Dirt Racing
Macri Gets Third Straight Kauffman Classic at Port Royal; Amantea and Craig Perigo Also Score
PORT ROYAL, PA (April 27, 2024): Anthony Macri won the Keith Kauffman Classic for the third straight time, but it was not an easy victory. Macri inherited the lead when Chase Dietz blew his left rear tire. But T.J. Stutts surprised Macri on the restart, and it took several laps for the nation’s win leader to regain the top spot. Macri collected $15,000 for the effort. Also scoring wins were Joey Amantea (USAC East Coast 360 Sprints) and Craig Perigo (Wingless Sportsmen).
“It took us a couple of laps to get up to speed,” Macri noted. “He (Stutts) had a really good restart. But I knew it is not good to follow cars on a big track like this, so I pulled my wing back and I was able to get by.”
The original start of the race was marred by a massive crash in turn one that eliminated six competitors. The incident began when Jeff Halligan got turned and backed across the track toward the outside wall. Five other racers, all from the outside line, were collected in the wreck. Heavy damage was inflicted on the cars of Halligan, A.J. Flick, Lance Dewease, and Cullam Williamson. Steve Buckwalter and Austin Bishop had less damage. Fortunately, none of the drivers sustained any reported injuries.
So, the revised starting line-up went like this. On the front row were Dietz and Logan Wagner. Danny Dietrich and Macri were in row two. Stutts and Justin Whittal were in row three. Mike Wagner and Freddie Rahmer, Jr. were the new partners in the fourth row. Devon Borden and Kody Hartlaub were in row five, with Mike Walter, Jr. and Dylan Cisney in row six.
Dietz got the jump on Logan Wagner. Macri and Dietrich led Stutts, Rahmer, Mike Wagner, Cisney, Walter, and Whittal. The running order did not change through the first five laps. On lap six, though, Macri slid past Wagner for second, but he was still far behind Dietz at the time.
Macri began to close in on Dietz as the race neared the midpoint.
On lap thirteen, Macri closed quickly on the lapped car of Aaron Bollinger. There was contact. Macri was able to keep moving, but Bollinger spun toward the wall in turn two. He hit the wall and turned over. Logan Wagner, who was racing in third, struck Bollinger’s car and spun toward the inside of the track. Dietrich tried to get low enough to avoid contact with Wagner, but the two cars collided. Dietrich bent the left rear wheel and flattened the tire. Borden also sustained a flat in the melee. Both Dietrich and Borden were able to restart the race.
Dietz took off again on the restart. He had a commanding lead when his left rear tire exploded midway down the back stretch.
That put Macri on the point for the restart. Stutts lined up in second, with Rahmer, Mike Wagner, Cisney, Lucas Wolfe, Whittal, Walter, Jacob Allen, and Dietrich trailing.
Macri entered turn one on the cushion, but Stutts charged on the inside. He slid up across Macri’s nose to take the lead, much to the delight of the crowd. Stutts held control for the next seven laps before Macri used his own slider in turn one to retake the lead.
Macri reeled off the remaining seven laps without further ado. Stutts remained in second, followed by Rahmer, Mike Wagner, and Wolfe. Whittal, Cisney, Allen, Dietrich, and Borden completed the top ten.
The four heat winners were Whittal, Logan Wagner, Dietrich, and Stutts. Allen turned in an inspired performance in his heat race, coming from the last row to transfer into the A Main. Gerard McIntyre, Jr. was best in the B Main. Macri set the fastest lap in qualifications. His time of 15.089 was best in Group B. Dietz was fastest in Group A with a time of 15.123.
When the leaders of the USAC East Coast 360 Sprint Car race collided on lap fifteen, a good race became a great one. The misfortunes of Alex Bright and Briggs Danner put Christian Bruno on the point for the restart, with Joey Amantea right behind him. What happened after that left the race fans speechless. Bruno and Amantea traded slide jobs lap after lap, swapping the lead at opposite ends of the track, until Amantea got just enough of an advantage on lap twenty-two that Bruno could not slide him back to regain the lead. But, Bruno then came under attack from Carmen Perigo and Steve Drevicki in the final laps of the race. At the checkers, Amantea claimed his first win of the season and the second in his career with the series, with Perigo just a second behind him.
“I don’t think we had a winning car tonight, but with Alex and Briggs taking each other out, that gave us an opportunity,” Amantea said.
Bruno was on the pole for the twenty-five lap affair, with Bright as his running mate. Amantea and Bruce Buckwalter lined up in row two, with Perigo and Drevicki right behind them. Bobby Butler and Danner made up row four.
Bright blasted into the lead in turn one, with Bruno, Amantea, Danner, and Buckwalter dicing for positions in the top five. Bright set a brisk pace in the early laps, but Danner worked his way into second by lap five. Bruno held third, ahead of Perigo, Amantea, Buckwalter, Drevicki, Bruno, Tommy Kunsman, and Ed Aiken.
Danner was closing in on Bright when the caution waived on lap ten for Buckwalter’s spin in turn four.
On the ensuing restart, Danner provided a glimpse of things to come. With Bright up on the cushion, Danner entered turn one on the low side, looking for an opening to slide up the track and take the lead away. But, Danner did not carry enough speed into the corner and he could not complete the pass. Bright’s momentum propelled him into the lead coming through turn two.
But Danner wasn’t about to give up just yet. He came storming back after Bright. The duo played cat and mouse for several more laps, but there was no change in the running order.
The race took a dramatic change on lap fifteen. Once again, Bright was up on the cushion, and Danner threw his car into turn one on the inside. He began to slide up through the middle and drew up beside Bright. Bright’s car bumped the cushion and became unstable. He started to come down toward the middle as the rivals entered turn two. There was contact, and the first two cars spun much to the surprise of all. Both cars headed to the infield pit area, and only Bright was able to resume the race.
Bruno inherited the lead, with Amantea in second. Perigo restarted in third, ahead of Drevicki, Butler, Kunsman, Aiken, Dalton Herrick, Matthew Swift, and Michael Smith.
When the race went green again, Bruno and Amantea began an intense battle for the lead. Amantea’s first slide job in turn one came up short, but he had a full head of steam entering turn three, and he easily passed Bruno. Bruno returned the favor in turn one, and Amantea rallied again in turn three. Bruno regained the lead with a slider of his own on lap nineteen.
A caution on that lap for Rich Carnathan interrupted the flow, but soon thereafter Bruno and Amantea were locked in a battle for the lead again. Amantea was able to claim the lead for the final time with three laps remaining.
Amantea led Bruno by a couple of car lengths and the final laps played out. But now Bruno was being challenged for the second spot. Perigo and Drevicki came on to make it a three car contest for the second position. Any one of the three contenders could have taken it, but the outcome remained in doubt until the final corner.
Perigo slid past Bruno in turn four on the last lap to earn the second position. Bruno held off Drevicki, who darted to the inside. Bright marched back through the pack to salvage a fifth place finish.
Butler, Kunsman, Aiken, Buckwalter, and Herrick completed the top ten.
“We were going at it pretty good, and then I took his line away,” Amantea explained. “It was pretty good racing with Chris. He’s a really good racer, and he raced me clean,” he added. Amantea said that the victory would give him added confidence when he next faces the USAC National Sprint Car Series at Eldora Speedway.
There were a pair of heats, with wins going to Danner and Bright. There was no B Main.
The Wingless Sportsmen wore the nightcap, and that race did not disappoint either. Craig Perigo was the leader on each of the twenty laps, although he did briefly surrender the point to Jay Fannasy. When Fannasy spun from second place, Cliff Brian took up the chase, with Steve Wilbur in tow. The three racers put on an entertaining contest for the last eleven laps. Perigo came out on top, with Brian a close second. Wilbur bobbled on the last lap and surrendered third to Trent Yoder. Brett Perigo took the fifth spot.
The sixth through tenth place finishers were Chad Thomas, Chad Baker, Curt Stroup, Brandon Shearer, and Joe Gabner.
“That was a lot of fun on my end,” the winner said enthusiastically. “I didn’t have enough gear. I knew I couldn’t go low to block Brian because there was not enough gear. I had to keep my momentum up.”
Craig Perigo, Fannasy, and Yoder were the winners of the three heat races. There was no B Main.
Port Royal Speedway will present a three division program on May 4, featuring the 410 Sprint Cars, Super Late Models, and 305 Sprints. The track will be dark on May 11, in deference to the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event at Williams Grove Speedway. Racing will resume at the Speed Palace on May 18 with the 410 Sprints, a Super Late Model Championship, and the Limited Late Models.
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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