Dirt Racing
Macri Had Luck on his Side at Port Royal; Dietz Dominates URC Test Session
PORT ROYAL, PA (July 2, 2025): Anthony Macri led every lap at Port Royal Speedway, but he still needed some good luck to ensure his Speedweek victory. Macri spun to avoid a wreck in turn four and retained his starting position. Then, late in the race, he ran out of fuel under a caution that was converted to an open red, again retaining his position at the head of the line.
Chase Dietz, who was doing double duty, dominated the URC 360 Sprint race, which he regarded as a test session for the upcoming Knoxville 360 Nationals.
“I don’t know who was looking out for us,” Macri observed before expressing his thanks for the good fortune. He added that the win was a confidence boost, but could not rely on that with the bulk of Speedweek still remaining.
Second place finisher, Kyle Larson, admitted that he made too many mistakes while chasing Macri. Most notable was his spin in turn two. “I was trying to diamond the corner, and I hit a hole,” he explained. Larson was critical of the late race fuel stop, noting that he always has a larger fuel tank than most of his competitors, and he added that perhaps rules makers should consider some standardization to reduce the need for fuel stops to accommodate racers using smaller fuel tanks.
Third place finisher, Dietz, made a bid for second on the final restart, but he knew that he could not pass Larson, who had momentum in his favor on the high side of turn one.
Larson drew the pole in the redraw for the four heat winners and fast qualifiers. Macri nabbed the number two pill, which may have been the preferred spot given the dominant top groove at the Speed Palace. Justin Whittall, the current track points leader, was inside row two, with Lance Dewease alongside. Dietz and Ryan Smith were in row three, with Brock Zearfoss inside row four as the final driver eligible for teh redraw. His partner was Devin Adams. Then came Logan Wagner and Lucas Wolfe. Behind them were Steve Buckwalter and Mike Walter, Jr.
Speedweek contenders Danny Dietrich and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. were in thirteenth and twenty-third, respectively.
Macri won the race to the topside of turn one, with Larson in hot pursuit. Whittall, Dietz, Dewease, Adams, Buckwalter, Logan Wagner, and Zearfoss followed.
On lap two, Adams spun in between turns three and four while racing in the seventh position.
On the ensuing restart, Macri led Larson, Ryan Smith, Whittall. Dietz, and Dewease. However, Logan Wagner and Danny Dietrich were making some progress. Soon, they were up to sixth and seventh, respectively.
Larson’s spin on lap twenty-two shook up the running order, as Whittall moved up to second, with Dietz, Smith, Dietrich making up the top five. That incident interrupted a good battle among Logan Wagner, Dewease, and Zearfoss for positions in the top ten.
On the next completed lap, Zearfoss flipped in turn four. Zearfoss landed in the high groove, and Macri had to spin to avoid impact with him. The officials ruled that Macri was not part of the incident, so he resumed the point for the restart.
Just a few rounds later, on lap twenty-five, Danny Dietrch coasted to a stop on the backstretch. He was out of fuel. He made a quick trip to the pits, and returned to the fray.
Macri was still the leader for the restart, followed by Whittall and Dietz. Larson raced back up to the fourth spot, with Smith holding fifth. Dewease, Logan Wagner, Ryan Newton, T.J. Stutts, Buckwalter, and A.J. Flick.
The field completed one more lap under green before Whittall and others began to slow for lack of fuel. Larson was on the charge, reaching second.
To Whittall’s chagrin, he was charged with the caution. Macri, who was sputtering, was still moving when the caution was called, so he was not deemed to be part of the caution. Again, he resumed his position for the restart.
The final restart had Macri on the point, followed by Larson, Dietz, Smith, and Logan Wagner.
The last four laps were run without any further incidents. The first five were unchanged. A.J. Flick raced up to sixth, followed by Dewease, Dietrich, Stutts, and Whittall.
The heat winners were Whittall, Smith, Macri, and Dewease. Troy Wagaman, Jr. captured the B Main. Dietz set the mark in Group A qualifications with a lap of 15.859 seconds. Larson was best in Group B with a time of 16.073 seconds.
In the URC nightcap, a redraw for the three top finishers in the heat races determined the front of the starting field. Adam Carberry drew the pole, with Josh Weller in second. Dylan Cisney and Hayden Miller were in row two, followed by Cody Fletcher and Dietz. Mark Smith and Buddy Schweibinz claimed row four. Tyler Ulrich and Cole Young were next. Logan Rumsey and Derek Locke departed from row six.
Carberry bolted out to the early lead, with Fletcher, Weller, Dietz, and Cisney in tow. Before the racers could start to make moves, a caution was called for debris on the track.
On the ensuing restart, Dietz moved into third. On the next trip around, he was second. He slid by Carberry in turn one to gain the lead on lap four.
Over the course of the next eleven laps, Dietz built a lead of nearly five seconds. A caution for Jacob Galloway erased that advantage, but Dietz raced out to an advantage of almost four seconds before a flip by Wyatt Walizer stopped the action with two laps remaining.
At the end of twenty-five laps, the winner was Dietz, followed by Fletcher, Rumsey, Mark Smith, and Carberry. Schweibinz, Weller, Ryan Smith, Seth Schnoke, and Cisney completed the top ten.
The preliminaries for the URC Sprints went to Mark Smith, Cisney, and Schweibinz. No B Main was run, as all twenty-six entrants were allowed to start the A Main.
Port Royal will present the penultimate round of Speedweek on Saturday, July 5, with support from the Super Late Models. On July 12, the 410 and 305 Sprints will be joined by the Limited Late Models. Then, July 19 will feature three divisions of Sprint Cars, the 410, 358, and 305 winged warriors will be in action.
PORT ROYAL, PA (July 25, 2026): Brent Marks dominated the Greg Hodnett Classic at Port Royal Speedway to score a $15,000 victory on night number one of the Bob Weikert Memorial Weekend. Marks established himself as the odds on favorite to scoop up the $100,000 first prize.
Marks’ lead was almost 4.8 seconds before the only caution of the race. It was called prematurely on lap eighteen by a track official when Daison Pursley got out of shape in turn two. Pursley got his car righted and he was allowed to blend in where he was running after the caution.
Marks sped away from his rivals when the race resumed. Justin Peck moved into second with five laps remaining. Although Chase Dietz took over third on lap twenty-three, he was penalized to positions at the finish for being out of line for the restart. That moved Anthony Macri into third and Ryan Smith into fourth.
“The car was awesome all night,” Marks said. He timed in third in Group B, won his heat race, and ran away with the dash. He led all twenty-five laps of the feature event without any challenges.
“I wanted to make the top work a little more,” Marks noted. “Fortunately, there was a good cushion to help me out. After the caution, Marks came down off the top and ran in the middle for the final seven laps. His margin of victory was 1.035 seconds over Peck.
Peck, who came on strong in the final half of the race, mentioned, “I think we were fast from start to finish.” He was the fastest qualifier of the night, topping Group A with a lap of 15.862 seconds. He was second in his heat race and fourth in the dash. He added, “I haven’t felt this good at Port Royal since 2021.” He thought he could have squeezed a little more speed out of his car for the feature, “but, I was scared to get out of our window.”
Macri also thought that he had a good car. He commented, though, “I have to work on my tires under the yellow. I have to study.”
The dash finish set the first eight positions in the A Main. Marks and Macri occu[ied row one. They were followed by Dietz and Peck. Then came the championship contenders, Rico Abreu and Aaron Reutzel, in row three; and Pursley and Kerry Madsen, in row four. Ryan Smith and Giovanni Scelzi claimed row five based on their heat reace finishes. James McFadden and Danny Dietrich (who was sporting Weikert colors and the iconic number 29 tonight) departed from row six.
Marks jumped out to the early lead and he began to pull away from Macri. Peck and Dietz raced along in fourth and fifth, ahead of Abreu, Reutzel, Madsen, Smith, Scelzi, and Tyler Courtney.
The first five were unchanged through the first half of the race. Abreu and Reutzel battled for sixth, while Smith began to close in on them.
That premature caution on lap eighteen wiped away Marks’ advantage. Macri, Peck, Dietz, Smith, Reutzel, Abreu, Courtney, Madsen, and Scelzi were the announced starting order for the remaining seven laps. However, Dietz managed to position himself ahead of Peck for the restart, giving rise to the penalty imposed at the finish.
Dietz blasted into third on the restart. But Peck rallied and drove up to second by the finish. Macri was under attack from Smith in the closing laps and they were both moved ahead of Dietz in the finishing order.
Positions six through ten went to Logan Wagner, who was designated as the hard charger. He advanced sixteen positions over the course of the race. Most of his passed came after the restart. Abreu was seventh, followed by Reutzel, Courtney, and Madsen.
Madsen, Macri, Marks, and Pursley took the checkers in their respective heat races. Domenic Melair won the C Main. Cameron Smith took the honors in the B Main. Peck was the top qualifier, at 15.862. Abreu topped Group B with a time of 16.682 seconds. Forty-seven cars checked in for the event
Ageless Steve Wilbur went wire to wire to win the Wingless Sportsmen thirty lapper. He took the lead at the start and steadily pulled away to a seven second advantage. Brett Perigo moved into second on lap fifteen and he cut into the margin while Wilbur struggled with lapped traffic.
The lead was down to 1.666 seconds by the time the red came out for a spectacular crash involving Dexter Ehrenzeller and Donnie Farlling on the front stretch. Ehrenzeller’s car came to rest near the victory lane. He required medical attention and was transported to a nearby hospital. No report of his condition was available by the end of the program.
Tony Jackson followed Wilbur and Brett Perigo at the finish. Marty Brian and Sam Leonard, Jr. completed the top five. The nxt five finishers were Eric Wlaker, Curt Stroup, Scott Smith, Lee Kauffman, and Craig Perigo.
Jackson, Brian, and Brad Mellott tallied the heat race wins. There was no B Main needed to align the twenty-one car field.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (July 24, 2026): Chase Dietz finally got a win at Williams Grove Speedway. It was his seventeenth overall for the season and sixth in his career at the famous oval. The $6,000 triumph also extended his points lead in the fledgling PA Posse Series.
Dietz executed a perfect slider in turn four on lap thirteen to take the lead from the current Williams Grove points leader and defending track champion, Troy Wagaman, Jr. “You have to take your shot when you get it,” Dietz said.
Dietz commented that he tried to drive under Wagaman in turn one on the opening lap, but he could not pull off the pass. In fact, he lost a position to Anthony Macri in the process. He explained that the temporary setback “probably helped me, it pissed me off.”
He noted that “the track was pretty narrow with a good cushion.” But, he added, ”it was pretty dicey with those lapped cars. They want to run where you are.” Fortunately, Dietz was able to navigate around them efficiently after taking the lead.
He concluded, “it’s a great time to have this (his first win at the track) happen. We have the Outlaws coming in and we want to put it on them.”
Although this was a Posse Series race, the track used a format similar to a World of Outlaws event to help get the race teams ready for next week’s Summer Nationals program. Thus, the heat races started heads-up, with the fastest qualifier on the pole instead of fourth per Posse Series procedures. The first two finishers from each heat advanced to the dash, instead of the heat winners and the fastest qualifiers from beach heat. The dash established the starting order for the first six cars in the feature event, instead of a random draw. All others fell in line based upon their qualifying times, instead of their heat race finishes.
Accordingly, the pole position for the twenty-five lapper went to Wagaman, with Dietz as his wingman. Logan Rumsey and Macri were next in line. The final two dash participants, Brent Shearer and Austin Bishop, manned row three. Then came Danny Dietrich and Preston Lattomus, in row four; Justin Whittall and Dylan Norris, in row five; and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. and Doug Hammaker, in row six.
Wagaman reached turn one ahead of Dietz and established himself on the cushion. Dietz opted for the low side, and that allowed Macri to roll in behind Wagaman on the top. Macri had better momentum coming off turn two, and he gained the second position heading down the back stretch. Rumsey was fourth, followed by Bishop, Shearer, Dietrich, Lattomus, Whittall, and Norris on the opening lap.
The first four began to separate themselves from the other racers in the early going. Meanwhile, Dietrich was pressing Rumsey for the fifth spot.
On lap seven, Macri got a tremendous launch off turn two and he closed very quickly on the leader. However, Wagaman was able to get to a lapped car before Macri could make a bid for the lead. Soon thereafter, Dietz powered past Macri for second. He then closed in on Wagaman in traffic.
The only caution of the event occurred on lap eleven. Rahmer got a flat and struck the outside wall in turn two while running in the top ten.
Wagaman had the point for the single file restart, with Dietz in second, followed by Macri, Rumsey, Dietrich, Bishop, Shearer, Whittall, Lattomus, and Norris.
Dietz pressed Wagaman for the lead when the race resumed. It took him a couple of laps to set up his winning pass in turn four. Meanwhile, Dietrich and Bishop moved ahead of Rumsey.
Dewease was another racer making forward progress after the restart. He was thirteenth in the queue when the green light came on again, and he cracked into the top ten on lap fifteen. He gained two more positions in the final ten laps.
Dietz stretched his lead over Wagaman as the laps clicked off. Wagaman remained in second. Dietrich got under Macri for third with three laps remaining in the contest.
Dietz took the checkers almost four and a half seconds ahead of Wagaman. Then came Dietrich, Macri, and Bishop. Whittall, Rumsey, Dewease, Norris, and Ryan Smith completed the top ten.
Rumsey, Dietz, and Bishop took the heat wins. There was no B Main. Wagaman prevailed in the dash. Rumsey was the evening’s fastest qualifier with a lap of 16.715 seconds. It was his first quick time award.
Eli Tuckey survived an early challenge from Austin Reed to get his first career win at the speedway in the 358 Sprint Car division. “I was diving poorly,” Tuckey conceded. “I figured if I could stay next to him (Reed), I could pull it off.” Tuckey adjusted his wing and did exactly that.
Reed held on for second, followed by Chase Gutshall, Derek Locke, and Adam Carberry. Cody Fletcher, Brock Hammaker, Seth Schnoke, Matt Findley, and Tim Wagaman, II rounded out the top ten.
Tuckey, Gutshall, and Schnoke copped the preliminaries. There was no B Main needed to set the starting field.
Cole Young had a spectacular crash at the start of his heat race. His car flipped several times and the front axle was ripped from the car. He was not hurt in the wreck. Brian Wolf, Jr. tipped his car over at the start of his heat. The car was not extensively damaged, and he was not injured. He was able to start the feature.
HARTFORD, OH (July 18, 2026) Sharon Speedway is cancelling Saturday night’s “Steel Valley Thunder” program thanks to a near 100% likelihood of thunderstorms in the forecast from late afternoon through the evening hours including the potential for severe weather.
Sharon made the decision in the best interest of safety for fans, racers, and staff members.
“Super Series” action presented by Bala Management will return next Saturday (July 25) featuring the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply “410” Sprint Cars for $4,000 to-win along with the Hovis UMP Mods presented by A&MP Electric, Gibson Insurance Agency RUSH Sprint Cars, and the Gibson Insurance Agency Crown Vics on Alcon Mechanical and Hovis Auto & Truck Supply Night. Kids Club Night presented by Willy’s World with kids bike and big wheel races. It’s also the first of three Menards Giveaway Nights.
Additional information can be found at www.sharonspeedway.com.
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