From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA — (April 19, 2014) — There’s something about Easter Saturday at Port Royal Speedway that suits the racing Blaney brothers.
Last year on Easter eve it was Dave Blaney invading and winning in the 410-sprint division at the oval and this year it was his brother Dale who pulled of the same feat, taking Saturday night’s 25-lap sprint main with an impressive performance through traffic.
Herndon’s Brett Schadel broke a more than year long dry spell in the late model division by beating Mike Lupfer to the finish line while Turbotville’s John Braim scored his first career win at Port Royal in the 305 sprint division.
Blaney of Hartford, Oh., who recently notched his 100th career All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car circuit victory, showed up at Port Royal Saturday night in order to prepare for next Saturday’s ASCoC Bob Weikert Memorial and he couldn’t get more prepared.
He lined up on the pole for the start of the 25-lap feature and watched as Justin Barger of Montrose, Ny., led the first circuit before he took over.
And from there Blaney began an assault on the field in the non-stop event that saw him move into lapped traffic on the seventh tour.
Greg Hodnett, who started eighth in the field, would eventually end up second, taking over the spot from Barger with five laps to go.
But by the time he had secured the spot, Blaney was in the middle of the backstretch as he crossed the start -finish line on the frontstretch.
Hodnett was unable to bite into Blaney’s massive lead before the finish however, instead riding home second by 6.392 seconds.
Barger finished a solid third.
Sixth starter Lucas Wolfe gained late in the race to end up fourth with Mike Wagner finishing fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to 12th starter Rick Lafferty, Doug Esh, Blane Heimbach, Dave Blaney and Chad Layton
The win was the second of Blaney’s career at Port Royal.
Heats for the 25-car field went to Barger, Layton and Wagner.
Schadel had the pole for the 20-lap late model main and allowed Matt Parks to lead the first lap before driving into command.
Shortly after getting the lead his pace was slowed however with two laps down.
Another caution flag with five down found Mike Lupfer restarting second.
Schadel was unshakable during the balance of the event, even upon entering lapped traffic with three laps to go.
It was about the same time that he was forced to forsake his chosen bottom groove as he worked around the backmarkers but even then Lupfer was unable to close for the win.
Schadel scored his fourth career victory at Port Royal and his first since September, 2012.
Lupfer got second by .841 seconds.
Justin Kann drove from seventh to third at the finish followed by Eric Zembower and Parks.
Sixth through 10th went to Rance Garlock, Tim Smith Jr., Scott Haus, Mitch Hack and Nick Dickson.
Heats for the 23-car field went to Dustin Hoffman, Kann and Parks.
Braim wired the field for the 20-lap 305 sprint feature win and the third of his overall career.
A restart on the eighth lap placed prior winner Tyler Bear on Braim’s tail for the return to action but a battle never developed with Braim instead pulling away during the late stages.
Bear was second with seventh starter Kody Lehman finishing in third followed by Jeff Miller Jr., and 16th starter Mike Wagner II.
Sixth through 10th went to Erin Statler, Jake Waters, Scott Ellerman, Eric Parker and Reed Thompson.
Heats for the 32 cars in attendance were taken by Lehman, Miller Jr., Brandon Hetrick and Bear.
The consolation went to Wayne Dadetto.
Feature Finishes
4/19/14
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Dale Blaney, 2. Greg Hodnett, 3. Justin Barger, 4. Lucas Wolfe, 5. Mike Wagner, 6. Rick Lafferty, 7. Doug Esh, 8. Blane Heimbach, 9. Dave Blaney, 10. Chad Layton, 11. Rodney Westhafer, 12. Mike Erdley, 13. Ryan Smith, 14. Logan Wagner, 15. Dylan Cisney, 16. Curt Stroup, 17. Davey Sammons, 18. Joey Hershey, 19. Dave Hahn, 20. Ryan Wilson, 21. Dustin Baney, 22. John Brennfleck, 23. Nate Snyder
DNS: Trey Starks, Steve Buckwalter
Late models, 20 laps: 1. Brett Schadel, 2. Mike Lupfer, 3. Justin Kann, 4. Eric Zembower, 5. Matt Parks, 6. Rance Garlock, 7. Tim Smith Jr., 8. Scott Haus, 9. Mitch Hack, 10. Nick Dickson, 11. Andy Haus, 12. Patrick Bryner, 13. Tim Fedder, 14. Trent Brenneman, 15. Austin Berry, 16. Harold Ranck, 17. Waylon Wagner, 18. Steve Stitt, 19. Mike Mort, 20. Jason Schmidt, 21. Tim Wilson, 22. Dustin Hoffman, 23. Denny Fendont
305 sprints, 20 laps: 1. John Braim, 2. Tyler Bear, 3. Kody Lehman, 4. Jeff Miller Jr., 5. Mike Wagner II., 6. Erin Statler, 7. Jake Waters, 8. Scott Ellerman, 9. Eric Parker, 10. Reed Thompson, 11. Alex Schanz, 12. Randy Kaylor, 13. Anthony Fiore, 14. Nathan Gramley, 15. Wayne Dadetto, 16. Lance Newlin, 17. Mark Watkins, 18. Jason Bergstresser, 19. Ron Aurand, 20. Jonathan Wanchalk, 21. Zach Newlin, 22. Sean Kirkpatrick, 23. Roger Irvine, 24. Brandon Hetrick
DNQ: Jim Kennedy, Tyler Reeser, Cory Thornton, Clair Wintermyer, James Pride, Donny Hendershot, Russell Hammaker, Ken Duke