Tyler Bear becomes first repeat winner in Port 305 action
Port Royal – Brent Marks beat a highly competitive field of 410 sprints to record his first ever Port Royal Speedway victory on Saturday night, taking $3,000 for the win while becoming the 11th different winner in 12 events held at the track so far this season.
In the super late model main Tim Smith Jr. continued the trend of no repeat winners in the division by becoming the 10th different pilot to visit victory lane in as many races this season while also setting a new 20-lap track record in the affair.
And in the 305 sprint main Tyler Bear became the first repeat winner of the year in the class.
Marks started second in the 25-lap 410 sprint main and took the lead when the race began over Ryan Taylor and Doug Esh.
Fifth starter Rick Lafferty had no problem passing in the event and drove up to second with three away in the race before the first caution flag of the event unfurled with five in the book.
The restart placed Lafferty, Esh, Taylor and Mike Wagner in line behind the leader.
Greg Hodnett blasted from sixth to fourth when action resumed while eighth starter Blane Heimbach also began a march into contention.
A second and final caution period regrouped the field with 12 laps to go, finding Heimbach up to fifth by that point.
Hodnett jumped into third on the restart and as the race wound down Lafferty began significantly biting into Marks’ advantage.
With five to go the front four cars of Marks, Lafferty, Heimbach now up to third and Hodnett were within a half straightaway of each other, working through traffic to finish the race.
With less than three laps to go Lafferty made his move for the win, taking the lead underneath Marks in the second corner but when Marks saw his challenger it seemed to hoist his elbows up just a bit.
The Myerstown driver moved down as the pair raced onto the backstretch and got enough of a run to pinch Lafferty off and slip back into the lead just before the scoreboard.
From that point on Marks went into defense, protecting the bottom groove to hold onto the win by .572 seconds at the finish.
Lafferty was second with Heimbach third followed by Hodnett and 10th starter Lance Dewease.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Wagner, Esh, Dave Ely, Aaron Ott and Taylor.
Heats for the 25-car field went to Wagner, Hodnett and Taylor.
Derrick Casner led only the first lap of the 20-lap late model main before Tim Smith Jr. took over at the helm.
Rance Garlock motored by Casner for second with five laps in the book but failed to close on Smith for the lead, instead being forced to contend with point leader Mike Lupfer.
Lupfer wrestled second from Garlock with 12 laps to go and was able to close in on Smith but he couldn’t get close enough to mount a challenge.
Smith ended up taking two seconds off of the 20-lap track record, establishing a new mark at 7:14.004.
Matt Parks blasted into third, getting around Garlock with a third turn flyer after starting seventh in the field.
Garlock was fourth and Tim Wilson was fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Mitch Hack, Nick Dickson, Casner, Scott Flickinger and Brett Schadel.
Heats for the 17-car field went to Schadel and Garlock.
Erin Statler led the first 12 laps of the 20-lap 305 sprint feature before Tyler Bear got to the front to take control.
Wayne Dadetto trailed Statler early on before Bear entered the mix, shuffling him to third at the finish.
Paul Snyder rode home fourth with Eric Parker finishing fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Jeff Miller Jr., Jake Waters, Scott Ellerman, John Braim and Mike Wagner II.
Heats for the 21-car field went to Statler, Wagner II., and Parker.
Race Results: – 7/26/14
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Brent Marks, 2. Rick Lafferty, 3. Blane Heimbach, 4. Greg Hodnett, 5. Lance Dewease, 6. Mike Wagner, 7. Doug Esh, 8. Dave Ely, 9. Aaron Ott, 10. Ryan Taylor, 12. Dylan Cisney, 13. Curt Stroup, 12. Chad Layton, 13. Curt Stroup, 14. Davey Sammons, 15. Danny Holtgraver, 16. Mike Erdley, 17. Rodney Westhafer, 18. Scott Wilson, 19. Joey Hershey, 20. Jordan Givler, 21. Trenton Schaeffer, 22. Dustin Baney, 23. Nate Snyder, 24. Dave Hahn, 25. Dan Shetler
Late Models, 20 laps:1. Tim Smith Jr., 2. Mike Lupfer, 3. Matt Parks, 4. Rance Garlock, 5. Tim Wilson, 6. Mitch Hack, 7. Nick Dickson, 8. Derrick Casner, 9. Scott Flickinger, 10. Brett Schadel, 11. Tim Fedder, 12. Patrick Bryner, 13. Trent Brenneman, 14. Bud Phillips, 15. Jason Schmidt, 16. Austin Berry, 17. Mike Mort
305 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Tyler Bear, 2. Erin Statler, 3. Wayne Dadetto, 4. Paul Snyder, 5. Eric Parker, 6. Jeff Miller Jr., 7. Jake Waters, 8. Scott Ellerman, 9. John Braim, 10. Mike Wagner, II., 11. Derrick Bowersox, 12. Rick Steif, 13. Lance Newlin, 14. Roger Irvine, 15. Steve Storrie, 16. James Pride, 17. Reed Thompson, 18,. Nathan Gramley, 19. Terry Schaeffer, 20. Zach Newlin, 21. Bob Salathe