Dirt Racing
Williamson and Satterlee Score at Port Royal
PORT ROYAL, PA (March 21, 2021): Matt Williamson has found a new favorite track. The driver from St. Catharines, ONT carried home another big check from the Speed Palace. This time it was $5,000 for winning the Short Track Super Series Modified feature. Last Fall, in his first appearance at Port Royal Speedway, Williamson won the 200 lapper for $53,000.
Also gracing victory lane was Gregg Satterlee who took his second consecutive win with the United Late Model Series. The native of Indiana, PA garnered $4,000 for his efforts.
Williamson almost did not make the trip to race in Pennsylvania this weekend. He had to beg his car owner, Jeff Behrent, to let them take the car and, then, Williamson had to piece together a crew for the weekend.
The turning point for Williamson came with ten laps to go. Stewart Friesen, who led from the start, was caught behind slower cars. Williamson went to the middle line and tried to drive by Friesen. He could not hold his line and drifted up the track, closing off the charge being made by the thrid place runner, Mike Matheny. On the next lap, Friesen entered turn one in the middle to try to lap the car that was slowing his pace. That opened up the bottom lane for Williamson and he quickly filled the hole. Now, Friesen was caught in no man’s land. Williamson held the preferred line and Friesen had no alternative but to fall in behind the new leader.
“I think he had the better car,” Williamson confided. “I got him in traffic. I had the preferred lane. It felt like ice out there and I knew that I had to stay on the bottom. I may have screwed it up for Mike the lap before.” Friesen noted that he was a sitting duck. “I got impatient and lost my head,” he said dejectedly. “I saw Matty try the outside and I thought that I could get by that slower car.”
It was an all-Friesen front row for the start of the feature event. Jessica was on the inside and her hubby, Stewart, was on the outside. Alex Yankowski was matched up with Max McLaughlin in the second row. Matt Stangle and Mahaney came next. Dwight Howard and Williamson occupied the fourth row. Larry Wight and Tyler Dippel were in the fifth row, with Ryan Godown and Billy Decker filling row six.
While Jessica Friesen led the field into the first corner, Stewart had the faster, outside line. He rode the rim to take the lead coming through the second turn. McLaughlin and Yankowski fought for third while Stangle and Williamson diced for fifth.
Williamson was quick to advance, however. By lap three he was up to third and within two laps he was second. Stewart Friesen, though, had opened up a commanding lead in the clean air and now it was up to Williamson to chase him down.
When Friesen reached the back of the field, that enabled Williamson to close in on him. They began to play a game of high speed hide and seek as they tried to pick their way through the slower cars. A caution for the blown engine of Anthony Perrego gave the leaders a clean track.
As expected, Friesen jetted out to the lead with no traffic to slow his pace. Within five or six laps, though, he was catching the back markers again and Williamson started his march forward. by lap twenty-five, they were trying to slice and dice through the traffic again.
That set up Williamson’s first, unsuccessful bid for the lead. As noted, he tried to pin Friesen behind the lapped car, but he could not maintain his momentum. Friesen nosed ahead. But the cloud had a silver lining for Williamson. When he slid high, Mahaney had to check up, aborting his own bid for the lead. On the next round, Friesen tried the middle line and he, too, slid up the track, leaving the door open for Williamson to scoot by.
Williamson did take the lead, but now Mahaney was trying the high side once again. With Williamson hugging the rail, Mahaney had a full head of steam as he entered the first turn. He pulled up beside the leader. Mahaney noted that “the lapped traffic was playing in my favor. I had a good run on the top and then the yellow came out.”
That put Williamson on the point for the last double file restart of the race. He got the jump on Mahaney coming off turn four and he completed the final eight laps without incident.
Willaimson sailed under the checkers for his second win at Port Royal. Mahaney was second, with Stewart Friesen third. Jessica Friesen turned in a creditable run for fourth. Larry Wight was fifth. Dippel, Stangle, McLaughlin, Godown, and Decker completed the top ten.
Five heats were held. McLaughln, Williamson, Yankowski, Dippel, and Stewart Friesen got the wins. Peter Britten and Erick Rudolph won the pair of B Mains.
In the ULMS Late Model feature, Michael Norris set the fast time in the pole scramble. Max Blair checked in for second. Jeff Rine and Rick Eckert were in the second stanza. Kyle Lee and Gregg Satterlee lined up in the third row. Donnie Lingo and Brian Bernheisel fired off from row four. Trever Feathers and Colton Flinner were in row five, with Gary Stuhler and Mason Zeigler departing from row six.
Norris powered off turn four to get the early advantage over Rine, Blair, Satterlee, Eckert, and Lee. Eckert looked to the inside of Satterlee as they came off the second corner. As Satterlee tried to move up to the rubber, Eckert cut inside, and there was slight contact midway down the back stretch. Eckert spun but there was no further contact. However, his day was ruined just four laps into the contest.
Dylan Yoder was impressive in the opening laps of the race. He came from eighteenth to seventh in just four circuits. While he would continue to battle for positions in the top five, though, he was not able to make a meaningful challenge to the top three.
On the restart, Satterlee rode the rim to go from third to the front. Norris fought back, but he could not regain the top spot. Once Satterlee was in command, it was just a matter of keeping his nose clean.
Satterlee did have a close call just a few laps later. A lapped car spun in between turns one and two. Fortunately, Satterlee saw the incident unfold and he was able to avoid contact. “I saw him losing it and I just eased off and made sure that I wasn’t collected.”
On the ensuing restart, Rine made strong inside move, pulling up next to Satterlee. Rine knew that there was rubber on the inside and he hit it perfectly on the restart. However, Satterlee was also running in the rubber on the top line and he was able to scoot away. He then dropped down to the inside and drove away form Rine.
Satterlee was better prepared for the final restart, with twelve laps remaining. Now the inside line was his preferred groove and Rine was never able to get close enough to make a move on him.
Satterlee finished the race without further ado. Rine was second, followed by Norris. Yoder checked in for fourth and
Lingo advanced to fifth. Gary Stuhler crossed in sixth, followed by Blair, Ross Robinson, Andy Haus, and Nick Dickson.
Bernheisel, Lingo, Blair, and Norris won their respective heat races. Amanda Whaley and Yoder shared the B Mains. Bernheisel was the fastest qualifier in Group A with a lap of 18.599. Blair was best in Group B with a time of 18.715.
Port Royal Speedway will have a triple header next week, featuring the 410 Sprints, Super Late Models, and Limited Late Models. Starting time will be 4 p.m. On april 3, the PASS/IMCA 305 Sprints will take the place of the Limited Late Models with a 6 p.m. start. Coming soon, on April 17-18, there will be a blockbuster weekend. The All Stars Circuit of Champions will take center stage on Saturday and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will headline on Sunday.
PORT ROYAL, PA (April 13, 2024): Defending track champion, Devon Borden, battled Danny Dietrich in the final laps of the 410 Sprint Car race at Port Royal Speedway, bringing fans to their feet. Borden’s first win of the season came by 1.219 seconds over Dietrich, who won the season opener. Borden earned $5,800 for the effort.
“I just knew that I was going to have to go where they weren’t and drive the $h!+ out of it,” Borden said as he struggled to catch his breath. Starting twelfth, Borden knew that he had to make a big push early to get to the front with several heavy hitters starting ahead of him. “I had to make the top work before it went away.” He was able to charge to third in just nine laps and it only took him three more to reach second. Getting that final position was quite a bit harder to accomplish. “The last three laps were pretty hectic, and things had to play out in our favor.”
Borden gave props to his crew chief, Chris Shuttlesworth. “We didn’t start out very good, but now we have it going.”
A modified version of the PA Speedweek format was used for this program. The only deviation was the use of group time trials to set heat race line-ups. In the Speedweek format, each driver times against the whole field; whereas, the group approach only pits the racers against the same cars that will run in the same heat race. The heat race winners and the fastest car to qualify draw for starting positions at the front of the field. The remainder are seeded by their heat race finishes. B Main transfers make up the final rows.
The luck racers were Lucas Wolfe and Steve Buckwalter. Behind them were Dietrich and Logan Wagner. Dylan Cisney, the Mayor of Port Royal was paired up with Jeff Halligan in row three. The fourth row belonged to Gerard McIntyre, Jr. and Jake Karklin. Mike Wagner and Blane Heimbach claimed row five. T.J. Stutts was inside Borden in row six.
Buckwalter sailed into turn one on the outside and began to pull away from his pursuers. Dietrich settled into second, with Logan Wagner a close third. Wolfe fell back to fourth, followed by Karklin, Halligan, Cisney, Heimbach, Borden, and McIntyre. Buckwalter held control for the first six rounds. However, Dietrich closed in on him when Buckwalter encountered lapped traffic.
Dietrich became more aggressive on lap seven, sliding ahead of Buckwalter in turn three. Buckwalter turned back under him in turn four to regain the lead as they thundered down the long front stretch. Dietrich fought back through turns one and two, coming off the bottom of turn two with the lead. This time around, it was Buckwalter’s turn to slide for the lead in turn three. Dietrich crossed over in four to assume command as they completed lap eight. Meanwhile, Borden was making steady progress to the third position, but he was a good distance behind the lead duo.
When Kassidy Kreitz slowed to a stop on the back stretch on lap later, that eliminated the deficit for Borden. He got to start right behind Dietrich and Buckwalter. Borden took advantage of the opportunity, picking up the second spot just three laps after the race resumed.
It took Borden a few more laps to close the gap on the leader. Dietrich began picking his way through the slower cars, and Borden closed in. However, he could not make a move for the lead, as he seemed to have poor timing when approaching the lapped cars.
With just a few laps remaining, though, the front two cars broke free of the slower cars. With no traffic separating himself from the leader, Borden was able to press for the lead.
Over the final three laps, Dietrich and Borden swapped the lead several times, much to the delight of the fans. Borden took the lead for good entering turn three on the final lap. Dietrich dove low while Borden kept his momentum up on the cushion. Dietrich scrubbed off some speed coming through turn four, and Borden scooted ahead for the win.
Buckwalter turned in a creditable performance for third. Chase Dietz came on in the final laps to get fourth. Logan Wagner slipped to fifth in the final tally. Wolfe, Halligan, Karklin, Cisney, and Heimbach completed the top ten.
Dietrich, Buckwalter, Wolfe, and Cisney chalked up the heat wins. Justin Whittal prevailed in the B Main. Dietrich was fastest in Group one and overall, with a time of 17.113 seconds.
In the Super Late Models, Dillan Stake and Chad Myers brought the field to the green. Jeff Rine and Ross Robinson were right behind them. Shaun Jones and Colton Flinner were in row three, ahead of Brian Bernheisel and Dylan Yoder. Row five matched Tyler Emory and Chris Casner. Tim Wilson and Matt Cosner completed the top twelve.
Myers grabbed the early lead, with Robinson hot on his heels. Stake, Rine, Flinner, and Yoder followed in close formation. Myers rode along in the middle groove, and Robinson searched high and low for a place to try to make a pass. Robinson finally settled in on the inside, and he began to chip away at Myers’ lead.
Robinson came off the bottom of turn two and powered ahead of Myers just before the halfway point in the contest. Robinson started to draw away from Myers, but a caution on lap fourteen wiped out his advantage. Myers could not get a run on the Delaware racer when the action resumed. Instead, Myers was under attack from Flinner, Eckert, Stake, and Rine.
Flinner worked his way into second, bringing Eckert along into third. Myers continued on fourth with Stake on his tail.
At the checkers, it was Robinson ahead of Flinner by 3.806 seconds. Eckert, Myers, and Stake completed the top five. Next to cross were Rine, Yoder, Cosner, Jones, and Jason Covert.
The four heat winners were Robinson, Rine, Myers, and Stake. Gregg Satterlee won the B Main.
Robinson was relived to capture the win, his first at the Speed Palace. “We got lucky with the pill draws,” he said. Robinson said that he changed his set-up after hot laps, reverting to the combination that brought him a win recently at his hometown track, the Georgetown Speedway.
The top ten racers from the A Main were inverted for an Australian pursuit immediately following the A Main. Covert, who raced hard just to make it to the tenth spot in the A Main, earned the pole for the pursuit, which paid $1,000 to the winner. He was able to stay out front for the entire ten laps. “It just goes to show how even we all are,” he said. “We were inverted and the clean air on my nose made all the difference. I could come off the corners wherever I wanted.” Jones, Cosner, Yoder, and Rine were the balance of the top five. Eckert and Robinson were the other finishers. Flinner, Myers, and Stake were the drivers eliminated in the race.
Devin Hart went wire to wire in the twenty lap Limited Late Model nightcap. Tommy Slanker ran second in the early going before fading to fifth at the finish. Jared Fulkroad, Trent Brenneman and Shawn Shoemaker were the racers who moved ahead of him. Kenny Yoder, Ryan Zook, Casey Steinhoff, Lane Snook, and Jaxton Garman rounded out the top ten.
The pair of heats went to Brenneman and Zook. There was no B Main.
A three division program will be held next weekend, with the 305 Sprints joining the 410 Sprints and Super Late Models. The Keith Kauffman Classic for the 410 Sprints will be on April 27, with support coming from the USAC East Coast Sprints and the Wingless Sportsmen. Then, on Sunday, April 28, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirst Series will invade the speedway. Limited Late Models will also be on the card.
IMPERIAL, PA (April 13, 2024) Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway is pivoting to flood relief instead of racing Saturday night after torrential rains the past few days caused flooding all over Western Pennsylvania. PPMS is working with the UEMS Racing Series to find a suitable date for both parties to make up the event.
The Speedway instead is holding a relief drive from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. to help those affected by the flood.
UPDATE: PPMS was able to split the total collection up between both Sturgeon Vol. Fire Dept. and Oakdale Hose Company. From there, the fire companies will administer the collected items to other organizations or directly to those in need. We were fortunate enough to collect a large volume of just about every necessity. Any items that are not claimed during this process will be stored and administered as needed in the future.
ABBOTTSTOWN, PA (April 7, 2024): Chase Dietz returned to his roots to capture his tenth career win at the Fabulous Lincoln Speedway. With the weather changing up the weekend’s racing plans, Dietz was able to race at Lincoln because the show was postponed a day. Dietz, who has long been a regular at the track, will now be concentrating his efforts on Saturdays at the Port Royal Speedway, where he debuted yesterday as the new driver of the famous Zemco number one. He was back in his own machine for this one, and it was like he never left.
“I plan to be back whenever I can,” Dietz said happily. “This is the track where I got my start and I really enjoy racing here.” But, the offer to drive for John and Pee Wee Zemaitis was one that he could not refuse.
Sunny skies and a slight breeze produced a tricky racing surface. “It definitely was unique,” Dietz observed. “It was kinda patchy. Fred (Putney, the masterful track preparer), sprinkled it and that pushed things up.”
Dietz, who started on the pole and went wire-to wire, noted “it was kinda tough, running out front. I was searching around looking for rubber.” He found enough to maintain his advantage over a fast-closing Matt Campbell.
Campbell, who raced his way into second while fighting through some heavy traffic, surprised all by saying that he liked racing on the daytime surface. “It gave me the chance to move around.” He added that he thought that he learned some things that he can carry over to the normal night time racing.
The race was run according to PA Speedweek procedures. So a re-draw shuffled the top eight racers. Dietz and Aaron Bollinger were the fortunate ones to pick front row starting positions. Beyond them were Tyler Ross and Campbell. Emerson Axsom and Kody Hartlaub made up row three. Cameron Smith and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. were in row four. The fifth belonged to Justin Whittal and Dallas Schott. Chad Trout and Danny Dietrich completed the first half of the field.
The original start was called back because Aussie Greg Newton took a spectacular spill between turns three and four on what would have been the opening lap. He was unhurt, but could not continue in the event.
On the second try, Dietz again blasted to the front and he planted the right rear tire in the moisture that Putney laid down on the outside line during the intermission. Bollinger did likewise, while Cambell, Ross, Hartlaub, Rahmer, Jr., and Axsom fanned out behind them.
The front three remained unchanged through the first seven laps. Campbell picked off Bollinger in traffic on lap weight, and he would hold onto that position for the remainder of the non-stop thirty lapper.
Bollinger and Ross were putting on a good show for the third spot. Ross assumed control of the position by lap ten, but a new player was in the mix. Danny Dietrich reached the top five by the halfway mark and he was looking to advance. He quickly dispatched Bollinger, but it took him several laps to catch and overtake Ross. He was able to do it with less than five laps in the contest.
Dietz completed his tour in eight minutes and nineteen and a quarter seconds. His margin of victory was 0.845 seconds over Cambell, Danny Dietrich was third. Bollinger got Ross in the waning laps. Positions six through ten went to Devon Borden, Whittal, Rahmer, Jr., Axsom, and Smith.
The four heat winners were Bollinger, Campbell, Axsom, and Ross. The B Main victory went to Reese Nowotarski. Dietz set the fastest time of the day, 13.878 seconds. He edged Rahmer, Jr. by a mere one-thousandth of a second.
Lincoln Speedway will return to its usual Saturday night slot on April 13. Joining the 410 Sprints on Golf Cart Services Night will be the USAC East Coast Sprints. April 20 will be the annual Weldon Sterner Memorial paying a whopping twenty thousand dollars to the winner. The 358 Sprints will provide the support for that one. Another 410 and 358 Sprint doubleheader will close out the month of April. Starting time will be 6 p.m. for each of those events.
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