PORT ROYAL - Greg Hodnett, of Thomasville, led all but the first lap of the 30-lap Weikert's Livestock UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions Bob Weikert Memorial sprint car race at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night.
For his second win in a row in the prestigious event and third overall, Hodnett pocketed $10,000 for the victory plus $2,900 in lap money. It was his third win of the season so far at the track and the 27th overall of his career.
In the 15-lap pro stock main, John Heane led the entire distance for his first win of the season.
Article Photos
Sentinel photo by TIM SHUMAKER
The Bob Weikert Memorial All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint car race held at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night finds Greg Hodnett (39)?leading third-place finisher Dave Gravel into turn two.
David Gravel started on the pole and flew the All Star colors high throughout the event after leading the first circuit, as did third starter Danny Holtgraver. After Gravel led the first circuit of the race Hodnett pulled a slider in the first corner to take the lead in his bid for the victory.
His pace was halted before three laps could be completed, however, when fifth starter Stevie Smith looped his car exiting the second corner and got hit hard by Blane Heimbach.
The red flag unfurled for the accident that saw Heimbach's No. 12 turn over. There were no injuries.
Hodnett restarted in control and the final 28 laps went non-stop at a torrid pace.
Holtgraver motored into second with 11 down and for a short time was able to close on leader Hodnett as he worked lapped traffic.
But Hodnett did nothing except extend his lead over the last half of the event to find himself racing toward the checkered flag on the backstretch as his closest pursuers crossed the stripe to complete the 29th loop.
Holtgraver crossed as runner up to collect $3,500 for the finish followed by Gravel, who pocketed $2,500 plus another $100 for leading the first lap.
The top three finishers received jackets from the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
Fourth went to Sam Hafertepe Jr. with Paul McMahan finishing fifth to give the All Stars three of the top five finishing positions. Sixth through 10th went to All Stars East point leader Daryn Pittman, Dale Blaney, Aaron Ott, Mark Smith and Fred Rahmer.
Heat races for the 38-car field worth $100 each in honor of late journalist Jerry Reigle and sponsored by hoseheads.com went to Tim Shaffer, Chad Layton, Brian Montieth and Doug Esh.
Jac Haudenschild set fast time over the stellar field with a fast lap of 15.693 seconds, just off of the track record of 15.652. Haudenschild pocketed $200 for his efforts.
Gravel won the dash to earn the pole for the feature and set a new six-lap track record with a time of 1:40.595. Rahmer set a new 12-lap track record by scoring the B Main with a time of 3:30.028.
Mike Erdley, who suffered motor ills in warm-ups and scratched for the night, and Nate Snyder each received $100 as the highest drivers in Port Royal points who failed to qualify for the event.
Heane, of McClure, withstood a pair of restarts as the leader of the pro stock feature. He led the entire way with second place being swapped several times between Dave Brouse Jr. and A.J. Stroup.
Stroup secured the spot in the end with Brouse ending up third followed by one-time winner Jeff Bryner and Harold Ranck.
Sixth through 10th went to Derrick Garman, Nate Fisher, Scott Landis, Matt Hornberger and Andrew Shoop. Twin heats went to Stroup and Brouse Jr.
Stroup set a new one-lap track record in the division during his heat race by posting a time of 24.077 seconds. Brouse established a new five-lap track record in his heat by posting a time of 2:02.541.
The speedway returns to action on May 5 with 410 sprint cars, late models and ARDC Midgets plus a make up late model feature held over from March 31.
