PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Rick Lafferty picked up his 12th career Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Car victory at Port Royal Speedway over Blane Heimbach and Mike Wagner Saturday night.
Kody Lehman and Lafferty led the field to the green flag, and it was Lafferty getting the early jump on the field to claim the top spot on the opening circuit. One lap later Heimbach, who started fifth on the grid, moved into the runner-up position and and seventh-place starter Mike Wagner, was up to fifth.
Wagner continued his march forward as he took fourth one lap later , but Mike Walter II regained the position on lap five as the two duked it our amongst reach other. Meanwhile, Heimbach was able to get by Lafferty for the top spot with 20 laps to go, but any opportunity to stretch his lead came to a halt one lap later when Tyler Reeser came to a slow on the frontstretch to regroup the field.
Wagner got back by Walter II for the fourth spot on the restart, while 11th-place starter Ryan Smith moved into sixth on lap eight. Also, Logan Wagner was making his move through as the field as the current track points leader had advanced from his 15th starting spot to ninth with 16 laps to go.
Lehman found something on the extreme high side of the speedway and by lap 11 he was able to clear Lafferty for the runner-up spot and was closing quickly on Heimbach. Three laps later he got by him for the top spot exiting turn two, but Heimbach was able to get back by in turn’s three and four to hold onto the top spot.
Lehman tried the same move that worked for him again in turn’s one and two, but this time he got into the outside guardrail exiting turn two and had to get off the gas to regroup. This allowed Lafferty to slip back by and regain the second position.
Mike Wagner cracked the podium two laps later, while Lafferty was able to drive through the slick in turn’s three and four to take the top spot from Heimbach with eight to go.
Logan Wagner cracked the top-five with five laps remaining and two laps later he moved into the fourth position as well. He was all over his father’s tail tank over the final three circuits for a podium position, but without a caution he wasn’t going to have anything for the top cars.
Heimbach was reeling in Lafferty slowly over the final two laps as the veteran driver up front dealt with lapped traffic, but Lafferty was not to be denied as he eased home for the victory and the checkered flag.
Logan Wagner and Ryan Smith made up the rest of the top-five.
Garrett Bard earned the first PennsValley MeatMarket PA Sprint Series 305 Sprint Car feature by capitalizing on a front row starting spot in the feature.Â
Trent Brenneman picked up the Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Model feature win over Ryan Zook and Dillan Stake in the first of two scheduled feature events for the divisions after starting third on the grid. Meanwhile Stake earned his fourth win of the season in the division during the second feature event, which was a make-up feature from earlier in April.
The Finish:
Feature: 1. Rick Lafferty, 2. Blane Heimbach, 3. Mike Wagner, 4. Logan Wagner, 5. Ryan Smith, 6. Kody Lehmanm, 7. Mile Walter II, 8. Justin Whittall, 9. Jeff Halligan, 10. Lucas Wolfe, 11. Gerard McIntyre, 12. Trenton Shaeffer, 13. Kassidy Kreitz, 14. Curt Stroup, 15. Dylan Cisney, 16. Derek Hauck, 17. Zach Newlin, 18. Ryan Linder, 19. Devin Brenneman, 20. Tyler Reeser, 21. Austin Burke