Port Royal
10/15/16
Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA
WoO
46 cars
Two groups of qualifying were used for the large field. No one had their momentum up enough on their first lap, so basically, drivers had one lap, their second to establish their quicker time. All set their quicker time on the second go-around. For the second night in a row, Logan Schuchart (2nd car out to time) set quick time in his group at 15.278 seconds. Donny Schatz (12th car out) was second quick, followed by Dylan Cisney (7th), Brad Sweet (18th), Jacob Allen (19th), Kerry Madsen (1st), Danny Holtgraver (9th), Joey Saldana (15th), Stevie Smith (21st) and Shane Stewart (23rd).
Lucas Wolfe (14th car out) set the fastest time in his group. Daryn Pittman (9th) was second quick, followed by Greg Hodnett (5th), David Gravel (4th), Brian Brown (20th), Dale Blaney (15th), Jason Sides (19th), Lance Dewease (7th), Bill Balog (23rd) and Jason Johnson (17th).
Heat one (started): 1. Schuchart 1s (1) 2. Holtgraver 70 (4) 3. Cisney 5c (2) 4. S. Smith 51 (5) 5. Paul McMahan 7 (6) / 6. Logan Wagner 7w (8) 7. Doug Esh 07 (7) 8. Kody Lehman 47K (11) 9. Dustin Baney 24B (12) 10. Allen 1a (3) 11. Ryan Taylor 20 (9) 12. Paige Polyak 19 (10)
8 lap heats took the top two to the Dash and the top five to the feature. Schuchart led the distance. Cisney looked to be comfortably in the second Dash spot until Polyak stopped to bring out a lap five caution. On the restart, the field stacked up. Contact sent Allen and Taylor upside down and out. Schuchart chose the inside line on the restart, ahead of Cisney, Holtgraver, McMahan and S. Smith. S. Smith would work by McMahan for fourth with two to go. Holtgraver stalked Cisney, until the latter slid up the track in turn two on the last lap, and he shot by for a Dash spot.
Heat two (started): 1. Schatz 15 (1) 2. Sweet 49 (2) 3. Saldana 83 (4) 4. Brent Marks 19M (8) 5. Stewart 2 (5) / 6. K. Madsen 17w (3) 7. Dave Blaney 71m (6) 8. Clyde Knipp 13 (7) 9. Curt Stroup 33 (10) 10. RJ Johnson 71A (11) 11. Danny Dietrich 48 (9)
Schatz led the distance head of Sweet and Saldana. Marks used an incredible start to ride the turn one and two cushion from eighth to fourth. Dietrich slowed with a flat left front and retired. Stewart used the restart to get by K. Madsen for the final transfer.
Heat three (started): 1. Wolfe 1 (1) 2. Hodnett 27 (2) 3. Brown 21 (3) 4. Sides 7s (4) 5. TJ Stutts 88 (6) / 6. Balog 17B (5) 7. Brock Zearfoss 3z (10) 8. Greg Wilson w20 (8) 9. Ryan Smith 94 (7) 10. Tim Shaffer 13x (12) 11. Trenton Sheaffer 8s (9) 12. Craig Dollansky 49x (11)
Wolfe led the mostly single-file affair from flag to flag despite some pressure on the low side from Hodnett.
Heat four (started): 1. Pittman 9 (1) 2. Gravel 5 (2) 3. Dewease 69K (4) 4. Dale Blaney 1B (3) 5. J. Johnson 41 (5) / 6. Davey Sammons 747 (6) 7. Steve Buckwalter 17BX (7) 8. Mark Smith M1 (8) 9. Mike Wagner 55 (10) 10. Joey Hershey 44 (9) DNS – Aaron Ott 25
Pittman led the distance in another race with minimal passing.
C main (started): 1. Zearfoss (1) 2. M. Wagner (2) / 3. Stroup (3) 4. Dollansky (4) 5. Lehman (5) 6. RJ Johnson (7) 7. Baney (8) 8. Hershey (6) DNS – Dietrich, Polyak, Shaffer, Ott
Not much movement in this 10-lapper that took the top two to the back of the B.
Dash (started): 1. Wolfe (2) 2. Schuchart (1) 3. Schatz (3) 4. Hodnett (6) 5. Pittman (4) 6. Gravel (8) 7. Sweet (7) 8. Holtgraver (5)
Wolfe won going away in the 6-lapper. Hodnett was a primary mover from outside row three. He grabbed fourth from Pittman on lap two. Gravel also improved a row in his starting position for the A.
B main (started): 1. Allen (1) 2. Balog (2) 3. K. Madsen (3) 4. Buckwalter (8) / 5. Esh (7) 6. R. Smith (6) 7. L. Wagner (11) 8. Sammons (4) 9. M. Wagner (14) 10. Zearfoss (15) 11. Wilson (10) 12. Knipp (9) 13. Sheaffer (12) 14. Dave Blaney (5) 15. Taylor (13) DNS – M. Smith
Allen led Balog, Sammons and Madsen early in the 12-lapper. Madsen snagged third from Sammons on lap two and Buckwalter followed, taking fourth on lap three. Sheaffer brought the only caution when he stopped on lap eight. The lead four, Allen, Balog, Madsen and Buckwalter had left the rest behind with no challenge. Esh tried to pressure late for the final transfer without success.
A main (started): 1. Schuchart (2) 2. Hodnett (4) 3. Schatz (3) 4. Wolfe (1) 5. Dewease (12) 6. Brown (10) 7. Gravel (6) 8. Pittman (5) 9. Sweet (7) 10. Saldana (11) 11. S. Smith (13) 12. Marks (15) 13. Stewart (19) 14. Madsen (23) 15. Holtgraver (8) 16. Dale Blaney (16) 17. J. Johnson (20) 18. Cisney (9) 19. McMahan (17) 20. Sides (14) 21. Stutts (18) 22. Allen (21) 23. Buckwalter (24) 24. Balog (22) 25. Zearfoss (25, prov.)
Wolfe would lead the 30-lapper early over Schuchart, Hodnett and Schatz. Zearfoss spun with two laps in. Wolfe chose the inside line on the double-file restart, ahead of Schuchart, Hodnett, Schatz, Gravel and Pittman. Schuchart carried momentum in one and two to take the point. Schatz worked by Hodnett into third. By lap ten, Schuchart’s lead had grown to a straightaway. Stutts spun one lap short of the halfway point, bringing the final caution. It erased a two second lead for Schuchart, who would now take the green ahead of Wolfe, Schatz, Hodnett, Pittman and a surging Brown, who was making his first ever start at the Port. Hodnett jumped by Schatz to reclaim third on the restart, while Brown rode to fifth. On lap 16, Brown cruised by Schatz into fourth. The leader entered lapped traffic on lap 20, and continued to decimate the field. Four laps later, Schatz won a good battle with Brown to reclaim the fourth spot. Meanwhile, Hodnett was starting to roll on the bottom, gaining second from Wolfe on lap 26. Schatz would close fast as well gaining third from Wolfe on the white flag lap. Dewease showed late speed to grab a top five from Brown. Madsen was the hard-charger. Schuchart’s win was the second in his career both with the World of Outlaws (his first came at Cedar Lake in July) and at the Port.