8.21.21 Pennsylvania Sprint Series Results
By: Frank Buhrman
Dave Grube II of York Haven survived a chaotic effort to start Saturday night’s PA Sprint Series race at Port Royal Speedway, then came out ahead after contact with 2021’s top winner Garrett Bard and won the IMCA/RaceSaver portion of the “Open Wheel Madness” program.
It was the veteran racer’s second win of the year at Port Royal, where he has set winning the track championship for PASS sprints as a season’s goal. With the victory, he moved ahead of Bard into the points lead.
The Spearhead Rentals/MAN Contracting/Zeigler’s Service Center #3D also carried Grube to his first career PASS victory in the division at the Port back in 2017.
“We had a good car,” Grube said in victory lane. “I’ve got to thank my crew, my Mom and my Dad for supporting me and believing in me. I’ve got to thank my wife. I’ve got to thank the track for allowing us to come here and race.”
Grube then gave a lengthy thank-you to veterans on Port Royal’s salute to the military night. “If you look at the left side of our car,” he added, “you’ll see that it’s to support veterans . . . suicide awareness.”
Dom Melair of Warrington finished three-and-a-half seconds back of Grube in second place, just ahead of Kenny Heffner of Watsontown. Will Brunson of Middleburg and Fred Arnold of Richfield finished fourth and fifth.
Larry McVay, Nathan Gramley, Steve Kenawell, Roger Irvine and Austin Reed completed the top 10.
The race took multiple restarts to get going, and accidents on the early starting efforts took several cars out of the race and damaged others.
That action scrambled the field, and by lap six, fourth-starting Grube and 10th-starting Bard were battling for the lead when they made contact, with Bard spinning. Grube did not spin and was allowed to maintain his position while Bard went to the rear, eventually finishing 13th.
From that point on, Grube was not seriously challenged.
At the end of the race, the number of caution laps run during all the restarts created fuel problems for several cars. Doug Dodson’s car ran out three laps from the end, and both Heffner and Arnold lost positions when they ran out coming to the checkered flag.
With a huge field of 48 sprinters on hand for the race, heat races were won by Brunson, Logan Spahr (the rookie’s first checkered flag in a full-sized sprinter), Jake Waters and McVay. Jared Zionkowski and “Nitro Nick” Sweigart won the B-Main races.
Reed collected the Penns Valley Meat Market Hard Charger Award, coming from 26th starting position to his 10th place finish. That advance barely edged out Dom Melair, who came up 15 spots from 17th to second. Brother Mike Melair charged ahead nine spots, as did Nathan Gramley and Sweigart. In their heats, Bard jumped ahead 10 spots and Devin Adams eight.
This week PASS teams have a rare Saturday off, but action will resume Sunday at BAPS Motor Speedway when the RaceSaver sprinters join the All Star Circuit of Champions for the Johnny Mackison Sr. Clash. Racing will begin at 7:00 p.m.
For the latest news and schedule information, visit www.pasprintseries.com, the PA Sprint Series Facebook page, or @pasprintseries on Twitter.
Results from Port Royal Speedway August 21
HEAT 1 – 1. 8-Will Brunson; 2. 56-Tyler Snook; 3. 11M-Mikell McGee; 4. 17K-Steve Kenawell; 5. 36-Dom Melair; 6. 11W-Donnie Wise; 7. 80-Dave Wickham; 8. 4Z-Jared Zionkowski; 9. 71-Josh Spicer; 10. 55B-Rick Romig; 11. 31-Roger Weaver; 12. M1-Justin Mills (DNF).
HEAT 2 – 1. 5-Logan Spahr; 2. 95-Garrett Bard; 3. 88-Fred Arnold; 4. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 5. 2-Erin Statler; 6. 54M-Todd Lynn; 7. 19A-Tim Iulg; 8. 0Z-Zach Rhodes; 9. 03-Branstin Shue; 10. 11X-Robert Garvey; 11. 52-Jeff Weaver (DNF); 12. 46-Mike Alleman (DNF).
HEAT 3 – 1. 10-Jake Waters; 2. 12-Roger Irvine; 3. 97-Kenny Heffner; 4. 99-Devin Adams; 5. 21-Andrew Boyer; 6. 8-Nick Sweigart; 7. J9-Jerald Harris; 8. 28R-Jason Roush; 9. 34-Austin Reed; 10. 53W-Jimmy White; 11. 25-Dustin Young; 12. 51-Dave Graber.
HEAT 4 – 1. 83-Larry McVay; 2. 3D-Dave Grube; 3. 20-Doug Dodson; 4. 23-Nathan Gramley; 5. 54-Mike Melair; 6. 87-Austin Graby; 7. 1-Rowdy Heffner; 8. 7-Drew Young; 9. 19-Kruz Kepner; 10. 98-Croix Beasom; 11. 91-John Fiore; 12. 1M-Paul Moyer (DNF).
B-MAIN 1 – 1. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 2. 52-Jeff Weaver; 3. 54M-Todd Lynn; 4. 03-Branstin Shue; 5. 80-Dave Wickham; 6. 0Z-Zach Rhodes; 7. 71-Josh Spicer; 8. 46-Mike Alleman; 9. 11X-Robert Garvey; 10. 31-Roger Weaver; 11. M1-Justin Mills (DNF); 12. 11W-Donnie Wise (DNF); 13. 55B-Rick Romig (DNF); 14. 19A-Tim Iulg (DNF).
B-MAIN 2 – 1. 8-Nick Sweigart; 2. 1-Rowdy Heffner; 3. 34-Austin Reed; 4. J9-Jerald Harris; 5. 7-Drew Young; 6. 19-Kruz Kepner; 7. 87-Austin Graby; 8. 28R-Jason Roush; 9. 1M-Paul Moyer; 10. 25-Dustin Young; 11. 91-John Fiore; 12. 53W-Jimmy White; 13. 51-Dave Graber; 14. 98-Croix Beasom.
FEATURE – 1. 3D-Dave Grube; 2. 36-Dom Melair; 3. 97-Kenny Heffner; 4. 8-Will Brunson; 5. 88-Fred Arnold; 6. 83-Larry McVay; 7. 23-Nathan Gramley; 8. 17K-Steve Kenawell; 9. 12-Roger Irvine; 10. 34-Austin Reed; 11. 54-Mike Melair; 12. 8-Nick Sweigart; 13. 95-Garrett Bard; 14. 2-Erin Statler; 15. 5-Logan Spahr; 16. 56-Tyler Snook; 17. 52-Jeff Weaver; 18. 20-Doug Dodson (DNF); 19. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski (DNF); 20. 11M-Mikell McGee (DNF); 21. 21-Andrew Boyer (DNF); 22. 03-Branstin Shue (DNF); 23. 54M-Todd Lynn (DNF); 24. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz (DNF); 25. 99-Devin Adams (DNF); 26. 1-Rowdy Heffner (DNF); 27. J9-Jerald Harris (DNF); 28. 10-Jake Waters (DNF). DNQ – 80-Dave Wickham; 7-Drew Young; 0Z-Zach Rhodes; 19-Kruz Kepner; 71-Josh Spicer; 87-Austin Graby; 46-Mike Alleman; 28D-Jason Roush; 11X-Robert Garvey; 1M-Paul Moyer; 31-Roger Weaver; 25-Dustin Young; M1-Justin Mills; 91-John Fiore; 11W-Donnie Wise; 53W-Jimmy White; 55B-Rick Romig; 51-Dave Graber; 19A-Tim Iulg; 98-Croix Beasom.