FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
4/25/15
Port Royal –
Cody Darrah of Red Lion made a triumphant return to Port Royal Speedway on
Saturday Night to claim nearly $20,000 in the 12th running of the
prestigious All Star Circuit of Champions Sprints Bob Weikert Memorial.
In an emotional
victory lane ceremony, the former Kasey Kahne Racing driver credited Tony
Stewart for the initiative he is putting into the All Stars as the clubs new
owner while he also noting his appreciation of winning in front of a
Pennsylvania crowd again, with his family all around him after spending several
seasons touring across the nation.
The victory was
the second of Darrah’s career at the track and it came after several tense
moments during the 40-lap Weikert A Main.
In taking the
checkers, Darrah became just the second All Star touring driver to claim a win
at the historic oval over the Pennsylvania Posse drivers in a history that dates
back to 1981.
The initial start
of the feature event was called back when Danny Dietrich got sideways in the
first corner as the green flag unfurled, making contact with pre-race favorite
Greg Hodnett.
Dietrich, aboard a
replica Weikert’s Livestock No. 29 sprinter, and defending event winner Hodnett
were done for the nigh.
When action
resumed, second starter Darrah and polesitter Brent Marks displayed awesome
high-speed acrobatics as they repeatedly pulled slide jobs on one another to
gain control over the first two laps.
Marks would lead
the first lap at the line with Darrah going out front at the line with two
circuits completed after a daring and dangerous run at Marks as the pair shot
through the fourth turn that saw the two drive toward the outside wall as they
raced inches apart, both refusing to surrender the position.
Marks went back at
Darrah in the first corner after crossing the line and swooped low to try a pass
only to have Sheldon Haudenschild instead capitalize and motor by into second.
The front runners
entered the backmarkers on the seventh loop and that’s when Marks reclaimed
second with a big turn two slide job on Haudenschild that saw Sheldon give Marks
a sender as the Myerstown driver slid up in front to take the line away.
From there Marks
began trying to keep pace with Darrah as the leader continued to pile up lap
money at the clip of $100 per lap.
During a caution
for a stopped Steve Buckwalter on the 16th lap the race went red for
a fuel stop and when action returned Marks took a shot at Darrah deep in the
first turn.
But Darrah ran his
momentum through the turns to pull back around Marks as the duo raced onto the
backstretch before again entering traffic with 18 laps to go.
Darrah worked
heavy and hectic lapped traffic during the last half of the race, pulling slide
jobs on some and slingshots on others to work around the backmarkers and
disaster nearly struck with four laps to go when he made heavy contact with
Caleb Helms as the pair raced onto the frontstretch.
The contact send
Helms hard into the outside wall although he escaped injury.
And then Darrah
jetted away to the finish for the win that included the posted $15,000 winner’s
share plus another $3,900 in lap money.
And when added in,
an additional $100 for winning his heat race earlier in the night made his total
event take an even $19,000.
Marks was happy
with his second place run and said his race with Darrah early when the pair
swapped the lead repeatedly was quite enjoyable.
After starting
12th, Dave Blaney blasted through the pack to pass his brother Dale
for third on the 15th lap, where he would finish the night on the
podium.
Dale Blaney ended
up fourth with Ryan Smith finishing fifth.
Sixth through
10th went to Aaron Ott, Lucas Wolfe, Brock Zearfoss and Lance
Dewease.
Wolfe took home
the $200 Hard Charger Award for his run from 19th to eighth.
Dave Blaney
pocketed the $350 Raymond Jacobs Fast Time Award after turning in a lap of
15.909 seconds in time trials over the 44-car field.
Heats, worth $100
each, went to Ryan Smith, Marks, Dale Blaney, Dave Ely and Darrah,
Marks took another
$100 for claiming the dash while Lance Dewease won the B Main.
Nate Snyder was
honored with a $500 award in honor of late speedway president Gerald Clark as
the first non-qualifer.
Tim Fedder of
Newport won the first econo late model feature of his career in a crash-plagued
event.
Eric Irvin was
second followed by Andrew Yoder, Shaun Miller and Jared Fulkroad.
Twin heats went to
Devin Hart and Troy Miller.
Jason Davis won
the xtreme stock feature event to close the night over a hard charging Pete
Leister with Jason Zook finishing third.
Race Results:
Feature
Finishes
4/25/15
410 sprints, 40 laps:
1. Cody
Darrah, 2. Brent Marks, 3. Dave Blaney, 4. Dale Blaney, 5. Ryan Smith, 6.
Sheldon Haudenschild, 7. Aaron Ott, 8. Lucas Wolfe, 9. Brock Zearfoss, 10. Lance
Dewese, 11. Danny Holtgraver, 12. Dave Ely, 13. Mike Wagner, 14. Steve
Buckwalter, 15. Paige Polyak, 16. Chad Kemenah, 17. Ryan Taylor, 18. Doug Esh,
19. Blane Heimbach, 20. Rick Lafferty, 21. Dylan Cisney, 22. Davey Sammons, 23.
Andrew Palker, 24. Parker Price Miller, 25. Caleb Helms, 26. Tim Shaffer, 27.
Greg Hodnett, 28. Danny Dietrich
DNQ: Karl Baker, Daryl
Stimeling, Rodney Westhafer, Wayne Dadetto, Dave Hahn, Nicole Bower, Danny
Smith, Nate Snyder, Travis Philo, Justin Barger, Tim Glafelter, Joey Hershey,
Greg Wilson, Tyler Bear, Logan Wagner, Curt Stroup
355 econo late models, 18
laps: 1.
Tim Fedder, 2. Eric Irvin, 3. Andrew Yoder, 4. Shaun Miller, 5. Jared Fulkroad,
6. Ralph Morgan Jr., 7. Harold Ranck, 8. Garrett Gray, 9. Bobby Ballentine, 10.
Curt Dunn, 11. Ken Beck, 12. Devin hart, 13. Troy Miller, 14. Jason Nace, 15.
Dillan Stake, 16. Chase Bowsman
DNS: Rod
Stroup
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