10.19.19 Pennsylvania Sprint Series Results
By: Frank Buhrman
Garrett Bard put an exclamation point on an extraordinary rookie half season with a wire-to-wire victory Saturday night in the PA Sprint Series feature during Port Royal Speedway’s “Open Wheel Madness 3.”
The driver from Wells Tannery recovered from a sub-par 12th-place finish Friday at BAPS Motor Speedway, winning his heat race by nearly three seconds and then holding off a determined effort by 2019 IMCA/RaceSaver National Champion Ken Duke Jr. in the feature.
Riding the high line around the sweeping Port Royal “Speed Palace,” Bard’s CG Racing Engines/Lias Tire #95 had the momentum to keep Selinsgrove racer Duke’s Fairfield Chevrolet/Appalachian Tree Service/sprintcarunlimited.com #67 behind him on two exciting restarts.
It was Bard’s fourth win in his last six races and his sixth overall (five with PASS and one with Laurel Highlands Sprint Series) in a career in full-sized sprints that only began on July 12 in a LHSS race at Clinton County Motor Speedway. His first PASS race was the next night at Path Valley Motor Speedway, and his first win came the next Saturday in his first visit to Port Royal.
In three Port Royal appearances now, Bard has finished first, third and first.
“I can set the car up to drive how I want to do,” he said about the track. “This is the type of track I like. We can get high speeds on longer, sweeping turns, and it just fits to what I like.”
The race was slowed by three cautions, all for relatively harmless spins, but the last two gave Duke his shots at the lead, and on the final restart on lap 14, the “Iron Man” nearly made it work.
“I wish we didn’t have that caution,” Bard said. “I knew I could run one/two really good, and when we got to lapped traffic, I went up in three and four on the top, and I knew all the lapped cars were on the bottom, and Ken was on the bottom, and I’m like, ‘Man, can this thing stay green all the way?’ But we had that caution.
“(On the restart), coming off two every time, I could see Ken underneath me, and with my luck, I go to the bottom and I’m going to screw up, and he’s going to get underneath me, so I’ll just keep rolling the top and keep the momentum going all the time.”
In Victory Lane, Bard also revealed how close the win came to not happening and expressed thanks to veteran 410 driver Mike Wagner and his crew.
“After the heat, our radiator busted,” he said, “and we had go get a another one mounted up. Mike Wagner gave us his extra one to use. We got it put up and everything worked out.”
Duke’s runner-up finish was his 18th top-five performance in PASS this year, including eight wins (plus two in Laurel Highlands Sprints). It also gave him the Port Royal PASS points championship to go with his overall PASS title, Pennsylvania championship and IMCA/RaceSaver National Championship.
“Nitro Nick” Sweigart, who had started ninth, finished third, but was not able to pull off the third-to-first move that earned him the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge victory at Port Royal a week ago. Jaremi Hanson was especially strong in the early stages of the race and finished fourth, with Doug Dodson taking fifth.
Completing the top 10 were Jonathan Jones, Drew Ritchey, Nathan Gramley, Landon Price and Devon Adams.
John Walp, driving Kruz Kepner’s car for the second night in a row, was the hard charger for the evening, moving up eight spots from 22nd starting position to 14th.
Heat races for the 29 PASS sprints on hand went to Bard, Duke and Wally Eshenaur, and the B-Main was won by Will Brunson.
The race completed the 2019 PASS season. The banquet to recognize Champion Ken Duke Jr. and others will be held on January 18 at the Mechanicsburg Club. Tickets and other information will be available at www.pasprintseries.com or the PA Sprint Series Facebook page.
Results from Port Royal Speedway Saturday, October 19
HEAT 1 – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 880-Drew Ritchey; 3. 36-Jaremi Hanson; 4. 23-Nathan Gramley; 5. 55-Domenic Melair; 6. 26-Ryan Lynn; 7. 72-Dave Guss; 8-21M-Cassandra Minium; 9. 58-Nathan Emig; 10. 107-Colton Hoover.
HEAT 2. 1. 5E-Wally Eshenaur; 2. 69P-Landon Price; 3. 12J-Jonathan Jones; 4. R6-Reed Thompson; 5. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 6. 46-Mike Alleman; 7. 8B-Will Brunson; 8. 19-John Walp; 9. 56D-Peter Dance; 10. 80-Dave Wickham.
HEAT 3 – 1. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 2. 8-Nick Sweigart; 3. 20-Doug Dodson; 4. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 5. 99-Devin Adams; 6. 54A-Alex Bright; 7. 53W-Jimmy White; 8. 88-Fred Arnold; 9. 2-Erin Statler.
B-Main – 1. 8B-Will Brunson; 2. 72-Dave Guss; 3. 53W-Jimmy White; 4. 19-John Walp; 5. 56D-Peter Dance; 6. 21M-Cassandra Minium; 7. 2-Erin Statler; 8. 88-Fred Arnold; 9. 80-Dave Wickham; 10. 58-Nathan Emig; 11. 107-Colton Hoover (DNS).
FEATURE – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 3. 8-Nick Sweigart; 4. 36-Jaremi Hanson; 5. 20-Doug Dodson; 6. 12J-Jonathan Jones; 7. 880-Drew Ritchey; 8. 23-Nathan Gramley; 9. 69P-Landon Price; 10. 99-Devin Adams; 11. R6-Reed Thompson; 12. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 13. 55-Domenic Melair; 14. 19-John Walp; 15. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 16. 56D-Peter Dance; 17. 2-Erin Statler; 18. 46-Mike Alleman; 19. 26-Ryan Lynn; 20. 8B-Will Brunson; 21. 88-Fred Arnold; 22. 72-Dave Guss; 23. 53W-Jimmy White; 24. 21M-Cassandra Minium; 25. 54A-Alex Bright; 26. 5E-Wally Eshenaur. DNQ – 80-Dave Wickham; 58-Nathan Emig; 107-Colton Hoover.