pennsylvaniasprintseries Archives

Grube prevails in PASS headliner at Port Royal

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]

Duke rules PASS at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, PA. (APRIL 24) – “It seems like forever since we won a race.” For 2019 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national and Pennsylvania Sprint Series champion Ken Duke Jr., that was an understandable thought. After scoring eight victories in that magical season, he only visited victory lane once in 2020, on July 11 at his hometown Selinsgrove Speedway. There were plenty of good finishes – 12 top five’s – but then only the one last year and none so far in 2021, so it made Saturday’s Port Royal Speedway win, the 17th victory of his PASS career, special. “We got a good pill draw tonight (starting second in the feature),” Duke said from victory lane. “The track was to our liking. They did a great job with the surface here. We got lucky, we started on the front row that makes things so much easier.” Duke slipped past fellow front-row starter Rowdy Heffner in the second turn of the first lap and was untouchable in clean air, but some struggling in [Read More]

PASS joins Open Wheel Madness at Port Royal

PORT ROYAL, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Sprint Series will be a part of Open Wheel Madness Saturday, April 24 at Port Royal Speedway. It’s the first of three Madness shows for PASS IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car teams; the others will be July 17 and Aug. 21. PASS will run a 20-lap feature each night at the Juniata County Speed Palace. This weekend’s show will be the second of 11 scheduled for PASS at Port Royal this season. ‘Nitro’ Nick Sweigart took the first on April 3. In the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, PASS raced at the Port seven times, with Garrett Bard winning four of those events on his way to series, KMJ Performance State and IMCA RaceSaver National titles; he also was Port Royal track champ. Sweigart captured two wins and Derek Hauck won once. Sweigart and Bard are pre-registered for Saturday’s race, as is 2019 PASS, IMCA RaceSaver National and Port Royal Speedway champion Ken Duke Jr. Nathan Gramley, the 2016 track champion, also is expected. All total, more than 50 teams have pre-registered for the race. Gates open [Read More]

Home track hero McGee gets first PASS win at Path Valley

By Frank Buhrman SPRING RUN, Pa. (April 17) – Full circle. Mikell McGee, a fourth-generation member of the family that built Path Valley Speedway, collected his first Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature victory in Saturday night’s 25-lap feature at his home track. In only his tenth PASS race, McGee survived a fierce battle – and contact – with Kenny Heffner, who also was seeking his first PASS win. Then there was the green, white, checkered finish with defending PASS and IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national champion Garrett Bard on his bumper. McGee faced and rose above those challenges and came home the winner. Bard hung on for second, with second-year PASS driver Rowdy Heffner scoring a career-best third. Will Brunson also posted a career-best finish with his fourth and was the evening’s hard charger, advancing nine positions after starting 13th. Austin Reed completed the top five. The night was most disappointing for Heffner, who grabbed the early lead after fellow front-row starter Justin Mills jumped the cushion and had to retire his car. That made McGee Heffner’s [Read More]

Mills scores first PASS win at Selinsgrove

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (April 10) – Justin Mills narrowly outran fellow New Yorker Christian Rumsey in a one-lap shootout Saturday to claim his first Pennsylvania Sprint Series win in a 20-lap feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. Mills started third and chased polesitter Rumsey for a dozen laps before making the pass for the lead on lap 13. Rumsey hung tough and continued to challenge, though, and when the race was stopped with one lap to go he had a last chance, but Mills was up to the task and edged his challenger by less than one tenth of a second at the checkered flag. “That was a long red flag,” Mills said in victory lane. “I was just thinking where I should go, top or bottom. I knew the oil was there, so I was trying not to run into that. It just all worked out good.” The win was Mills’ first in an IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car. In a 10-race rookie season with PASS in 2020, Mills was usually fast but a fourth [Read More]

Sweigart finds lightning on top side in Port Royal PASS win

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 3) – ‘Nitro’ Nick Sweigart found lightning in the extreme top groove at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night. Sweigart outdueled Dave Grube II, Garrett Bard and the rest of a 54-car Pennsylvania Sprint Series field to win the 20-lap IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature at the Juniata County Speed Palace. The early battle between defending national and series champion Bard and Grube set the initial standard. On lap seven, the inside-running Grube made the lead pass, but Josh Bricker tipped over on the front stretch, bringing out the red and negating Grube’s run. Sweigart joined the fray on the ensuring restart and the leaders pulled away in a furious battle, with Grube running low, Bard high, and Sweigart higher. After a few laps, Bard began to fade and Grube and Sweigart engaged of several laps of exchanging the lead before the latter finally won the duel. By this time, Ken Duke Jr. had moved into the top five from 14th starting position, but the final five laps saw [Read More]

Hanson takes PASS thriller at Lincoln Speedway

By Frank Buhrman ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. (March 27) – Jaremi Hanson survived a fierce, multi-lap battle, and serious contact with Mikell McGee, then held off Doug Dodson’s last-lap challenge to win the Pennsylvania Sprint Series 20-lap feature for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars Saturday at Lincoln Speedway. Dodson came home less than a quarter of a second behind Hanson, with Dom Melair, who also had a shot at the leader before being passed by Dodson on the next-to-last lap, finishing third. McGee, who led the first six laps, was fourth, with North Carolina invader Daren Bolac fifth. Hanson had started outside the front row, but pole-starting McGee grabbed the early lead, with a fierce battle behind them for the next several positions. That battle collected Ohio’s Justin Clark, who backed into the second turn rail and rolled over on lap seven. He was not injured, but the car was done. On the restart, Hanson made what turned out to be the winning pass. The scene changed again following a lap 19 caution that set up the final [Read More]

Nagy rules opening event for Mid-Atlantic, PA Sprint series

By Frank Buhrman SWEDESBORO, N.J. (March 26) – Veteran Kevin Nagy started on the pole Friday night at Bridgeport Motorsports Park and held off multiple challenges and challengers to lead all 25 laps and score the feature win on Day 1 of the track’s Kingdom of Speed Weekend. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car event was co-sanctioned by the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series, which hosted, and the Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Entries numbered 37. Nagy first fought off outside front-row starter Phil Meisner, then dealt with challenges from Rick Stief. Finally, Dave Brown took over second and mounted attacks on the race’s last two restarts, narrowly failing to displace the winner. At the checkers, Nagy led Brown across the line by 1.736 seconds, with Dom Melair finishing 1.205 seconds farther back in third, a position he held despite a broken front wing. Feature results – 1. Kevin Nagy; 2. Dave Brown; 3. Dom Melair; 4. Rory Janney; 5. Bryant Davis; 6. Larry McVay; 7. Zack Bealer; 8. Cody West; 9. John Brennfleck; 10. Eddie Wagner; 11. Rich Janney; 12. Josh [Read More]

PASS honors champion Bard, other top performers at 2020 banquet

By Frank Buhrman MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (Jan. 23) – The Pennsylvania Sprint Series found a way to hold its 2020 awards banquet – just as it had been able to race 28 times last year despite COVID-19 restrictions and concerns – and it honored 2020 champion Garrett Bard and other top finishers from that against-the-odds successful season. Bard, the Wells Tannery driver, also won the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car national championship, the KMJ Performance Pennsylvania State championship and the division title at four tracks the series frequents. Because the IMCA national banquet was canceled last year, PASS attempted to have IMCA Vice President of Operations Jim Stannard connect via Zoom to congratulate Bard, but technical gremlins interfered. Also honored in person were the other drivers finishing in the top five in the 2020 PASS standings: Doug Dodson of Middletown (second); Ken Duke Jr. of Selinsgrove (third); Landon Price of Fleetwood (fourth); and John Walp of Wapwallopen (fifth). Duke was the 2019 PASS champion and also claimed the national IMCA RaceSaver title, the first driver from Pennsylvania [Read More]

Lincoln Speedway PASS checkers fly again for Bard

By Frank Buhrman ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. (Sept. 25) – Garrett Bard made it two-for-two at Lincoln Speedway Friday with a convincing Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature win. Bard brushed aside a bad heat race starting draw and won that event, then moved from his fourth starting position to second on the opening lap and passed early leader Ken Duke Jr. following a lap four restart to take control of the feature. He held off a charging Devin Adams at the end of a race that highlighted several of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car series “young lions.” Bard had led all 20 laps for a July 4 win at Lincoln, countering Doug Dodson’s bid for the lead. This time, while Adams closed the gap on the leader in the final couple of laps, Bard’s mastery of traffic kept his lead safe. Duke ended up third, ahead of recent high school graduate Justin Mills and Derek Hauck. Feature results – 1. Garrett Bard; 2. Devin Adams; 3. Ken Duke Jr.; 4. Justin Mills; 5. Derek Hauck; 6. Dave Grube II; 7. [Read More]