By Shawn Brouse
Port Royal – Keith Kauffman of Mifflintown won the 129th sprint car feature of his career at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night, beating Justin Henderson across the finish line for the $3,000 payday.
In 358 sprint feature action it was Billy Dietrich holding off Pat Cannon for his second win of the season at the track while Logan Wagner likewise won for the second time of the season at the oval in 305 sprint action.
Perseverance by Port Royal officials paid off for fans and racers alike as the speedway weathered threatening severe storms and persistent showers through mid and late afternoon to complete the Open Wheel Madness program that was packed with exciting racing action and some 70 total sprint cars.
Kauffman led every lap of the 25-lap 410 sprint main but it wasn’t easy.
Second starter Mike Erdley of Elizabethville gave him all he could handle on the first circuit by driving to Kauffman’s inside going into turn one and again with a sweeping dive through turns three and four that saw the pair nearly make contact as they headed down the frontchute.
But it was Kauffman at the line for lap one as well as the next 24 aboard the Gary Heckman-owned No. 8H machine despite another batch of challenges by Erdley on a restart with five laps down.
It was his first win with the team since partnering after the 2010 season.
As Kauffman worked lapped traffic all eyes turned to one-time 2011 winner Justin Henderson who went to the rear early after fixing a tire.
Henderson mowed down the likes of Chad Layton, Todd Shaffer, Rick Lafferty, Ryan Taylor and Erdley to put himself into second with a lap to go before finishing there.
Erdley was third followed by Taylor and Layton.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Wagner, Lafferty, Cliff Brian, Shaffer and Davey Sammons.
Twin heats went to Kauffman and Erdley.
Dietrich of Aspers started second on the 358 sprint field and like Kauffman led flag to flag but that’s not to say he didn’t have company.
Liverpool’s TJ Stutts trailed Dietrich with Pat Cannon up to third by the 14th lap when the red flag appeared for a fire aboard Logan Schuchart’s machine.
Cannon disposed of Stutts with three laps left and just when Dietrich thought he would see the checkers a yellow flag appeared for debris.
Cannon gave it a run on the final lap but fell well short of Dietrich at the line.
Stutts was third followed by Nate Snyder and Blane Heimbach.
Sixth through 10th went to Eric Tomecek, Derek Locke, Nate Hammaker, Rodney Westhafer and Brook Weibley.
Heats went to Snyder, Michael Ruttkamp and Stutts with Wes Irwin scoring the consolation race.
Logan Wagner of Harrisonville won his second 305 main of the year at the track by tracking down and passing Randy Kaylor with four laps to go in the 20-lapper.
Kaylor had led from the outset but ended up second.
Matt Mountz was third with Tyler Beard fourth and Brian Walker fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Scott Kershner, Mark Watkins, George Riden, Ryan Lynn and Nathan Gramley.
Heats went to Kershner, Erin Statler and Wagner.
Port Royal Speedway returns with 410 sprints, late models, super sportsman and an enduro dash on June 18 with racing at 7:30 PM.
Feature Finishes: June 11, 2011 –
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Keith Kauffman, 2. Justin Henderson, 3. Mike Erdley, 4. Ryan Taylor, 5. Chad Layton, 6. Mike Wagner, 7. Rick Lafferty, 8. Cliff Brian, 9. Todd Shaffer, 10. Davey Sammons, 11. Scott Lutz, 12. Curt Stroup, 13. Chad Smith, 14. Jack Thornton, 15. Brian Ehrenzeller, 16. Bob Howard, 17. Nicole Bower, 18. Mike Walter II., 19. Bill Jones Jr., 20. Joey Hershey
358 sprints, 20 laps: 1. Billy Dietrich, 2. Pat Cannon, 3. TJ Stutts, 4. Nate Snyder, 5. Blane Heimbach, 6. Eric Tomecek, 7. Derek Locke, 8. Nate Hammaker, 9. Rodney Westhafer, 10. Brook Weibley, 11. Aaron Eichelberger, 12. Jason Shultz, 13. Matt Horst, 14. Joe Trone Jr., 15. Wes Irwin, 16. Jay Galloway, 17. Ben Naugle, 18. Kevin Nagy, 19. Michael Ruttkamp, 20. Jim Gearhart, 21. Dan Richcreek, 22. Logan Schuchart, 23. Bill Sherman, 24. Matt Findley
305 Sprints, 20 laps: 1. Logan Wagner, 2. Randy Kaylor, 3. Matt Mountz, 4. Tyler Bear, 5. Brian Walker, 6. Scott Kershner, 7. Mark Watkins, 8. George Riden, 9. Ryan Lynn, 10. Nathan Gramley, 11. Brent Comp, 12. Kody Lehman, 13. Nicole Walker, 14. Joe Smith, 15. Ron Aurand, 16. Mike Wagner II., 17. Erin Statler, 18. Jim Kennedy, 19. Billy Ney, 20. Reed Thompson, 21. Jason Bergstresser, 22. Jake Waters