From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA — (March 12, 2016) — Greg Hodnett inherited the lead from Lucas Wolfe with 11 laps to go to pick up the $3,500 payday in the Port Royal Speedway season opener for sprint cars on Saturday evening.
Hamburg’s Andy Haus proved victorious in the super late model main, holding off a surging Greg Satterlee to pick up the victory worth $2,000.
Second starter Danny Dietrich took the lead at the start of the 25-lap sprint car feature with polesitter Aaron Ott in tow.
But the first of numerous caution and red flags would slow the pace on just the second lap when Logan Wagner clouted the first turn wall. Under the yellow, Ott withdrew with a collapsing top wing.
Dietrich had Wolfe on his tail for the restart and gave way to the defending track champion on the fourth circuit as he began slipping backwards before blowing a right rear tire with six down, slowing the race for another yellow.
This placed Greg Hodnett on Wolfe’s tail but only a lap could again be scored before another yellow forced a red for refueling, resetting the field.
Hodnett was all over Wolfe during green flag action but would see his advance attempts continually held back by ensuing caution flags with eight down and then another red with 10 laps away.
The red unfurled for a violent and scary three-car crash as the trio of Brent Marks, Mike Erdley and Doug Esh all raced onto the frontstretch with Marks and Erdley vying for fifth.
Erdley’s car flipped into the outside fence before catching fire.
Fortunately, all three drivers avoided injury.
Wolfe pulled away from Hodnett when action resumed and appeared headed to the victory with 11 laps to go when he snapped the right rear wheel off of his car as he set it into the first corner, somehow saving the mount from disaster but giving up the victory.
Hodnett had TJ Stutts following in second but the Thomasville speedster pulled away for the 43rd win of his career at the oval and his second there in opening day action.
Stutts finished 6.124 seconds behind in second followed by Mike Wagner, Dylan Cisney and Curt Stroup.
Sixth through 10th went to Mark Smith, Wayne Dadetto, Ryan Taylor, Steve Buckwalter and Rick Lafferty.
Heats went to Wolfe, Stutts and Hodnett with Wolf setting a new eight-lap track record of 2:02.596.
Andy Haus muscled the lead away from Jim Yoder on the 19th tour of the super late model main after Yoder had led from the beginning of the event.
Haus got by Kyle Hard for second on the second tour and chased Yoder through traffic for the victory.
The races only caution flag unfurled with three laps to go for debris.
Greg Satterlee was on the move during the second half of the race, making a two car pass of Coleby Frye and Chad Hollenbeck on the 16th tour to set his sights on the leaders.
He then motored by Yoder for third on the 19th tour and Hardy for second with a lap to go but ran out of time to challenge Haus for the win, crossing .654 seconds behind at the finish.
Hardy was third followed by Frye and Yoder.
Sixth through 10th went to Hollenbeck, Gene Knaub, Greg Roberson, Dylan Yoder and Nick Dickson.
Heats went to Knaub, Dave Zona and Hollenbeck with Tim Gray taking the consolation race.
Port Royal Speedway returns to action on March 19 with another dual division card of 410 sprints and super late models at 6 pm before March 26 gives way to an early season late model lovers delight when the UFO Late Models hit town along with the 410 sprints on Kids Easter Night.
The UFO 358 late models are also on the agenda.
Stay up to date with all the latest Port Royal news and information by visiting the oval’s official website at www.portroyalspeedway.com or by following the track on Facebook or Twitter.
Feature finishes:
3/12/16
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Greg Hodnett, 2. TJ Stutts, 3. Mike Wagner, 4. Dylan Cisney, 5. Curt Stroup, 6. Mark Smith, 7. Wayne Dadetto, 8. Ryan Taylor, 9. Steve Buckwalter, 10. Rick Lafferty, 11. Tyler Bear, 12. Joey Hershey, 13. Mike Wagner II., 14. Kody Lehman, 15. Lucas Wolfe, 16. Brent Marks, 17. Mike Erdley, 18. Doug Esh, 19. Anthony Fiore, 20. Brock Zearfoss, 21. Cale Grubb, 22. Danny Dietrich, 23. Aaron Ott, 24. Logan Wagner, 25. Dave Jones
Late models, 22 laps: 1. Andy Haus, 2. Gregg Satterlee, 3. Kyle Hardy, 4. Coleby Frye, 5. Jim Yoder, 6. Chad Hollenbeck, 7. Gene Knaub, 8. Greg Roberson, 9. Dylan Yoder, 10. Nick Dickson, 11. Bryan Bernheisel, 12. Dave Zona, 13. Trent Brenneman, 14. Danny Snyder, 15. Andrew Yoder, 16. Curtis Teats, 17. Dave Brouse Jr., 18. Greg Beach, 19. Mike Mort, 20. Larry Baer, 21. Billy Wampler, 22. Tim Gray, 23. Hayes Mattern
DNQ: Scott Flickinger, Mike Lupfer, Tim Smith Jr., Matt Parks, Steve Bailor