YORK HAVEN, Pa. – With seven cars left in qualifying on Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway and the track progressively slowing, it appeared J.J. Grasso’s opening lap of 15.478 seconds would hold firm.
Then, like it has recently, Brent Marks changed everything. Marks laid down overall fast time and blasted into the night, claiming his second straight win in round three of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek at the clay oval formerly known as Susquehanna Speedway.
The 30-year-old has lived up to his nickname – the Myerstown Missile – as of late. He led all 30 laps from the pole on Sunday for his third win in the last four races.
That momentum opens his three-point series lead to 96 over Freddie Rahmer as things head back to Lincoln Speedway on Monday night.
“We had a very good car from the very get-go tonight,” Marks said. “I felt like I rolled around the track really nice again tonight. Really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
“It’s a long, grueling week, so being able to get two wins this early is pretty awesome,” he added.
The key to this headline-making run for Marks has been qualifying. He’s set the fastest time in each win the past four races and the lone instance he wasn’t the fastest he timed 10th at Williams Grove Speedway.
It has allowed Marks, already one of the most skilled racers around, to control the pace.
“I’ve been getting more comfortable every time I hit the track,” Marks said. “I’m going to be honest with you, I didn’t even feel all that great in qualifying there, but it rolled around there pretty nice I guess. It’s another great night for us. The team has been working super hard.”
Marks jumped out to a two-second lead 10 laps into the feature, but as he navigated the inconsistencies of lapped traffic, Justin Peck dwindled that to a second.
“They, [lapped traffic], get slow in front of me, then I have to check up,” Marks said. “To me, they look like they’re crashing but they’re not. I just felt like I lost some momentum a couple times in lapped traffic. I just had to make sure I executed a lot quicker when I went to pass to somebody than I originally did.”
A lap-14 caution for Devon Borden, who appeared to cut a tire on the front stretch, bunched things back up. Once things got back going, Marks dialed up the heat.
Another victory lane photo op was in front of him.
Peck, who ran second most of the night, cut a tire on the last lap and finished 11th.
Ryan Smith finished second, with Texas native Sam Haferetepe Jr. rounding out the podium.
Grasso finished fourth, while Anthony Macri rebounded from missing Saturday’s main event at Lincoln to place fifth.
T.J. Stutts, Dylan Norris, Paul McMahan, Rahmer, and Troy Wagaman rounded out the top 10.
Rico Abreu, six points out of first in the series championship hunt to start the night, finished 13th and exits the night 105 points behind Marks.
Danny Dietrich, who entered the night three points behind Marks in the PA Speedweek championship chase, finished 14th, now 113 points off the pace.
The finish:
Brent Marks, Ryan Smith, Sam Hafertepe Jr., J.J. Grasso, Anthony Macri, T.J. Stutts, Dylan Norris, Paul McMahan, Freddie Rahmer, Troy Wagaman Jr., Lucas Wolfe, Rico Abreu, Danny Dietrich, Tyler Ross, Mark Smith, Buddy Kofoid, Skylar Gee, Kyle Reinhardt, Justin Peck, Devon Borden, Austin Bishop, Justin Whittall, Chase Dietz, Jeff Halligan.