By Frank Buhrman
PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Aug. 2, 2025) — While the other divisions running at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night were completing their preliminary races, Timmy Bittner was going back and forth on the access road behind the backstretch, trying to sort out an ignition problem.
Persistence paid off.
With the problem finally under control, Bittner fought his way into second place behind Erin Statler in the early running, then caught Statler in traffic on lap 13, came out with the lead after a furious three-way battle that also included Doug Dodson, and finally held off Dodson and Josh Spicer in another hotly contested battle to earn the 20-lap feature win.
It was the Beech Creek racer’s second career River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series win – although he has won features elsewhere – and his second this year at Port Royal. Perhaps more importantly, it strengthened his position atop the RaceSaver IMCA National points over defending series champion Lee Goos Jr. of South Dakota.
With the ignition issues, the evening hadn’t always looked that promising. Bittner settled for third place in his heat, behind a crowd-pleasing battle between the eventual winner, rookie Reece Raudabaugh and Dodson, the Middletown veteran seeking his second straight Port Royal win.
That all changed after those rides up and down the access road. Statler, the Carlisle veteran who possibly has made more PASS starts than any other driver, shot out to the early lead, with Bittner fighting off Dodson and Spicer for second – the trio ran three-abreast at one point.
Traffic proved the great equalizer and resulted in another three-way battle that saw Bittner emerge with the lead over Dodson and Statler, with the latter spinning on the next lap and collecting Jim Pattock, whose car briefly caught fire – he was not hurt.
John Braim, who had been running in the top ten, also was involved in the accident. He and Pattock were done for the night, but Statler was able to restart and rejoin the field.
Dodson had two shots at Bittner on restarts – Roger Irvine stopped in turn two after less than a lap had been completed on the first effort – but Bittner’s high-middle line proved too strong. The final laps saw Dodson and Spicer fighting for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing, albeit by only a hair more than one one-hundredth of a second. Bittner’s margin of victory was two seconds.
33 RaceSaver IMCA were on tap for the evening.
