Dirt Racing
Smith Holds off Dietz in Possee Thriller; Blair Blitzes Late Model Foes at Port Royal
PORT ROYAL, PA (April 11, 2026): After a poor start to the 2026 season, Ryan Smith seems to be getting hot just in time for some of the bigger events coming up soon. He was second at Williams Grove on Friday to Justin Peck and, less that twenty-four hours later, he was sitting in victory lane at Port Royal Speedway. His first win in the PA Possee Series netted him $6,000, and bigger paydays are in the offing next weekend.
Also reaching victory lane was Max Blair in the Late Model portion of the program.
Smith’s Success
Smith attributed the poor start to the season to rust and old age. But, he looked awfully quick and aggressive this night, catching Chase Dietz in traffic and then taking the lead as he sliced and diced the slower cars.
Dietz had no alternative but to try to run the wall to regain the lead in the closing laps. Despite the treacherous conditions, Dietz was able to draw near, but Smith was able to run the middle groove to perfection to preserve his lead.
“That had to be pretty entertaining, at least it was from my seat,” Smith gushed. After giving props to the track crew, Smith added, “the track was awesome. I knew the top would go away. When the track was like it is, I can’t be beat.”
Dietz explained that he was unable to maintain his pace as the leaders raced through traffic. “I got to him (Smith), but he cleared traffic right.”
Troy Wagaman, Jr. closed in on the leaders in the final laps, but he ran out of time. “I was late moving up. That’s on me.” He admitted that his lack of familiarity with the Speed Palace led to the tactical error.
Wagaman earned the pole by winning his heat race from the fourth position. Dietz drew the second position. Giovanni Scelzi and Ryan Smith selected second row spots, with Justin Peck and Justin Whittall getting the third row. Brock Zearfoss and Jake Karklin get the final two preferred starting positions, Lance Dewease and Brent Marks were in row five, followed by Freddie Rahmer, Jr. and Danny Dietrich.
Wagaman drove up to the top groove in turn one to take the early lead from Dietz. Smith settled into third, followed by Whittall and Scelzi. Peck, Marks, Zearfoss, Dietrich, and Karklin made up the balance of the top ten in the opening laps.
Dietz got wound up coming through turns three and four to slingshot around Wagaman for the lead. Meanwhile, Whittall was on the charge. He reached second by lap eight.
Unfortunately, just two laps later, Whittall made contact with a lapped car in turn two. Whittall did a 360 and kept going, but track rules called for a caution. Whittall pitted under the yellow and got trapped in the work area because he was not guaranteed any time to make repairs.
So, Dietz led Wagaman for the restart, with Smith, Marks, Peck, Scelzi, Dietrich, Zearfoss, Dewease, and Rahmer next in line. When the race resumed, Smith and Marks moved past Wagaman.
Smith began to cut into Dietz’ advantage over the next five laps or so. On lap eighteen, he drove under Dietz in turn two to take the lead. Smith was able to maintain his lead as he fought through traffic.
With Smith cutting through the slower cars wherever and whenever there was an opening in the lower grooves, Dietz tried to mount a counterattack by riding the wall. He was able to narrow the gap, but he could never get his nose out front again.
Smith took the checkers 2.417 seconds ahead of Dietz. Wagaman held off Marks for third. Dewease was fifth. Peck, Scelzi, Zearfoss, Dietrich, and Logan Wagner were the next five finishers.
Wagner was named the hard charger, advancing eight positions over the twenty-five lap distance.
Heat wins went to Dietz, Wagaman, Whittall, and Peck. Wagner captured the B Main. Karklin was the fastest qualifier in Group A and overall, with a time of 16,434 seconds. Smith topped Group B with a lap of 17.099 seconds.
Blair’s Best
Max Blair visited one of his favorite haunts on a rare weekend off from the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and he won the non-stop affair by more than ten seconds.
“We unloaded with our normal package and it didn’t feel real good.” Blair observed. “We made some changes and it felt real good after that,” he added.
Blair noted that the track is very different when racing in the daylight, but, he said, “I hope its like this when Lucas comes back in August.” He plans to make a return for another test session during a Saturday night show if the schedule permits.
Second place finisher Gregg Satterlee chased down Justin Weaver in the closing laps. He used the middle lane to drive by Weaver in turn two on the final lap. “We had a good race going on,” Satterlee noted about his tussle with Weaver for second. “Max just got away from us there.” Nonetheless, Satterlee was pleased how his car came in late in the race. “The car felt good as the race went on. We have some longer races coming up,” so he felt that he learned some things for those events.
Weaver was disappointed with himself for finishing third. “I caught myself riding the bottom. I guess that’s what allowed Gregg to get to me.”
Weaver and Blair drew the front row for the twenty-five lap finale. Rick Eckert and Satterlee lined up in orw two. Then came Ross Robinson and Lane Snook. Ageless Gary Stuhler and Andrew Yoder started in row four, with Dillan Stake and J.T. Spence behind them. Hayes Mattern and Chad Myers were in row six.
Turn one got very crowded on the opening lap. Weaver left enough of an opening to allow Eckert to get a nose under him. But Blair had the outside groove all to himself, and he was able to power away with the lead. Weaver recovered in turn two to claim second. Eckert fell back to third, ahead of Satterlee, Robinson, Stuhler, and Snook. Andrew Yoder, Stake, and Mattern completed the top ten in the early going.
Blair continued to pull away from Weaver, who maintained a comfortable advantage over Eckert. It did not take Blair long to reach the tail of the field and to start lapping cars.
As the race reached the midpoint, Satterlee drove by Eckert for third. At that time, he was more than a second and a half behind Weaver. However, Satterlee began whittling away at that. Weaver then strung a couple of good laps together to stretch his advantage to almost 1.4 seconds again.
However, Satterlee’s car came to life again with seven laps to go and the separation between second and third began to shrink with each trip around the big half mile.
Weaver was able to keep Satterlee at bay for a couple of laps by using lapped cars as picks. However, he cleared the last of them with two laps to go. Weaver then hugged the inside line, thinking that Satterlee could not gather enough momentum to try an outside pass.
But Satterlee was able to do just that. He entered turn one just off Weaver’s right rear quarter panel. He drove up next to him and got clear of Weaver in turn two. Satterlee dipped to the inside in turn three to shut the door on any counter by Weaver.
Blair took the checkers nearly a half a track ahead of Satterlee, Weaver was third. Eckert and Stuhler were fourth and fifth. Robinson, Andrew Yoder, Stake, Mattern, and Trever Feathers completed the top ten.
Satterlee, Eckert, and Blair were victorious in the heat races. There was no B Main needed for the twenty-three cars on hand. Satterlee was the quickest in timed hot laps with a round of 20.425 seconds.
Coming Events
Next week, Port Royal Speedway will present a five feature program. The Super Late Models will be the headliners. The Limited Late Models and 305 Sprint Cars will do double duty to make up for the loss of their races to the rain last week.
The 410 Sprint Cars will be off next week in consideration of the Weldon Sterner Memorial to be held at Lincoln Speedway as part of the Possee Series.
The 410s will be back at Port Royal on April 25 for the Keith Kauffman Classic.
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.
Alex Palou wins fourth straight pole position at World Wide Technology Raceway
Rough day for Wright at Michigan
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
New York Dog wins the Wienie 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
NASCAR community mourns the loss of champion driver Kyle Busch
