Mike Wagner Gets Back To 410 Sprint Car Victory Lane At Port Royal Speedway

Story By: BRAD STRAWSER / PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY – PORT ROYAL, PA – Coming into Saturday night’s portion of the USAC Eastern Storm tour, the top 3 in points were all within 18 points of each other.

Kyle Cummins, Briggs Danner, and Justin Grant, in that order made up those three drivers, and all three would find themselves on the podium at the end of the night. Justin Grant would get by Briggs Danner with 11 laps remaining in the 30 lap A-main event, and would hold off a last lap pass attempt for the $6,000 win.

CJ Leary and Briggs Danner would make up the front row of the main event for the USAC National Sprint Cars A-main event with Danner getting out to the early lead.

Grant, who started in the 5th position, would find himself in the runner up spot in just 3 laps and would begin hunting down Danner for the lead.

Cummins, whose starting position was 4th, would get the 3rd spot from Leary quickly after Grant got by him as well.

Danner would lead over the first 19 laps of the race, but while battling with lapped traffic, would see Grant go by him on the inside lane off of turn 2.

Grant would not run away with the victory however, as Danner kept the NOS Energy Drink driver in his sights over the next 10 laps.

Going into the final set of turns on the final lap, Danner would mount a charge and attempt to slide in front of Grant for the lead and the win, but couldn’t make up enough ground to make the pass, allowing Grant to pick up the $6,000 win.

Danner and Cummins would round out the top 3.

In Weikert’s Livestock 410 sprint car competition, Mike Wagner would battle with Garrett Bard and Justin Whittall throughout the main event, but would find himself parked in Kish Bank victory lane by the end of the main event.

Derek Hauck and Austin Bishop would lead the field to the green flag of the 25 lap A-main event with Bishop taking the early lead.

Garrett Bard would find himself in the third position over the opening circuits of the race but would be racing close behind Hauck for the second position around the top side of the race track.

With 6 laps completed, Bard would charge around the 12J of Hauck for the runner up spot coming around the top side of turn number four.

Just 3 laps later, Mike Wagner would get by Hauck to get himself into the final podium position on the inside of turn 1.

Following a caution for a slowing Zach Newlin, Bard would be tight to the tail of the leader Austin Bishop, who had previously built up over a 2 second lead.

The field restarted with Bishop leading the way, but Bard would slide in front him coming off of turn 4 with 14 laps remaining to take the lead.

Bard and Bishop would trade passes for the top position over the next 3 laps which allowed Mike Wagner and Justin Whittall to close the gap and get into the mix for the battle for the lead.

Bard would take over the lead with 11 laps remaining, but it would be anything but comfortable as Mike Wagner would quickly get by Bishop for the 2nd position and would make a pass at Bard with 9 remaining.

With 8 laps to go, a caution would kill the momentum for the battle for the lead as Daison Pursley and Mike Walter would get together while battling inside the top 15.

With the field reset, Wagner was able to put the pressure to Bard for the lead through the corners and get by him on the inside of turn 4 and run away with the win over the next 7 laps.

Justin Whittall would get by Bard for the 2nd spot and Bard would round out the podium.

In USAC Silver Crown competition, Daison Pursley was able to make good on a tough night, take the lead on lap 3, and go on to win the $8,000 A-main event.

Justin Grant would finish in 2nd and Mitchel Moles would round out the top 3.

USAC Eastern Storm will round out their tour on Sunday June 22nd at Action Track USA in Kutztown PA.

Port Royal Speedway will be back in competition on Saturday June 28th for the Blue Collar Classic featuring the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge for the Penns Valley Meat Market 305 sprint cars and the Ron Zimmerman Tribute Race for the Zimmerman Truck Repair limited late models.