By Todd Heintzelman
PORT ROYAL, Pa.: Logan Wagner took advantage of a good start and a miscue by leader Justin Whittall to win his second Port Royal Speedway sprint car feature in the past month driving the John and Pee Wee
Zemaitis Zemco No. 1.
The team dedicated to the win to the late Kramer Williamson and the Williamson family. The Hall of Famer lost his life five years ago this weekend.
Wagner, of Harrisonville, started eighth in the 25-lap main event. He was quickly into the top five as Whittall led from the pole.
With five laps completed, Whittall led by 1.850 seconds over Rick Lafferty and Dylan Cisney. Wagner drove by Cisney off turn two and into third, as Whittall maintained a comfortable lead racing around the top.
Wagner was blasting the top, but dropped low into turn one passing, Lafferty for the runner-up spot with 10 laps completed.
Whittall, who was racing without brakes, saw his lead begin to dwindle as Wagner was closing quickly. Wagner shot under the leader in between turns three and four. He slid up to the leader’s side but couldn’t make the pass, and Whittall completed lap 13 as the leader.
“I didn’t want to show myself too early, but I wanted to feel the track out because I knew we were good, especially down off the top,” Wagner said. “I was biding my time because my left rear was getting a lot of work and I knew I hurt it early.
“It was completely shot. I have to thank everybody. Today is five years since Kramer died, and he played a big part with this team and we want to dedicate this to him.”
Wagner’s attempted pass got Whittall up in the seat, as he increased his lead once again. It was over one second with 10 laps to go and maintained that margin.
Lucas Wolfe and Jared Esh traded sliders. Wolfe went after him again and made the pass off turn four. Cisney blew a right rear tire, and Wolfe made contact with the rear of his car. Wolfe kept going, but Cisney stopped, bringing out the yellow with seven to go.
Whittall and Wagner went to the cushion on the restart while Lafferty nearly passed both of them on the bottom of turns one and two. Their momentum off the top was just enough. The battle continued between the three with Wolfe not far back in fourth spot.
Whittall’s car shot off turn four and across the track making contact with the inside wall. He saved the car and continued, but Wagner took the lead with two to go. Lafferty and Wolfe also got by Whittall.
“I knew I couldn’t pull a slide job too early, because my tire was used completely up,” he said. “Then I seen Lafferty down there and I knew I had to step it up. I felt better when I was a lane down off the top. The left rear should have went, but it stayed with us. Hats off to this team. This is a fast car right now.”
Wagner controlled the final laps for his second win of the season, earning $3,600. He put himself into the track championship hunt with point leader Greg Hodnett racing at Knoxville and Cisney having trouble. Wagner sits only 75 points behind Hodnett.
“He did a nice job especially starting mid-pack there,” John Zemaitis said. “He had some good cars in front of him. He did a good job and so did the crew. It was a beautiful track to run on. You could run anywhere.”
Wolfe challenged Lafferty for second, but couldn’t make the pass and finished third. Lafferty earned $2,000 and Wolfe $1,500.
“I didn’t get a real good start,” Lafferty said. “He went a little earlier than I thought he was going to. We were just too far behind to take a swing at both of them. Not bad. We’ve been running bad all year. Once in a while, we get the breaks and tonight was one of those nights.”
“Starting on the inside, I didn’t get a good enough start,” Wolfe said. “We never got into a position where traffic shook things up. I felt like I was going okay. I was able to make up a little bit of ground. I got up in front of Rick, but I was too slow into one and he got me back.”
Whittall and Esh completed the top five. Tyler Reeser, Mike Wagner, Trenton Sheaffer, Kody Lehman and Joe Kata III rounded out the top 10. Cisney and Wagner won the heat races.
Zach Newlin held off 12th-place starter Kyle Smith to win the 18-lap main event for the 305 sprints. Drew Richey, 16th starter Ken Duke Jr. and Ron Aurand. Jonathan Jones, Jaremi Hanson, Nick Sweigart, Tyler Denochick and Austin Bishop rounded out the top 10.