10.25.14 Port Royal Speedway Results
Port Royal – It was a performance that the Pennsylvania Posse sprint car fans thundered in approval of and even the World of Outlaws faithful had to respect as Posse circuit driver Ryan Smith of Kunkletown beat the traveling STP World of Outlaws sprint cars at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night to claim his first ever oval and outlaws victory, worth $10,000.
Outlaws champion Donny Schatz of Minot, North Dakota, who by virtue of entering the night’s activities clinched the 2014 outlaws series title, chased Smith to the line at the finish.
Early in the night, 20-time outlaws champion Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Indiana, was presented a commemorative plaque for his unparalleled accomplishments in the sport and in recognition of his final race in Pennsylvania as a full time outlaws driver.
Retiring car owner Randy Lisi was also recognized with a plaque for his dedication to the speedway over the better part of two decades.
Only two circuits of the 30-lap World of Outlaws, Port Royal Speedway season finale feature had been put in the books when the races only caution flag regrouped the field.
Australian native Kerry Madsen started on the pole and beat Mechanicsburg’s Lucas Wolfe down the frontchute to take the lead at the start and it was Wolfe in second and fourth starter Smith in third when the yellow appeared for a stopped Brad Sweet in the third corner.
A double file restart with Madsen choosing the outside row for the new green found Wolfe aboard the Zemco No. 1 taking control with a strong move to complete the third circuit with third starter Schatz running fourth.
Just shy of the halfway point, on lap 11, Smith muscled by Madsen for second and set his sights on leader Wolfe and in virtually no time at all Smith was all over him for control.
Smith took the lead for the first time in the fourth turn of the 12th circuit but Wolfe surged ahead by a whisker in a side-by-side battle back to the line to be scored the official pacesetter.
Smith then regrouped with Madsen and Schatz lurking to take another run at the leader with 15 away and again the same moves saw him get control in the fourth corner only to have Wolfe nose into the lead at the line.
Two laps later, Smith was at it again, and again the same moves saw him take the lead and lose it to Wolfe back at the stripe by a nearly invisible margin of 14-one thousandths of a second.
But then Smith went out front for good aboard the Warko No. 94 with 12 laps to go, this time firmly grasping the lead as Schatz motored into second while closing Smith’s advantage as well.
Schatz and Smith roused the fans over the final five miles of the event as they raced within two to four car lengths back of one another for the majority of the time, especially during the last five laps.
Smith bought himself a little breathing room for about three circuits just after the ten-to-go point when he put a lapped car between himself and Schatz but as soon as Schatz was able to clear the lapped machine, he again zeroed directly in on Smith, running the bottom and middle grooves around the speedway.
A roar that could be heard throughout the Juniata Valley and Central Pennsylvania went up when Smith crossed under the checkered flag and the massive chants of “Poss-e, Poss-e,” went up as Smith climbed from his neon racer into the winner’s circle.
The fans rattled the historic oval with screams and roars of support and approval as Smith tried to conduct his victory lane interview.
He became the 178th driver to record a sprint car victory at Port Royal Speedway and he closed the Port Royal season as the 17th different 410 sprint winner at the oval in 2014.
Schatz crossed the line a very challenging second, just .655 seconds back of the winner.
Eighth starter Daryn Pittman of Owasso, Oklahoma, crossed the line third followed by Madsen and 10th starter Cody Darrah of Red Lion.
Sixth through 10th went to Wolfe, Mechanicsburg; 12th starter Brent Marks, Myerstown; Shane Stewart, Bixby, Oklahoma; Danny Dietrich, Gettysburg; and Paul McMahan, Nashville, Tennessee.
Smith’s win of and outlaws event at Port Royal tied the score at the track of the eight events contested by the outlaws at the track since it first hosted an outlaws event there in 1979.
Locals Lynn Paxton, Don Kreitz Jr., Doug Wolfgang and now Smith have scored four of the races while outlaws Danny Wood, Brad Furr, Jason Sides and Schatz have taken the other four.
Wolfe set fast time in qualifications for the 40-car field with a quick lap of 16.012 seconds.
Heats went to Smith, Ryan Taylor, McMahan and Steve Buckwalter.
Wolfe won the dash for the pole of the feature event and Kyle Reinhardt scored the B Main.
October 25, 2014
Feature Finish: 1. Ryan Smith, 2. Donny Schatz, 3. Daryn Pittman, 4. Kerry Madsen, 5. Cody Darrah, 6. Lucas Wolfe, 7. Brent Marks, 8. Shane Stewart, 9. Danny Dietrich, 10. Paul McMahan, 11. Mike Erdley, 12. Brock Zearfoss, 13. David Gravel, 14. Greg Hodnett, 15. Joey Saldana, 16. Lance Dewease, 17. Kyle Reinhardt, 18. Steve Kinser, 19. Brad Sweet, 20. Ryan Taylor, 21. Logan Schuchart, 22. Logan Wagner, 23. Nate Snyder, 24. Steve Buckwalter
DNQ: Dylan Cisney, Justin Barger, Ryan Wilson, Dave Ely, Kraig Kinser, Blane Heimbach, Jason Sides, Curt Stroup, Ryan Bohlke, Jacob Allen, Trenton Scheaffer, Joey Hershey, Tyler Bear, Wayne Dadetto, Dustin Baney, Adrian Shaffer