Story By: JUSTIN SNYDER / PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY – PORT ROYAL, PA – It was Logan Wagner and Anthony Macri crossing the start/finish line at Port Royal Speedway one-two in Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Car competition for the second consecutive weekend as Wagner picked up his 13th career victory at the Speedway Saturday evening.
The win was worth $5000 in total as part of the Speedway’s Open Wheel Madness promotion and vaulted Wagner to second in the series point standings in his drive for five consecutive championships at the track.
“It takes everyone to make this deal happen and I can’t thank everyone enough for making this possible,” said Wagner. “I think if we do our part, this team will be sitting in victory lane a few more times this season and I’m excited to keep going.”
Michael Walter II and weekend invader Parker Price-Miller lined up on the front row for the 25-lap A-main and it was Walter holding off the All Star Circuit of Champions regular to lead the opening circuit.
Wagner started third on the grid and after falling back to fourth on the first lap of the event, the Harrisonville, Pa. ace settled back into a podium spot on lap two. Macri, who started ninth on the grid, moved into sixth on lap three and cracked the top five one lap later.
Walter held more than a 1.3 second advantage by then, but his lead was cut in half with 18 to go after he got into the outside guardrail in turn’s three and four. One lap later Wagner slid under Price-Miller in turn’s three and four to take the runner-up position at the line and he set his sights on Walter.
Walter approached the back of the field two laps later and was struggling to dispatch of Jordan Givler. This allowed Wagner to close in on both racers and Wagner split the pair exiting turn two to take the lead down the backstretch. Walter and Wagner made brief contact racing side by side approaching turn three, but both drivers went unscathed as Wagner held the lead with 15 to go.
“Hats off to the 33 team as they ran a great race early and he made me work for it,” said Wagner. “I felt myself get up into a car there and I wasn’t sure if it was him, but we were just racing hard and both wanting the same spot.”
Two laps later the caution flew for the No. 67 of Justin Whittall, who came to a stop on the inside guardrail of the frontstretch. The yellow flag wiped out a 1.99 second advantage for Wagner over Walter and put Macri right on the bumper of the runner-up for a restart.
After a caution for debris thwarted his first attempt at moving into the second position, Macri quickly overtook Walter for the runner-up position on the restart on the restart. With 10 laps remaining Wagner had already built up a 1.709 second advantage on the field, but five laps later Macri had cut the advantage to .984 as lapped traffic once again came into play.
Macri closed to the tail tank of Wagner coming to the start/finish line and it looked like the pair were set to duke it out again, but a red flag for a flipping TJ Stutts on the frontstretch halted racing action. Stutts walked away from the incident unharmed.
Wagner controlled the restart and any hope of a victory for Macri vanished as Wagner pulled away with ease. He went on to take the checkered flag by a margin of 1.725 seconds over Macri, Walter II, Jeff Halligan and Price-Miller. Zeb Wise, Gerard McIntyre Jr., Mike Wagner, Lucas Wolfe and Dylan Cisney rounded out the top 10.
Kassidy Kreitz, making only her second career 410 Sprint Car start, earned the $500 Valley Supply Hard Charger after going 24th to 14th on the night and 18th-place finisher Kody Lehman earned the J&S Classics $1000 Warrior Award via a random draw.
“I can’t say enough about our Zemco team and this just proves that we have a really good racecar and we’re ready for some of these bigger shows that are coming up,” said Wagner. “It was a lot of fun out there and it was a breath of fresh air to cross the line in front of the 39 car.”
Doug Dodson scored his first career Port Royal Speedway victory during the 2022 season debut for the PennsValley MeatMarket PA Sprint Series 305 Sprint Cars Saturday night in dominating fashion over Domenic Melair and Kenny Heffner.
Heffner and Ian Detweiler led the field to the green flag and it was Heffner getting the early advantage. Dodson, who started fourth, moved into the runner-up position on the opening lap.
11th-place starter and defending track champion, Dave Grube, moved into seventh at the completion of lap one and was up to fourth by lap four. Meanwhile, 2020 track champion Garret Bard had advanced from 16th to eighth as well.
A two car incident in turn two brought the caution out with 16 laps remaining. Dodson tried the bottom at both ends of the Speedway on the restart, but Heffner held off all advances. The caution flew a second time for a car stopped in turn two.
Heffner again held off Dodson’s advances on the restart, but it only took one more lap for Dodson to take the top spot as he used a move through the middle of turn’s three and four to inch ahead coming to the line with 14 to go. Three laps later Grube’s march to the front ended when he came to a slow at the turn four exit.
From there it was all Dodson as he held off Domenic Melair, Heffner, Bard and Mike Alleman. Austin Reed, Tyler Snook, Kruz Kepner, Ken Duke and Logan Spahr rounded out the top 10.
“Once I got out front and could run the line I wanted, I knew I could keep my momentum and be good,” said Dodson. “To be really good and to get the win here is a dream come true and it was a blast out there.”
410 Sprint Car Feature, 25 Laps: 1. Logan Wagner. 2. Anthony Macri. 3. Michael Walter II. 4. Jeff Halligan. 5. Parker Price-Miller. 6. Zeb Wise. 7. Gerard McIntyre Jr. 8. Mike Wagner. 9. Lucas Wolfe. 10. Dylan Cisney. 11. Blane Heimbach. 12. AJ Flick. 13. Lynton Jeffrey. 14. Kassidy Kreitz. 15. Pat Cannon. 16. Jared Esh. 17. Curt Stroup. 18. TJ Stutts. 19. Kody Lehman. 20. Jordan Givler. 21. Justin Whittall. 22. Ryan Smith. 23. Tyler Bear. 24. Steve Buckwalter.
PASS 305 Sprint car feature, 20 Laps: 1. Doug Dodson. 2. Domenic Melair. 3. Kenny Heffner. 4. Garrett Bard. 5. Mike Alleman. 6. Austin Reed. 7. Tyler Snook. 8. Kruz Kepner. 9. Ken Duke Jr. 10. Logan Spahr. 11. Josh Spicer. 12. Ian Detweiler. 13. Erin Statler. 14. Larry McVay. 15. John Fiore. 16. Branston Shue. 17. Jake Waters. 18. Dustin Young. 19. Austin Greenland. 20. Paul Moyer. 21. Dave Grube. 22. Andrew Boyer. 23. Roger Irvine. 24. Carl Reigle.