Port Royal – Some 80 sprint cars jammed the Port Royal Speedway pits on Saturday night to compete in Open Wheel Madness for the 410, 305 and URC 360 sprint cars.
Chad Layton wired the field for his third win of the season in the Aumiller’s Insurance 410 sprint feature while Tyler Bear turned in a flag to flag performance to claim the PA 305 Sprint Series main.
In the URC sprint main, Ryan Wilson of Mechanicsburg came away the champion of just the second ever Port Royal appearance by the club in its 65-year existence.
Layton drew the pole to start the 25-lap 410-sprint main with Mike Wagner starting second.
Ironically, both men are locked in a battle for the season point crown, which will come to an end in under two weeks. Layton is going for a second track title while Wagner is going for this third.
The 410 main went non-stop with Layton turning in a stout, dominating performance to pick up the $3,000 payday, which was the eighth of his overall career at the track.
With Layton checking out on the field, an outstanding six-car race for second attracted all the attention during the last 10 laps of the event.
Wagner worked hard to hold on to the second spot for the duration with seventh starter Lance Dewease taking over third with five laps to go from Mike Erdley.
During the final two and one-half miles of racing, the second through seventh place cars all raced within a half straightaway of one another in a pack that included Wagner, Dewease, Greg Hodnett, Erdley, Blane Heimbach and Rick Lafferty.
In the end with Layton out in front and posting a non-stop time of 8:22.541, he crossed the line 5.607 seconds ahead of Wagner for the victory.
Dewease settled for third followed by Erdley and ninth-starter Hodnett.
Sixth through 10th went to Lafferty, 11th starter Heimbach, Keith Kauffman, Doug Esh and Frank Cozze.
Heats for the 23-car field went to Lafferty, Wagner and Kauffman.
Chad Trout and Bryn Gohn shared the front row for the start of the 25-lap URC sprint feature with Gohn taking the lead at the start over Trout.
Wilson started from the outside of the third row in his quest for the win and drove into fourth on the first lap and moved into third with two away.
With four laps complete, Wilson had disposed of Trout for second and was biting into Gohn’s substantial lead when the races first caution flag unfurled with seven laps completed.
Gohn showed strength running the top groove when action resumed but succumbed to Wilson’s pressure on the ninth tour just before the red lights came on four contact with the inside rail by Kyle Reinhardt.
Wilson was stretching out his lead when the yellow flag appeared with 10 laps to go, setting up a double-file restart.
Only one more lap was scored before another red flag waved, this time for a three-car tangle in the second turn.
A final yellow flag with five laps to go saw Trout muscle by Gohn for second but fall short of dialing in Wilson.
It was Wilson’s first ever win with URC and at Port Royal Speedway, worth $2,000.
Trout crossed the line second, 2.093 second behind, followed by Gohn, Josh Weller and Robbie Stillwaggon.
Sixth through 10th went to Mark Bitner, Devin Darling, Kramer Williamson, Davie Franek and Larry Kelleher.
Heats for the 31-car field went to Trout, Gohn and Joey Biasi with Nate Snyder scoring the consolation.
Bear held sway for the entire 20-lap distance of the 305 sprint main after drawing the pole for the race. It was his fourth career win in the division at the track.
Logan Wagner started outside the fourth row for the event and worked his way forward to move into second with five laps left, taking the spot from Mark Watkins.
However he was well behind leader Bear at the finish.
Ninth starter Watkins finished third followed by Kody Lehman and Nathan Gramley.
Sixth through 10th went to Alex Schanz, Tom Worrick, Tim Dietz, Mike Wagner II., and Steve Kennawell.
Heats for the 26-car field went to Watkins, Eric Parker and Kennawell.
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August 25, 2012 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Chad Layton, 2. Mike Wagner, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Mike Erdley, 5. Greg Hodnett, 6. Rick Lafferty, 7. Blane Heimbach, 8. Keith Kauffman, 9. Doug Esh, 10. Frank Cozze, 11. Curt Stroup, 12. Bob Bennett, 13. Daryl Stimeling, 14. Cliff Brian, 15. Michael Ruttkamp, 16. Jimmy Seger, 17. Rodney Westhafer, 18. Rod Stroup, 19. Joey Hershey, 20. Dave Hahn, 21. Josh Dressler, 22. Steve Buckwalter
URC sprints, 25 laps: 1. Ryan Wilson, 2. Chad Trout, 3. Bryn Gohn, 4. Josh Weller, 5. Robbie Stillwaggon, 6. Mark Bitner, 7. Kevin Darling, 8. Kramer Williamson, 9. Davie Franek, 10. Larry Kelleher, 11. Tim Hogue, 12. Art Leidl, 13. Jared Fink, 14. JJ Grasso, 15. JR Berry, 16. Jessica Zemken, 17. Ed Aiken, 18. Randy West, 19. Nate Snyder, 20. Joey Biasi, 21. Jay Galloway, 22. Kyle Reinert, 23. Troy Betts, 24. Steve Downs
305 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Tyler Bear, 2. Logan Wagner, 3. Mark Watkins, 4. Kody Lehman, 5. Nathan Gramley, 6. Alex Schanz, 7. Tom Worrick, 8. Tim Dietz, 9. Mike Wagner, II., 10. Steve Kennawell, 11. Erin Statler, 12. Jason Bergstresser, 13. Ryan Lynn, 14. Ron Aurand, 15. Reed Thompson, 16. Dave Martin, 17. Derrick Bowersox, 18. Jeff Miller, 19. Jim Kennedy, 20. Paul Snyder, 21. Lance Newlin, 22. Scott Ellerman, 23. Eric Parker, 24. Jeff Taylor, 25. Tyler Reeser