From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA — (August 17, 2013) — It was one for the ages Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway as a huge crowd gathered to honor ageless sprint car veteran Keith Kauffman at his Farewell Tribute Race and they were not disappointed.
The 33-lap Farewell Tribute 410 sprint car feature saw Chad Layton and Logan Schuchart trade the lead back and forth before Schuchart finally got it for good to drive to his first ever win at the historic oval worth $5,000.
The 21-lap Farewell Tribute for the late models was dominated by point leader Terry Naugle for his first ever late model win at the track.
Brent Marks and Layton shared the front row of the sprint main and Layton allowed Marks to lead only the first lap before he rode outside momentum into control.
Sixth starter Schuchart ran up to third on the second lap and then for several circuits the pair of Marks and Schuchart dueled wheel to wheel for second with Layton sneaking away.
The leaders entered the backmarkers on the sixth tour as the first 23 circuits would go non-stop.
Schuchart was finally able to dust off Marks and take over second on the 20th tour in order to begin running down Layton.
And that’s exactly what the Hanover driver did with a consistent line that allowed him to trade the lead with Layton twice in the turns before getting by at the line to control the 22nd loop.
But Layton wasn’t done yet and reclaimed the lead in the first corner and was still at the front when the races only caution flag unfurled with 10 laps to go.
Schuchart immediately pressured Layton on the restart, running right through the slick middle groove with Layton stuck to his outside using momentum around the top.
But it soon became clear that Schuchart’s car was getting faster as he continually thrust to Layton’s inside in the corners before finally ending the suspense by hugging the inside rail off of the fourth turn on the 26th circuit to go out front for good, bringing the rowdy fans to their feet when he took the lead.
And once at the helm, there was absolutely nothing holding Schuchart back for his first win ever at Port Royal Speedway as he took the win by 2.192 seconds over Layton.
Schuchart’s grandfather and car owner Bobby Allen owns four wins at the oval while Schuchart’s great uncle Joey Allen owns three.
Schuchart credited his grandfather for keeping a smooth running car all night long at the track after setting fast time earlier in the night.
Layton settled for second followed by Marks, Lance Dewease and eighth starter Blane Heimbach.
Sixth through 10th went to Greg Hodnett, Mike Erdley, Rick Lafferty, Doug Esh and Brian Leppo.
Heats for the 28-car field went to Esh, Leppo and Marks with the consolation going to Cliff Brian.
Schuchart’s fast time was 16.420 seconds.
Naugle led from start to finish in the 21-lap late model main worth $2,100.
He was chased the entire distance by Mike Lupfer who started on the pole.
It was the Port Royal drivers maiden late model win at the track where he already owned 19 pro stock wins.
The quite local driver has led points for most of the season at the track and with just two point shows left on the year Naugle seems poised to claim a track title.
After starting eighth in the field, three-time 2013 Port winner Coleby Frye motored up to third with four laps to go in the race but failed to challenge Lupfer for second.
Lindsay Barton rode home a solid fourth with Matt Parks in fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Glenn Elliott, Chad Hollenbeck, Brett Schadel, Gary Stuhler and Mitch Hack.
Overall fast time for the 31-car field was set by Chad Hollenbeck with a lap of 19.533 seconds.
Heats went to Barton, Scott Flickinger, Schadel and Elliott with Tim Fedder scoring the consolation race.
Devin Hart led the first five laps of the 20-lap enduro dash before dropping backward and giving way to Jason Zook.
Zook saw division powerhouse Bill Powell take over second with seven laps to go and then the pair raced door to door for all but the last half lap when Powell’s car slowed off of the pace, ending the duel to the checkers.
Zook took his first win of the year over Corey Kepner, Brady Cauffman, Deron Henry and Jared Fulkroad.
August 17, 2013 feature finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps, 23 entires: 1. Logan Schuchart, 2. Chad Layton, 3. Brent Marks, 4. Lance Dewease, 5. Blane Heimbach, 6. Greg Hodnett, 7. Mike Erdley, 8. Rick Lafferty, 9. Doug Esh, 10. Brian Leppo, 11. Dylan Cisney, 12. Mike Wagner, 13. TJ Stutts, 14. Brock Zearfoss, 15. Steve Buckwalter, 16. Joey Hershey, 17. Cliff Brian, 18. Rodney Westhafer, 19. Keith Kauffman, 20. Dave Hahn, 21. Nate Snyder, 22. Curt Stroup, 23. Bob Bennett, 24. Davey Sammons
DNQ: Tyler Bear, Mark Coldren, Trenton Scheaffer, Dustin Baney
Late Models, 21 laps, 31 entries: 1. Terry Naugle, 2. Mike Lupfer, 3. Coleby Frye, 4. Lindsay Barton, 5. Matt Parks, 6. Glenn Elliott, 7. Chad Hollenbeck, 8. Brett Schadel, 9. Gary Stuhler, 10. Mitch Hack, 11. Justin Kann, 12. Jeff Miller, 13. Eric Zembower, 14. Scott Flickinger, 15. Tim Fedder, 16. Tyler Castle, 17. Trent Brenneman, 18. Marvin Winters, 19. Todd Snook, 20. Mike Mort, 21. Patrick Bryner, 22. Harold Ranck, 23. Michael Altobelli, 24. Tim Wilson
DNQ: Matt Sala, Jason Schmidt, Chuch Haydt Jr., Bryon Sipe, Waylon Wagner, Derek Casner, Derek Byler
Enduro Dash, 20 laps, 20 entries: 1. Jason Zook, 2. Corey Kepner, 3. Brady Cauffman, 4. Deron Henry, 5. Jared Fulkroad, 6. Rich Adair, 7. Mike Goodwin, 8. Dave Lambert, 9. Tyler Amtower, 10. Mark Auker, 11. Bill Powell, 12. Pete Leister, 13. Jesse Brown, 14. Jason Davis, 15. Ed Auker, 16. Paul Daulton, 17. Craig Imes, 18. Devin Hart