Devon Borden charged from deep in the field and picked up an exciting win in Weikert Livestock 410 sprint car competition on Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.
The Speed Palace crew took a chance with the weather this weekend with winds topping over 20 mph throughout the day and capped off the night with fans out of their seats as they watched the exciting race finishes at Port Royal.
Devon Borden rolled off 12th to start the 25-lap A main. He quickly charged his way to ninth on the opening lap.
Steve Buckwalter and Lucas Wolfe made up the front row to start the feature event, with Buckwalter leading the opening circuit. Meanwhile, third-place starter Danny Dietrich moved into the runner-up spot.
Buckwalter and Dietrich would battle for the lead with 18 laps to go. They would swap positions a handful of times before Dietrich took the lead for good with 17 remaining, while Borden would move into third a lap later. A caution brought out with 16 laps to go would allow all leads to be erased with Dietrich, Buckwalter and Borden set up nose-to-tail for the ensuing restart.
After returning to green, Borden would get by Steve Buckwalter with 14 to go. Borden would be forced to track down the previous week’s winner, Dietrich, in lap traffic.
Borden would get by Dietrich at the start-finish line with two laps to go but the two would battle and trade positions for the final pair of laps. Borden would overtake Dietrich for the final time off of the second corner and would hold off a pass attempt off the final pair of corners to take home the win.
“I just knew I would have to go where they weren’t,” said Borden in victory lane when talking about navigating the lapped cars in his battle for the lead. “Those last three laps were definitely hectic and things had to play out in our favor.”
Borden picked up not only a $5,000 win, but also an extra $500 courtesy of Valley Supply for winning the hard charger award for passing the most cars as well as an extra $300 for winning the race from a starting position further back than ninth, which has happened at Port Royal Speedway twice in back-to-back weeks.
In Selinsgrove Ford super late model competition, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competitor Ross Robinson was able to pick up the $4,000 check and his first win at Port Royal Speedway.
Robinson, who started fourth, would take the lead on lap 12 after battling with Chad Meyers for the opening half of the race.
“I feel like I’ve ran second here like 17 times,” joked Robinson in victory lane. “The car was really, really good. We caught some breaks today with the pill draw and a good start in the 2nd row. I’ll be honest Chad had me worried there in the beginning because I couldn’t pull with him leaving the corner.”
Robinson would win the race by over a full second margin as he looks to return to the national tour with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series before they appear at Port Royal Speedway on April 28.
The Speed Palace also ran an Australian Pursuit race in honor of the former lead scorer at the race track Glenn Stitt.
A race that, if a car gets passed is eliminated from the field, saw the top 10 cars from the A-main, compete for an extra $1,000. Jason Covert was able to lead the field from the pole position and take home the extra cash.
For the Zimmerman Truck Repair limited late model event, Devin Hart would start on the pole and lead all 20 laps to pick up the opening win at Port Royal Speedway in 2024. He faced challenges from Jared Fulkroad throughout the event and while navigating lap traffic, but a late-race restart saw the Port Royal native able to pull away and hold on for the win.