Port Royal – July 8th, 2012 – Tyler Walker of Los Angeles, California took the lead from Stevie Smith to win the Port Royal Speedway leg of the 22nd annual PA Speedweek series on Saturday night, worth $5,000.
In the 20-lap AB Auto Glass late model main, invader Jim Yoder led every lap and held off point leader Tim Wilson to record his third career Port Royal victory.
Mark Smith and Stevie Smith started the 30-lap speedweek feature on the front row and Stevie Smith took the lead at the start despite slide job attempts by Mark Smith.
Stevie was just getting into lapped traffic with six away when the races first caution flag fell for a stopped Logan Schuchart, who dropped out of third spot.
Stevie Smith was followed by Mark Smith and sixth starter Walker for the restart and the leaders again entered lapped traffic with 12 laps completed.
At times in traffic Mark Smith tried to narrow the advantage that Stevie Smith was building with the lead but he was never able to string enough solid laps together to substantially cut into the gap.
As the race hit the 10 to go point, both Walker and Mark Smith were slightly gaining on the leader with Walker getting to the front first by blasting underneath Mark Smith for second with seven laps left.
The race pace was slowed again with four laps to go when Danny Dietrich spun in the second corner and that’s when Walker made his move on the restart.
When green replaced the yellow, Walker burst under Stevie Smith for the lead deep in turn one and slid up to catch the cushion in the second corner and drive off of the rough as the leader with Stevie hot on his fuel cell.
The event was then red flagged for a six-car accident with a pair of laps to go when Mark Smith blew a tire in the third corner while running third and collected Fred Rahmer along with Doug Esh, Mike Erdley, Mike Wagner and Paul McMahan.
With no injuries reported from the accident, Walker took the new green running the middle to bottom of the track in an effort to thwart any anticipated attempt by Stevie Smith to reclaim the lead but the challenge never developed.
Instead, Walker took his fourth career Port Royal Speedway victory by 1.394 seconds over Smith, who was going for the 12th of his career at the track.
Stevie Smith settled for second followed by 19th starter Greg Hodnett, Daryn Pittman and 12thstarter Blane Heimbach.
Sixth through 10th went to Chad Layton, Danny Holtgraver, Alan Krimes, 21st starter Lance Dewease and Rick Lafferty.
Heats for the 38-car field went to Layton, Wagner, Esh and Pittman with Dave Ely taking the B Main.
Fred Rahmer set fast time with a lap of 16.250 seconds.
Jim Yoder started on the pole of the late model main alongside his son Dylan and led all 20 circuits of the feature over Tim Wilson for the victory after Wilson drove into second on the first lap.
The race was restarted after four caution flags that unfurled on laps three, eight, 11 and 18 but every time green reappeared, Jim Yoder was up to the task of holding off Wilson who at times was able to get his nose to Yoder’s inside.
Mike Lupfer, who started deep in the field in the 13th spot rallied throughout the event to pick off enough cars and race into third at the finish, taking the spot from Dylan Yoder during the last pair of laps.
Dylan Yoder ended up fourth followed by Brett Schadel.
Sixth through 10th went to Andy Haus, who raced inside the top five for much of the way, followed by Terry Naugle, Lindsey Barton, Mitch Hack and Jeff Miller.
Heats for the 25-car field went to JimYoder, Andy Haus and Scott Flickinger.
July 7, 2012 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 30 laps: 1. Tyler Walker, 2. Stevie Smith, 3. Greg Hodnett, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. Blane Heimbach, 6. Chad Layton, 7. Danny Holtgraver, 8. Alan Krimes, 9. Lance Dewease, 10. Rick Lafferty, 11. Doug Esh, 12. Danny Dietrich, 13. Mike Wagner, 14. Dave Ely, 15. Jessica Zemken, 16. Keith Kauffman, 17. Adam Wilt, 18. Nicole Bower, 19. Mark Smith, 20. Fred Rahmer, 21. Danny Lasoski, 22. Paul McMahan, 23. Mike Erdley, 24. Logan Schuchart
DNQ: Jordan Frontz, Shane Stewart, Steve Buckwalter, TJ Stutts, Bob Bennett, Darren Mollenoyoux, Ryan Taylor, Joey Hershey, Nate Snyder, Luke Bowey, Brent Marks, Josh Dressler, Sheldon Haudenschild, Dave Hahn
Late models, 20 laps: 1. Jim Yoder, 2. Tim Wilson, 3. Mike Lupfer, 4. Dylan Yoder, 5. Brett Schadel, 6. Andy Haus, 7. Terry Naugle, 8. Lindsey Barton, 9. Mitch Hack, 10. Jeff Miller, 11. Ralph Morgan, 12. Bob Dunn, 13. Eric Zembower, 14. Patrick Bryner, 15. Steve Stitt, 16. Mike Mort, 17. Harold Ranck, 18. Scott Haus, 19. Scott Flickinger, 20. Trent Brenneman, 21. Dave Brouse Sr., 22. Todd Snook,