pennsylvaniasprintseries Archives

Bittner and Kepner Take PA Sprint Series Checkers at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (My 31, 2025) — Timmy Bittner kept the streak alive, then Kruz Kepner smashed it. On a cold night, Port Royal Speedway officials heated up the action by dividing the 50-car River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series field in half and running two complete features. Bittner extended the series’ run of new 2025 winners to eight with an impressive 2.694-second win over Mike Melair in the first feature. Kepner then became the season’s first repeat winner in the second feature, finishing 1.279 seconds ahead of Logan Spahr. For Bittner, from Beech Creek in Clinton County, it also was his first career PASS victory, although he has won elsewhere and is a former RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car Pennsylvania State champion. It was his second win in about 48 hours, coming after he took the checkers Thursday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in an Allegheny Sprint Tour event. Kepner’s win was his eighth with PASS – again, augmented by victories in other IMCA events – and it strengthened his hold on [Read More]

Paulson Masters ‘The Grove’ for First Win

By Frank Buhrman MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (May 23, 2025) — Jeff Paulson, a regular Mid Atlantic Sprint Series driver, took advantage of Landon Price’s misfortune and scored his first RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car victory in his first time racing at Williams Grove Speedway with the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series. Paulson made the trek from Honey Brook in Chester County to Mechanicsburg pay off big-time. He finished third in his heat race, then drew the outside front row starting position for the feature, beside Price, who had looked dominating earlier in the program and seemed on his way to a second consecutive win, after taking the checkers at BAPS Motor Speedway the previous Sunday. Price, who had won his heat by nearly seven seconds, jumped out to the early lead and began to distance himself from the field, with Paulson holding on for second. The expected outcome changed dramatically, however, when the leader apparently made contact with one of the tires marking the inside boundary of the track in turn four and lost a wheel [Read More]

Electrifying Charge to Front Nets Price BAPS Win

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (May 18, 2025) — It wasn’t an easy climb, but Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway, Landon Price reached the top of the mountain again and enjoyed the view. Four years and nine months after he last visited victory lane in a River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series feature, Price returned Sunday, after an electrifying charge through the field from 11th starting position. That performance also earned the Fleetwood driver the hard charger award. After advancing from seventh to third in his heat race, the Price team’s pill-draw skills didn’t improve, and he picked 11th out of the 12 redraw starting spots, but when the race started, it quickly became obvious that something special was happening with the no. 69P team. Within five laps, Price had raced his way into the top five. From there, each pass came quickly as he sliced through the field. He caught leader Dustin Young on lap 17 and, after a brief side-by-side battle, took over the top spot with two laps remaining. He went on to [Read More]

Heffner Takes Hagerstown Win

By Frank Buhrman HAGERSTOWN, Md. (May 17, 2025) — Kenny Heffner wasn’t going to let this one get away. Last month at Selinsgrove Speedway, the Watsontown veteran led a good part of the feature only to be passed by Doug Dodson for the win. At Hagerstown Speedway Saturday, there were challenges, but the driver of Cale Reigle’s no. 97 mount wasn’t going to be denied his seventh career trip to the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series victory lane. The co-sanctioned event with the Virginia Sprint Series and Laurel Highlands Sprint Series also happened to be the middle race in the three-event BrokersRealty.com Speed Weekend for the RaceSaver IMCA Sprints, which put Heffner in a good position to claim the $750 bonus to the top team in points after Sunday’s final event at BAPS Motor Speedway. It was Heffner’s front-row challenger, Mike Koehler, who grabbed the initial lead in the 25-lap feature, but only after an earlier start attempt was called off after eighth-starting Mike Melair got into the second turn wall, spun, and collected Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series [Read More]

Spahr Takes Impressive Selinsgrove Win

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGOVE, Pa. (May 16, 2025) — This might be a rivalry. For the second week in a row, the River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series feature at Selinsgrove Speedway came down to a duel between Logan Spahr of Lewisberry and Kruz Kepner. Last week, Kepner got to visit victory lane; this week, Spahr earned the trip. The 2023 PASS champion, Spahr battled the “hometown” racer through the middle circuits of the 20-lap event before pulling off the decisive pass for the lead on the backstretch of lap 14, just before the leaders hit lapped traffic. From there, Spahr steadily pulled away to a .873-second win over Kepner for his first win of 2025 and 15th of his PASS career. The win positions the top finishers as favorites for the BrokersRealty.com Speed Weekend payoff of $750 for the top overall points finisher, with $500 going to the runner-up, and $250 to third. Another hometown driver, Ken Duke Jr., completed an impressive run to the front, coming from 11th starting position to take third from Kenny Heffner [Read More]

Kepner Selinsgrove Winner

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE. Pa. (May 10, 2025) — If you looked at Kruz Kepner’s record in the first two River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series races in 2025, this was inevitable. First the veteran from Kreamer fell victim to circumstances and started 25th in the season opener at Port Royal, then roared through the field to finish sixth. Then, at his home track, Selinsgrove, less than 10 miles away, he started fourth and finished a strong third. Saturday night, back at Selinsgrove, he drew the pole, led all the way and scored his first win of this year, second at Selinsgrove, and seventh of his career. But it wasn’t easy. Josh Spicer trailed the no. 19 “Kruz Missile” for most of the show, but he lost his position to Logan Spahr in the closing laps. Spahr then made a determined effort to get by Kepner, only to have third-place Spicer spin with three laps to go, taking the leaders out of traffic and setting up a duel at the finish. Despite intense pressure from Spahr, Kepner held [Read More]

Sweigart Dominates PASS Opener

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Apr. 19, 2025) — “Nitro Nick” Sweigart’s plan to focus on Port Royal Speedway in 2025 got off to a perfect start Saturday with a dominating victory in the 20-lap River Valley Builders PA Sprint Series feature at the “Speed Palace.” The veteran driver from Myerstown, already the leading career winner at Port Royal among active RaceSaver IMCA Sprint Car competitors, officially won Saturday’s feature by 1.399 seconds over Logan Spahr, but he had given up multiple large leads when the race’s four yellow flags waved, only to quickly rebuild his margins at the next green. Despite the efforts of several challengers, none could compete with the Jon Williams-owned no. 89. The win was Sweigart’s 12th in a PASS career that dates to 2017, but it was his eighth at Port Royal, where he trails only Garrett Bard (13) and Jeff Miller (12) in career victories. He and Miller are the only two-time champions of the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge at Port Royal, and he will defend his champion title when the race takes place on [Read More]

PASS going back to the Bullring

PATH VALLEY, Pa. (Sept. 19, 2024) – Two old sayings: “Good things come in small packages” and “It’s anybody’s ballgame.” That just about sums up the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series’ return to action this Saturday night, Sept. 21 at Path Valley Speedway. The mountainside quarter-mile in northern Franklin County, the site of more IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car events than any track in Pennsylvania, has produced more than 80 different winners in 200-plus races since Roger Ficketttook the first checkered flag on Aug. 4, 2000. This season has had only two races so far (plus a rainout), and nobody has finished in the top five in both. However, as many as 10 or more former winners should be in the field on Saturday, including Zach Rhodes and Kruz Kepner, winners of the two features run so far in 2024. Ken Duke can clinch the 2024 River Valley Builders PASS points championship Saturday, with one points-paying race yet to be run, but there are many tight battles elsewhere in the standings, including Rhodes and Kepner fighting for second spot. A strong field is [Read More]

Kepner goes high for Path Valley win

By Frank Buhrman SPRING RUN, Pa. (Aug. 17, 2024) – Sometimes you just have to stand out in the crowd. The field for Saturday’s River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature at Path Valley Speedway was hugging the inside of the quarter-mile bullring, so Kruz Kepner went high, made the outside work and earned the checkered flag for the 25-lap IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car event. The six-year veteran worked hard to make his no. 19 ride work near the top of the high-banked oval, but it paid off, enabling him to slip past rookie Kyle Hart on lap 15. Hart was looking for his first PASS win in only his ninth start, but he couldn’t get his car through lapped traffic at the bottom. Nor, for that matter, could anyone else, except the winner, who took the checkered flag by 1.363 seconds. Drew Young passed Hart on the last lap to take second, with Hart finishing a career-best third. Jarrett Cavalet came from ninth starting to finish fourth, with Austin Greenland posting a PASS career-best fifth. The feature ran non-stop, taking [Read More]

Sweigart sprints to second Keystone RaceSaver title

By Frank Buhrman and Stephanie Dodson PORT ROYAL, Pa. (July 20, 2024) – Nick Sweigart wired the field at Port Royal Speedway Saturday to become only the second driver ever to win the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series’ biggest race, the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, twice. The veteran driver, who returned to PASS last season after a couple of seasons running 410 sprints, collected his 11th career victory with his latest win. Seven of those have come at Port Royal. Sweigart joins Jeff Miller as the only drivers to win the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge twice in its 13 runnings. His seventh Port Royal win overall moved him into third place in overall PASS wins at the track, trailing only Miller and Garrett Bard, each with 12. In victory lane, the winner revealed that he plans to retire at the end of this season, making the win all the more meaningful. Owen Dimm, who joined Sweigart on the front row for the race start, finished second. Dimm was able to cut into Sweigart’s lead several times in [Read More]