Port Royal – Greg Hodnett of Thomasville put on a passing clinic on Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway to claim the 25-lap sprint car feature after starting in the 13th spot.
Hodnett became just the second driver in four years to claim posted bonus money for driving to a regular event win from a starting position behind the first five rows. The victory was his 37th at the oval.
Mike Lupfer of Shermansdale made it back-to-back wins in the super late model division by out-racing Dylan Yoder for the 22-lap victory for the second week in a row as well in what was an exciting stock car main.
In the 18-lap econo late model main Eric Irvin of Petersburg drove to his first victory in the division at the track in its two year history while Kurt Zimmeran of Pasadena, Md., won the all american outlaws feature event.
Lucas Wolfe started on the pole of the 410 sprint featur along side Blane Heimbach.
Wolfe took the lead at the start as fourth starter Aaron Ott zipped by Heimbach for second before an early red flag with just two laps completed for a frontstretch flip by Brock Zearfoss, who escaped injury.
Ott failed to challenge Wolfe on the restart with Heimbach, Mark Smith and Mike Wagner following.
The leader entered the rear of the field on the eighth tour of the event with 13th starter Hodnett now up to sixth.
And while Ott stuck with Wolfe without mounting a challenge Hodnett was just mowing down his adversaries as he marched to the front.
With 15 laps to go he had worked his way into fourth behind Smith and with 12 laps to go he was sitting in third but was still a good half-lap back of the leaders.
But that distance just steadily shrunk as Hodnett’s fleet running No. 27 blistered around the speedway and with sixth to go Hodnett was around Ott and closed in on Wolfe as he worked traffic.
Hodnett was scored the leader with five laps to go but Wolfe and he would exchange the lead in the first corner for split seconds as the pair perfected their slide job and recovery skills to see Hodnett go back out in front on the backstretch.
And then again in turn three Wolfe dove in on Hodnett who this time twitched on the cushion as the pair drove up on a lapped car with Wolfe coming away the leader this time only to see a caution flag before the lap could be scored, putting Hodnett back out in front for a restart.
And that clear track was eaten up by Hodnett when action resumed to become the pilots third overall win of the young 2015 season.
Wolfe was second with 10th starter Brent Marks finishing third followed by Ott and Smith.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Wagner, Davey Sammons, Dylan Cisney, Heimbach and Doug Esh, who started 21st.
Heats went to Heimbach, TJ Stutts and Mike Wagner.
Lupfer started fourth in the late model main and watched as Dylan Yoder set the pace from the second starting position.
Third starter Matt Parks drove in to second at the start and was followed by Lupfer into third with four away.
And the trio then circled the smooth track with Yoder low, Parks up high and Lupfer on the bottom for virtually the remaining distance, each driver working their favored groove.
Slowly but surely Lupfer honed in on Parks, who kept testing the high side’s durability and with six laps to go as the race waged through traffic, he secured second spot to set his sights on the lead.
It took Lupfer three laps to drive down Yoder and make his race-winning pass using his low groove, locked down mastery to record the checkers.
Yoder was second followed by Parks, Mitch Hack and Coleby Frye.
Sixth through 10th went to Andy Haus, Jeff Miller, Tim Wilson, Jeff Rine and Tim Smith Jr.
Heats went to Yoder, Parks and Lupfer.
Todd Snook led the first nine laps of the 18-lap econo late model main before falling out of the event, handing the lead over to Eric Irvin, who had taken second from Jared Fulkroad on the fifth circuit.
Andrew Yoder rode home second in the event but never challenged Irvin for the win.
Ralph Morgan Jr., Shaun Miller and Fulkroad completed the top five with heats going to Morgan and Yoder.
Race Results:
Feature Finishes
4/11/15
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Greg Hodnett, 2. Lucas Wolfe, 3. Brent Marks, 4. Aaron Ott, 5. Mark Smith, 6. Mike Wagner, 7. Davey Sammons, 8. Dylan Cisney, 9. Blane Heimbach, 10. Doug Esh, 11. Ryan Taylor, 12. TJ Stutts, 13. Nate Snyder, 14. Logan Wagner, 15. Dave Ely, 16. Daryl Stimeling, 17. Tyler Bear, 18. Curt Stroup, 19. Dave Hahn, 20. Ryan Wilson, 21. Joey Hershey, 22. Rick Lafferty, 23. Wayne Dadetto, 24. Troy Fraker, 25. Brock Zearfoss
Late models, 22 laps: 1. Mike Lupfer, 2. Dylan Yoder, 3. Matt Parks, 4. Mitch Hack, 5. Coleby Frye, 6. Andy Haus, 7. Jeff Miller, 8. Tim Wilson, 9. Jeff Rine, 10. Tim Smith Jr., 11. Jason Schmidt, 12. Eric Zembower, 13. Trent Brenneman, 14. Hayes Mattern, 15. Andy Fries, 16. Patrick Bryner, 17. Meade Hahn, 18. Austin Berry, 19. Lindsay Barton, 20. Scott Flickinger
DNS: Waylon Wagner, Chad Hollenbeck, Mike Mort, Jeremy Ohl, Cole Amsden
355 econo late models, 18 laps,: 1. Eric Irvin, 2. Andrew Yoder, 3. Ralph Morgan Jr., 4. Shaun Miller, 5. Jared Fulkroad, 6. Dillan Stake, 7. Tim Fedder, 8. Jason Nace, 9. Harold Ranck, 10. Garrett Gray, 11. Bobby Ballantine, 12. Rod Stroup, 13. Curt Dunn, 14. Ken Beck, 15. Troy Miller, 16. Todd Snook
DNS: Brett Hockenberry, Devin Hart
All American outlaws, 15 laps: 1. Kurt Zimmerman, 2. Bryan Green, 3. Fred Cullum, 4. Hunter Nester, 5. Brad Alexander, 6. Jim Minter, 7. Carnie Fryfogle, 8. Jim Chenoweth, 9. Gary Moreland Sr., 10. Justin Cullum, 11. Tim Faker, 12. Phil Williams