From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA — (September 5, 2014) — Stevie Smith overtook Doug Esh and drove to his second career Night Before The Tuscarora 50 sprint car victory on Friday night at Port Royal Speedway, worth $5,000.
A native of Hanover, Smith’s first win in the event was back in 2010 while his All Stars win on Friday night gave him an even dozen in the all time Port Royal record books.
In the 20-lap super late model main, Selinsgrove’s Dylan Yoder became the first repeat winner of the season in the division, scoring the victory in the final show of the year at the track for the super stock cars.
Doug Esh and Danny Holtgraver took the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprints feature green from the front row in what would end up being a 30-lap non-stop feature event.
Esh was holding sway over the field when Smith got by Holtgraver for second on the eighth tour as the front-runners negotiated heavy traffic at the rear of the field.
Lancaster’s Esh, in his first night back after a nasty crash last Saturday night at the track, began struggling with the lapped traffic and that’s all it took for Smith to go out in front with 11 laps completed.
As Esh began slipping backward, Holtgraver went into second on the 13th tour and began giving chase of the new leader.
With Smith on the bottom and middle grooves, Holtgraver began slinging his No. 10H around the high side of the speedway and with 10 to go the Pittsburgh pilot appeared ready to overtake Smith for the lead.
And indeed on a few occasions he was able to draw alongside the leader’s No. 51 but Smith was just good enough on the bottom of the track to keep pace with Holtgraver during his challenges before getting away with his lead during the final five circuits.
Monday’s Labor Day winner, Danny Dietrich surged around Holtgraver with a lap to go but ran out of time to run down Smith for the win.
Holtgraver held on for third followed by 10th starter Dale Blaney and Blane Heimbach.
Sixth through 10th went to 13th starter Greg Hodnett, 19th starter Lance Dewease, Brent Marks, Mike Erdley and Esh.
Heats for the 41-car field went to Curt Stroup, Marks, Lynton Jeffrey and Chad Layton.
Lucas Wolfe set quick time in qualifications with a lap of 16.258 seconds and won the B Main.
Esh earned the pole for the feature by winning the dash.
With the final race looming in the 2014 point chase as the Saturday night Tuscarora 50, Rick Lafferty leads the standings by 15 markers over Mike Erdley, with Layton 30 out of the lead followed by Heimbach who is just 65 back.
Last week’s feature winner, Justin Kann led the first three laps of the super late model main before fourth starter Dylan Yoder took over.
Shortly after he got control, Yoder’s pace was slowed for a caution period but he was clearly in control for the balance of the event.
Instead, racing for second, third and four spots heated up with Kann spinning out of second at the halfway point.
Rance Garlock inherited second for the restart and then held off Mitch Hack for the spot.
Chad Hollenbeck was fourth followed by Mike Lupfer.
Sixth through 10th went to Andy Haus, Tim Wilson, Jim Yoder, Brett Schadel and Jeff Rine.
By virtue of starting the feature event, Shermansdale’s Lupfer officially sealed up the 2014 track title for the division.
It is the pilots first Port Royal track crown.
Heats for the 26-car field went to Kann, Lupfer and Garlock with Waylon Wagner taking the consolation race.
Fast time in time trials was set by Dylan Yoder with a lap of 18.688 seconds.
Port Royal Speedway – 9/5/2014
All Star Circuit of Champions (41 Cars)
[#]-Starting Position
Qualifying – Kistler Engines
1. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe, 16.258; 2. 12-Blane Heimbach, 16.372; 3. 29-Danny Dietrich, 16.381; 4. 11-Mike Erdley, 16.403; 5. 8H-Doug Esh, 16.424; 6. 27-Greg Hodnett, 16.496; 7. 5-Justin Barger, 16.502; 8. 51-Stevie Smith, 16.510; 9. 10H-Danny Holtgraver, 16.524; 10. 19M-Brent Marks, 16.588; 11. 20-Ryan Taylor, 16.607; 12. 56-Nate Snyder, 16.609; 13. 21-Brian Montieth, 16.626; 14. 14K-Dale Blaney, 16.664; 15. 747-Davey Sammons, 16.673; 16. 94-Ryan Smith, 16.755; 17. 5G-Curt Michael, 16.757; 18. 5C-Dylan Cisney, 16.775; 19. 12J-Lynton Jeffrey, 16.781; 20. 14-Lance Dewease, 16.812; 21. 33-Curt Stroup, 16.830; 22. O-Rick Lafferty, 16.830; 23. 29W-Ryan Wilson, 16.892; 24. 7-Chad Layton, 16.901; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 16.902; 26. 25B-Tyler Bear, 16.918; 27. O7-Justin Henderson, 16.929; 28. RG3-Logan Wagner, 16.981; 29. 99M-Kyle Moody, 16.983; 30. 9W-Jac Haudenschild, 17.000; 31. 8S-Trenton Sheaffer, 17.047; 32. 44H-Joey Hershey, 17.066; 33. 65-Dave Ely, 17.253; 34. 36D-Wayne Dadetto, 17.264; 35. 44-Rodney Westhafer, 17.389; 36. 21K-Kyle Pruitt, 17.404; 37. 15S-Vince Snyder, 17.418; 38. 75-Nicole Bower, 17.531; 39. 12W-Troy Fraker, 17.779; 40. 15R-Jay Reichard, 18.231; 41. 98H-Dave Blaney, 99.999
Heat 1 – Kears Speed Shop (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 33-Curt Stroup[1] ; 2. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[4] ; 3. 8H-Doug Esh[5] ; 4. 5G-Curt Michael[2] ; 5. 21-Brian Montieth[3] ; 6. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe[6] ; 7. 65-Dave Ely[9] ; 8. 99M-Kyle Moody[8] ; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[7] ; 10. 98H-Dave Blaney[11] ; 11. 15S-Vince Snyder[10]
Heat 2 – All Pro Aluminum Heads (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 19M-Brent Marks[4] ; 2. 5C-Dylan Cisney[2] ; 3. O-Rick Lafferty[1] ; 4. 14K-Dale Blaney[3] ; 5. 12-Blane Heimbach[6] ; 6. 27-Greg Hodnett[5] ; 7. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[8] ; 8. 25B-Tyler Bear[7] ; 9. 75-Nicole Bower[10] ; 10. 36D-Wayne Dadetto[9]
Heat 3 – Dragon Racing Fuels (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 12J-Lynton Jeffrey[2] ; 2. 747-Davey Sammons[3] ; 3. 29-Danny Dietrich[6] ; 4. O7-Justin Henderson[7] ; 5. 5-Justin Barger[5] ; 6. 44-Rodney Westhafer[9] ; 7. 8S-Trenton Sheaffer[8] ; 8. 29W-Ryan Wilson[1] ; 9. 20-Ryan Taylor[4] ; 10. 12W-Troy Fraker[10]
Heat 4 – Kinsler Fuel Injection (8 Laps – Top 5 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 7-Chad Layton[1] ; 2. 14-Lance Dewease[2] ; 3. 94-Ryan Smith[3] ; 4. 51-Stevie Smith[5] ; 5. 56-Nate Snyder[4] ; 6. 11-Mike Erdley[6] ; 7. RG3-Logan Wagner[7] ; 8. 44H-Joey Hershey[8] ; 9. 21K-Kyle Pruitt[9] ; 10. 15R-Jay Reichard[10]
Dash – Howard Johnson Hotel – Lima, OH (6 Laps, finishing order determined first 6 starting positions of A-feature
1. 8H-Doug Esh[2] ; 2. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[3] ; 3. 51-Stevie Smith[6] ; 4. 12-Blane Heimbach[1] ; 5. 29-Danny Dietrich[5] ; 6. 5-Justin Barger[4]
B-Main – MSD Ignition (12 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 27-Greg Hodnett[3] ; 2. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe[1] ; 3. 11-Mike Erdley[2] ; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6] ; 5. 9W-Jac Haudenschild[10] ; 6. RG3-Logan Wagner[8] ; 7. 65-Dave Ely[13] ; 8. 99M-Kyle Moody[9] ; 9. 44-Rodney Westhafer[15] ; 10. 44H-Joey Hershey[12] ; 11. 98H-Dave Blaney[21] ; 12. 25B-Tyler Bear[7] ; 13. 36D-Wayne Dadetto[14] ; 14. 75-Nicole Bower[18] ; 15. 12W-Troy Fraker[19] ; 16. 8S-Trenton Sheaffer[11] ; 17. 15S-Vince Snyder[17] ; 18. 21K-Kyle Pruitt[16] ; 19. 20-Ryan Taylor[4] ; 20. 29W-Ryan Wilson[5] ; 21. 15R-Jay Reichard[20]
A-Main – University of Northwestern Ohio (30 Laps)
1. 51-Stevie Smith[3]; 2. 29-Danny Dietrich[5]; 3. 10H-Danny Holtgraver[2]; 4. 14K-Dale Blaney[10]; 5. 12-Blane Heimbach[4]; 6. 27-Greg Hodnett[13]; 7. 14-Lance Dewease[19]; 8. 19M-Brent Marks[7]; 9. 11-Mike Erdley[12]; 10. 8H-Doug Esh[1]; 11. 56-Nate Snyder[8]; 12. 5-Justin Barger[6]; 13. 94-Ryan Smith[15]; 14. 1Z-Lucas Wolfe[11]; 15. 12J-Lynton Jeffrey[18]; 16. O-Rick Lafferty[21]; 17. 5G-Curt Michael[16]; 18. 21-Brian Montieth[9]; 19. 33-Curt Stroup[20]; 20. O7-Justin Henderson[24]; 21. 747-Davey Sammons[14]; 22. 7-Chad Layton[22]; 23. 5C-Dylan Cisney[17]; 24. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[23]
Hard Charger: 14-Lance Dewease[+12]