Hodnett Snaps Skid; Covert Takes Chiller Thriller

By rscaife
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Updated: May 1, 2018

BY DREW PELLMAN

PORT ROYAL — Greg Hodnett is used to winning. When 2017 didn’t live up to the standard he’s set throughout much of his career, many predicted that his Michael Heffner-owned team would bounce back with a vengeance in 2018. It still may, but going into Saturday’s racing program at Port Royal Speedway, it simply hadn’t happened yet despite some strong runs on occasion. Top five and top ten runs have not been an issue for the No. 27, but victory lane had still eluted the veteran driver this season. Well, until this night at least. Hodnett won his heat race by nearly half the track, and drove from the sixth starting position in the feature to post his 51st career win at the Juniata County oval. It’s certainly not a bad time to get things working, as May is packed full of big money races in Central Pennsylvania.

Port Royal’s handicapping format put two former track champions on the front row of the 25-lap 410 feature in the form of Rick Lafferty and Blane Heimbach. On the initial start, it was Lafferty who motored to the front to take a sizable advantage by the time the first yellow flag was displayed on lap 5 for a slowing Ryan Linder. Hodnett, who had worked his way to fourth, made quick work of Mike Wagner on the ensuing restart. Just a few laps later, he would do the same to Heimbach and turned his attention to the race leader when a second caution was thrown on lap 8. From there, it was only a matter of time for Lafferty, who was having handling issues from a visibly bent nose wing. Although the New Jersey veteran was able to keep Hodnett at bay for a few more circuits, a big bobble from his familiar black No. 0 in between turns three and four was his eventual undoing. Hodnett easily made the pass on the outside and drove off to a near 4.5-second victory. Heimbach and Logan Wagner finished on the podium, while Mike Wagner and Dylan Cisney completed the top five. Lafferty faded to sixth, T.J. Stutts was seventh, A.J. Flick crossed eighth, Steve Buckwalter took ninth and Tyler Reeser completed the top ten. A pair of heats for the 17 410s in attendance went to Hodnett and Lafferty.

The United Late Model Series was on hand for their season-opening Chiller Thriller 30 — an event that was postponed from March. In addition to the ULMS and Port Royal regulars, the event saw a few big-name visitors — including eventual race winner Jason Covert. Two others — Kenny Moreland and Boom Briggs — shared the front row for the 30-lap main event, and it was Briggs who jumped out to a short-lived early advantage. Matt Cosner was the first challenger, and after a side-by-side battle, he eventually took command of the field. Moreland spun on the frontstretch of lap nine to bunch up the field, and Covert took advantage from there — first disposing of Briggs and then chasing down Cosner to take command of a race that he would never look back from. Covert took the checkered flag by more than 1.6 seconds over a charging Jeff Rine and Michael Maresca, while Max Blair and Cosner were scored fourth and fifth. Current Port Royal point leader Andy Haus, Mike Lupfer, Kyle Lee, Briggs and Dave Hess rounded out the top 10. Four heats for the super late models were won by Maresca, Moreland, Rine and Covert. A pair of B-main’s went to Hess and Trent Brenneman. Qualifying time trials were paced by Rine with a quick lap of 18.213 seconds.

The 18-lap 355 econo late model feature was dominated from start to finish by Andrew Yoder, but it was the race for second that most everybody was keeping an eye on. Derick Garmin eventually came out on top of a three-car scramble with Devin Hart and Jeremy Ohl. Tim Fedder crossed fifth. Heat races for the 18 cars were won by JR Toner and Yoder.

In xtreme stock action, Bill Powell won his second of the year over Kevin Imes, Walt Peters, Josh Bender and Patrick McClane.

THIS WEEK
With the month of May arriving, Port Royal shifts to a 7 p.m. start time this Saturday for the duration of the summer. The 410 sprints, late models, 305 sprints and 355 econo late models are all on the card.

OTHER AREA SPRINT CAR WINNERS
Friday — Williams Grove Speedway — 410s: Brian Montieth, 358s: Kevin Nouse.
Friday — Trail-Way Speedway — 358s: Dylan Norris
Saturday — Lincoln Speedway — 410s and 358s: Rained Out
Saturday — Selinsgrove Speedway — 360s: Jason Schultz
Saturday — BAPS Motor Speedway (formerly Susquehanna Speedway) — 305s: Rained Out