Dirt Racing
Zearfoss Zaps Price Miller with Last Lap Pass at Port Royal
PORT ROYAL, PA (September 1, 2025): Brock Zearfoss, of Jonestown, surprised Indiana invader Parker Price Miller with a last lap pass in turn two to win the Seventy-fourth Annual Labor Day Classic at the Port Royal Speedway. The race was also a tribute to the late, great Lynn Paxton, the only racer to win five consecutive Classics in his illustrious career. Zearfoss, a former track champion, had never won the LDC before, and this triumph was also his first tally of the season aboard Rich Eichelberger’s machine. Indeed, it was his first victory since taking over the ride during the off-season.
Zearfoss, who also splits time with his own team, noted that it has been difficult maintaining two separate operations. Although the same crew attends to all of the cars, the chassis and motor packages are different. Adding to the complexity, Zearfoss recently debuted a new car for Eichelberger–a white car–and it has taken some time for all to get adjusted to it.
“It’s about time (to win),” Zearfoss said. “This car’s been good.” However, he noted, “lots of stupid stuff (happened) and (we’ve had) bad pill draws.”
Well, Zearfoss put some of that bad juju behind him on this day.
Zearfoss made up a lot of ground running the inside line on the slick, daytime surface. “I knew that the rubber was going to come in. It just was a question of when. I saw Chase (Dietz, who was running second at the time) getting his car better and my dad gave me a signal that it was time to go. Fortunately, Parker (Price Miller, the leader) did not go down and I was able to get there first.”
Zearfoss explained that the win, worth $7,400, plus a $500 last lap pass bonus, would give his team some much needed confidence heading into Port Royal’s biggest event of the season, the Tuscarora 50, which will start Thursday evening. “We’ve been working real hard, the car’s been getting better, and I feel good heading into (the next race).”
Price Miller, who spent the last two races at Port Royal in preparation for the Tusky 50, commented, “winning would have been better. Sometimes it sucks being the leader. I never saw anybody down there. I missed the bottom in (turn) four. If I hit it, I probably would have won, but I stuck with my bread and butter, and it let me down.”
Dietz held on for third. “Starting on the pole, it would have been better to finish up a place or two. I thought I had a tire going down. I was surprised that the top stayed as good as long as it did for Parker.”
The Speedweek format was used for the Classic. Dietz was the luckiest of the eligible drivers, consisting of the three heat winners and the fastest qualifiers from each heat. Price Miller may have gotten the pick of the litter, though, as he pulled the outside front row starting position. Danny Dietrich and Zearfoss drew into row two, with Brady Bacon and Mike Wagner getting the other two preferred starting spots. In row four, Logan Wagner and Ryan Smith lined up, followed by Saturday night’s winner and the Mayor of Port Royal Borough, Dylan Cisney, and Dominic Melair. Behind them were Austin Bishop and Mike Walter, Jr.
Dietz led lap one, but his time out front was limited. Price Miller slid him in turn three on lap four to take the lead away. Dietrich raced along in third, as he did from the start. Zearfoss, Mike Wagner, and Logan Wagner batted for fourth and fifth in the early going.
A caution for Bishop in turn three slowed the pace on lap four, but it did not change the complexion of the race.
The same cannot be said for the second caution, on lap ten. Dietrich did a 360, and this time track officials made the penalty stick. Per track rules, Dietrich was sent to the rear despite keeping his car moving. He vacated the third position due to that miscue.
Price Miller maintained his advantage over Dietz, Zearfoss, Mike and Logan Wagner, and Cisney on that restart as well as on the one that took place on lap nineteen for debris on the speedway.
A caution on lap twenty-one for Mike Walter, Sr. allowed Zearfoss to slip ahead of Dietz on the ensuing restart. A final caution one lap later bunched the field up again for a three-lap dash to the checkers.
Price Miller still held the point for the last restart, with Zearfoss sitting in second, followed by Dietz, Mike Wagner, Cisney, and Logan Wagner. Price Miller stayed topside, and in the lead until the final lap.
On the last tour of the big half mile, Zearfoss ducked inside of Price Miller entering turn one. He was next to him moving through turn two and he had good bite coming off the inside of turn two to grab the lead.
The partisan crowd gave Zearfoss a standing ovation as he took the checkers almost eight tenths of a second ahead of Price Miller. Dietz, Mike Wagner, and Logan Wagner completed the top five. Cisney, Melair, point leader Justin Whittall, Mike Walter, Jr., and Smith were the next five finishers.
Whittall was named the hard charger, good for a $500 bonus.
Mike Wagner, Dietz, and Dietrich each earned $630 for their heat wins. The B Main belonged to Nash Ely. Bacon was the overall fastest qualifier with a time of 15.999 seconds.
A.J. Hoffner, of East Berlin, captured the twenty lapper for the Four Cylinders. Chris Anderson, Matt Duvall, Javid Fairall, and Eric Boozel rounded out the top five. Robbie Carroll, Kent Leonard, Jimmy Moyer, Justin Williamson, and Greg Kiehl finished sixth through tenth. Ricky Weaver, Hoffner, Hunter Flook, and Moyer won the preliminaries. There was no B Main, as all cars capable of taking the green were allowed to start the feature.
Port Royal Speedway will host the High Limit Racing Series for the Tuscarora 50. Preliminary features will be held Thursday and Friday nights. The big show will be on Saturday. Meanwhile, the 171st Annual Juniata County Fair will continue through the week and will conclude on Saturday.
MECHANICSBURG, PA (June 5, 2026): Troy Wagaman, Jr. cashed in on the opportunities given to him to win the Lynn Paxton Classic at Williams Grove Speedway. The second win of the season for the defending track champion and current points leader was his first ever with the All Stars Circuit of Champions, which celebrated fifty-five years of competition at the famed oval. Wagaman received $8,000 for his efforts, matching his payday from the Tommy Classic held earlier in the season.
Wagaman benefitted from two miscues by Danny Dietrich, who had led from the start of the non-stop thirty lapper. The first came on lap fifteen, when Dietrich narrowly avoided disaster coming off turn two. The other came ten laps later when Dietrich slid out of the groove between turns three and four.
“I don’t know if I would have gotten him,” Wagaman said modestly.
He was trailing Dietrich by nearly 1.6 seconds in the middle of the race, but Wagaman squeezed between Dietrich, a lapped car, and the backstretch guard rail to take the lead. Preston Lattomus nearly spun at the exit to turn two, Dietrich came up on him quickly, made slight contact, and almost spun as well, but there was just enough room for Wagaman to scoot by. “I thought he missed it, got too close to the lapped car,” Wagaman explained.
Wagaman then built up a slight lead of his own, which evaporated in traffic. Dietrich drove under both Wagaman and the lapped car between turns three and four on lap twenty-four, but Wagaman came storming back on the next lap to regain the lead. Dietrich slid off the bottom in the same area, and Wagaman pounced. “Danny showed me the bottom. I was struggling on the top and I got down to the bottom after that.”
Wagaman, from Hanover, dedicated the win to his ailing grandmother, adding that he will get to see her on Sunday afternoon.
The starting line-up had a last minute shuffle when Lance Dewease got a flat while the cars were getting into formation. Dewease pitted for a fresh tire, but forfeited his second starting position. He rejoined the field for the start, and put in on an impressive drive to fourteenth from the rear of the twenty-six car field.
Dietrich thus moved to the front row, joining the Dash winner, Cale Thomas. Wagaman and Brady Bacon made up the second row, followed by Doug Hammaker and Kasey Kahne. Brock Zearfoss and T.J. Stutts came next. Chase Dietz and Parker Price Miller were in row five, and Austin Bishop was paired with Ryan “Fig” Newton in row six.
Dietrich wasted no time blasting into the early lead up on the cushion in turns one and two. Wagaman used a more conservative line to reach second. Thomas fell into line in third, ahead of Hammaker, Bacon, Stutts, and Kahne.
Dietrich seemed to have the race under control through the first half of the event. However, things changed suddenly on lap fifteen. He avoided a crash, but lost the lead. Dietrich wasn’t done quite yet, though.
Wagaman was still running the top in turns three and four despite having trouble getting past a lapped car. That allowed Dietrich to flash by on the inside to take the lead away. However, Wagaman came back to lead lap twenty-five when Dietrich slid up the track in almost the same place on the track.
Wagaman changed lines for the remainder of the race, and he paced himself off of the lapped cars, figuring that Dietrich would have to drive around them all if he were to make another bid for the win. However, Wagaman took the checkers 1.120 seconds ahead of Dietrich, who was driving his back-up car after crashing at Selinsgrove Speedway the night before.
Bacon, Stutts, and Dietz completed the top five. Zearfoss, Hammaker, Kahne, Price Miller, and Newton were the next five finishers.
J.J. Loss was the hard charger, advancing seven spots to finish thirteenth.
Kalib Henry, the current All Stars points leader and defending series champion, was the highest finisher from the tour, at seventeenth.
Hammaker, Dewease, Dietrich, and Kahne were the heat winners. Freddie Rahmer, Jr. won the B Main. Stutts was the fastest qualifier, lapping in 17.112 seconds in Group A. Dietrich was the best in Group B. His lap was 17.290 seconds. Thirty-eight cars checked in, including ten All Stars points chasers.
Ageless Steve Wilbur added another Wingless Sportsman victory to his resume. He led Tony Jackson for all twenty laps. “Tony’s hard to beat wherever we go, and to hold him off all of those laps was something,” Wilbur said. “It just feels so good to beat Jackson. I didn’t come all the way from Mechanicsburg to get my a$$ kicked,” he added with a laugh.
Wilbur claimed to use an old right rear tire dating back to his days at Silver Spring Speedway, which closed in 2005.
Cliff Brian, Jr. was third, one spot ahead of the hard charger, Brett Perigo. Brandon Shearer, Derek Shaffer, Brian Nace, Scott Smith, Curt Stroup, and John Edkin were fifth through tenth in the non-stop affair.
Jackson and Wilbur split the heat race wins. There was no B Main necessary for the nineteen car field.
Next Friday, Williams Grove Speedway will present fan appreciation night. All in attendance will get to mingle with the 410 and 358 Sprint Car racers in the front pit area before the start of the action. There will be free potato chips and candy during the pit party. Fireworks will also be part of the fun.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): A.J. Flick claimed his third championship in the Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. His first two titles came in 2023 and 2024.
“This whole week is so cool,” he said. He added, “I think consistency is important and I think that helped me.”
Flick started the week out very strongly, with wins at Michaels Mercer Raceway and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. He was fourth at Lernerville Speedway and fifth in the finale at Tr-City Raceway Park. His worst finish of the week was ninth at Sharon Speedway on Saturday night.
Flick was especially happy with his fifth place finish in the final round because he was not very comfortable in the car.
Other race winners during Speedweek were: Dale Blaney, at Lernerville, Logan Wagner, at Sharon, and Brandon Spithaler, at Tri-City.
Flick’s total earnings for the week were $14,750, which included the $3,000 championship stipend.
One other driver earned more than $10,000. That was Spithaler, who grossed $10.175.
Flick was one of sixteen drivers to enter all five events comprising Western Pennsylvania Speedweek. A total of sixty-one racers competed in at least one round of Speedweek.
The top ten drivers in the point standings shared the point fund, as follows:
- A.J. Flick, 452 points, $3,000
- Mark Smith, 412 points, $2,500
- Brandon Spithaler, 406 points, $2,000
- Jeremy Weaver, 393 points, $1,500
- Carl Bowser, 371 points, $1,000
- Michael Bauer, 368 points, $900
- Adam Kekich, 344 points, $800
- Brandon Matus, 338 points, $700
- Ricky Peterson, 320 points, $600
- Jacob Begenwald, 302 points, $500
Interestingly, one driver in the top ten in points missed a show along the way. Ricky Peterson was absent from Sharon because he had another commitment. He won the FAST on Dirt Sprint Car Series event at Skyline Speedway instead.
FRANKLIN, PA (May 31, 2026): Brandon Spithaler saved his best Speedweek performance for the final night of the five race series. The victory at Tri-City Raceway Park, his first of the season, netted the driver from Renfrew, PA a cool $6,000. He also finished third in Speedweek points, adding another $2,000 to his stash. Spithaler’s total winnings for the week amounted to $10,175, second only to the Speedweek champion, A.J. Flick.
Spithaler noted that “2026 hasn’t been very kind to us. We lost a motor, we trashed a car, we switched chassis. I think we’ve hit on something now.”
He added, “I felt like I was better than him, Ricky (Peterson, who finished a distant second). I was worried when he got by Logan (McCandless, the early leader), but I kept plugging away and I got by him (Peterson).”
Spithaler was especially good in traffic. He explained, “I am a fan of traffic. If we get a long run, I like picking my way through.”
Peterson, who held on for second place, had an opposite opinion about the traffic conditions. “I was really good early. I had issues with the lappers. I think I left a lane open for Brandon, and he got away from us.”
Mark Smith put on a strong charge in the second half of the race to grab the third position. He noted that it was a challenging night and that he changed some things around on his car between the heat and the feature. “We got it going, but it was a little too late. Maybe we needed 35 laps.”
The first ten positions in the starting line-up were reserved for the four heat winners and six of the fastest qualifiers.
Logan McCandless drew the pole position. He was joimed on the front row by the professor, Michael Bauer. Matt Farnham and A.J. Flick pulled the second row, followed by Peterson and Spithaler. Smith and Jeremy Weaver landed in row four. Then came Jared Zimbardi and D.J. Christie. Row six belonged to Tim Shaffer and John Jerich.
The initial start was waved off due to a crash between turns one and two, which claimed Jerich and Christie. Both cars tumbled, but neither driver was injured.
When the field was realigned for the start, Shaffer moved to the outside of row five and Bob Felmlee and Cody Bova became the new sixth row.
McCandless surged into the early lead, followed by Farnham, Bauer, Flick, Peterson, Spithaler, Weaver, Smith, Shaffer, Felmlee, and Zimbardi.
McCandless was exceptionally strong through the first half of the race. His lead grew to more than 1.8 seconds over Farnham through the first nine laps. Peterson moved into second position on lap ten. Gradually, he cut into McCandless’ advantage. On lap fifteen, the margin dwindled to just under a half a second.
Moving into the second half of the contest, McCandless began to have difficulty navigating through the traffic. Peterson narrowed the gap even further over the next few laps. On lap eighteen, Peterson drove by McCandless for the lead.
Meanwhile, Spithaler was closing in on both Peterson and McCandless. Spithaler moved ahead of McCandless on lap nineteen. Just one lap later, he passed Peterson in traffic.
In the final ten laps of the race, Spithaler was clearly superior to Peterson. The lead continued to grow with each lap. He was more than four seconds ahead of Peterson by lap twenty-six. The margin reached 5.338 seconds on the final lap.
Smith cracked the top five on lap sixteen. He held fourth from lap sixteen through lap twenty-nine. On the final trip around the big half mile, Smith moved into third.
McCandless held on for fourth, one spot ahead of Flick, who clinched the Speedweek championship with a steady performance. He was in or just outside the top five for the entire race.
Shaffer edged Farnham for sixth. Greg Wilson, Bauer, and Bova completed the top ten.
Flick, Weaver, Zimbardi, and Peterson won the heat races. Tyler Esh copped the B Main.
Brandon Matus was the night’s fastest qualifier. He topped Group A with a lap of 17.622. However, his night went downhill after that. While running in a transfer position on the last lap of his heat race, Matus flipped hard between turns three and four. His crew thrashed to get the car ready for the B Main with assistance from Spithaler and Weaver, among others. However, Matus finished fifth, with only four cars making the A Main.
Spithaler was the fastest member of Group B. His time was 17,796.
Blaze Myers took the lead on lap six of the RUSH Sprint Car feature and he cruised to an easy victory over Luke Mulichak. The early leader, Zach Morrow, finished in third. Brayden Blackshear and Samantha Priest were fourth and fifth. Lucas Roessner, Devon Deeter, Logen Lockhart, Grayson Bayle, and Ricky Tucker, III, rounded out the top ten. Myers and Roessner took the preliminaries.
The nightcap for the Mini Stock division went to Camden Franz. There was a constant three car battle for second throughout the fifteen lapper. Sheriff Tim Callahan prevailed, with Jordan Wheeler and Justin Forsyth following. Fifth went to Andy Thomson. Kevin Dotten, Michael Phillipson, Andrew Thompson, Ben Aley, and Jacob Wheeler were sixth through tenth.
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Opportunistic Wagaman Wins at Williams Grove
Heim holds off Honeycutt to win Truck race at Michigan
Flick is Speedweek King
Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi Racing win the pole position for the 110th Indianapolis 500
Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Romain Grosjean involved in multi vehicle crash during Indy 500 practice
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NASCAR community mourns the loss of champion driver Kyle Busch
