Spahr sprints to Hagerstown win

By Frank Buhrman SPRING RUN, Pa. (July 24) – Garrett Bard put disappointment behind him and scored a convincing victory Saturday in the Pennsylvania Sprint Series 25-lap feature event at Path Valley Speedway.  Bard had endured a rare failure-to-qualify Friday at Big Diamond Speedway, but racing life was clearly back in balance 24 hours later. After a sixth-place start in his heat, Bard finished second, then drew the pole position for the feature and led all the way, taking the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win by 1.391 seconds over Austin Reed. The win was Bard’s fifth of 2021 and 20th in a PASS career that now spans just over two years. It was his third career win at Path Valley. In victory lane, Bard said he welcomed the race’s two late cautions, because the handle on his car was going away and the restarts took him out of heavy traffic.  Reed, who had started eighth, hung with Bard on the final restarts but couldn’t get around and fell just short of his first win of [Read More]

By Frank Buhrman SPRING RUN, Pa. (Sept. 18) – Veteran Donnie Hendershot has developed a fondness for Path Valley Speedway . . . and for winning.  Over the years, the driver of the family-backed no. 31 had scored the majority of his best finishes at BAPS Motor Speedway, but in May he earned his first career victory at Path Valley. Just four months later, he returned to the Spring Run bullring and earned IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win number two. On a track where passing was at a premium, Hendershot slipped by early leader Mike Alleman and held off a charge from Austin Reed to capture the regularly scheduled Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature. After a lap nine caution, Reed got past Alleman and began applying pressure to Hendershot, but the Friday night Williams Grove winner wasn’t able to complete the pass for a weekend double, and Hendershot crossed the finish line .343 seconds ahead.  Earlier, Dom Melair took the lead from Jimmy White and scored a win in the conclusion of a feature postponed by [Read More]

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 [Read More]