By Richie Murray
Port Royal, Pennsylvania (June 16, 2022)………The Speed Palace is more than just a nickname; it’s an apt description of Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship racing’s kings have excelled and thrived at this joint with names like Brady Bacon and Robert Ballou presiding over the win list at the half-mile dirt oval, and who will be vying to ascend the throne once more this Saturday night, June 18, for the penultimate round of USAC Eastern Storm.
Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was victorious at Port Royal in 2014, winning the Eastern Storm crown that year before adding a first USAC National Sprint Car title as the cherry on top. The now four-time USAC National Sprint Car champion finished 2nd at Port Royal in 2016, 3rd in 2017, 4th in 2013 and 7th in both 2015 and 2019. His time of 2:32.57 set in 2019 is the 8-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record at Port Royal.
Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) had an Eastern Storm for the ages in 2015, sweeping the series, including the stop at Port Royal en route to a dominating Eastern Storm championship and was the king of the USAC National Sprint Cars at season’s end. He enters this week as the reigning Eastern Storm champ and, at Port Royal, he’s also cooked up 4th place finishes in 2012, 2014 and 2018, as well as an 8th in 2016.
C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) possesses the one-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record at Port Royal of 18.105 seconds, set during his Eastern Storm and USAC National Sprint Car championship season of 2019, a night in which he earned his best career finish at the track, a 3rd in the feature. Leary added a 5th in 2016 and a 10th in 2018.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) has twice been a fast qualifier in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition at Port Royal in both 2014 and 2017. The 2020 USAC Silver Crown champ finished a best of 2nd in 2017, and added a 5th in 2019, 7th in 2014, 7th in 2018 and 8th in 2015.
Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) was the fastest qualifier at Port Royal in 2016 and finished as the runner-up in the feature during 2015 Eastern Storm, adding that to his resume along with a 4th in 2019, 5th in 2013, 6th in 2014, 6th in 2018 and 7th in 2017.
Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) earned a pair of 10th place finishes at Port Royal with the USAC National Sprint Cars in both 2013 and 2015. Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) has earned a top-10 during Port Royal’s Eastern Storm date with a 6th in 2017 while Shane Cockrum (Benton, Ill.) took 9th in 2014.
Mark Smith (Sunbury, Pa.) was 11th in the first Eastern Storm visit to Port Royal in 2012 and was 5th in USAC East Coast Sprint Car action this past April. Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio), meanwhile, was a best of 14th in the Eastern Storm event at Port in 2018.
A number of USAC East Coast Sprint Cars’ best have performed well at Port Royal. Alex Bright (Collegeville, Pa.) won two USAC EC features, first in 2020 and again in 2021. With the USAC National Sprint Cars at Port Royal, Bright finished 13th back in 2017.
Three-time USAC East Coast Sprint Car champion Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pa.) finished 2nd behind Bright back in April’s EC race. Drevicki was 20th in the 2019 USAC National Sprint Car race at Port Royal. Briggs Danner (Allentown, Pa.) has garnered the last two consecutive USAC East Coast Sprint Car feature victories in 2021 and in April of this year. Joey Amantea (Mount Pocono, Pa.) was a 15th place runner back in April of this year with East Coast.
Port Royal first-timers are in abundance this weekend with Wednesday night Bridgeport Eastern Storm winner Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) in attendance along with two-time 2022 USAC National Sprint Car feature winner Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.), 2020 USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.), 2020 USAC National Most Improved Driver Brandon Mattox (Terre Haute, Ind.), 2017 USAC West Coast Sprint Car champion Jake Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.) and 2018 USAC Southwest Sprint Car champion Charles Davis Jr. (Buckeye, Ariz.).
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie Alex Banales (Lafayette, Ind.) will be on hand for his first Port Royal run as will be Korbyn Hayslett (Troy, Ohio) and Dallas Hewitt (Troy, Ohio), plus late model/modified standout Brian Ruhlman (Clarklake, Mich.) and Austin Graby (Lebanon, Pa.), who will take the wheel of the Lotier-Nemeth Motorsports No. 7, normally driven by Timmy Buckwalter, who has modified racing obligations that same night.
Saturday night’s Eastern Storm/Open Wheel Madness II “USAC Eastern Blast” featuring the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, the USAC Silver Crown National Championship and 410 Wing Sprint Cars.
Pits open at 4pm Eastern, front gates open at 4pm and hot laps at 6pm, followed by qualifying and racing.
Adult admission tickets are $30, students age 13 to 18 are $15 and children 12 and under will be admitted free. Pit passes are $35 for members and $40 for non-members.
All Eastern Storm events will be streamed live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3u7ID2N.
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2022 USAC EASTERN STORM SCHEDULE:
June 14: Grandview Speedway | Bechtelsville, PA
June 15: Bridgeport Motorsports Park | Swedesboro, NJ
June 16: Selinsgrove Speedway | Selinsgrove, PA
June 17: Williams Grove Speedway | Mechanicsburg, PA
June 18: Port Royal Speedway | Port Royal, PA
June 19: Bloomsburg Fair Raceway | Bloomsburg, PA
PORT ROYAL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINS:
2-Chris Windom
1-Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, Bryan Clauson, Tyler Courtney, Dave Darland & Damion Gardner
PORT ROYAL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS:
2012: Damion Gardner (6/9)
2013: Dave Darland (6/8)
2014: Brady Bacon (6/7)
2015: Robert Ballou (6/6)
2016: Bryan Clauson (6/11)
2017: Chris Windom (6/17)
2018: Chris Windom (6/16)
2019: Tyler Courtney (6/15)
TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY:
1 Lap – 6/15/2019 – C.J. Leary – 18.105 – 99.420 mph
8 Laps – 6/15/2019 – Brady Bacon – 2:32.57 – 94.383 mph
12 Laps – 6/17/2017 – Dave Darland – 4:06.66 – 87.570 mph
PAST RESULTS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY:
2012 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Damion Gardner, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 8. Levi Jones, 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., 10. Chris Windom, 11. Mark Smith, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Bobby East, 14. Mark Bitner, 15. Jonathan Hendrick, 16. Chad Layton, 17. Kyle Moody, 18. Darren Hagen, 19. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 20. Daryl Stimeling, 21. Brian Ehrenzeller, 22. Trevor Utt, 23. Chase Stockon. NT
2013 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Daron Clayton, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Robert Ballou, 12. Chris Windom, 13. Mark Smith, 14. Kyle Moody, 15. Tyler Courtney, 16. Billy Pauch Jr., 17. Dalten Gabbard, 18. Tim Glatfelter, 19. Mark Bitner, 20. Landon Simon, 21. Joey Biasi, 22. Nick Drake. NT
2014 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Bryan Clauson, 9. Shane Cockrum, 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 11. Chris Windom, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Chad Boespflug, 14. Jarett Andretti, 15. Dalten Gabbard, 16. Mark Bitner, 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 18. Joey Biasi, 19. Daron Clayton, 20. Curt Stroup, 21. Billy Pauch, Jr., 22. Brian Ehrenzeller, 23. Tracy Hines. NT
2015 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Landon Simon, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Logan Jarrett, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. C.J. Leary, 12. Chris Windom, 13. Aaron Farney, 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15. Kyle Cummins, 16. Trevor Kobylarz, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Jarett Andretti, 19. J.R. Berry, 20. Joey Biasi, 21. Casey Shuman, 22. Isaac Chapple. NT
2016 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Max McGhee, 4. Dave Darland, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Shane Golobic, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Carmen Perigo, 10. Isaac Chapple, 11. Kyle Moody, 12. Chris Windom, 13. Dustin Smith, 14. Bret Mellenberndt, 15. Tony DiMattia, 16. Chase Stockon, 17. Aaron Farney, 18. Chad Boespflug, 19. Landon Simon, 20. Mark Smith, 21. Thomas Meseraull, 22. Kevin Thomas Jr. NT
2017 FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Shane Golobic, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Alex Bright, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. C.J. Leary, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Robert Ballou, 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Kyle Robbins, 21. Carmen Perigo, 22. Trevor Kobylarz. NT
2018 FEATURE: (30 laps – starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 3. Tyler Courtney (4), 4. Robert Ballou (5), 5. Dave Darland (10), 6. Chase Stockon (7), 7. Justin Grant (12), 8. Chad Boespflug (9), 9. Timmy Buckwalter (16), 10. C.J. Leary (17), 11. Jerry Coons, Jr. (11), 12. Brady Bacon (2), 13. Isaac Chapple (18), 14. Matt Westfall (15), 15. Jarett Andretti (8), 16. Tony DiMattia (14), 17. Joey Biasi (21), 18. Carmen Perigo (20), 19. Kyle Moody (22), 20. Thomas Meseraull (3), 21. Robert Bell (23), 22. Zach Daum (13), 23. Trevor Kobylarz (19). NT
2019 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (2), 2. Chris Windom (1), 3. C.J. Leary (6), 4. Chase Stockon (4), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Carson Short (7), 7. Brady Bacon (17), 8. Jason McDougal (9), 9. Jarett Andretti (10), 10. Joey Biasi (19), 11. Isaac Chapple (18), 12. Timmy Buckwalter (8), 13. Dustin Christie (20), 14. Carmen Perigo (16), 15. Brian VanMeveren (15), 16. Dave Darland (14), 17. John Stehman (21), 18. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 19. Chad Boespflug (13), 20. Steven Drevicki (12), 21. Robert Ballou (11), 22. Jared Esh (22). NT
USAC EASTERN STORM CHAMPIONS:
2007: Levi Jones
2008: Cole Whitt
2009: Cole Whitt
2010: Levi Jones
2011: Levi Jones
2012: Bryan Clauson
2013: Bryan Clauson
2014: Brady Bacon
2015: Robert Ballou
2016: Bryan Clauson
2017: Chris Windom
2018: Chris Windom
2019: C.J. Leary
2020: Not Held
2021: Robert Ballou
USAC EASTERN STORM FEATURE WINS: (2007-2022)
6-Bryan Clauson, Levi Jones & Chris Windom
5-Robert Ballou
4-Brady Bacon
3-Kevin Thomas Jr. & Cole Whitt
2-Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant, Thomas Meseraull
1-Chad Boat, Chad Boespflug, Daron Clayton, Shane Cottle, Dave Darland, Bobby East, Damion Gardner, Jesse Hockett, Jason McDougal, Hunter Schuerenberg, Logan Seavey, Jon Stanbrough, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. & Chase Stockon