PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Logan Wagner has accomplished just about everything there is to accomplish at Port Royal Speedway, including four consecutive track championships and earning a All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory during the 2021 Keith Kauffman Classic.
Now Wagner can officially add another line to his all-time Port Royal Speedway resume after winning the Tuscarora 50 championship for a $54,000 payday Saturday night.
Wagner, aboard the Zemco Racing/Zemco Headers/Zemco Tool & Die/CES Engineering/All Things Automotive/No. 1 sprint car, was forced to battle by seven-time Tuscarora 50 champion Lance Dewease to earn his crown jewel triumph, doing so with less than two laps remaining.
Dewease, who led laps 12 through 48 after taking command from Rico Abreu, held on to finish second, followed by Anthony Macri, Dylan Cisney, and Brent Marks.
“I’m living the dream in a different universe, man, this is just unreal,” an elated Wagner said in Port Royal Speedway victory lane. “I knew in that second 25-lapper that I had something for (Dewease). It was so awesome to race him clean…I didn’t even know how many laps were left when we got by him. I just ran as hard as I could…just about stuffed it into the fence a couple of times. I’m out of breath!”
Starting from the outside-pole position by way of feature redraw, Wagner made his presence known the entire 50-lap contest, never fading any further back than third and eventually concluding the first half of the 50-lapper in the second position. Dewease, who took the lead from Abreu on lap 12, was the man in charge at the halfway break, and despite showing signs of an oil leak during the competition yellow, went on to start the second half and maintain his place on the point.
Although Wagner was able to apply some pressure in traffic on lap 34, a series of cautions on laps 36 and 38 allowed Dewease to navigate a clear track in clean air. It was not until lap 46 when traffic re-entered the picture allowing Wagner to try his hand at Dewease again.
Hammering the very top of Port Royal’s thin, but ultra-fast groove, Wagner was able to show Dewease his nose lap 48, ultimately setting up his slingshot move the following circuit. Utilizing a great run off of two, Wagner powered by Dewease down the backstretch then dove into three, simultaneously sliding a lapper to create an impressive advantage as the white flag waved.
The finish:
1. 1-Logan Wagner [2]; 2. 69K-Lance Dewease [5]; 3. 39m-Anthony Macri [8]; 4. 5C-Dylan Cisney [6]; 5. 19-Brent Marks [11]; 6. 11-Spencer Bayston [7]; 7. 55w-Mike Wagner [9]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog [23]; 9. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 10. 33-Gerard McIntyre [10]; 11. 18-Gio Scelzi [17]; 12. 12-Blane Heimbach [29]; 13. 11T-TJ Stutts [22]; 14. 48-Danny Dietrich [19]; 15. 39-Daryn Pittman [3]; 16. 42-Sye Lynch [18]; 17. 26-Cory Eliason [14]; 18. 5-Ian Madsen [13]; 19. 73-Justin Peck [26]; 20. 25-Tyler Bear [16]; 21. 67-Justin Whittall [27]; 22. 27-Devon Borden [15]; 23. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [12]; 24. 2-AJ Flick [24]; 25. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 26. 10-Zeb Wise [20]; 27. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [28]; 28. 5w-Lucas Wolfe [25]; 29. 51-Freddie Rahmer [21]