Ryan Smith Claims Keith Kauffman Classic Crown
PORT ROYAL, Pa. — Saturday night brought 36 410 sprint cars to Port Royal Speedway to compete for the Keith Kauffman Classic presented by White Cap. Big names from all over the country including Kasey Kahne, Ashton Torgerson, and PA's own including Lance Dewease, Danny Dietrich, and Anthony Macri were in competition to take home the $15,000 prize. When the checkered flag waved, it was Ryan Smith alone at the top to claim his 2nd win of the 2025 season.
The 30 lap A-main event saw Kahne and Lucas Wolfe make up the front row and lead the field to the green flag. Four cars would battle for the top spot between Wolfe, Kahne, Troy Wagaman, and Ryan Smith, but Wolfe would lead the opening lap with Smith right behind him.
Smith, after starting outside of the 2nd row, would use his speed coming off of turn 4 on the opening lap, to drive to the inside of the 5W of Wolfe to get by and take the lead away.
Over the next 10 laps, Smith would open up his lead to nearly 3 seconds but as he would enter into lapped traffic, Lucas Wolfe would begin to close the gap.
Meanwhile, Dietz, who started in the 9th spot, had worked his way up to 3rd while battling with the likes of Anthony Macri and Troy Wagaman.
Coming to the line with 10 laps to go, Dietz was able to slide past Wolfe for the runner up spot while 12th starter Lance Dewease would follow suit to get by as well to take the 3rd position.
While those cars went to battle, Smith was able to up his lead back up to nearly three and a half seconds, but with 7 laps remaining a caution would restack the field for a wing panel coming off of Brock Zearfoss on the front stretch.
On the restart, Smith would surge to the front as Dewease and Dietz would briefly battle for 2nd spot over the next two laps.
With 5 laps remaining, Dietz found speed on the top side of the race track trying to track down the leader in Smith. He would continue to cut into the lead as he pulled alongside the 69K coming to 2 to go.
As just 2 laps remained in the A-main, Dietz would duck to the inside of Smith battle for the lead going into turn 1. Both cars jostling for position, Dietz would slide up the race track, narrowly avoiding contact with the 69K, hitting the turn 2 wall and giving Smith enough of a gap to hold on and win the Keith Kauffman Classic.
"The next thing I know there he is," said Smith in victory lane talking about the battle with Dietz, "I just kind of buried it in there and hope it stuck."
Dietz would hold on for 2nd and Lance Dewease would finish in 3rd.
Dewease would also claim the Ramsey's Car Wash Hard Charger award and the J&S Classics Warrior Award following the pill draw in victory lane would go to Michael Walter who finished in 15th.
For the USAC East Coast Wingless Sprint Cars, Dale Schweikert and Ed Aiken would make up the front row for their 25 lap A-main event.
Briggs Danner, who started in 4th, would work his way to the bottom in turns 1 and 2 and sneak past both Schweikert and Aiken to take the early lead.
Danner would lead the first 10 laps of the feature event before Tony Jackson would slow to a stop on the backstretch.
On the ensuing restart, Danner wouldn't be able to run away from the 2nd place running Kenny Miller III and Steven Drevicki. Those 3 cars would turn laps around The Speed Palace nearly nose to tail over the 15 remaining laps with Christian Bruno getting into the mix with just 9 laps remaining.
With 5 laps to go, Bruno would sneak by Drevicki on the front stretch to get into 3rd while Miller and Danner battled for the lead. Coming off of turn 4, Bruno would use a strong run on the bottom side of the track to move into the runner up spot.
Bruno would pull alongside Danner with 2 laps to go and a slowing lapped car got in the way of the leaders as he tried to exit the speedway, giving Bruno the opportunity to put a large enough gap to take the lead and take Danner out of his rhythm.
Briggs Danner would hold on to the 2nd spot and Kenny Miller III would finish in 3rd.
In wingless sportsman competition, Dexter Ehrenzeller and Steve Wilbur would lead the field to green for a 20 lap feature event which would see Wilbur take the early lead.
With 15 laps remaining, Tony Jackson would snag the 2nd spot away from Ehrenzeller and then would follow Wilbur closely around the race track over the next 10 laps.
With 5 laps remaining, Jackson was able to pull alongside Wilbur and take the lead away.
Wilbur was not able to run Jackson back down as Jackson would hold on for the win.
Wilbur would finish in 2nd and Billy Brian Jr would round out the top 3.
Port Royal Speedway will be right back in action on Sunday with The Battle in the Borough with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series racing for $10,000 to win and the Zimmerman Truck Repair limited late models racing for $2,000 to win.
For more information, visit portroyalspeedway.com or follow along on social media at Port Royal Speedway Trackside Media on Facebook or on X/Twitter @PortRoyalSpdway.
RESULTS
Keith Kauffman Classic
Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA
Saturday, April 26, 2025
410 Sprints - Winged (36 entries)
410 A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 69K-Ryan Smith[4]; 2. 23-Chase Dietz[9]; 3. 12D-Lance Dewease[12]; 4. 39M-Anthony Macri[5]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[2]; 6. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[6]; 7. 67-Justin Whittall[10]; 8. 9-Kasey Kahne[1]; 9. 48-Danny Dietrich[18]; 10. 55-Logan Wagner[15]; 11. 45-Jeff Halligan[11]; 12. 8E-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 13. 5-Brenham Crouch[3]; 14. 2-Gerard McIntyre Jr[21]; 15. 77-Michael Walter[17]; 16. 11-TJ Stutts[20]; 17. 47K-Kody Lehman[23]; 18. 5K-Jake Karklin[8]; 19. 22-Doug Hammaker[14]; 20. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[13]; 21. 66-Ryan Newton[24]; 22. 95-Garrett Bard[22]; 23. 99-Devin Adams[19]; 24. 27S-Robbie Kendall[16]
410 B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 2-Gerard McIntyre Jr[1]; 2. 95-Garrett Bard[4]; 3. 47K-Kody Lehman[3]; 4. 66-Ryan Newton[2]; 5. 55W-Mike Wagner[5]; 6. 12-Blane Heimbach[8]; 7. 75-Cameron Smith[6]; 8. 39-Derek Hauck[7]; 9. 35-Austin Bishop[12]; 10. 8-Billy Dietrich[10]; 11. 11T-Mike Thompson[14]; 12. 10-Jake Waters[16]; 13. 45S-Samuel Miller[11]; 14. 12J-Dylan Cisney[13]; 15. 11Z-Zach Newlin[9]; 16. 18J-JT Ferry[15]
410 Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 69K-Ryan Smith[1]; 2. 23-Chase Dietz[2]; 3. 8E-Brock Zearfoss[4]; 4. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 5. 77-Michael Walter[6]; 6. 47K-Kody Lehman[5]; 7. 55W-Mike Wagner[7]; 8. 11Z-Zach Newlin[8]; 9. 12J-Dylan Cisney[9]
410 Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]; 2. 9-Kasey Kahne[4]; 3. 45-Jeff Halligan[1]; 4. 55-Logan Wagner[5]; 5. 99-Devin Adams[7]; 6. 2-Gerard McIntyre Jr[2]; 7. 39-Derek Hauck[6]; 8. 45S-Samuel Miller[8]; 9. 18J-JT Ferry[9]
410 Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Brenham Crouch[2]; 2. 67-Justin Whittall[1]; 3. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[4]; 4. 27S-Robbie Kendall[3]; 5. 11-TJ Stutts[6]; 6. 95-Garrett Bard[7]; 7. 12-Blane Heimbach[9]; 8. 66-Ryan Newton[5]; 9. 11T-Mike Thompson[8]
410 Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 5K-Jake Karklin[2]; 2. 12D-Lance Dewease[1]; 3. 22-Doug Hammaker[6]; 4. 48-Danny Dietrich[3]; 5. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[4]; 6. 75-Cameron Smith[5]; 7. 8-Billy Dietrich[7]; 8. 35-Austin Bishop[8]; 9. 10-Jake Waters[9]
410 Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 8E-Brock Zearfoss, 00:15.832[4]; 2. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:15.865[3]; 3. 69K-Ryan Smith, 00:15.885[11]; 4. 45-Jeff Halligan, 00:15.996[9]; 5. 23-Chase Dietz, 00:15.999[6]; 6. 2-Gerard McIntyre Jr, 00:16.056[5]; 7. 1A-Ashton Torgerson, 00:16.093[7]; 8. 39M-Anthony Macri, 00:16.195[13]; 9. 47K-Kody Lehman, 00:16.212[2]; 10. 55-Logan Wagner, 00:16.282[10]; 11. 77-Michael Walter, 00:16.382[14]; 12. 39-Derek Hauck, 00:16.416[16]; 13. 55W-Mike Wagner, 00:16.478[17]; 14. 99-Devin Adams, 00:16.600[8]; 15. 11Z-Zach Newlin, 00:16.721[1]; 16. 45S-Samuel Miller, 00:17.042[18]; 17. 12J-Dylan Cisney[12]; 18. 18J-JT Ferry[15]
410 Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr, 00:16.042[2]; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 00:16.139[5]; 3. 67-Justin Whittall, 00:16.153[10]; 4. 12D-Lance Dewease, 00:16.190[14]; 5. 5-Brenham Crouch, 00:16.268[7]; 6. 5K-Jake Karklin, 00:16.299[1]; 7. 27S-Robbie Kendall, 00:16.367[6]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:16.414[12]; 9. 66-Ryan Newton, 00:16.423[4]; 10. 75-Cameron Smith, 00:16.453[3]; 11. 11-TJ Stutts, 00:16.608[15]; 12. 22-Doug Hammaker, 00:16.660[8]; 13. 95-Garrett Bard, 00:16.706[17]; 14. 8-Billy Dietrich, 00:16.770[11]; 15. 11T-Mike Thompson, 00:16.806[16]; 16. 35-Austin Bishop, 00:17.013[18]; 17. 12-Blane Heimbach, 00:17.043[13]; 18. 10-Jake Waters, 00:17.844[9]
Wingless Super Sportsman
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 88-Tony Jackson[4]; 2. (DNS) 59-Steve Wilbur; 3. (DNS) 16-Billy Brian Jr; 4. (DNS) 44-Dexter Ehrenzeller; 5. (DNS) 66-Trent Yoder; 6. (DNS) 07-Curt Stroup; 7. (DNS) 1A-Craig Perigo; 8. (DNS) 00-Troy Rhome; 9. (DNS) 69-Brandon Shearer; 10. (DNS) 99-Cliff Brian Jr; 11. (DNS) 63-Kevin Gutshall; 12. (DNS) 69H-Troy Hockenberry; 13. (DNS) 12-Andy Burkhart; 14. (DNS) 10-Matt Adams; 15. (DNS) 37-Jordan Fulton; 16. (DNS) 2A-Brett Perigo; 17. (DNS) 11-Chad Baker; 18. (DNS) 222-Jay Fannasy; 19. (DNS) 17S-Cooper Shue
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 59-Steve Wilbur[3]; 2. 2A-Brett Perigo[6]; 3. 69-Brandon Shearer[1]; 4. 07-Curt Stroup[10]; 5. 63-Kevin Gutshall[4]; 6. 222-Jay Fannasy[7]; 7. 69H-Troy Hockenberry[2]; 8. 99-Cliff Brian Jr[9]; 9. 11-Chad Baker[5]; 10. 17S-Cooper Shue[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Billy Brian Jr[1]; 2. 88-Tony Jackson[7]; 3. 44-Dexter Ehrenzeller[6]; 4. 66-Trent Yoder[9]; 5. 00-Troy Rhome[8]; 6. 1A-Craig Perigo[4]; 7. 37-Jordan Fulton[3]; 8. 12-Andy Burkhart[2]; 9. 10-Matt Adams[5]
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