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It’s Two Straight for Macri at Port Royal

By DREW PELLMAN
PORT ROYAL — Last Sunday, Dillsburg driver Anthony Macri led all 25 laps from the 2nd-starting position to win his first feature event of the season at Port Royal Speedway. Saturday, he had to work a bit harder, but the result was the same — a second win at the Juniata County half-mile in as many races.
It was a different group of young guns that stole the limelight early in the race, however. Justin Whittal and Jeff Miller shared the front row, and it was Whittal that was able to take advantage of the position to grab the early lead over the 2019 Port Royal Rookie of the Year. Port Royal’s own Dylan Cisney showed the most speed early, and quickly worked his way forward from his 6th. Macri, who started one position being Cisney in 7th, was doing the same. Just before the halfway point on lap 12, Cisney — who had already disposed of Miller — used the bottom of turns one and two to take the top spot from Whittal. Not long afterward, it was Macri who followed suit. The duo maintained their positioning until the first yellow flag came out on lap 16 for a slowing Brent Marks. On the ensuing restart, Cisney managed to get out to a slight advantage, but it was short-lived as Macri made the eventual race-winning pass just two circuits later. Cisney remained within striking distance, but was never able to mount another serious challenge. It was the third win of Macri’s career at Port Royal.
Whittal was able to hang on to a respectable podium finish, just ahead of T.J. Stutts and Logan Wagner. The Zemco No. 1 pilot had to come all the way from 20th after flipping in his heat race, forcing him to transfer through the B-main earlier in the night. Mike Wagner, A.J. Flick, Robbie Kendall, Tyler Reeser and Brock Zearfoss rounded out the top ten. Three heat races for the 31 cars that were signed in went to Marks, Macri and Flick. Robert Ballou won the B-main.
The 358 sprint cars were also on hand, making a rare Port Royal Speedway appearance. In epic fashion, Doug Hammaker was able to capture the victory with a last lap, last-corner pass of Brett Wanner. The 25-lap event featured another moment that will be remembered for quite some time, as Juniata County driver Colton Hoover took a spectacular ride in the opening lap of the feature. His No. 07 flipped several times entering the third turn, became airborne, and sailed over the outside guardrail and into the catch fence well beyond the wall. He was uninjured. Derek Locke finished third, just ahead of Kevin Nouse and Cody Fletcher. Eric Parker, Tyler Brehm, Jordan Givler, Zach Newlin and Chris Frank rounded out the top ten. Wanner, Parker and Locke each won heat races for the 21 358s that were pitside.
Finally, Nick Sweigert claimed victory in the 305 portion of Port Royal’s Open Wheel Madness program. Holding off challenges from the divisions’ hottest driver in the early part of the season — Garrett Bard — Sweigert was able to earn his first win of 2020. Dave Grube, Larry McVay and Derek Hauck completed the top five, while Doug Dodson, Jake Frye, Christian Rumsey, Erin Statler and Tom Carberry finished sixth through tenth. Heat winners for the 41 305 sprints were McVay, Grube, Statler and Carberry.

Up Next
Port Royal returns to action tonight with the first invasion of the season by the All-Star Circuit of Champions. The annual Keith Kauffman Classic will pay $6,000 to the winner. Joining the 410 sprint cars will be the super late models.

The speedway will be dark over the weekend, as the 410s begin the grueling stretch of racing known as Pennsylvania Speedweek. The series will stop at Port Royal twice again this year — Wednesday, July 1st and Saturday, July 4th. The Independence Day event will put a bow on Speedweek 2020.

Other Area Sprint Car Winners
Williams Grove Speedway: Rained Out
Trail-Way Speedway: Rained Out
Big Diamond Speedway: Robbie Stillwagon (URC — 360 sprints)
Lincoln Speedway: Freddie Rahmer (410 sprints)

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