Exciting start to local racing season continues on second weekend
The second week of the local racing season is now complete. Lincoln and Port Royal Speedways both raced over the weekend, with Lincoln on Saturday afternoon and Port Royal on Sunday afternoon.
Lincoln’s third racing event of the season turned into a good one, as opening-night winner Freddie Rahmer came all the way from the 15th starting spot to win the feature. Rahmer passed Danny Dietrich with the two-to-go sign out, then had to withstand two sliders from Dietrich to hold on for the $5,000 win.
The Port’s feature on Sunday also turned into a barnburner at the end. Jeff Halligan led for 22 laps, but yielded to Parker Price Miller. Then, on the final lap, hometown racer Dylan Cisney got by Price Miller for the win. The strange part is that Cisney started from the pole and only led the last lap of the race. Cisney, by the way, is the mayor of the town of Port Royal.
Lincoln also hosted the 358 modifieds that race at Grandview and Big Diamond. I'm not sure if the guys aren’t ready yet, or if they just didn’t want to race yet, but Lincoln only got eleven modifieds. Most were very good ones, though, and it was a great race with four lead changes.
Port Royal also had the super late models on their show. The late model car count was the highest car count in the area thus far this season. There were 31 late models at the Port. Dillon Stake, last year’s limited late model champ, led every lap to win this one.
It seems ironic that the last three sprint car races in the area had the exact same car count. Lincoln’s opener drew 26 sprint cars, but every race since then has had 29 cars. That includes Lincoln’s second and third races and Port Royal’s opener. Only about a dozen of the cars at Port Royal on Sunday were at Lincoln on Saturday, so there are plenty of cars around.
After four local races this season, there are only two drivers who have finished in the top 10 in all four races. Freddie Rahmer, who has won twice and finished eighth twice, is one of them. The other is Danny Dietrich, who has finished second once, third once and fourth twice.
Rahmer drove Rich Eichelberger’s No. 8 car in all the Lincoln races, but brought out the family-owned No. 51 at Port Royal.
Anthony Macri and Devon Borden both looked good enough to have finished in the top 10 Saturday at Lincoln, but both crashed out of the feature there. Borden also was running strong at Port Royal, but had to pit with a problem and then came from the back of the pack for tenth.
Lance Dewease’s season with the Donnie Kreitz team got off to a bad start — or maybe, that is, no start at all. Dewease qualified solidly for Sunday’s feature at the Port and was scheduled to start fourth. But when the cars pushed off to start the feature, Dewease’s mount wouldn’t start and he had to watch from the sidelines.
In Port Royal’s late model feature, World of Outlaws late model driver Ross Robinson finished second ahead of former Outlaw champion Rick Eckert of York. But, Robinson’s crew chief — his wife Amanda — also raced at the Port. Amanda Robinson finished sixth in the feature, so it was a pretty good day for the family.
Local late model legend Gary Stuhler kicked off his 49th season as a driver Sunday at the Port. Stuhler won his heat race and battled Amanda Robinson for most of the feature race, ending up with an eighth-place finish.
Lincoln’s modified winner Duane Howard has been winning with those cars for many years, but longtime local fans will remember that his career actually got started in the limited late model class at the now long-gone Silver Spring Speedway.
OUTLAWS RETURN THIS WEEKEND
The World of Outlaws sprint cars will make their earliest local start ever this weekend with a two-day show at Port Royal. The Outlaws race at the Port on Friday evening and again late Saturday afternoon.
The Friday show starts at 7 p.m. and will be a sprint car-only program. On Saturday, the Outlaws are joined by the wingless super sportsman in a 4 p.m. show.
The Outlaws visited the Port for three shows last season. The first in July was won by NASCAR star Kyle Larson. The two-day show in early October was swept by Dillsburg’s Anthony Macri, who claimed his first-ever Outlaw wins that weekend.
After the two-day show at the Port, Williams Grove will open its season on Sunday afternoon with the sprints and the wingless super sportsman. While the Outlaws are not sanctioning the Grove opener, they do come to the Grove the following Friday.
Last year, Justin Peck, a winner earlier this season at Lincoln, was the winner in Williams Grove’s opening race.
Hagerstown is also set to open this weekend with the Short Track Super Series modifieds. Hagerstown will have an open practice session Friday night with racing Saturday night. The 602 crate sportsman modifieds will also be racing.
2023 J & S CLASSICS CENTRAL PA SPRINT CAR SERIES presented by HOSEHEADS
Listing: position, car number, driver, points, series wins
After 3/5
1. 8/51 Freddie Rahmer 128 2
2. 48 Danny Dietrich 115
3. 13 Justin Peck 85 1
4. 39M Anthony Macri 66
5. 23 Devon Borden 65
6. 19 Brent Marks 53
7. 5 Dylan Cisney 50 1
8. 9P Parker PriceMiller 35
9. 16 Matt Campbell 34
10. 5E Brandon Rahmer 32
11. 27S Alan Krimes 30
12. 67 Justin Whittall 28
13. 11P Tim Wagaman II 25
14. 39 Troy Wagaman Jr 22
15. 1x Chad Trout 20
15. 45 Jeff Halligan 20
17. 55 Mike Wagner 18
17. 27 Chris Windom 18
17. 44 Dylan Norris 18
20. 99M Kyle Moody 14
21. 39T Cameron Smith 12
21. 35 Jason Shultz 12
23. 69 Tim Glatfelter 10
23. 4 Zane Rudisill 10