4.3.21 Pennsylvania Sprint Series Results
By: Frank Buhrman
“Nitro Nick” Sweigart found lightning in the extreme top groove at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night and outdueled Dave Grube II, Garrett Bard and a 54-car PA Sprint Series field to win the 20-lap IMCA/RaceSaver feature at the Juniata County “Speed Palace.”
The win was the eighth of Myerstown racer Sweigart’s career in PASS and the fifth at Port Royal, including the 2019 Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, and this one equaled the best of the previous victories for excitement.
With four of the top five feature starters owning Port Royal victories, a hotly contested feature was all but assured, and the early battle between outside front-row starter (and 2020 IMCA/RaceSaver/PASS Champion) Bard and third-starting Grube set the initial standard. On lap seven, the inside-running Grube made the lead pass, but New Jersey visitor Josh Bricker tipped over on the front stretch, bringing out the red and negating Grube’s run. Neither Bricker nor Andrew Boyer, who also was involved, was injured.
In the ensuring restart, Sweigart, who had started fifth, joined the fray, and the leaders pulled away in a furious battle, with Grube running low, Bard high, and Sweigart higher.
After a few laps, Bard began to fade, and Grube and Sweigart engaged of several laps of exchanging the lead before the latter finally won the duel.
By this time, 2019 PASS and IMCA/RaceSaver National Champ Ken Duke Jr. had moved into the top five from 14th starting position, but the final five laps saw a little easing of the battle, and Ohio invader Justin Clark (starting 13th) got by Duke for fourth in the closing laps.
At the end, Sweigart’s A.H. Moyer Mechanical/Ditchcreek Unility Services/Buckwalter Trucking, Randy Kaylor-owned #8 had a 3.579-second advantage over Grube, with Bard barely holding off Clark for third and Duke finishing fifth.
The remainder of the top 10 was Devin Adams, Austin Reed, North Carolinian Nick Tucker, Drew Young and Doug Dodson. Twenty-three of the 26 starters finished the race.
Clark and Duke were the race’s hard chargers, each advancing nine positions to their top-five finishes. From farther in the back, both Dakota Schweikert and Jake Waters moved up seven spots.
With a huge field of RaceSaver sprinters in the pits, making the feature was perhaps the toughest job at the fairgrounds. Five heat races were run, with wins going to Grube, Reed, Adams, Dodson and last week’s Lincoln winner Jaremi Hanson. North Carolinian Brandon McLair won the C-Main, with Kassidy Kreitz collecting the B-Main.
Several incidents, the most serious on starts, marred the preliminaries. Five cars were involved in a front-stretch tangle (before the flagstand) in the first heat, with John Walp riding the inside wall. In the fifth heat, Larry McVay and Jared Zionkowski both flipped on the initial acceleration for the start, and in the C-Main, Ben McCall and Jason Roush flipped after tangling entering turn one.
Walp later visited the hospital for possible ankle injuries, but other crash victims were OK.
The race drew entrants from five states (including five teams from North Carolina) and half a dozen other IMCA/RaceSaver regional series. Clark (Ohio) and eight-time Carolina Sprint Tour winner Tucker had the best showings among the invaders.
This weekend offers another PASS doubleheader, with racing Saturday at Selinsgrove Speedway and Sunday at BAPS Motor Speedway.
For updated schedule and other information, visit www.pasprintseries.com or the PA Sprint Series Facebook page.
Results from Port Royal Speedway April 3
HEAT 1 – 1. 3D-Dave Grube; 2. 95-Garrett Bard; 3. 121-Steve Glover; 4. 21-Andrew Boyer; 5. 54-Mike Melair; 6. 88-Fred Arnold; 7. 7-Ben McCall; 8. 1-Rowdy Heffner (DNF); 9. 5-John Walp (DNF); 10. 2-Erin Statler (DNF); 11. 0Z-Zach Rhodes (DNF).
HEAT 2 – 1. 34-Austin Reed; 2. 7-Drew Young; 3. 44-Christian Rumsey; 4. 97-Kenny Heffner; 5. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 6. 8-Will Brunson; 7. 71-Josh Spicer; 8. 21B-Brandon McLain; 9. 19-Kruz Kepner; 10. 46-Mike Alleman; 11. 1M-Paul Moyer.
HEAT 3 – 1. 99-Devin Adams; 2. 8-Nick Sweigart; 3. 78-Justin Clark; 4. 11M-Mikell McGee; 5. 5E-Wally Eshenaur; 6. 10-Jake Waters; 7. 78-Dale Schweikert; 8. 28R-Jason Roush; 9. 44V-Daren Bolac; 10. 19A-Brody Adamsky. DNS – 31-Roger Weaver.
HEAT 4 – 1. 20-Doug Dodson; 2. 03-Branston Shue; 3. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 4. 53W-Jimmy White; 5. 78C-Dakota Schweikert; 6. X-Josh Bricker; 7. 52-Jeffrey Weaver; 8. 86-Sean Vardell; 9. 25-Dustin Young; 10. 107-Colton Hoover (DNF); 11. 80JR-Kyle Colwell (DNF).
HEAT 5 – 1. 36-Jaremi Hanson; 2. 70-Nick Tucker; 3. 80-Dave Wickham; 4. 87-Austin Graby; 5. 11X-Bob Garvey; 6. 21M-Cassandra Minium; 7. 11W-Donnie Wise (DNF); 8. 83-Larry McVay (DNF); 9. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski (DNF). DNS – 55-Domenic Melair.
C-Main – 1. 21B-Brandon McLain; 2. 1-Rowdy Heffner; 3. 55-Domenic Melair; 4. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 5. 46-Mike Alleman; 6. 25-Dustin Young; 7. 44V-Daren Bolac; 8. 1M-Paul Moyer; 9. 86-Sean Vardell (DNF); 10. 7-Ben McCall (DNF); 11. 28R-Jason Roush (DNF). DNS – 83-Larry McVay; 19-Kruz Kepner; 5-John Walp; 19A-Brody Adamsky; 107-Colton Hoover; 2-Erin Statler; 32-Roger Weaver; 80JR-Kyle Colwell.
B-Main – 1. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 2. 54-Mike Melair; 3. 78C-Dakota Schweikert; 4. 8-Will Brunson; 5. X-Josh Bricker; 6. 10-Jake Waters; 7. 11X-Bob Garvey; 8. 78-Dale Schweikert; 9. 71-Josh Spicer; 10. 52-Jeff Weaver; 11. 1-Rowdy Heffner; 12. 21B-Brandon McLain; 13. 55-Domenic Melair; 14. 21M-Cassandra Minium; 15. 88-Fred Arnold (DNF). DNS – 5E-Wally Eshenaur; 0Z-Zach Rhodes; 11W-Donnie Wise.
FEATURE – 1. 8-Nick Sweigart; 2. 3D-Dave Grube; 3. 95-Garrett Bard; 4. 78-Justin Clark; 5. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 6. 99-Devin Adams; 7. 34-Austin Reed; 8. 70-Nick Tucker; 9. 7-Drew Young; 10. 20-Doug Dodson; 11. 03-Branstin Shue; 12. 11M-Mikell McGee; 13. 44-Christian Rumsey; 14. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 15. 97-Kenny Heffner; 16. 78C-Dakota Schweikart; 17. 54-Mike Melair; 18. 121-Steve Glover; 19. 10-Jake Waters; 20. 8-Will Brunson; 21. 87-Austin Graby; 22. 53W-Jimmy White; 23. 80-Dave Wickham; 24. 36-Jaremi Hanson (DNF); 25. 21-Andrew Boyer (DNF); 26. X-Josh Bricker (DNF). DNQ – 11X-Bob Garvey; 78-Dale Schweikert; 71-Josh Spicer; 52-Jeffrey Weaver; 1-Rowdy Heffner; 21B-Brandon McLain; 55-Dom Melair; 21M-Cassandra Minium; 88-Fred Arnold; 5E-Wally Eshenaur; 0Z-Zach Rhodes; 11W-Donnie Wise; 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 46-Mike Alleman; 25-Dustin Young; 44V-Daren Bolac; 1M-Paul Moyer; 86-Sean Vardell; 7-Ben McCall; 28R-Jason Roush; 83-Larry McVay; 19-Kruz Kepner; 5-John Walp; 19A-Brody Adamsky; 107-Colton Hoover; 2-Erin Statler; 31-Roger Weaver; 80JR-Kyle Colwell.