thrasher 30 for 410 sprint cars, while Chris Stotts claimed the Malta AMRA Road Warrior Tour season- ending event. Dennis Adkins, Portland, Ohio won the “Pea Picker 30” in the four-cylinders. The night’s racing activities were dedicated to the late Hilton Wolfe, Jr. as a memorial tribute.

On a track that was about 2.3 seconds slower from the night before, Josh McGuire figured out the best set-up. His Kuntz Engines/C.J. Rayburn Racecars #41 pulled off the hat trick for the second magical night in a row.

Slower times did not mean any less of a racy track. For 36 laps Rob Blair, Titusville, PA, Showtime Steve Shaver, Parkersburg, WV; and McGuire of Grayson, KY dueled side-by-side swapping positions with prime time regularity.

Blair led the first eleven rounds in a green-to-checkered run, which saw Shaver blow by to lead the next fifteen circuits with Blair and McGuire on either side. McGuire worked the track and Shaver for a lap 29 pass as Shaver bobbled just enough for a brief piece of second to Blair.

Shaver recovered as he and McGuire started to edge away from Blair. Shaver retook the lead on lap 31, relinquished it back to McGuire on 33, then led one more turn by just inches on lap 34. The slicing and dicing all the while took its toll on the high-energy battle. Shaver tried McGuire on the outside for the next two circuits then on lap 37 had something break on his suspension.

From then on it was a McGuire cakewalk to the finish with Blair a distant, but noteworthy second. The hard charger of the race was Zach Dohm, from Cross Lanes, WV who zoomed from 18th to third after claiming a B-main win. Freddie Carpenter, Jason Montgomery, Tyler Carpenter, and Chris Carpenter swept by Tim Dohm and Doug Drown, then engaged in a bitter battle for position. When it all shook out, it was McGuire, Blair, Zach Dohm, Freddie Carpenter, Jason Montgomery, Tyler Carpenter, Chris Carpenter, Tim Dohm, Doug Drown, and Andy Bond.

“I was just hoping ‘no cautions’. We set the car up a little loose and knew it would tighten up if I got some heat in the tires,” said McGuire. “Steve and I and Robbie had a great thing going there for a while. I’m glad to get the win. Somehow we always manage to find a way to win here, but winning tonight is a big deal for us.”

Saturday night’s 410 winner Brandon Wimmer was chugging toward a transfer after posting a poor qualifying time that included a 360 in time trials. He lost out on the sprint car bonus after taking a wild end-over-end ride in turn four of his heat shortly after making a transfer from a tail start.

At the start of the sprint main–the first Thrasher 30– Aaron Higgins, of Waverly, OH, bolted into the lead over outside pole sitter Dale Blaney. It was a great race early, as Blaney closed in on Higgins only to have a lap seven caution. On the restart Higgins again edged away, but was quick to catch lapped traffic. Blaney again blasted around for a brief lead only to have Higgins shut the door. A couple of laps unfolded in this nip-and-tuck style, and then as both the leaders slowed in traffic eventual winner Greg Wilson put the trio three-wide in turn two.

Wilson won the drag race into three and from there on was off to the races. Higgins held second, but Mike Linder shuffled Blaney back to fourth. Blaney came on midway to bag Linder for second as Higgins saw his tires go away. Rob Chaney and Jimmy Stinson had good late-race runs as Wilson roared on to victory over Blaney, Linder, Chaney, Stinson, Higgins, Danny Smith, Cale Conley, Dave Dickson, and Cole Duncan.

The hard charger of the race was Cale Conley who came from last to eighth.

The MALTA AMRA Nationals saw Chirs Stotts put the Carthage/Hovis Engines/Pierce Chassis on the pole for a flag-to-flag win. Stotts earlier picked up the AMRA Road Warrior Tour win July 3, then chalked up Sunday’s victory which determined the final points champion for the Road Warrior Tour.

Early calculations show that Doug Henry, of Beverly, OH brought home the crown. Jeremy Berwanger was both the Skyline Speedway champ and the AMRA National Champion.

The best race for position behind the dominate Stotts was among Andy Bond, Rob Stambaugh, and Kenny Johnson. That triumvirate diced it up for position-swaps throughout the race.

Joe Cox and Del Cunningham shared the hard charger of the race award, each picking up ten positions.

Behind second place Bond were Rob Stambaugh, Kenny Johnson, Dave Defibaugh, Mike McPherson, Del Cunningham, Dusty Boley, Will Rowe, and Joe Cox.

The “Pea Picker 30” for Four Cylinders started out with a wild melee and hard barrel role by Shawn McClain. The race was an all-Adkins family affair after Tommy Adkins bagged Tony Plaugher for third. Dennis Adkins then separated himself from the field over cousin Grumpy Adkins just in time for Tommy A. to take third. Grumpy closed the gap in the last few laps, but could not get a run on his fleet- footed kin Dennis.

The race of the night was between Tommy Adkins and Andy Parks who battled the last 12 laps in door rubbing fashion. Rounding out the top ten behind the Adkins trio were Andy Parks, Tony Plaugher, David Banks, Jeff Rankin, C.J. Crossan, George Klintworth, and Joe Adams. Jeff Rankin was the hard charger of the race in a 17th to 7th run.

Skyline Speedway will race every Friday night next season, but most likely has closed for the 2009 campaign. For further information and future racing visit www.skylinespeedway.net or call 304- 539-4410 or the track phone at 740-662-4111.

Results:

Late Models – Fast Time: Steve Shaver 14:76

B-Main One: Carpenter, Conley, Williams, Corbitt, Carrier, Jr., McDaniel, Burdette, Christy, Withem, Smith, Morrison, Huber, Stacy, Roush, Conrad, Stotts, Rogers.

B-Main Two: Dohm, R. Conley, Bond, Brookover, Ronnie Mayle, R. Roush, T. Roush, Klintworth, Wright, Mustain, Powell, Wiblin, Swartz, Crum.

Harvest 50 Feature:

McGuire, Blair, Freddie Carpenter, Montgomery, T. Carpenter, C. Carpenter, Dohm, Drown, Bond, L. Bond, Rod Conley, Shaver, Corey Conley, Wells, Johnson, Delmas Conley.

410 Sprint Cars Fast Time: Dale Blaney 13:05

Dash: Aaron Higgins, Dale Blaney, Greg Wilson, Bryce Dickson

B-Main One : Jack Sodeman, Jr., Cale Conley, Josh Davis, Greg Mitchell, Tony Beeber, Alec Martin, Wes McGlumphey, Eric Martin, Brandon Wimmer

B-Main Two: Charlie Fisher, Dallas Hewitt, Ryan Myers, Brandi Bower, Aaron Middaugh, Rick Fraley, Tim Moshier, Jeremy Shambaugh

Thrasher 30 Feature: – Wilson, Blaney, Linder, Chaney, Stinson, Higgins, Smith, Cale Conley, Dickson, Duncan, Baxter, Crabtree, Slone, Bryce Dickson, Sodeman, Jr., Fisher, Kane, Benson.

MALTA AMRA MODIFIEDS – Fast Time: Doug Henry 16:32

B-Main: Joe Hamon, Del Cunningham, Will Rowe, Travis Dickson, Joe Cox, Robin Ours, Robert Garnes, Roger Garnes, Buddy Brogan, Jeremy Stoops, Zach Kisner, Crank, Dale Lyons, Aaron Ellis, Eric Hatfield, Bruce Miller

AMRA RWT National Feature – Stotts, Andy Bond, Stambaugh, Johnson, Defibaugh, McPherson, Cunningham, Boley, l Rowe, Joe Cox, Travis Dickson, Jason Brookover, Doug Henry, Jimmy Fordyce, J.P. Roberts, Jeremy Blake, Hamon, Dan Arnold, Louis Krushansky

Four Cylinders – Fast Time: Tony Plaugher 17:17

B-Main: Steve Brown, Jeff Rankin, Cody Heiss, Greg King, Barry Kitts, Drew Smith, Ken Young, Paul Magnum,Jr., Kerry Rouse, Jr., John Rankin, Drew Peart

Pea Picker 30 Feature: Dennis Adkins, Grumpy Adkins, Tommy Adkins, Andy Parks, Tony Plaugher, David Banks, Jeff Rankin, C.J. Crossan, George Klintworth, Joe Adams, Steve Brown, Cody Heiss, Jeff Blanton, Brandon Davis, Chris Lauer, Matt Fizer, Josh Salyer, Shawn McClain.