PORT ROYAL, PA (May 18, 2024): Sprint Car fans at the Port Royal Speedway got a taste of things to come when the High Limit Sprint Car Series canceled the show set for Fonda Speedway due to unsafe track conditions. That enabled several of the High Rollers to drop down to Port Royal for a test run before the big stakes Bob Weikert Memorial coming up on Memorial Day weekend. Tyler Courtney benefited the most, charging from tenth to register a win at the Speed Palace. Joining him in victory lane was a highly emotional Colton Flinner, who scored his first Super Late Model win at the track since his father succumbed to cancer. Ryan Zook was more subdued, but just as happy, with his stellar performance in the Limited Late Model ranks.

Courtney has thrown the monkey off his back at Port Royal Speedway. “We spent the first few years getting our butts kicked here,” he said with a sly grin. Although more recent performances show that he has developed a knack for the fast but quirky half mile, the trip was all about making laps. “That was the main reason for coming here tonight. We tried to get here earlier in the year, but the weather did not cooperate. We’re glad that the weather held off and we got some laps in.”

Oh, the $5,800 he earned for the win, and two bonuses, made the long tow from Vernon, NY, worthwhile. The extras were for the hard charger award and for scoring the win from the tenth starting position.

The twenty-five lap A Main had Garrett Bard and Austin Bishop on the front row. Jake Karklin and T.J. Stutts made up row two. The third belonged to Chase Dietz and the Mayor, Dylan Cisney. Lucas Wolfe lined up beside Spencer Bayston on row four. The fifth paired Brent Marks with Courtney. The sixth row had Dallas Schott and Cory Eliason.

Further back were some familiar names, like Mike Wagner in thirteenth, Lance Dewease next to him. Logan Wagner was in seventeenth, Devon Borden in nineteenth, Danny Dietrich in twenty-first, and Mark Smith in twenty-fourth.

Bard was the leader entering turn one, and he maintained his advantage through the first seventeen laps of the contest. Bishop ran second in the early going, with Karklin, Stutts, Cisney, Wolfe, Courtney, Bayston, and Marks trailing.

While Bishop and Karklin fought over the second position, Courtney began to move forward. With a little help from a lap four caution that brought the field together, Courtney reached third by lap five and second by lap ten.

Nonetheless, Bard was running the race of his brief career in the 410 ranks. Courtney was able to close in in Bard in lapped traffic, as it was apparent that Bard’s inexperience in the more powerful 410 Sprints was beginning to show.

Courtney executed a textbook slider entering turn three to take the lead away from the former 305 Sprint National Champion on lap eighteen.

Bard continued in second through lap twenty. A caution on that round set up a restart, and Bard stumbled coming to the green, losing two positions. He got a brief reprieve, as the start was waived off. However, Bard did not get off well again. Bayston moved ahead in turn one. In the final five laps, several others passed Bard.

At the checkers, it was Courtney far ahead of Bayston, Bishop, Marks, and Bard. Stutts, Cisney, Karklin, Blane Heimbach, and Eliason completed the top ten.

Heat winners were Cisney, Bayston, Courtney, and Eliason. Dietrich scored the B Main victory. Justin Whittal was badly shaken after a very hard crash at the start of his heat race. Medical attention was provided but there was no update on his condition by the end of the program. Anthony Macri had a mechanical problem in his heat and started last in the B Main. He came up one spot short of a transfer.

Colton Flinner made bold pass on the inside of turns three and four on the last lap to garner the win in the Super Late Model feature.

“This means the world to me, I wish my Dad was here,” Flinner said choking back some tears. “I didn’t know if I could do it without him. There were times that I didn’t want to do it. There was a lot of doubt. I needed this. I needed this.”

Flinner said “this was the worst car I’ve ever had.” He explained that his power steering failed during the race, but he thought that he had some extra help fighting the wheel. Referring back to his late father, Flinner summed, “I couldn’t do it without my Dad.”

Veteran Gary Stuhler and Brian Bernheisel paced the field for the start of the twenty-five lapper. Matt Cosner and Trever Feathers made up row two. The next pairing was Hayes Mattern and Dylan Yoder. Shaun Jones and Jeff Rine made up row four. Then came Flinner and Dan Stone. Andrew Yoder and Matt Parks occupied row six.

Stuhler led the way to turn one, but Feathers had a full head of steam and an open line on the outside. Feathers grabbed the lead racing through turn two. Stuhler held second, ahead of Cosner, Dylan Yoder, Rine, Dillan Stake, Mattern, Stone, Jones, and Flinner.

Cosner moved into second on lap two, and there was a good three-car battle with Stuhler and Dylan Yoder for the next several laps. Cosner lost the position by drifting high in turn one following a lap eight restart. He rallied to regain second by the halfway mark, only to lose it once again on lap fifteen soon after another restart.

In the middle stage of the race, Coleby Frye was on the move. Coming from twenty-second on the grid, he raced into the top five. He was challenging for third but a caution negated a couple of his passes.

Flinner was also working his way to the front. He reached fifth by lap twenty. On the next round, he was third. His cause was aided by a caution with four to go. He got to second by lap twenty-three.

But Feathers still had several car lengths on Flinner with two to go. Flinner kept the charge going, and he got to Feathers’ back bumper entering turn one for the final time. Feathers ran the middle groove, leaving the bottom open for Flinner. He drew up to the rear quarter panel in turn two. But, entering turn three, they were nearly side by side. Flinner maintained his momentum and he came off turn four with a slight advantage. He completely passed Feathers in the final yards of the race!

After Flinner and Feathers came Dylan Yoder, Frye, and Andrew Yoder. Keith Jackson, Jones, Rick Eckert, Cosner, and Kann completed the top ten.

The preliminary wins went to Bernheisel, Rine, Cosner, and Stuhler. Eckert copped the B Main. Mattern was the fast qualifier on the night, with a time of 17.470, just ,009 off the track record.

Ryan Zook set two new track records in the Limited Late Models. His eight lap mark for the heat race win was two minutes 30.506 seconds. The twenty-lap standard was lowered to six minutes 38.443 seconds. “That’s a product of a fast track,” he said modestly. He added, “the track was a little juiced up.”

Trever Feathers was looking for some redemption after losing the Super Late Model feature on the last lap. He started the nightcap from the pole, with Justin Garman as his dance partner. Trent Brenneman and Zook were next. Then came Matt Parks and Casey Steinhoff. Lane Snook and Devin Hart presented in row four. Maddox Smith and Kenny Yoder started from row five.

Feathers raced into turn one ahead of the pack, but he left the inside lane open. Brenneman quickly took it and he pulled ahead in turn two. Brenneman appeared like he would go the distance, but Zook had other ideas.

On lap eleven, Zook powered by Brenneman in turn one, and he was never headed after that. On lap twelve, Garman also rode past Brenneman. He held second to the finish.

Brenneman crossed in third, followed by Parks and Hart. Snook, Yoder, Feathers, Steinhoff, and Tyson Mowery were the next five finishers.

Zook and Brenneman shared the heat wins. There was no B Main.

Next weekend, Port Royal Speedway will host the Bob Weikert Memorial extravaganza. Saturday will have the High Limit Sprints going for ten grand to win. The Super Late Models will also be in action. Then, Sunday, there will be $75,000 paid to the winner of the High Limit feature. The Limited Late Models will provide the support. Come to the track early and plan to stay late, as there will be plenty of activities before and after the races! There will be an Indy watch party, a cornhole tournament, live music, and more!