Michael Walter Breaks Through For 1st Career Win at Port Royal
PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Michael Walter had come very close to winning his first career 410 sprint car race over the last handful of seasons, especially at Port Royal Speedway. On Saturday night, he parked in victory lane for the first time and took home a $5,000 payday.
Justin Whittall and Logan Wagner would make up the front row of the 25-lap A-main event which saw Whittall take the lead from the drop of the green flag.
The driver from New Jersey would lead the field through lapped traffic through the opening 15 laps while drivers like Brock Zearfoss, Lance Dewease, Billy Dietrich and Michael Walter would all battle inside the top 5.
With just 10 laps remaining, Lance Dewease would slow to a stop on the front stretch after reportedly losing his brakes which would bring his race to an end after running in 5th.
On the restart with 9 laps remaining, Logan Wagner would slide past Whittall to take the lead coming out of turn 4. Whittall would return the favor in turn 1 to regain the lead back as they would come to the line with 8 to go.
The two cars would trade positions over the next lap and while coming down the front stretch with 7 laps remaining, both cars would come together at the entrance of turn 1, sending both cars spinning into the outside wall and ending both drivers' race.
Following the accident, Michael Walter would inherit the lead. Walter, who had never won a 410 sprint car race entering the night, would hold on for the final 7 laps and visit victory lane for the 1st time in his career.
"I've always wanted to do this since I was a little kid," said Walter in victory lane. "I got super lucky Logan and Justin going for the win there, and sometimes you come out on top of those and sometimes you don't. This time I did."
Billy Dietrich would finish in the 2nd spot and Mike Wagner would round out the top 3.
In Penske Racing Shocks super late model competition, Gregg Saterlee would lead from start to finish to claim his 21st career Port Royal Speedway victory.
Saterlee would face challenges midway through the A-main event when faced with heavy lapped traffic in front of him which allowed Max Blair to close the gap between himself and the leader, but a timely caution allowed the field to reset giving Saterlee the clean air he needed to hold on for the win.
Saterlee, with the win, is now a guaranteed starter for next Sunday's Battle in the Borough versus the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. If Saterlee were to qualify for the main event next Sunday, the next highest finisher in April 19th event who does not qualify will be awarded the starting position.
In PennsValley Meat Market 305 sprint car competition, Nick Sweigart would start in 1st and finish in 1st.
He would have a lead as large as 5 seconds in points of the A-main only to be erased by cautions, but that didn't stop him from going unchallenged to the victory on Saturday night.
Logan Spahr would charge from a 13th starting position to finishing in the runner up spot and Mike Melair would finish in 3rd from 10th.
Port Royal Speedway will be back in competition on Saturday April 26th with the Keith Kauffman Classic paying $15,000 to win for the Weikert's Livestock 410 sprint cars which will be supported by the USAC East Coast Wingless Sprint Cars and wingless sportsman. The night's presenting sponsor is White Cap.
That night of action will be followed up on Sunday with The Battle in the Borough versus the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and supported by the Zimmerman Truck Repair Limited Late Models.
For more information, visit portroyalspeedway.com or follow along on social media at Port Royal Speedway Trackside Media on Facebook or @PortRoyalSpdway on X/Twitter.
FULL RESULTS:
410 A Feature 25 Laps | 00:19:10.960
77-Michael Walter[4]; 2. 8-Billy Dietrich[3]; 3. 55W-Mike Wagner[6]; 4. 8E-Brock Zearfoss[5]; 5. 12-Blane Heimbach[18]; 6. 99-Devin Adams[14]; 7. 2-Gerard McIntyre Jr[11]; 8. 5-Brenham Crouch[16]; 9. 95-Garrett Bard[9]; 10. 27S-Robbie Kendall[13]; 11. 35-Austin Bishop[10]; 12. 27H-Steven Snyder Jr[19]; 13. 11T-Mike Thompson[12]; 14. 28F-Davie Franek[22]; 15. 22-Doug Hammaker[21]; 16. 88J-Joey Amantea[17]; 17. 45-Jeff Halligan[7]; 18. 55-Logan Wagner[2]; 19. 67-Justin Whittall[1]; 20. 47K-Kody Lehman[24]; 21. 12D-Lance Dewease[8]; 22. 24B-Dustin Baney[20]; 23. 10-Jake Waters[23]; 24. M1-Mark Smith[15]
SLM A Feature 25 Laps | 00:21:15.857
22-Gregg Satterlee[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[3]; 3. 24E-Rick Eckert[2]; 4. 66C-Matt Cosner[5]; 5. D19-Dillan Stake[6]; 6. 48-Colton Flinner[7]; 7. 24-Dylan Yoder[13]; 8. 2J-Justin Weaver[9]; 9. 1Z-Logan Zarin[8]; 10. 72T-Trever Feathers[4]; 11. 1C-Alex Ferree[15]; 12. 9-Hayes Mattern[11]; 13. 32J-Shaun Jones[10]; 14. 18*-Dylan Cecce[21]; 15. 39-Tim Smith Jr[20]; 16. 86-Austin Berry[14]; 17. 06-Mike Lupfer[12]; 18. 4S-Danny Snyder[16]; 19. 7S-Ross Robinson[19]; 20. 4A-Amanda Robinson[23]; 21. 11H-JT Spence[22]; 22. 3-Tim Wilson[24]; 23. 66-Justin Kann[17]; 24. 74-Derick Quade[18]
305 A Feature 20 Laps | 00:20:03.728
89-Nick Sweigart[1]; 2. 5-Logan Spahr[13]; 3. 36-Mike Melair[10]; 4. 11-Dylan Smith[5]; 5. 88-Fred Arnold[4]; 6. 19-Kruz Kepner[25]; 7. 01-Timmy Bittner[12]; 8. 97-Kenny Heffner[18]; 9. 4J-Jacob Gomola[7]; 10. 42-Jim Pattock[22]; 11. 69P-Landon Price[20]; 12. 5V-Braeden Varner[21]; 13. 52-Jeff Weaver[24]; 14. 98-Croix Beasom[16]; 15. 12-Roger Irvine[15]; 16. 53W-Jimmy White[8]; 17. 25-Dustin Young[19]; 18. 20-Doug Dodson[3]; 19. 2-Erin Statler[11]; 20. 71-Josh Spicer[14]; 21. 46-Mike Alleman[23]; 22. 21C-Jarrett Cavalet[9]; 23. 44-John Braim[6]; 24. 99-Jonathan Swift[2]; 25. 25S-Zach Rhodes[17]; 26. 15-Alan Rhodes[26]
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