By Shawn Brouse
PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Brent Marks of Myerstown took advantage of an unexpected break in his World of Outlaws sprint car schedule to invade Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night and ended up pealing some seven seconds off of the 25-lap track record on his way to a $3,200 payday.
In the 25-lap make-up 2016 RaceSaver Challenge for IMCA 305 sprint cars, Jeff Miller of Huntingdon became the first driver to repeat in the history of the event, dating back to its inception in 2012.
And in the xtreme stock main, Herm Renninger made it two wins in a row.
Nicole Bower jumped from the pole to lead the 410 sprint car feature at the start chased by Curt Stroup and TJ Stutts.
Dale Blaney started seventh in the field and blistered into third on the second tour while Bower streaked away from the field, entering the backmarkers on the sixth circuit.
Blaney was on the move early, working the top and bottom of the track, but made his moves to get into control using the bottom groove.
He got by Stroup for second low in the first and second turns of lap nine and then deep in the third corner was where he overtook Bower for the lead as she worked traffic.
However Blaney wasn’t the only man on the move in what turned out to be a dizzying event that went non-stop as eighth starter Marks took the third spot from Bower on lap 12.
Marks was slinging his No. 19M all around the speedway, working traffic and the leaders at will and drove around Stroup for second with 10 laps to go.
He then spent the next five laps running down leader Blaney before blasting by for control and the victory with five laps left.
Marks then pulled away to the eighth win of his career at the track, taking the checkers 1.266 seconds ahead of Blaney to set a new 25-lap track record of 7:32.949, overtaking the old mark held by Lance Dewease since 1992.
Stroup held on for third followed by TJ Stutts and Ryan Taylor.
Sixth through 10th went to Brock Zearfoss, Doug Esh, Danny Dietrich, Dylan Cisney and Lucas Wolfe.
Heats went to Taylor, Stutts and Bower.
Polesitter Ken Duke Jr. would lead the first 11 laps of the 25-lap Keystone RaceSaver Challenge for 305 sprints before surrendering to Jeff Miller.
Miller started sixth in the main and followed Duke, Zach Newlin and Scott Ellerman for the first nine laps before beginning his march through the top three.
After getting around Ellerman for third with 15 laps to go, he made a sweeping two-car pass of Newlin and Duke to move into the lead with 13 laps to go and then checked out on the field for the victory, worth $1,000.
Following Miller across the line for second, 4.502 seconds behind, was Duke with Ellerman finishing third followed by Newlin and Kyle Ganoe.
Sixth through 10th went to Mark Watkins, Tim Tanner, Dave Brown Jr., Dave Grube and Dylan Shatzer.
Heats went to Ganoe, Tyler Reeser, Miller and Grube with Cale Reigle taking the consolation race.
Fast time was set by Miller with a lap of 17.840 seconds.
Kassidy Kreitz won the eight lap non-qualifiers Founder’s Cup race for the IMCA 305 sprints, earning a guaranteed starting spot in the upcoming 2017 RaceSaver Challenge in October.
Herm Renninger took his second xtreme stock main of the year, driving by Kevin Imes for the victory on the second tour of the 15-lap feature.
Imes held on for second followed by Mike Goodwin, Pete Leister and Bill Powell.
Stay up to date with all 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.
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Port Royal Speedway
The Only Place To See Super Sprints And Super Lates Every Saturday Night
Feature Finishes
4/22/17
Sprint Cars, 25 laps: 1. Brent Marks, 2. Dale Blaney, 3. Curt Stroup, 4. TJ Stutts, 5. Ryan Taylor, 6. Brock Zearfoss, 7. Doug Esh, 8. Danny Dietrich, 9. Dylan Cisney, 10. Lucas Wolfe, 11. Nicole Bower, 12. Logan Wagner, 13. Carl Bowser, 14. Matt Campbell, 15. Mike Wagner, 16. Rick Lafferty, 17. Kody Lehman, 18. Blane Heimbach, 19. Kevin Nouse, 20. Tyler Bear, 21. Danny Massey, 22. Eric Riggins Jr., 23. Daryl Stimeling, 24. James Pryde, 25. Anthony Fiore
DNQ: George Streaker, AJ Flick, George Streaker Jr., Dustin Baney
305 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Jeff Miller, 2. Ken Duke Jr., 3. Scott Ellerman, 4. Zach Newlin, 5. Kyle Ganoe, 6. Mark Watkins, 7. Tim Tanner, 8. Dave Brown Jr., 9. Dave Grube, 10. Dylan Shatzer, 11. Jon Haegele, 12. Rick Steif, 13. Stephanie Dodson, 14. Colby Dice, 15. Mike Schuckers, 16. Darren Miller, 17. Dale Reigle, 18. Austin Bishop, 19. Bradley Mellott, 20. Dave Graver, 21. Tyler Reeser, 22. Jaremi Hanson, 23. Ron Aurand, 24. Scott Lutz
DNQ: Kassidy Kreitz, Erin Statler, Neil Petock, Bobby Scherff, Mike Alleman, Joey Kay, Fred Arnold, Drew Ritchey, Mike Kiser, Brendon Poff, Matthew Kline
Xtreme stocks, 15 laps: 1. Herm Renninger, 2. Kevin Imes, 3. Mike Goodwin, 4. Pete Leister, 5. Bill Powell, 6. Will Brunson, 7. Darren Rice, 8. Walt Peters, 9. Josh Bender, 10. Chase Kepner, 11. Ryan Zook, 12. Kevin Dobson, 13. Tyler Amtower