From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA — (September 1, 2012) — Greg Satterlee of Rochester Mills drove to victory in Saturday night’s Three State Flyers Series, #1 Cycle Center-Harley Davidson Butch Renninger Late Model Memorial at Port Royal Speedway to open up the 158th annual Juniata County Fair.
In the 410 sprint main, modified veteran Frank Cozze of Wind Gap won his first sprint car race anywhere in his career after embarking on the sprint car chapter of his racing life just over 2 years ago.
The Renninger Memorial pro stock main went to Derrick Garman while the Renninger tribute enduro dash was taken by Bill Powell.
Defending Renninger Memorial late model champion Jeff Rine earned the pole for the prestigious 33-lap event and took the lead at the start over fourth starter Jason Covert of York Haven.
Satterlee, who started seventh in the field as the current Three State Series point leader, was already up to third with four laps completed.
At $33 per lap, Rine was accumulating riches with his run out front and entered traffic with 23 laps to go in the race.
The races first caution flag unfurled with 12 away and it was at that time that Covert withdrew from the event, placing Satterlee on Rine’s rear bumper for the restart.
Satterlee worked the inside line to perfection over Rine but Rine was not easily denied as the pair repeatedly raced side by side for the lead until Satterlee finally pushed his No. 22G out front on the 19th tour.
Another caution with eight laps to go set the stage for a torrid battle to the finish for second between Rine, Mike Lupfer and 15th starter Jeremy Miller.
While Satterlee drove away over the final distance, the trio electrified the fans with a pleasing battle for runner up.
Rine held off Lupfer and Miller until the final mile when Lupfer’s bottom groove finally gave him enough of a push to allow him to take over second.
The win was the first of Satterlee’s career at Port Royal Speedway and together with the posted $3,333 to win and lap money, he pocketed $3,828 for the victory.
Lupfer pocketed some important points in the season title chase with a second place finish followed by Rine, Miller and Dylan Yoder. Rine picked up nearly $600 in lap money.
Sixth through 10th went to second starter Scott Haus, Devin Friese, Scott Lebarron, Tim Wilson and Donnie Schick.
Heats for the 32-car field went to Scott Haus, Wilson and Matt Parks with Lebarron taking the B Main. Rine won the dash to earn the pole of the main event.
Cozze started on the pole of the 25-lap sprint car feature and watched as second starter Curt Stroup looped his car when the field burst into the first corner on the initial green.
Fourth starter Rick Lafferty served notice early that he would be a player by racing into third and immediately challenging Davey Sammons for second.
Laps two through 18 went non-stop with Cozze flirting with the outside guardrail all the while watching as Lafferty raced in his tracks after taking second with five away.
Cozze seemed to clear lapped traffic at the most opportune times for himself and managed to keep Lafferty at arm’s length during the hectic non-stop action that unfolded until the red lights came on with seven laps to go for a backstretch crash between Michael Ruttkamp and Dave Hahn.
Lafferty cleared two lapped cars on the restart and put himself directly behind Cozze for another restart with four laps to go and then again with three to go but Cozze was not to be denied.
After the red flag stoppage, “The Wind Gap Wizard” raced flawlessly through the slick to thwart attempts by Lafferty to steal the win and instead pull away to the finish.
“This is the best day of my racing life,” Cozze exclaimed as soon as he removed his helmet.
Lafferty settled for second followed by Sammons, Mike Erdley and Fred Rahmer,
Sixth through 10th went to Chad Layton, Dylan Cisney, Mike Wagner, Bob Bennett and Steve Buckwalter.
Heats for the 26-car field went to Cisney, Bennett and Stroup.
John Heane led the first two laps of the 15-lap pro stock main before Nate Kerstetter took over but a third leader was waiting to pounce in the form of Derrick Garman.
Garman raced by Heane with five away and battled with Kerstetter until three to go when he finally made the pass.
It was Garman’s fourth win of the year at the track, making him the leader in the category.
Kerstetter crossed the line second followed by Heane, AJ Stroup and Harold Ranck Jr.
Sixth through 10th went to Dave Brouse Jr., Jason Schmidt, Matt Hornberger, Jason Davis and Andrew Shoop.
Twin heats went to Schmidt and Kerstetter.
Rick Adair could lead only the first lap of the 15-lap enduro dash main before Craig Imes took control.
The race was riddled with caution flags and Powell took over on the fourth circuit for his second win of the year at the track after starting 10th in the field.
The event concluded the race for the 2012 enduro dash title with results of the point chase between Jason Zook and Brady Cauffman not yet verified.
Cauffman finished the racing event in second with Jan Powell third followed by John Goshorn and Devin Hart.
Sixth through 10th went to Zook, Nate Romig, Jared Fulkroad, Imes and Preston Imler.