Justin Peck Outduels Spencer Bayston For Muskingum Co. All Star OH Sprint Speedweek Victory

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – DRESDEN, OH – Round six of Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires did not disappoint on Thursday evening at Muskingum County Speedway, as Monrovia, Indiana’s Justin Peck and recent Sam McGhee Motorsports acquisition, Spencer Bayston, battled until the fat lady sang, dueling hard in the final four circuits of the 25-lap contest with Peck earning the edge.

Forced to utilize a last-ditch effort slider in the final corner, Peck’s FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory bumped his season total to three; four over the course of his career.

Snapping a recent dry spell, the Muskingum triumph, a $6,000 accomplishment, resulted in Peck’s first visit to victory lane since Sharon Speedway’s Buckeye Cup in early May. Peck now owns All Star victories at four different facilities.

“Hats off to Spencer. That was fun,” Justin Peck said in victory lane, driver of the Buch Motorsports/Coastal Race Parts/No. 13 sprint car. “Hats off to these guys. We’ve been struggling for a couple of weeks now, but to finally figure things out is pretty awesome. It wasn’t all on their end. I needed to figure some stuff out on my end, as well. To be a winner during Speedweek is pretty special. Growing up wanting to be a sprint car driver, you dream of having the chance to race Speedweek. So to get a win is pretty cool.”

Forced to start the race, officially, in single-file formation, a decision made by the officials after four consecutive double-file cautions, including a red flag incident, halted action, Spencer Bayston earned the initial jump, getting the best of pole sitter, Cale Conley. Bayston and Conley battled hard for the first three circuits with Bayston finally earning some separation on lap four. Meanwhile, Peck, who started fourth on the grid, battled his way to second by lap six, getting by Tyler Courtney and Cale Conely in consecutive fashion to secure the position. A caution on lap nine would halt the field one last time.

Although Bayston and Peck would run one-two through lap 21, action did not hit high gear until lap 20, as Bayston found himself trapped behind a wall of lapped cars. The roaming roadblock forced Bayston to check up which allowed Peck to pull even with the Mike McGhee and Associates No. 11 the following circuit. Lap 22 is when Peck made his move, sliding by Bayston at the exit of turn four to lead the lap. Despite the rapid change, Bayston refused to give up, keeping Peck within a car length during the next two trips through traffic.

The final lap would see Bayston pull even with Peck through turns one and two, ultimately powering by the Buch Motorsports entry down the backstretch. In return, Peck dove to the bottom of turn three, slid across the nose of Bayston, then kissed the turn four cushion, all before beating the Lebanon, Indiana-native in a drag race back to the checkers.

“I felt like we had a stellar car all night long. I just felt really, really good,” Bayston said on his second night piloting for Mike McGhee. “These Sam McGhee Motorsports guys did a fantastic job all night and they made my job a lot easier.”

Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires will continue Friday evening, June 18, at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio. The eight-race/nine-day campaign will then conclude on Saturday evening with the third running of the Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth Raceway Park. The largest payday on the Ohio Sprint Speedweek schedule, the 2021 Knittel Memorial will award $17,554 to the main event winner.

Contingency Awards/Results: Muskingum Co. Speedway | Thursday, June 17, 2021:
Event: Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires
Entries: 39
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Tyler Courtney | 13.228
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney | 12.818
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Justin Peck
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Kyle Reinhardt
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Brinton Marvel
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: DJ Foos
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Cale Conley
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Spencer Bayston
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Cale Thomas
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Trey Jacobs
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Justin Peck
Hercules Tires A-Main Hard Charger: Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (+15)

FloRacing A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 13-Justin Peck[4]; 2. 11-Spencer Bayston[2]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 4. 16-DJ Foos[5]; 5. 3C-Cale Conley[1]; 6. 4-Cap Henry[13]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 8. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[23]; 9. 22H-Jac Haudenschild[16]; 10. 25R-Jordan Ryan[15]; 11. 28-Tim Shaffer[20]; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich[19]; 13. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[10]; 14. 1-Nate Dussel[17]; 15. 5-Paul McMahan[8]; 16. 21BP-Brinton Marvel[7]; 17. 18T-Tanner Holmes[24]; 18. W20-Greg Wilson[18]; 19. 10-Zeb Wise[6]; 20. 26-Cory Eliason[11]; 21. 49X-Cale Thomas[21]; 22. 70M-Henry Malcuit[12]; 23. (DNF) 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[22]; 24. (DNF) 24-Rico Abreu[14] Lap Leaders: Spencer Bayston (1-21), Justin Peck (22-25)

Classic Ink USA B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 49X-Cale Thomas[2]; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 4. 18T-Tanner Holmes[5]; 5. 70-Trey Jacobs[3]; 6. 23E-Jordan Harble[9]; 7. 4S-Tyler Street[8]; 8. 2L-Landon Lalonde[14]; 9. 18-Cole Macedo[4]; 10. 24W-Garet Williamson[15]; 11. 15-Mitch Harble[11]; 12. 12-Kyle Capodice[19]; 13. 23-Chris Andrews[16]; 14. 22B-Ryan Broughton[12]; 15. 08-Brandon Conkel[18]; 16. 4X-Bradley Ashford[13]; 17. (DNF) 101-Lachlan McHugh[1]; 18. (DNF) 07-Skylar Gee[6]; 19. (DNF) 59-Bryan Nuckles[17]

Kears Speed Shop Dash 1 (4 Laps): 1. 3C-Cale Conley[2]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 3. 16-DJ Foos[1]; 4. 21BP-Brinton Marvel[3]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[5]

Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash 2 (4 Laps): 1. 11-Spencer Bayston[1]; 2. 13-Justin Peck[2]; 3. 10-Zeb Wise[3]; 4. 5-Paul McMahan[4]; 5. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[5]

Ford Performance Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 3. 4-Cap Henry[5]; 4. 5-Paul McMahan[3]; 5. 10-Zeb Wise[4]; 6. 18-Cole Macedo[8]; 7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 8. 101-Lachlan McHugh[6]; 9. 49X-Cale Thomas[7]; 10. 08-Brandon Conkel[10]

All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[1]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason[2]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 4. 22H-Jac Haudenschild[3]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich[5]; 6. 70-Trey Jacobs[6]; 7. 4S-Tyler Street[7]; 8. 15-Mitch Harble[9]; 9. 2L-Landon Lalonde[8]; 10. 59-Bryan Nuckles[10]

Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21BP-Brinton Marvel[1]; 2. 11-Spencer Bayston[4]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson[6]; 5. 28-Tim Shaffer[5]; 6. 18T-Tanner Holmes[2]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 8. 22B-Ryan Broughton[7]; 9. 23-Chris Andrews[9]; 10. 12-Kyle Capodice[8]

Mobil 1 Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 16-DJ Foos[1]; 2. 70M-Henry Malcuit[3]; 3. 25R-Jordan Ryan[7]; 4. 1-Nate Dussel[2]; 5. 3C-Cale Conley[4]; 6. 07-Skylar Gee[6]; 7. 23E-Jordan Harble[9]; 8. 4X-Bradley Ashford[8]; 9. 24W-Garet Williamson[5]

Dixie Vodka Qualifying: 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:12.818[15]; 2. 10-Zeb Wise, 00:12.835[6]; 3. 5-Paul McMahan, 00:12.855[3]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:12.878[5]; 5. 22H-Jac Haudenschild, 00:12.925[11]; 6. 26-Cory Eliason, 00:12.993[17]; 7. 13-Justin Peck, 00:12.997[9]; 8. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 00:13.016[13]; 9. 11-Spencer Bayston, 00:13.081[30]; 10. 4-Cap Henry, 00:13.090[7]; 11. 101-Lachlan McHugh, 00:13.141[10]; 12. 49X-Cale Thomas, 00:13.143[4]; 13. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:13.146[20]; 14. 70-Trey Jacobs, 00:13.207[14]; 15. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:13.209[26]; 16. 18-Cole Macedo, 00:13.324[8]; 17. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:13.373[1]; 18. 18T-Tanner Holmes, 00:13.451[21]; 19. 4S-Tyler Street, 00:13.481[18]; 20. 3C-Cale Conley, 00:13.487[31]; 21. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 00:13.489[37]; 22. 2L-Landon Lalonde, 00:13.525[12]; 23. 1-Nate Dussel, 00:13.527[35]; 24. 16-DJ Foos, 00:13.549[33]; 25. 21BP-Brinton Marvel, 00:13.552[24]; 26. 28-Tim Shaffer, 00:13.560[25]; 27. 24W-Garet Williamson, 00:13.578[32]; 28. 15-Mitch Harble, 00:13.649[16]; 29. 07-Skylar Gee, 00:13.669[38]; 30. 59-Bryan Nuckles, 00:13.770[19]; 31. W20-Greg Wilson, 00:13.860[23]; 32. 22B-Ryan Broughton, 00:13.937[28]; 33. 25R-Jordan Ryan, 00:14.109[39]; 34. 08-Brandon Conkel, 00:14.147[2]; 35. 12-Kyle Capodice, 00:14.557[29]; 36. 4X-Bradley Ashford, 00:14.568[34]; 37. 23E-Jordan Harble, 00:14.660[36]; 38. 23-Chris Andrews, 00:45.887[22]; 39. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:59.999[27]