8.8.20 Pennsylvania Sprint Series Results

By: Frank Buhrman
Garrett Bard used a monster outside move at the green flag to go from his fourth starting position into the lead, and the Wells Tannery driver commanded the rest of the 20-lap PA Sprint Series IMCA/RaceSaver feature Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.

It was Bard’s third win in four Port Royal starts this year in the CG Racing Engines/Barnett Self Storage #95. He led every lap he ran, having also taken a wire-to-wire victory in a heat race packed with contenders. On a night when just making the starting field was an accomplishment – an incredible 49 RaceSaver sprints took part in the action – Bard’s dominance was all the more impressive.

After those 49 cars had been reduced to 26 for the feature, Jake Waters (both of whose career PASS wins took place at the Port) and Ohio invader Justin Clark (multiple winner this year in his home state) started on the front row, ahead of heat-race winner Fred Arnold and Bard. On the start, Bard swept outside of the front-row starters and had the lead by the second turn.

That was actually the second effort to start the race. On the first, Derek Hauck’s #2H flipped wildly down the backstretch, collecting #20 Doug Dodson, who also flipped, and #M1 Justin Mills. A lengthy red flag was needed to clean up the scene, but none of the drivers was injured.

Once out front, Bard was not deterred by the heavy lapped traffic he encountered as the race went green the rest of the way. His final margin of victory was more than four seconds.

There was more than enough action behind the leader, though. #78 Clark held second all the way, but he had to withstand challenges from several drivers in the pack immediately back of him, including #55 Domenic Melair, #10 Waters, #67 Ken Duke Jr., #5 John Walp, and #8 “Nitro Nick” Sweigart. Melair mounted the most serious charge, but he fell victim to Duke and Sweigart at the end. After Sweigart had passed Duke on lap 17, the defending PASS and IMCA/RaceSaver national champion slipped underneath his competitors on the last lap to claim third, with Sweigart – up fron 20th starting spot – fourth and Melair fifth.

Unfortunately for Clark, his car’s engine failed post-race inspection and he was disqualified, moving Duke, Sweigart and Melair up one spot each and placing Waters in 5th.

Walp, #12 Roger Irvine, #88 Arnold, Pittsburgh visitor #21 Rob Felix, and 26th-starting #69K Kassidy Kreitz completed the top 10.

Bard’s sponsor, CG Racing Engines, had added $600 to the night’s purse in honor of engine-builder Curt Hershey, who died in June and was subject of a night-long tribute. That made the winner’s share #444 (Curt Hershey’s son Joey ran #44 in PASS competition and still runs a 410 sprinter). Sweigart’s charge through the pack made him another big winner, though, as CG Racing Engines and an anonymous donor had added to the Hard Charger Award, regular $100 given by Penns Valley Meat Market, making that distinction worth $250 total.

Sweigart’s 17-position charge and Kreitz’s advance of 16 spots, plus sprint veteran Daryl Stimeling’s run from 23rd to 11th in his PASS debut, were all the more impressing for taking place on a slick track that had already been pounded by 410 sprints and super late models.

With the huge field of cars, five heat races, a C-Main and a B-Main were needed to set the field. Waters, Arnold, Devin Adams, Clark and Bard claimed the heat wins. Landon Price won the C-Main, and Dodson claimed the B-Main, which saw Kreitz start 12th and race into the final qualifying position on the final turn of the last lap.

Besides the multi-car accident on the first feature start, only a couple of other incidents marred the evening. The first came in hot laps, when Jeff Miller of Mechanicsburg spun his #D57 in the fourth turn and rolled over. He was not injured. In the third heat race, Josh Spicer spun and collected Rowdy Heffner. Neither driver was injured, but neither car could continue.

A variety of other businesses and individuals contributed awards to the Hershey Tribute, and Bobby Rahal Lexus and Toyota of Lewistown sponsored the evening’s racing, which also included a salute to the military and veterans.

Next weekend, PASS sprinters will be in action Friday night at Path Valley Speedway Park and Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway, supporting the Ultimate Northeast Super Late Model Series both nights. They return to Port Royal on Saturday, August 22, as part of the Open Wheel Madness IV show that includes the rescheduled Dream Race for 410 sprints.

For schedule information and the latest news, visit www.pasprintseries.com or the PA Sprint Series Facebook page.

Results from Port Royal Speedway, August 8

HEAT 1 – 1. 10-Jake Waters; 2. 5-John Walp; 3. 21-Rob Felix; 4. 2-Erin Statler; 5. 11X-Bob Garvey; 6. R6-Reed Thompson; 7. 03 Branstin Shue; 8. 53W-Jimmy White; 9. M1-Mike Potts; 10. 911-Michael Wenrick (DNF).

HEAT 2 – 1. 88-Fred Arnold; 2. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 3. 12-Roger Irvine; 4. 19-Kruz Kepner; 5. 12F-Daryl Stimeline; 6. 26-Ryan Lynn; 7. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 8. 21-Andrew Boyer; 9. 4B-Jason Bergstresser. DNS – D57-Jeff Miller.

HEAT 3 – 1. 99A-Devin Adams; 2. 55-Domenic Melair; 3. 23-Nathan Gramley; 4. 6X-Bradley Mellott; 5. 72-Dave Guss; 6. 46-Mike Alleman; 7. #71-Josh Spicer (DNF); 8. 1-Rowdy Heffner (DNF); 9. 99Q-Cale Reigle (DNF); 10. 87-Austin Graby (DQ).

HEAT 4 – 1. 78-Justin Clark; 2. 80-Dave Wickham; 3. 97-Kenny Heffner; 4. 19A-Brody Adamsky; 5. 1M-Justin Mills; 6. 25K-Matt Kline; 7. 00-Jason Roush; 8. 25D-Dustin Young; 9. 92B-Donny Wise. DNS – 17K-Kyle Keen.

HEAT 5 – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 3. 2H-Derek Hauck; 4. 8-Nick Sweigart; 5. 20-Doug Dodson; 6. 61-Johnny Scarborough; 7. 54M-Todd Lynn; 8. 69P-Landon Price; 9. 4C-Cody Hackenberry.

C-Main – 1. 69P-Landon Price; 2. 25D-Dustin Young; 3. 21-Andrew Boyer; 4. #87-Austin Graby; 5. 4B-Jason Bergstresser; 6. 4C-Cody Hackenberry; 7. M1-Michael Potts. DNS – 53W-Jimmy White; 1-Rowdy Heffner; 99Q-Cale Reigle; 92B-Donny Wise; 911-Michael Wenrick; D57-Jeff Miller; 17K-Kyle Keen.

B-Main – 1. 20-Doug Dodson; 2. 1M-Justin Mills; 3. 12F-Daryl Stimeling; 4. 61-Johnny Scarborough; 5. 11X-Bob Garvey; 6. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 7. 03-Branstin Shue; 8. R6-Reed Thompson; 9. 72-Dave Guss; 10. 69P-Landon Price; 11. 26-Ryan Lynn; 12. 25K-Matt Kline; 13. 54M-Todd Lynn; 14. 25D-Dustin Young; 15. 46-Mike Alleman; 16. 00-Jason Roush; 17. 21-Andrew Boyer. DNS – 71-Josh Spicer.

FEATURE – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 3. 8-Nick Sweigart; 4. 55-Domenic Melair; 5. 10-Jake Waters; 6. 5-John Walp; 7. 12-Roger Irvine; 8. 88-Fred Arnold; 9. 21-Rob Felix; 10. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 11. 12F-Daryl Stimeling; 12. 97-Kenny Heffner; 13. 2-Erin Statler; 14. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 15. 23-Nathan Gramley; 16. 11X-Bob Garvey; 17. 80-Dave Wickham; 18. 19-Kruz Kepner; 19. 19A-Brody Adamsky; 20. 99A-Devin Adams (DNF); 21. 2H-Derek Hauck (DNF); 22. 6X-Brad Mellott (DNF); 23. 20-Doug Dodson (DNF); 24. 1M-Justin Mills (DNF); 25. 78-Justin Clark (DQ); 26. 61-Johnny Scarborough (DQ). DNQ – 54M-Todd Lynn; 25K-Matt Kline; 69P-Landon Price; R6-Reed Thompson; 71-Josh Spicer; 26-Ryan Lynn; 25D-Dustin Young; 46-Mike Alleman; 72-Dave Guss; 03-Branstin Shue; 00-Jason Roush; 21-Andrew Boyer; 87-Austin Graby; 4B-Jason Bergstresser; 4C-Cody Hackenberry; M1-Michael Potts; 53W-Jimmy White; 1-Rowdy Heffner; 99Q-Cale Reigle; 92B-Donny Wise; 911-Michael Wenrick; D57-Jeff Miller; 17K-Kyle Keen.