Port Royal – Steve Buckwalter held off Lucas Wolfe to win the 410 sprint car feature Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway to score his second career victory at the oval.
In the 22-lap super late model main Jason Schmidt of Lewistown powered to his first ever division win at the track, holding off the furious charges of Matt Parks and Dylan Yoder.
And in the 18-lap 305 sprint feature local driver Jake Waters took the victory on his birthday.
Buckwalter started third in the 25-lap 410 sprint main and made quick work of the front row on the start, driving by Blane Heimbach and Rick Lafferty in the first and second turns to take the lead on the backstretch.
Lafferty tried coming back on Buckwalter after he got control but repeated low dives in the first turn proved unsuccessful for the defending track champion.
A restart on the fifth lap found Heimbach in third and eighth starter Lucas Wolfe up to fifth.
The running order was the same with nine away when another caution flag regrouped the field but this time Wolfe went to work when action resumed, as did Heimbach.
Both drivers advanced a spot at the front on the 10th circuit and Wolfe still wasn’t done.
He motored by Lafferty on the 11th tour and then went into second over Heimbach with 12 laps to go.
Wolfe methodically started cutting down Buckwalter’s advantage of some 2.5 seconds lap after lap after assuming second but after narrowing the margin to a half-second, he was no longer able to close.
Instead, Buckwalter maintained his lead and pulled it back out to one second before the finish.
Wolfe was second followed by Heimbach, Lafferty and Ryan Taylor.
Sixth through 10th went to Doug Esh, Logan Wagner, Dylan Cisney, Davey Sammons and Kevin Nouse.
Heats went to Taylor, Wolfe and Lafferty.
Jason Schmidt started second in the late model main and took the lead over Waylon Wagner at the start.
But back in the pack several heavy hitters were working their way to the front in an effort to battle for the victory.
Matt Parks began the race in sixth and blasted into second on the third tour before starting what would be a continuous pursuit of an unshakable Schmidt.
Parks just kept getting higher and higher around the track, at times glancing off the outside rail as he searched for a way around the leader.
And then on the 14th lap seventh starter Dylan Yoder took over third from Tim Wilson and he too began closing in for the front spots.
During the last eight laps the front four cars of Schmidt, Parks, Yoder and ninth starter Nick Dickson raced with the same straightaway of one another, working through traffic to the finish.
Schmidt persevered to take the win by. .663 seconds over Parks, Yoder, Dickson and Wilson.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Lupfer, Tim Smith Jr., Derrick Casner, Trent Brenneman and Lindsay Barton.
Heats went to Wilson, Smith Jr. and Yoder.
Jake Waters drove to his birthday win in the 305 sprints for his second career triumph at the oval.
Waters was the class of the field throughout the affair, staying ahead of Bill Jones Jr. to the finish.
James Pryde, Zach Newlin and Randy Kaylor rounded out the top five.
Sixth through 10th went to Sean Kirkpatrick, Nathan Gramley, Jeff Miller, Marcus Defreitas and Reed Thompson.
Miller went to the rear after bringing out the caution flag while running sixth on the eighth tour and then came blasting back through the field to end up eighth at the finish.
Heats went to Erin Statler, Jones and Cale Reigle.
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