Port Royal, PA — (June 15, 2013) — Hometown boy Dylan Cisney won the first 410-sprint car race of his career anywhere Saturday night at his home track of Port Royal Speedway, showing finesse and skill to thwart the attacks of Doug Esh for the $3,000 victory.
Matt Parks of Three Springs overtook Eric Zembower to win his third feature event of the season in the 20-lap late model main while Jeff Miller Jr. took the win after a spirited battle with Logan Wagner in the 305-sprint feature event.
Cisney started on the pole of the 25-lap 410 sprint feature and allowed second-starter Joey Hershey to lead only the first circuit before he took control.
The first 21 laps of the feature went non-stop with Cisney entering the backmarkers on the seventh tour being chased by Blane Heimbach, Esh and Chad Layton.
Heimbach, who started fourth in the field, gave considerable chase of Cisney early in the event as the pair pulled away from their closest pursuers for several laps.
It wasn’t until the high-speed train at the front began working lapped traffic that Esh and Layton began to close in for the top spots and Esh overtook Heimbach for second with 11 laps in the book.
The Lancaster pilot drove Cisney down during the ensuing laps and with 10 to go found himself to the leader’s inside in the first and second turns with an attack for control.
But Cisney just rolled the top a little harder once Esh gave notice that he was there and after stuffing his No. 5 back to Esh’s outside while racing through the second turn he drove back out in front of Esh on the backchute.
And then the leader admittedly turned the wick up and was ready to take his checkers with four laps to go when the races one and only break occurred for a hard second turn flip by Dan Shetler.
With a lapped car separating himself from Esh and Layton for the restart, Cisney jetted away when green reappeared and picked up the popular victory by 1.190 seconds over two-time 2013 winner Esh.
Layton rode home third followed by Heimbach and Hershey.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Erdley, Mike Wagner, Davey Sammons, Keith Kauffman and Nate Snyder.
The first eight starters in the feature were offered a $1,000 bonus if they had elected to start at the rear of the 20-car field and could come back for a finish inside the top three as part of Bob Collins Non-Qualifiers night at the track.
None of the top eight starters elected to take the challenge and instead the money was distributed to all 20 racers in the field.
Davey Sammons picked up the Bob Collins Hard Charger Award worth over $150 after running from 16th to finish eighth.
Heats for the 410 sprints went to Layton and Shetler.
Zembower and Derek Casner started the late model main on the front row and led the first lap before Parks took over from the fourth starting spot.
Third starter Andy Haus fell backwards when the race began but by the sixth lap he began knocking off the cars in front to move from fourth in the field into the runner up spot with 11 laps to go.
Haus steadily cut into Parks’ advantage over the next few laps and just as it seemed he was ready to make a swipe for control with five laps to go, he lost the handle on his No. 76 high in the fourth corner, causing one of six caution flags in the race to unfurl.
Zembower assumed second for the restart but couldn’t touch Parks even with three restarts during the final five circuits.
Chris Casner came on strong late as did Maryland’s Steve Axtell as the pair traded third on the track on a few occasions before Axtell secured the spot at the finish.
Casner was fourth and 18th starter Brett Schadel rode home fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Lupfer, 19th starter Mitch Hack, Tim Wilson, Marvin Winters and Derek Casner.
Heats for the 27-car field went to Chris Casner, Lupfer and Parks with Hack scoring the consolation race.
The 305-sprint feature was marred by a violent multi-car crash including several flipping cars on the frontstretch when the initial green flag unfurled.
After a lengthy delay to clean up the accident scene, Jeff Miller Jr., whose father scored a late model win at the track earlier this season, took the lead.
Miller was trailed by Scott Ellerman when the races first caution flag flew with five laps down while Logan Wagner was sitting third.
Wagner took second on the restart and over the remaining distance he threw every trick he had in his book at Miller for the lead, passing him several times as the pair exchanged entertaining slide jobs but each time Miller would drive back into the lead.
Miller’s No. 57 was just too strong through the slick middle groove for Wagner’s ragged outside line to pay off in the end.
Following the pair across the line was Ellerman, Jason Bergstresser and Anthony Fiore.
Sixth through 10th went to Kody Lehman, Tyler Reefer, Randy Kaylor, Nathan Gramley and Ron Aurand.
Heats for the 28-car field went to Ellerman, Bergstresser and Miller.
June 15, 2013 feature finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps, 20 entries: 1. Dylan Cisney, 2. Doug Esh, 3. Chad Layton, 4. Blane Heimbach, 5. Joey Hershey, 6. Mike Erdley, 7. Mike Wagner, 8. Davey Sammons, 9. Keith Kauffman, 10. Nate Snyder, 11. Trenton Sheaffer, 12. Rodney Westhafer, 13. Dave Hahn, 14. Vince Snyder, 15. Jim Shuster, 16. Karl Baker, 17. Dan Shetler, 18. Cliff Brian, 19. Dustin Baney, 20. Brian Ehrenzeller
Late models, 20 laps, 27 entries: 1. Matt Parks, 2. Eric Zembower, 3. Steve Axtell Jr., 4. Chris Casner, 5. Brett Schadel, 6. Mike Lupfer, 7. Mitch Hack, 8. Tim Wilson, 9. Marvin Winters, 10. Derek Casner, 11. Terry Naugle, 12. Andy Haus, 13. Bryon Sipe, 14. Danny Snyder, 15. Jason Schmidt, 16. Todd Snook, 17. Scott Flickinger, 18. Trent Brenneman, 19. Patrick Bryner, 20. Scott Haus, 21. Sam Schaeffer, 22. Steve Campbell, 23. Mike Mort, 24. AJ Hoffman
DNQ: Chad Hollenbeck, Tim Burkholde, Dan Condo
305 sprints, 20 laps, 28 entries: 1. Jeff Miller Jr., 2. Logan Wagner, 3. Scott Ellerman, 4. Jason Bergstresser, 5. Anthony Fiore, 6. Cody Lehman, 7. Tyler Reefer, 8. Randy Kaylor, 9. Nathan Gramley, 10. Ron Aurand, 11. Erin Statler, 12. Colby Dice, 13. Donny Hendershot, 14. Branden Hetrick, 15. Jim Kennedy, 16. Mark Watkins, 17. Paul Snyder, 18. Tyler Bear, 19. John Braim, 20. Ryan Lynn, 21. Steve Kennawell, 22. Eric Parker, 23. Gary Zimmerman, 24. Brock Bilger, 25. Scott Gobrecht
DNQ. Jake Waters, Lance Newlin, Mike Wagner II.