Mike Wagner Becomes 13th Winner In 15 Sprint Events At Port Royal

Mike Wagner. - James McDonald / Apexonephoto.com
Mike Wagner. - James McDonald / Apexonephoto.com
Mike Wagner. – James McDonald / Apexonephoto.com

From Port Royal Speedway

Port Royal, PA — (August 16, 2014) — For the second week in a row on Saturday night the Port Royal Speedway produced a thrilling 410 sprint car feature with the likes of Blane Heimbach, Logan Wagner, Greg Hodnett and Mike Wagner taking shots at the lead and point leader Mike Wagner sealing the victory to become the 13th different winner at the oval this season.

In the 20-lap super late model main Jeff Miller Sr. scored his first victory of the season to push the division to 12 and 12 on the year, 12 races and 12 different winners.

The 355 econo late model championship event was scored by Dave Leidy after a rousing event.

The initial start of the 410 sprint main was called back for a false start while the ensuing restart was red flagged for a three car crash in the fourth corner that saw Daryl Stimeling and Scott Wilson flip.

The third try at the start was the charm and with Mike Wagner taking the lead Blane Heimbach pushed his mount from fourth to second with a two-car, inside pass of Nate Snyder and Logan Wagner in the fourth turn.

Heimbach was breathing down the leader’s neck seconds later when the yellow unfurled for a stopped Joey Hershey.

The other 24 laps of the event went non-stop with eye-popping and dizzying efforts to snare control of the race unfolding.

Logan Wagner, the son of leader Mike Wagner, got by Heimbach when action resumed and throughout the race ran made a tremendous effort to steal the win from his father.

Logan’s breakneck speed through the first and second turns while riding the cushion pushed him onto his dad’s bumper several times only to see the elder of the two preserve the lead as sixth starter Hodnett entered the picture.

After racing with Heimbach for third he took the position with nine laps to go amid hectic traffic as the leader worked the backmarkers.

And then just as Hodnett took over third Logan Wagner was ready to make his move for a first ever 410 sprint win.

Again with an amazing burst of speed out of the second corner and down the backstretch Logan shot his mount underneath his father as the pair raced into the third corner.

And then as Logan’s car slid up the track directly beside his dad’s machine in the middle of the turns, an amazing amount of restraint and ability by the duo is all that kept the pair from crashing together in the fourth corner and allowing Hodnett to get control.

But that failed attempt by Logan Wagner and the necessary backpedaling that took place to prevent disaster for the pair would end up costing the up and comer second to Hodnett with five laps to go.

Hodnett began blasting his car across the middle of the turns to cut down the distance between himself and leader Mike Wagner.

However with two laps to go just as Hodnett had caught the leader, Mike Wagner cleared a backmarker racing back to the stripe and Hodnett failed to accomplish the same feat, and that sealed the victyory for the elder Wagner who took his 11th career Port win by 1.143 seconds over Hodnett.

Logan Wagner finished a career best third followed by Heimbach and 10th starter Doug Esh.

Sixth through 10th went to Mike Erdley, Ryan Taylor, Lance Dewease, Chad Layton and Nate Snyder.

Heats for the 23-car field went to Dewease, Logan Wagner and Layton.

Second starter Jeff Miller Sr. started second and took the lead at the start of the 20-lap main for the super late models with Justin Kann taking second.

Miller Sr., who saw his son Jeff Miller Jr. win at the track last week in the 305 sprints, withstood a pair of restarts to pick up the victory.

The final restart was with a lap to go after the leader was racing to the checkered flag on the frontchute only to see the yellow appear instead of the checkers.

That restart set up a dash to the finish for Kann and seventh starter Brett Schadel.

Schadel was making time in the top groove prior to the yellow but neither driver could muster enough strength to take the win over the final lap.

After leading nearly the entire event only to lose late last week, Patrick Bryner rode home a very respectable fourth at the finish after dueling with Tim Wilson for the majority of the event.

Wilson rode home fifth.

Sixth through 10th went to Scott Flickinger, Tim Smith Jr., Mitch Hack, Mike Lupfer and Eric Zembower.

Heats for the 16-car field went to Kann and Miller.

The 20 lap econo late model main saw Brett Hockenberry take the lead at the start over Harold Ranck Jr. before the pace was slowed with four laps recorded.

Dave Leidy started fourth in the field and got by Ranck for second with five away and finally pushed his racer into the lead with just three laps to go.

By that time sixth starter Eric Irvin and eighth starter Todd Snook had entered the hunt.

Snook got by Irvin for third on the 18th tour and with a lap to go he pushed his No. 23 to the inside of Hockenberry for second in the third corner.

But the move went awry and Hockenberry shot toward the outside rail with Irving slamming into Hockenberry before slamming the outside wall as well.

The final lap caution gave Snook a clear shot at the win but Leidy was too strong, pulling away off of the second corner for the victory.

Andrew Yoder ended up third followed by hard charger Tim Krape and Lucas Bryner after the pair started 11th and 12th, respectively.

Sixth through 10th went to Jared Fulkroad, Troy Miller, Tim Gray, Shaun Miller and Ken Beck.

Twin heats went to Leidy and Troy Miller.

Race Results:

8/16/14

410 sprints, 25 laps, A Main: 1. Mike Wagner, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Logan Wagner, 4. Blane Heimbach, 5. Doug Esh, 6. Mike Erdley, 7. Ryan Taylor, 8. Lance Dewease, 9. Chad Layton, 10. Nate Snyder, 11. Rick Lafferty, 12. Dylan Cisney, 13. Justin Barger, 14. Curt Stroup, 15. Rodney Westhafer, 16. Davey Sammons, 17. Mark Zimmerman, 18. Dave Hahn, 19. Tyler Bear, 20. Joey Hershey, 21. Daryl Stimeling, 22. Scott Wilson, 23. Trenton Schaeffer

Late models, 20 laps: 1. Jeff Miller, 2. Justin Kann, 3. Brett Schadel, 4. Patrick Bryner, 5. Tim Wilson, 6. Scott Flickinger, 7. Tim Smith Jr., 8. Mitch Hack, 9. Mike Lupfer, 10. Eric Zembower, 11. Jason Schmidt, 12. Tim Fedder,13. Cole Amsden, 14. Chuck Haydt Jr.

DNS: Trent Brenneman, Steve Bailor

Econo late model feature, 20 laps: 1: Dave Leidy, 2. Todd Snook, 3. Andrew Yoder, 4. Tim Krape, 5. Lucas Bryner, 6. Jared Fulkroad, 7. Troy Miller, 8. Tim Gray, 9. Shaun Miller, 10. Ken Beck, 11. Brett Hockenberry, 12. Eric Irvin, 13. Chase Bowsman, 14. Harold Ranck, 15. Devin Hart, 16. Jason Nace, 17. Jason Peachey, 18. Danny Sollers