By Todd Heintzelman

PORT ROYAL, Pa.: Anthony Macri dominated opening night of the Tuscarora 50 weekend Thursday night at Port Royal Speedway.

Macri, of Dillsburg, grabbed the lead from Bill Balog and went unchallenged from there, winning his seventh of the season at Port Royal and 19th overall in 2022. He earned $8,000. It was his first win with Ryan Hand as his crew chief back in the Macri No. 39M.

“I think this is our first time back here since the Outlaw show (in July),” Macri said. “To be able to come back and get a win is pretty cool. It boosts our confidence a little bit.

“Saturday is 50 laps, and anything can happen in 50 laps. We’ll take our notes from tonight and hopefully we can get a little bit better.”

Tires were a bit of a concern, so Macri tried to take it easy early in the 30-lapper. But once he got past the halfway point, he kicked it into high gear.

“The way everybody’s tires looked after the heat races, I wanted to play the beginning of the race calm and cool,” Macri said. “Danny got by me, and Balog was out there pretty far.

“I figured they were going for it, I might as well go for it, too. I turned the wick up a little bit and tried to drive smart and not blow the tires off of it.”

Balog started on the pole with Macri second. Balog grabbed the lead, as Macri and Danny Dietrich traded the runner-up spot. Dietrich had the position for five laps before Macri made the pass.

Macri’s great run off the second turn and down the backstretch got him by Balog through turns three and four and into the lead with eight laps completed. An inside move entering turn one allowed Dietrich to get by Balog and into second.

Macri started lapping slower traffic. This allowed Dietrich to close, especially when Macri caught three slower cars racing together.

“I was trying to run hard but stay calm,” Macri said. “I looked over and saw 13 laps to go, and I knew it was go-time. I started using stuff up more than I was in the first half of the race. If I blew the tires off of it, and somebody passed me, so be it. I pushed it a little bit harder.”

Macri stayed patient passing one car at a time to maintain his lead over Dietrich. Getting past a couple of lapped cars allowed him to extend the lead to two seconds.

Meanwhile, Logan Wagner was charging forward and passed Justin Peck for third spot. As for Macri, he cruised to the win by four seconds over Dietrich.

“That’s by far the best this car’s has been on a track like that,” Dietrich said. “I could drive through the middle and be really, really stuck. That’s why we’ve been coming up here the last few weeks, to try and get better. We’re not doing anything major, just tweaking here and tweaking there.”

Logan Wagner, Peck and Mike Wagner completed the top five. Justin Whittall, Gio Scelzi, Rico Abreu, Lance Dewease and Brent Marks completed the top 10.

In the 305 Sprint Car main event, Garrett Bard sped to the top of the charts to capture the 20-Lap affair. Zach Rhodes and Mike Melair followed.

410 Sprint Car Feature (30 laps): 1. Anthony Macri. 2. Danny Dietrich. 3. Logan Wagner. 4. Justin Peck. 5. Mike Wagner. 6. Justin Whittall. 7. Gio Scelzi. 8. Rico Abreu. 9. Lance Dewease. 10. Brent Marks. 11. Bill Balog. 12. Dylan Cisney. 13. Tyler Courtney. 14. Brian Brown. 15. Lucas Wolfe. 16. Freddie Rahmer. 17. Cory Eliason. 18. Devon Borden. 19. Gerard McIntyre Jr. 20. Ayrton Gennetten. 21. Blane Heimbach. 22. Michael Walter. 23. Sye Lynch. 24. Kyle Reinhardt. 25. Cap Henry. 26. Hunter Schuerenberg. 27. Jeff Halligan.

305 Sprint Car Feature (20 laps): 1. Garret Bard; 2. Zach Rhodes; 3. Mike Melair; 4. Ken Duke; 5. Jeff Weaver; 6. Justin Mills; 7. Scott Frack; 8. Jimmy White; 9. Tyler Snook; 10. Josh Spicer; 11. Josh Bricker; 12. Kenny Heffner; 13. Nolan Groves; 14. Doug Dodson; 15. Dustin Young; 16. Reed Thompson; 17. Todd Lynn; 18. Mikell McGee; 19. Dave Wickham; 20. Seth Schnoke; 21. Logan Jones; 22. Ryan Lynn; 23. Croix Beasom; 24. Drew Young; 25. Jake Waters; 26. Chad Phillips.