(Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
9/6/24
Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA
Night before the Tuscarora 50
High Limit Series
49 cars
The cars were divided into two groups for qualifying. Aaron Reutzel (18th car out to time) set the standard in the first group at 15.581 seconds. Logan Wagner (15th car out) was second quick, ahead of Spencer Bayston (13th), Chase Dietz (23rd) and Sye Lynch (9th). Troy Fraker did not get a time in. Anthony Macri (9th car out to time) set quick time in the second group and overall at 15.537 seconds. Cory Eliason (6th car out) was second quick, followed by Brad Sweet (3rd), Justin Whittall (15th) and Brian Brown (20th). Lucas Wolfe did not get a time in.
Heat one (started): 1. 88-Sye Lynch[2]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston[1]; 3. 83-James McFadden[5]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4] / 6. 6-Ryan Smith[6]; 7. 55W-Mike Wagner[9]; 8. 27S-Robbie Kendall[7]; 9. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[8]; 10. 5C-Dylan Cisney[10]; 11. 77-Michael Walter[12]; 12. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[11]; DNS - 12W-Troy Fraker
8-lap heats took the top five to the feature. The winner and the quick timer finishing in the top five made the Dash. Lynch led wire to wire. McFadden passed Reutzel for fourth on lap two and later got by Abreu for third.
Heat two (started): 1. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[2]; 2. 1Z-Chase Dietz[1]; 3. 26-Zeb Wise[3]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee[5]; 5. 69K-Logan Wagner[4] / 6. 12-Lance Dewease[9]; 7. 1-Brenham Crouch[6]; 8. 9-Kasey Kahne[8]; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[11]; 10. 35-Austin Bishop[10]; 11. 99A-Devin Adams[12]; 12. 95-Garrett Bard[7]
Dietz led early over Wgaman, Wise, Gee and L. Wagner. Bard came to a stop on lap one, setting up a restart. The race was on for the win, with Wagaman getting by Dietz in a good battle on lap five.
Heat three (started): 1. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[6]; 5. 9P-Parker Price Miller[7] / 6. 14-Corey Day[5]; 7. 2KS-Hunter Schuerenberg[3]; 8. 33-Gerard McIntyre Jr[12]; 9. 11-TJ Stutts[9]; 10. 23-Devon Borden[10]; 11. 55S-Dallas Schott[11]; 12. 35K-Jake Karklin[8]
This one had a tough start. Karklin came to a stop before a lap could be completed. A three-car incident marred the next try when Schott made contact with Borden and collected Karklin. All were o.k., but done for the night. Brown got the jump on Sweet and kept it throughout. Early moves by Peck and PPM got them transfer spots and left Day and Schuerenberg on the outside looking in in a very stout heat.
Heat four (started): 1. 67-Justin Whittall[1]; 2. 1A-Jacob Allen[3]; 3. 51-Freddie Rahmer[2]; 4. 8-Cory Eliason[4]; 5. 19-Brent Marks[5] / 6. 27H-Ryan Timms[8]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich[7]; 8. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[9]; 9. 55-Chris Windom[6]; 10. 39-Kody Hartlaub[11]; 11. 47K-Kody Lehman[10]; 12. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[12]
Whittall led the distance. Allen was the mover, dropping back to fourth initially, but shooting under Eliason for third on lap three and Rahmer for second on lap four.
Dash (started): 1. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri[1]; 3. 67-Justin Whittall[4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 5. 88-Sye Lynch[6]; 6. 69K-Logan Wagner[5]; 7. 8-Cory Eliason[2]; 8. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[8]
The 7-lapper set the first four rows of the feature. Brown shot by Eliason and Macri on lap one and went on to win. Reutzel moved up three spots and looked fast.
B main (started): 1. 14-Corey Day[4]; 2. 12-Lance Dewease[3]; 3. 2KS-Hunter Schuerenberg[2]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[8] / 5. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 6. 6-Ryan Smith[1]; 7. 27H-Ryan Timms[6]; 8. 33-Gerard McIntyre Jr[10]; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[15]; 10. 55W-Mike Wagner[5]; 11. 27S-Robbie Kendall[9]; 12. 55-Chris Windom[16]; 13. 9-Kasey Kahne[11]; 14. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[13]; 15. 11-TJ Stutts[14]; 16. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[20]; 17. 35-Austin Bishop[17]; 18. 99A-Devin Adams[18]; 19. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[12]; 20. 47K-Kody Lehman[19] DNS – Dylan Cisney, Devon Borden, Kody Hartlaub, Michael Walter, Dallas Schott, Jake Karklin, Garrett Bard, Lucas Wolfe, Troy Fraker
The 12-lapper took the top four to the feature. Dewease led Schuerenberg, Smith, Day and Dietrich early. Day passed Smith for third on lap three. Dietrich snagged the final transfer from Smith on lap four. Day shot by Schuerenberg for second on lap eight and took the lead from Dewease a circuit later. Crouch was gaining on Dietrich, but ran out of time to gain the final transfer.
A main (started): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 67-Justin Whittall[3]; 3. 1Z-Chase Dietz[11]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet[10]; 5. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[9]; 7. 8-Cory Eliason[7]; 8. 83-James McFadden[13]; 9. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[8]; 10. 14-Corey Day[21]; 11. 13-Justin Peck[16]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen[12]; 13. 12-Lance Dewease[22]; 14. 24-Rico Abreu[17]; 15. 26-Zeb Wise[15]; 16. 9P-Parker Price Miller[18]; 17. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[25, prov.]; 18. 88-Sye Lynch[5]; 19. 19-Brent Marks[20]; 20. 2KS-Hunter Schuerenberg[23]; 21. 55-Chris Windom[29, prov.]; 22. 55W-Mike Wagner[26, prov.]; 23. 99-Skylar Gee[19]; 24. 35-Austin Bishop[28, prov.]; 25. 9-Kasey Kahne[27, prov.]; 26. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]; 27. 48-Danny Dietrich[24]; 28. 51-Freddie Rahmer[14]; 29. 69K-Logan Wagner[6]
The 25-lapper paid $10,000 to the winner, and a spot (if needed) in Saturday’s $57,000 to win finale. Brown led Reutzel, Whittall, Macri and L. Wagner early. Macri worked by Whittall for third on lap three, but up front, it was an old fashioned weekly Knoxville battle. On lap three, Reutzel got by Brown and put the car on the wall in one and two, and started pulling away from the field. He was already in lapped traffic on lap six. Macri reeled in Brown and drove under him for second on lap seven. L. Wagner got by Whittall for fourth on lap eight, and took third from Brown on lap 11. Whittall followed him into fourth on lap 12. L. Wagner’s hopes of a Port Royal track title and a podium run came to an end on lap 14 when he rode the wall and broke his front end. The beneficiary was his father, M. Wagner who grabbed the championship after entering the feature with a provisional. Reutzel chose the inside line on the double-file restart ahead of Macri, Whittall, Sweet and Brown. Whittall quickly moved by Macri into second. Macri battled back by to retake the spot on lap 16, but then rode the turn two wall down the backstretch and flipped wildly. He was o.k., but admitted the team would pull down the back-up car for the big show on Saturday. With nine laps to go, Reutzel led the single-file restart over Whittall, Sweet, Dietz and Brown. Dietz grabbed third from Sweet on the restart and held on. Reutzel’s win was impressive. Day was the hard-charger.