From Tyler Altmeyer
PORT ROYAL, Pa. (September 9, 2021) – The “Myerstown Missile” Brent Marks certainly lived up to his nickname on Thursday night at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pennsylvania, opening the 54th edition of Tuscarora weekend with a FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory worth $8,000, his first of the season.
Blasting ahead from fifth on the grid, Marks, now a four-time winner against “America’s Series” over the course of his career, took the lead for the first time on lap 11 and never looked back, outdueling full-time All Star and two-time winner in 2021, Bill Balog. Impressive enough, of Marks’ four-career All Star victories, three have occurred at the Port Royal “Speed Palace,” with this most recent automatically locking Marks into Saturday’s $54,000-to-win main event.
Balog held on to finish second on Thursday night at Port Royal Speedway, followed by Swindell Speedlab’s Daryn Pittman, Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason, and multi-time Lernerville Speedway champion and early race leader, AJ Flick.
“I was just trying to be as smart as I could,” Brent Marks said in Port Royal Speedway victory lane, driver of the M&M Painting and Construction, BAPS Auto Paints & Supply, No. 19 sprint car. “The track actually turned out great for how much weather we got. I was a little worried early about how it was going to turn out, but it was a lot of fun. It’s been a while since we had a super, super fast track here, so it was definitely different to what we are used to. This car was a ton of fun to drive and I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”
Kicking things off from the pole position, Apollo, Pennsylvania’s AJ Flick earned the initial advantage, leading the first eight circuits over the “Northpole Nightmare” Bill Balog. Although stretching to a convincing lead, Flick’s momentum came to a halt on lap eight, as lapped traffic entered the picture creating a two lane roadblock. Balog quickly came to call, sliding by Flick with a move in turn four on lap nine.
Meanwhile, Marks, who had already battled his way to third by lap five, was also in position to pounce, ultimately following Balog by Flick just before the flagstand. The former full-time Outlaw was able to show his nose to Balog on multiple occasions on lap 10, finally working by the Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup No. 17B the following circuit.
From that point forward, it was all Brent Marks at the front of the pack, surviving one last literal tangle with heavy traffic, as well as pressure from Balog, before a late-race caution on lap 28 rid the track of slower cars.
“It got pretty wicked there in lapped traffic. Running wide open, I was getting leary on our fuel, so once I got back to traffic, I just tried to be careful,” Marks continued. “All in all, traffic allowed Bill (Balog) to close back in on me, so there’s definitely pros and cons to being careful. Those last three laps, I was just cruising around.”
Tuscarora 50 competition will continue with another preliminary contest on Friday evening, September 10. Dubbed the Night Before the Tuscarora 50, the Friday night program will award $10,000. The weekend will then cap with the 54th running of the 50-lap Tuscarora 50 on Saturday, September 11. Commemorating its 54th edition, the 2021 Tuscarora 50 will award a $54,000 payday.
Floracing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
Tuscarora 50 – Night #1
Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, Pennsylvania
Thursday, September 9, 2021
Dixie Vodka Qualifying
1. 1-Logan Wagner, 15.135[45]
2. 39M-Anthony Macri, 15.157[20]
3. 39-Daryn Pittman, 15.194[24]
4. 26-Cory Eliason, 15.214[28]
5. 5-Ian Madsen, 15.247[12]
6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 15.272[16]
7. 17B-Bill Balog, 15.277[18]
8. 0J-Lynton Jeffrey, 15.297[44]
9. 67-Justin Whittall, 15.303[7]
10. 13-Justin Peck, 15.305[34]
11. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 15.308[15]
12. 55W-Mike Wagner, 15.308[36]
13. 21-Brian Brown, 15.326[22]
14. 5C-Dylan Cisney, 15.330[43]
15. 19-Brent Marks, 15.335[39]
16. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 15.343[23]
17. 10-Zeb Wise, 15.356[27]
18. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 15.369[26]
19. 11-Spencer Bayston, 15.374[31]
20. 35H-Zach Hampton, 15.377[19]
21. 24-Rico Abreu, 15.396[37]
22. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 15.416[1]
23. 6-Ryan Smith, 15.434[33]
24. 2-AJ Flick, 15.457[9]
25. 42-Sye Lynch, 15.502[40]
26. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.511[38]
27. 17-Steve Buckwalter, 15.520[32]
28. 4-Cap Henry, 15.527[35]
29. 99M-Kyle Moody, 15.528[14]
30. 25-Tyler Bear, 15.531[8]
31. 33-Gerard McIntyre Jr, 15.548[13]
32. 11T-TJ Stutts, 15.559[21]
33. 48-Danny Dietrich, 15.571[11]
34. 27-Devon Borden, 15.572[2]
35. 51-Freddie Rahmer, 15.586[41]
36. 33W-Michael Walter, 15.636[25]
37. 23-Pat Cannon, 15.659[10]
38. 07-Skylar Gee, 15.663[30]
39. 12-Blane Heimbach, 15.677[4]
40. 45-Jeff Halligan, 15.678[29]
41. 98-Jared Esh, 15.724[42]
42. 40-George Hobaugh Jr, 15.733[5]
43. 19S-Curt Stroup, 15.781[3]
44. 14T-Tyler Walton, 15.823[17]
45. 35-Tyler Reeser, 59.999[6]
Ford Performance Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 2-AJ Flick[2]
2. 25-Tyler Bear[1]
3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[3]
4. 12-Blane Heimbach[6]
5. 27-Devon Borden[5]
6. 67-Justin Whittall[4]
7. 19S-Curt Stroup[8]
8. 40-George Hobaugh Jr[7]
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 17B-Bill Balog[2]
2. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[1]
3. 5-Ian Madsen[4]
4. 33-Gerard McIntyre Jr[6]
5. 14T-Tyler Walton[8]
6. 99M-Kyle Moody[5]
7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]
8. 23-Pat Cannon[7]
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[1]
2. 21-Brian Brown[2]
3. 39-Daryn Pittman[3]
4. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]
5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[6]
6. 10-Zeb Wise[5]
7. 35H-Zach Hampton[7]
8. 11T-TJ Stutts[8]
9. 33W-Michael Walter[9]
Mobil 1 Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 11-Spencer Bayston[1]
2. 55W-Mike Wagner[2]
3. 26-Cory Eliason[4]
4. 13-Justin Peck[3]
5. 6-Ryan Smith[5]
6. 17-Steve Buckwalter[6]
7. 4-Cap Henry[7]
8. 45-Jeff Halligan[9]
9. 07-Skylar Gee[8]
Kistler Racing Products Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 19-Brent Marks[1]
2. 5C-Dylan Cisney[2]
3. 0J-Lynton Jeffrey[3]
4. 1-Logan Wagner[4]
5. 24-Rico Abreu[5]
6. 42-Sye Lynch[6]
7. 51-Freddie Rahmer[8]
8. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]
9. 98-Jared Esh[9]
Kears Speed Shop Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 2-AJ Flick[1]
2. 39-Daryn Pittman[2]
3. 19-Brent Marks[4]
4. 0J-Lynton Jeffrey[6]
5. 8-Aaron Reutzel[5]
6. 1-Logan Wagner[3]
Elliotts Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 17B-Bill Balog[1]
2. 26-Cory Eliason[2]
3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]
4. 5-Ian Madsen[3]
5. 39M-Anthony Macri[6]
6. 11-Spencer Bayston[5]
Classic Ink USA B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[4]
2. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]
4. 11T-TJ Stutts[16]
5. 4-Cap Henry[12]
6. 99M-Kyle Moody[10]
7. 14T-Tyler Walton[7]
8. 07-Skylar Gee[21]
9. 10-Zeb Wise[8]
10. 17-Steve Buckwalter[9]
11. 67-Justin Whittall[2]
12. 27-Devon Borden[6]
13. 6-Ryan Smith[5]
14. 35H-Zach Hampton[11]
15. 19S-Curt Stroup[14]
16. 45-Jeff Halligan[18]
FloRacing A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 19-Brent Marks[5]
2. 17B-Bill Balog[2]
3. 39-Daryn Pittman[3]
4. 26-Cory Eliason[4]
5. 2-AJ Flick[1]
6. 0J-Lynton Jeffrey[7]
7. 24-Rico Abreu[21]
8. 8-Aaron Reutzel[9]
9. 21-Brian Brown[15]
10. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[6]
11. 39M-Anthony Macri[10]
12. 5-Ian Madsen[8]
13. 5C-Dylan Cisney[16]
14. 1-Logan Wagner[11]
15. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[22]
16. 55W-Mike Wagner[13]
17. 11T-TJ Stutts[24]
18. 11-Spencer Bayston[12]
19. 13-Justin Peck[18]
20. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[23]
21. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[25]
22. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[14]
23. 12-Blane Heimbach[20]
24. 14T-Tyler Walton[28]
25. 10-Zeb Wise[27]
26. 45-Jeff Halligan[26]
27. 33-Gerard McIntyre Jr[19]
28. 25-Tyler Bear[17]
Contingency Awards:
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Logan Wagner – 15.357
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Anthony Macri – 15.157
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: AJ Flick
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Bill Balog
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Aaron Reutzel
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Spencer Bayston
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Brent Marks
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: AJ Flick
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Bill Balog
Classic Ink USA B-Main Winner: Rico Abreu
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Cap Henry
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Brent Marks
Hercules Tires A-Main Hard Charger: Rico Abreu (+13)