From Shawn Brouse
Port Royal – Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove picked up where Dylan Cisney left off and went on to win his third career sprint car victory at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night, turning back Mike Erdley for the win.
In the late model feature, Derek Byler of Alexandria pocketed his first ever Port Royal feature by holding off and pulling away from the best in the Port Royal business in the form of Scott Haus.
Another first timer, Nate Kerstetter, took the 15-lap pro stock feature, while the enduro dash main went to Ryan Leister for his second-ever division win at the track.
Heimbach started on the pole with Cisney lining up second for the Aumiller’s Insurance 410 sprint feature and Cisney beat Heimbach to the punch when the green flag unfurled by leading the field down the frontstretch.
Cisney, of Port Royal, set a blistering pace early in the race and entered the backmarkers already on just the fourth tour, before the races first caution flag fell for a spin by Keith Kauffman in the second corner while he was holding down fifth.
Cisney pulled away from Heimbach when green reappeared and again entered lapped traffic with eight away and that’s when a miscue while trying to put Kauffman a lap down on the ninth lap ended Cisney’s night.
It seemed that he and Kauffman made slight contact as they exited the second turn with Cisney on the outside, resulting in Cisney’s yellow racer looping in front of the field causing another caution period.
Heimbach pulled away with the lead when action returned while at the same time eighth-starter Mike Erdley ducked under Michael Ruttkamp for second.
The races final yellow flag unfurled with 12 laps to go when the fifth-place car of Doug Esh slowed to a stop after starting 10th in the field.
Erdley gave Heimbach a look on the restart with a low side attempt but Heimbach rode the cushion with ease to again pull away.
At one point with five laps to go, Heimbach had more than a two second lead over the field although Erdley was able to close it up to 1.455 seconds at the finish as the leaders worked lapped traffic.
Erdley finished a season-best second followed by a Port career-best third by Ruttkamp, 18th starter Daryn Pittman and Jimmy Seger.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Wagner, Chad Layton, Rick Lafferty, Bob Bennett and Curt Stroup.
Heats for the 26-car field went to Bennett, Kauffman and Erdley.
Byler started outside the front row in the AB Auto Glass late model feature and ended up wiring the field for the victory, holding off third-starter Scott Haus on repeated restarts to pick up the victory.
The field was stopped on the speedway twice for accidents that scattered debris over wide areas of the track and that also shuffled the field and the battle for the season point title between Tim Wilson, Brett Schadel and Mike Lupfer.
Lupfer eventually got the best of the night between the three and surged through the pack from 13th starting position to end up fourth.
Though Haus stayed close on restarts of laps two, seven, 12 and 14, under green flag runs Byler clearly pulled away and he used that strength to record the win.
Haus finished second followed by Matt Parks, Lupfer and Tim Gray.
Sixth through 10th went to Matt Howsare in his first-ever appearance at the track, Schadel, Jeff Miller, Wilson and Terry Naugle.
Heats for the 28-car field went to Gray, Haus and Byler.
The Miller’s Auto Parts pro stock feature went to Nate Kerstetter who also wired the field for his victory.
Dave Brouse Jr. followed Kerstetter for the first 10 laps before falling out of the race, giving way to Keith Garman.
Garman was unable to mount a challenge for the win however, instead settling for second at the finish.
Dan Berry moved up after starting 12th to finish third followed by 14th starter Lucas Bryner and Scott Landis.
Sixth through 10th went to John Heane, John Bouse, Brouse Jr., Matt Hornberger and Dave Berry.
Heats for the 19-car field went to Landis and Kerstetter.
Ryan Leister of Honey Grove wired the field for his win in the Juniata Tire Sales/Casner’s Service Center enduro dash.
Brady Cauffman started eighth in the field and powered into second on just the second tour but wasn’t up to challenging Leister for the victory.
Point leader Jason Zook started third and ended there followed by Adam Yetter and Jared Fulkroad.
Sixth through 10th went to John Goshorn, Jan Powell, Deron Henry, Ryan Renninger and Craig Imes.
August 18, 2012 Feature Finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Blane Heimbach, 2. Mike Erdley, 3. Michael Ruttkamp, 4. Daryn Pittman, 5. JimmySeger, 6. Mike Wagner, 7. Chad Layton, 8. Rick Lafferty, 9. Bob Bennett, 10. Curt Stroup, 11. Joey Hershey, 12. Mark Bitner, 13. Rod Stroup, 14. Cliff Brian, 15. Josh Dressler, 16. Rodney Westhafer, 17. Frank Cozze, 18. Doug Esh, 19. Dylan Cisney, 20. Keith Kauffman, 21. Trevor Utt, 22. Nate Snyder, 23. Dave Hahn, 24. Vince Snyder