Grube prevails in PASS headliner at Port Royal

Results

Dave Grube II prevailed in the Saturday Pennsylvania Sprint Series main event at Port Royal Speedway. Grube’s first career PASS win had come at Port Royal in 2017. (Photo by Frank Buhrman)

By Frank Buhrman 

PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 1) – After an incredible three-car, 12-lap battle, Dave Grube II held on for the win Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, taking the Pennsylvania Sprint Series 20-lap feature by a shade less than a second over Ken Duke Jr., with Kenny Heffner a career-best third and less than two tenth’s of a second behind Duke. 

Grube started on the pole and led the entire 20 laps, but never shed its multiple-IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car competition, which also included Kassidy Kreitz and Justin Mills early in the race. It was when Kreitz suddenly slowed and dropped out on lap eight that the stage was set for the lengthy final fight. 

On that restart, Heffner grabbed second from Duke, but six laps later the former national and PASS cham­pion retook the spot. Two laps later Heffner was back in second and on the next lap he went for the lead, with making contact with Grube on the backstretch. 

That allowed Duke back into second, but even with lapped traffic becoming a factor, Grube was able to hold on for his sixth career PASS win and second at the Port, where he won his first PASS feature in 2017.

“This team needed a win,” Grube said from victory lane. “It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been in victory lane and a long time here. We’ve been really fast lately and we’re really dedicated to running for points here.”

Devin Adams of Lebanon made a late charge to take fourth and might well have been a factor in a 25-lap race. Mills was near the leaders all race and came home fifth. 

With another big field of IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars was on hand, 44, and qualifying events were fiercely competitive. Drew Young, Reed, Mills and Grube took the heat wins. The battle between young Mills and veteran Roger Irvine in the third heat was a particular crowd-pleaser, as was Dustin Young’s pass for the final transfer spot at the finish line of heat four.

This week’s PASS action returns to Selinsgrove Speedway on May 8. 

Feature results – 1. Dave Grube; 2. Ken Duke Jr.; 3. Kenny Heffner; 4. Devin Adams; 5. Justin Mills; 6. Garrett Bard; 7. Drew Young; 8. Erin Statler; 9. Austin Reed; 10. Dakota Schweikart; 11. Roger Irvine; 12. Jared Zionkowski; 13. Dave Schweikart; 14. Bob Garvey; 15. Dom Melair; 16. Nick Sweigart; 17. Josh Beamer; 18. Jeffrey Weaver; 19. Doug Dodson; 20. Rowdy Heffner; 21. Mike Melair; 22. Ian Detweiler; 23. Dustin Young; 24. Kruz Kepner; 25. Kassidy Kreitz; 26. Mikell McGee.

Related Articles

Results

Kepner sprints to top at Bloomsburg

By Frank Buhrman BLOOMSBURG, Pa. (June 29, 2023) – The Kruz Missile is back in victory lane. Kruz Kepner parlayed a fourth-place starting position with a long green-flag run to capture his second career River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series victory Thursday night at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway. The fifth-year PASS driver from Kreamer, a small community just west of Selinsgrove, put his no. 19 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car in victory lane for the first time since last April, when he won at Path Valley Speedway. An earlier win at his home track in Selinsgrove was lost when the car weighed light after the race. The victory came in Kepner’s 92nd career PASS start. Veteran New Jersey invader Larry McVay finished second, 1.66 seconds back. The Bordentown resident, a regular with the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series, equaled his career-best PASS finish. The youth brigade filled out the top five, with Timmy Bittner taking third, ahead of Seth Schnoke and Tyler Snook of Beavertown. The 20-lap feature nearly went nonstop, but a Paul Moyer incident in turns one and two [Read More]

Results

Spahr dominates for PASS win no. 2 

By Frank Buhrman  MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (April 14, 2023) – It’s too early to crown Logan Spahr as king of the 2023 River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series season, but it might not be too early to start thinking about it. The Lewisberry racer turned in a dominating performance Friday at Williams Grove Speedway for his second straight IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win of the new season – and a three-in-a-row record dating back to last October’s Keystone RaceSaver Challenge.  Spahr showed what his car could do when he recovered from an early spin in his heat race to come from the rear and finish second in a very competitive group. Then, starting fourth in the feature, he overtook Timmy Bittner in the third and fourth turns of the first lap for the lead. He never gave it up. The race was slowed by four cautions, none for major incidents. After the first three, Bittner attempted unsuccessfully to overtake the leader, and after the final yellow, Seth Schnoke gave it a try, with the same result. Schnoke had [Read More]

Results

Fast start puts Bard in Port Royal victory lane

By Frank Buhrman  PORT ROYAL, Pa. (July 20) – Garrett Bard wasted no time in showing his ability in a full-sized Sprint Car, coming from ninth starting spot to second in his heat race and then winning Satur­day’s 20-lap Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature at Port Royal Speedway.  It was only his fourth time out in a full-sized Sprinter, his second in an IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car and his first at Port Royal. The winner’s 305 career has been so brief that his no. 95 sprinter still has its numbers applied with tape, but fans and fellow competitors certainly will remember them now.  Bard had drawn the outside front row start but polesitter Devin Adams, who had picked up his first ca­reer win the last time PASS was at Port Royal, grabbed the early lead with last week’s Path Valley winner Drew Ritchey moving into second.  Running high in turns one and two and low in three and four, Adams worked his way smoothly through traffic in the feature. Bard caught Ritchey to take second on [Read More]