Erdley takes sprint car feature at Port Royal

Article Photos

PORT ROYAL - Mike Erdley ran the wheels off his sprint car Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.

Erdley's right rear tire was worn out following the 25-lap feature but stood in victory lane $3,000 richer as well as cool, calm and collected.

"We learned a lot that day (Bug Day), we come up here," Erdley said. "We did use some of it tonight. I think we were pretty good. I just had to bide my time and wait for my opportunity. I don't know how close (Greg) Hodnett was but I imagine he was coming."

Hodnett finished second. Erdley used lapped traffic to his advantage while passing Rick Lafferty exiting turn two during Lap 22.

"Lafferty was a little better up on top," Erdley said. "I was neutral up there with him. I could leave the top but I noticed a couple laps down here (Turns 1 and 2). He pulled down and got to hanging and wasn't quite as good off the curb. I saw a lapped car coming and it just worked our way.

"Any win you can get is hard to come by and, I'm glad to get them," Erdley continued. "You used to be able to come up here and for our team we (thought) we had a pretty good chance to run the top five. It's tough sledding up here right now. There's a lot of good cars here."

Laffery started second and grabbed the lead on the start. T.J. Winegarderner brought out the first caution flag during the initial lap when he spun his No. 11 car in Turn 2. Keith Kauffman and Greg Hodnett were forced to take evasive action to avoid hitting Winegardner but got by without incident.

Winegardner rejoined the field at the rear and finished 14th.

Action resumed for one lap before the race was stopped for John BrennFleck of Ewing, N.J. who hit the wall in Turn 4 and flipped but was not injured. The accident, however, ended his night of racing with a last-place finish.

The final caution period came during Lap 11 when Joey Hershey stopped his car just short of the pit entrance in Turn 1 and was finished for the night.

Erdley chased Lafferty until the winning pass during Lap 22. Hodnett moved by Pat Cannon on Lap 22 for third place and, two laps later, grabbed second spot from Lafferty.

Lafferty took third with Cannon fourth and Alan Cole fifth. Mark Smith, Todd Shaffer, Cliff Brian, Sean Michael and Kauffman completed the top 10.

Heat races for the 24-car field were won by Kauffman, Cole and Lafferty.

The makeup late model feature was won by Scotty Haus. It was his second win of the season. Haus took advantage of a miscue by race leader Bob Dunn exiting Turn 2 to grab the lead during Lap 13. Haus claimed he was fortunate saying later that he "just got lucky tonight."

Tim Gray started on the pole and led the first seven laps before disaster struck. Gray spun his car in front of the field in Turn 4. He restarted and completed 10 laps before being forced to the pit area with mechanical problems and a 17th-place finish.

Dunn took over the lead until Haus gained control. At the finish, Haus and Dunn were trailed by Tim Fedder, Gary Beward and Mitch Hack. Filling out the top 10 were Mike Hess, Waylon Wagner, Jason Miller, Jeff Johnson and Tyler Hershey.

The race was originally scheduled for March 28 and Jeff Rine, Mike Romig and Mike Lupfer were qualified for the feature but failed to return.

In the regularly-scheduled late model feature, Eric Zembower of Bedford and Waylon Wagner of Lewistown ran side by side for most of the second half of the race.

Zembower just held off Wagner to earn his second career late model win at the Juniata County oval.

"It's like Jeff Burton said, 'you never know when you're going to win your last race,'" Zembower said. "It's been four or five years so this is quite the surprise tonight. We work hard and (have) great guys that help me and we love Port Royal."

But Zembower and Wagner received a scare while chasing early race leader Bryon Sipe.

Zembower too second from Wagner on Lap 4. As the leaders raced into Turn 2, Sipe spun his car in front of the pair.

"(Sipe) started to get a little bit loose," Zembower said. "He was running a good race. This is tough here, you know, it gets slick. I was on the outside and Waylon was running good on the inside and I was lucky enough to get around him before the caution came out. If not it could have been the other way around."

Following Zembower and Wagner were Derick Casner, Scotty Haus, and Matt Parks. Sixth through 10th were Tim Fedder, Jason Miller, Mike Hess, Jere Wierman and Tyler Hershey. Heat races for the 31-car field were won by Hack, Parks and Rick Singleton. Tim Burkholder won the consie.

Bobby Hockenberry started seventh en route to winning the 20-lap super sportsman feature. Hockenberry, of New Bloomfield, grabbed the lead from Leroy Martin on Lap 18. Martin started on the pole and had led until Hockenberry took over.

Several cautions and one red flag slowed the event. Paul Martin flipped during a restart following a Lap 18 caution flag for Chad Criswell who stopped in Turn 3. Both drivers were finished for the night but neither was injured.

Martin settled for second with Jay Fannasy third. Carmen Perigo Jr., and Rich Eichelberger thrilled the crowd while finishing fourth and fifth. Periogo advanced 14 positions in the feature while Eichelberger gained 16 spots. Doug Hendricks, Gregg Foster, Mike Enders, Frankie Herr and Rick Barr completed the top 10. Herr gained 14 positions after starting 23rd. Heat races were won by Hockenberry, Enders, and Foster. Barr won the consie. Thirty-one cars were pit side.

Action continues April 18 with two feature events for the pro stocks. The sprint cars and late models compete in their regular programs with racing to begin at 7 p.m.