PORT ROYAL, PA (July 26, 2026): Giovanni Scelzi earned his first six figure payday at Port Royal Speedway in the Bob Weikert Memorial. It was his first victory in more than a year, and obviously, his first with the Spires Motorsports entry. The triumph was also the first for Spires, as it is in its first year of competition with the High Limit Racing Series.

The race was a tale of two halves. Chase Dietz won the first half, hands down, but the second half belonged to Scelzi.

Scelzi ran a comfortable pace through the first twenty laps, and ended that segment in the fourth position, behind Chase Dietz, Brent Marks, and Tyler Courtney. Nonetheless, Scelzi said, “I didn’t want to change anything. We were getting really good before the red.” Although the team did refuel, Scelzi explained that the added fuel load did not affect the balance of his car. “We did the same thing at Eldora,” he added.

Chase Dietz likewise did not make any major changes during the mandatory fuel stop. But, the results were much different for him. “Before the break, the car felt really, really good. I slowed down in the second half, maybe it was due to the fuel load. I couldn’t get across the middle like I did.” Adding to his woes, Dietz had several close encounters with the outside wall in turn four.

Tyler Courtney came on strong in the closing laps to take third away from Brent Marks. Indeed, he was awfully close to taking second away from Dietz. “I got my wing back and picked up some speed,” he noted. Courtney was pleased with his performance, saying it was a complete night. He timed eighth and finished fifth in his heat. “We got to lead some laps, but the track changed and Chase checked out.” For most of the second second half, he was playing catch-up with Marks and, later Dietz.

The Weikert Memorial used an unusual format. Points were awarded for time trials, which only consisted of a single flight for the forty-five cars, and also for the heat races. Eight cars were inverted for the heats. The top twenty cars in points made the A Main, with the first ten getting to spin the roulette wheel to determine their starting positions. There was no dash. Four cars were added form the B Main and four provisionals got to start the race, two from the High Limit Series and two representing the track.

Dietz was the high point man at the end of qualifying and the heat races. Sye Lynch was a surprising second, followed by Danny Dietrich, Daison Pursley, Logan Wagner, Courtney, Scelzi, Justin Peck, and Danny Sams, III.

Marks was the lucky fellow on the wheel, getting the pole for the second consecutive night. Courtney was his running mate. Scelzi placed third, next to Dietz. Pursley and Dietrich, again in the Weikert livery, made up row three. Wagner and Lynch appeared in row four. The final preferred starters were Peck and Sams.

The remaining qualified cars were ordered by their points. They were Kody Lehman, Lance Dewease, Tanner Holmes, Anthony Macri, Matt Campbell, Cameron Smith, Brock Zearfoss, Aaron Reutzel, Chase Randall, and Parker Price-Miller.

The B Main transfers were James McFadden, Jake Karklin, T.J. Stutts, and Ryan Smith.

The provisionals went to Rico Abreu and Kerry Madsen, for the series; and Mike Thompson and Austin Bishop, for the track.

Courtney rolled the top to gain the early advantage over Dietz, Marks, Scelzi, Dietrich, Pursley, Sams, Lynch, Wagner, and Peck.

On the fourth lap, Diezt executed a slider in turn one to grab the lead from Courtney. There were no other changes among the top five racers through the first ten laps, as the field got strung out early. There was some activity in the back half of the top ten, although there were no changes in personnel.

Courtney returned to the point on lap eleven with a slider of his own in turn one, but Dietz stormed back with another slider in turn one a couple of laps later. Marks, who was a close observer of this action moved into third on lap thirteen and second on lap fourteen.

At the halfway mark, the top ten consisted of Dietz, Marks, Courtney, Scelzi, Dietrich, Pursley, Peck, Wagner, Reutzel, and Macri.

The double file restart provided a little drama for the second half kickoff. Marks challenged briefly, but Dietz used the slider line in turn one to get up to the cushion ahead of him. Dietz began to pull away somewhat over the next few laps.

Scelzi picked up speed as the second half of the race unfolded. He picked up second with a slider in turn two on lap twenty-three. He then started to reel Dietz in. On lap twenty-eight, the cut low coming off turn two to dive by Dietz and into the lead.

Dietz did not go away quietly. He chased Scelzi, but he could not get into a position to take a run at the lead.

As the race entered the final ten laps, Dietz was having some problems with the very narrow cushion in turn four. He brushed the outer wall on several occasions. None of the incidents seemed to affect the car, though, and he was able to maintain second position.

In the closing laps, Dietz began to falter. Marks and Courtney closed in. The battle for second was quite entertaining. At one point the three contestants entered turn one together. Dietz retained the position, but Courtney moved ahead of Marks. There was still some time for Courtney to mount a challenge for second. However, Dietz had track position in his favor and he retained the spot to the finish line.

Scelzi’s margin of victory was 1.165 seconds. Dietz, Courtney, Marks, and Ryan Smith rounded out the top five. Macri, Dietrich, Pursley, Peck, and Reutzel were sixth through tenth.

Smith was the hard charger, gaining nineteen positions, with nine coming in the second half of the event.

Campbell, Zearfoss, Reutzel, and Price-Miller won the heat races. Mark Smith took the C Main, The B belonged to McFadden.

IMPERIAL, PA (July 25, 2026) – Michael Norris is back in Victory Lane at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway after winning Saturday night’s Jook George Steel City Classic.

The win was Norris’ fifth in seven events and the Late Model standout from Sarver, PA dedicated the win to his Grandparents.

“I want to dedicate this win to my grandma and grandpa,” said the 34-year-old Norris.  “We lost them this year and miss them a lot- this one is for them. My pap would always say I want you to go down there and show them how it’s done and I showed them how it’s done for him.”

The victory was a family affair for Norris, who was driving the ND Motorsports #N1.

“I have to think Nico (Dabecco) and Vinny,” said Norris, Nico’s brother-in-law. “We really changed the car a lot from the Firecracker (Lernerville Speedway June 27) and found some things we needed to address.”

Norris and Kyle Lukon led the 26-car field to the green flag with Norris leading lap 1 but Lukon grabbing the lead on lap and holding it through lap 7.

Norris wasn’t done however, pulling a slider in turn three to lead lap 8.  Norris padded his lead the next couple of laps, pulling out over a second over Lukon.

Lukon was slowed when he slid into the wall on lap 15, giving third place Dan Angelicchio the chance to catch up and the battle was on for second.

Lukon slid into the wall a second time on lap 23 and slowed to bring out the caution.

The restart lined Angelicchio up alongside Norris but ‘the crusher kid’ dropped the hammer and was gone. Demetrios Drellos was able to drive around Angelicchio on the outside to take over the runner-up spot, but was never able to get close enough to Norris to challenge in lapped traffic.

“When this track is like this, it’s so much fun and you can race all over it,” Norris explained. “They did a great job on it tonight.”

Norris took home $6,010 for the win and $6,500 for the night to bring his total take home from ‘the Jook’ to $34,000 over his five wins.

“I have to thank Branden (Lockwich),” said Norris. “He does such a great job, puts a lot of effort into this, and tries different things every year to make it better and get more people here. We’ll keep supporting it as long as they keep having it. Thanks to all the fans for coming out and Blair (Cress) for keeping this place open.”

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.