portroyalspeedway Archives

Sweigart rides high side to Port Royal PASS victory

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 20, 2024) – Two weeks ago, Nick Sweigart committed to the high side of Port Royal Speedway’s racing surface, and while his racing line thrilled the crowd, he needed some late attrition among other front-runners for it to result in a fourth-place finish in the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series makeup of the 2023 Keystone RaceSaver Challenge. This Saturday night was very different. Hanging high, and hitting the wall once, the Myerstown veteran shot from his sixth starting position into second on the opening lap, then got past early leader Ken Duke at the beginning of lap three. From that point on, Sweigart was atop the Speed Palace leaderboard and despite his critical appraisal of his driving over the last half of the race, he held his lead in traffic and scored a 2.159-second victory over defending PASS champion Logan Spahr, who took the runner-up spot from Duke on the final circuit of the 20-lap feature. The feature ran non-stop and was completed in less than seven minutes. Only [Read More]

PASS heads back to Port Royal this Saturday

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 18, 2024) – The River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series batting average has dropped to .333 after a second postponement in three 2024 tries, so it’s up to Port Royal Speedway to successfully negotiate with Mother Nature and get things back on track this Saturday night. PASSIMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car teams are set to join 410 sprints and super late models for a sure-to-be-wild, hope-to-be-dry show at Port Royal. This past Friday night’s Spring Sprint Spectacular at Williams Grove Speedway fell victim to soggy conditions and the likelihood of high winds. The PASS tour is scheduled to race at the Grove next on Friday, May 24. In the meantime, Port Royal looms large, with two programs in the next three weeks. On Saturday, May 4, the same program of 410 sprints, super lates and River Valley PASS IMCA RaceSavers will bring out the cars and drivers again. Both the upcoming Port shows already have 40 or more teams preregistered. Heading that list is Keystone RaceSaver Challenge winner Ken Duke, runner-up [Read More]

Duke adds Keystone Challenge to IMCA RaceSaver resume

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 6, 2024) – Drew Young and Doug Dodson seemed ready to settle the 12th annual Keystone RaceSaver Challenge between themselves; third-running Ken Duke admitted he had nothing for the leaders. Then, with two laps to go in the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series’ biggest race of the year Saturday at Port Royal Speedway, both Young and Dodson slowed with flat tires. Duke admitted he broke out in a smile when he saw that had happened. He had the lead, but he had veteran Roger Irvine, 2023 PASS points runner-up Zach Rhodes, Jeffrey Weaver and high-riding Nick Sweigert on his bumper for the restart. Known for strong restarts, Duke didn’t flinch, but then he had to do it again after Rhodes brought out the caution with yet another flat tire with one lap to go. No matter. Duke’s second restart was as good as the first, and the two-time PASS champion and 2019 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Ca national champion again held off the challenges and returned to victory [Read More]

The numbers add up: PASS is rocking in 2024

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 3, 2024) – The River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series isn’t usually like NASCAR, starting the season with its biggest race, but thanks to last weekend’s rainout at Path Valley Speedway and last October’s weather issues at Port Royal Speedway, that’s what’s happening in 2024. The new season gets underway Saturday, April 6 at Port Royal with the 12th annual Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, postponed from 2023 to become the ultimate season opener in 2024. The race has received a significant sponsorship boost from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the division is sponsored at Port Royal by Penns Valley Meat Market. With nearly a week before the green flag, the pre-registration (entry) list has topped 50 and may be headed toward one of its highest totals ever. With 410 sprint car racing also on tap, plus that many IMCA/RaceSaver Sprinters fighting for a spot in the KRC starting field, this is a day of racing not to be missed. Even if this wasn’t the Keystone, though, all signs point [Read More]

Heffner joins list of 2023 PASS winners

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (July 15, 2023) – Kenny Heffner came out on top of a fierce, three-way battle for the lead Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, re-taking the top spot from Zach Rhodes with two laps to go to win the 20-lap feature for the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Veteran Roger Irvine, who led early in the race and was the other racer in the fight for victory, came home third. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car barnburner had a story for each of the drivers seeking the win. For Heffner, the victory was his career fourth and third at Port Royal, but his first since joining with former PASS regular Cale Reigle as car owner. Rhodes was seeking his first-ever PASS victory, although he won a Virginia Sprint Series feature earlier this year at Winchester, Va. Irvine has been a PASS racer since 2004, skipping a couple of years along the way and driving only once or twice in others, and has four career wins, but the last was [Read More]

Young wins first PASS feature, Spahr streak ends at six

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (June 3, 2023) – Drew Young had been getting closer and closer. The third-year driver broke through Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, winning the 20-lap River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature and ending Logan Spahr’s 2023 undefeated streak. Young’s third-place finish in the second heat race put him in the feature redraw, where he drew the outside of the front row and then led all the way, masterfully handling traffic in the non-stop race to score a 5.328 second victory over Mike Melair, who registered his second runner-up finish of 2023. It has been an impressive climb for Young, who had never driven a race car before he brought his IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car out for the first in August of 2020. After four races that season, he became a regular in 2021 and earned three top-10 finishes in 20 starts. He added a pair of top-five’s last season and has regularly been more competitive this year, including taking a second at Port Royal on May 6 [Read More]

Spahr streak to six with latest Port Royal PASS checkers

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 27, 2023) – The Logan Spahr dream season continued Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway when the Lewisberry driver captured his sixth straight River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature win of 2023 in the 20-lap race that was part of the Bob Weikert Memorial weekend featuring the All Star Circuit of Champions. The race ended up nearly a copy of the previous Saturday’s win (number five) at Selinsgrove Speedway: Spahr drew an advantageous third starting position for the feature, but then had to follow a determined early leader, in this case Jared Zionkowski. Spahr caught Zionkowski in traffic just past the race’s midway point and executed the winning pass on lap 14, going outside a slower car as Zionkowski passed inside. Finally, as with the previous week, a late caution flag gave Spahr’s challenger one last shot, but Spahr was up to the task and pulled away for a three-second final margin of victory. Zionkowski, a former semi-regular with PASS, nearly made his return after a season’s [Read More]

Spahr continues PASS streak at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 6, 2023) – The more things change, the more they stay the same. The change was a River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature race run Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway without a rain cancellation for the first time since the middle of last month. The consistency was Logan Spahr, who remained undefeated on the season by taking his third straight IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win, with a victory margin of 2.595 seconds over runner-up Drew Young. It was actually win number four in a row for Spahr, who won 2022’s season-ending Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, and five of PASS’s last six races. It was his second 2023 win at the Port and third of a three-year career in the KR MacDonald/High Tech Metals/RL Snyder Electric no. 5 owned by Wally Eshenaur. He made it look easy, taking advantage of drawing the pole starting slot and leading all 20 feature laps. Young, who started alongside Spahr on the front row, dogged him all the way but had to [Read More]

Spahr picks up where he left off with win at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 8, 2023) – After hitting his stride at the end of the 2022 River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series season, Logan Spahr picked up right where he left off Saturday night. Spahr wired the field to capture the 20-lap 2023 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car main event at Port Royal Speedway, where the series is sponsored by Penns Valley Meat Market. The race kicked off the Silver Anniversary season for PASS, one of the oldest IMCA RaceSaver regional groups in the nation. Spahr led a youth movement that also included runner-up Seth Schnoke (3.07 seconds back), fourth-place Dylan Shatzer and fifth-place Zach Rhodes. Another member of the youth contingent, Owen Dimm, came home sixth. That left it up to third-finishing Ken Duke Jr. of Selinsgrove to uphold the honor of the veterans, and his run did so nicely. Duke is hardly ancient, but he has more PASS starts (238) and victories (22) than the other top-five finishers combined (131 and three, respectively). Spahr, who moved from micro-sprints into full-sized [Read More]

Trying again, PASS heads to Port Royal this Saturday

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 4, 2023) – The anticipation was already sky high. Now it’s much higher. Foiled by Mother Nature in its effort to get the season started last weekend, the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series re-charges and heads to Port Royal Speedway this Saturday for its Silver Anniversary inaugural race. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car portion of the program will include qualifying events and a 20-lap feature. Nearly a week before the race, 35 drivers had already indicated their intentions of racing, including nine of the top 10 from 2022 points. They include runner-up Austin Reed, third-finishing Doug Dodson, fourth-finishing and two-time former champ Ken Duke and fifth-finishing Kruz Kepner. Dodson was a Port winner in last season’s PASS opener at the track, and Duke scored the first of his two Port wins four years ago this weekend. Reed and Kepner have both posted runner-up finishes and are ready to move up a spot. Logan Spahr is the most recent Port winner in a RaceSaver car, having claimed last [Read More]