By Shawn Brouse
Port Royal – Perseverance paid off for Port Royal Speedway, fans and Steve Buckwalter at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night as the historic oval outlasted the rain to showcase the 25th annual Jakes Wayback Burgers/Trone Outdoor PA Speedweek series for sprint cars.
In the end, Buckwalter scored a $5,000 payday for the 30-lap speedweek feature win, outrunning Stevie Smith and Greg Hodnett for his third oval win of the season.
In the 22-lap super late model main, Shermansdale’s Mike Lupfer streaked to his fourth division win of the season after winning the first three shows of the year in the spring.
Corey Kepner proved victorious in the 15-lap xtreme stock main.
Buckwalter started on the pole of the speedweek main and after receiving an unexpected two inches of rain Friday night and during the day on Saturday, the oval was lightning fast.
The Royersford driver zoomed into control when action began with Danny Dietrich running in second, trying to hold of speedweek point leader Stevie Smith.
Smith muscled by Dietrich on the fourth lap and went to work on Buckwalter, who entered lapped traffic on the seventh tour.
And amid traffic, Buckwalter’s blistering pace saw him doing all he could to keep the car on four wheels as he ran above the heavy cushion trying to put cars and lap down and keep Smith at bay.
Sixth starter Greg Hodnett took third on the 10th tour and closed on Smith as both drivers closed on the leader.
For two laps Buckwalter had Smith directly on his tail as the pair crossed the start/finish line with Hodnett just a whisker behind as the trio darted through traffic before the dizzying pace slowed when sixth runner Lance Dewease blew a tire with 17 laps to go.
On open track, Buckwalter got away from Smith on the restart but again in traffic starting on lap 20, Smith was able to close in for the lead.
And indeed the pair was ready to mix it up for the win with just four laps to go when Jac Haudenschild coasted right past the first turn pit entrance to stop on the track, forcing a final yellow flag in the event.
The final two miles was all Buckwalter as the Royersford Rocket took the wicked win by a margin of 1.708 seconds over Smith with Hodnett third followed by Brent Marks and Danny Dietrich.
Sixth through 10th went to Aaron Ott, Mike Wagner, Lucas Wolfe, 22nd starter Kevin Nouse and 10th starter Dylan Cisney.
Heats for the 34-car field went to Dave Ely, Buckwalter, Dewease and Marks with the consolation going to Kyle Reinhardt.
Three of the four heats established new eight lap track records with fourth heat winner Marks finally setting the mark at 2:03.611.
Greg Hodnett set quick time in Packer’s Concessions time trials and earned $100 with a lap of 15.357 seconds.
Jason Schmidt led the first eight laps of the 22-lap super late model main before seventh starter Mike Lupfer powered to his inside in the second corner to take control and streak away for the win.
The race was slowed only once, with six laps to go but Lupfer proved unbeatable to the finish, taking the win by 3.607 seconds.
Andy Haus took second with five laps to go and finished behind Lupfer, followed by Schmidt, Hayes Mattern and Brett Schadel.
Sixth through 10th went to Trent Brenneman, Patrick Bryner, Rick Singleton, Mitch Hack and Tim Smith Jr.
Heats went to Lupfer, Haus and Schmidt.
Corey Kepner led all 15 laps of the xtreme stock main to record his first win of the season.
Jason Zook followed him the entire distance to the finish with Patrick McClane finishing third followed by Travis Horan and Matt Wampler.
Keep up to date on all the latest speedway news and information by visiting the tracks official website at www.portroyalspeedway.com or by following the oval on Facebook and Twitter.
Race Results:
Feature Finishes
7/4/15
410 sprints, 30 laps: 1. Steve Buckwalter, 2. Stevie Smith, 3. Greg Hodnett, 4. Brent Marks, 5. Danny Dietrich, 6. Aaron Ott, 7. Mike Wagner, 8. Lucas Wolfe, 9. Kevin Nouse, 10. Dylan Cisney, 11. Kyle Moody, 12. Doug Esh, 13. Brock Zearfoss, 14. Nicole Bower, 15. Logan Wagner, 16. Tim Glatfelter, 17. Jac Haudenschild, 18. Davey Sammons, 19. Lance Dewease, 20. Daryl Stimeling, 21. Curt Stroup, 22. Kyle Reinhardt, 23. Ryan Wilson, 24. Dave Ely