Macri returns to winning ways at Port Royal
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PORT ROYAL--Coming off a rough stretch of racing during Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek, Anthony Macri returned to form and to victory lane Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.
Macri, 22, of Dillsburg took the lead late in the 25-lap main event from Lucas Wolfe earning $4,000 for his third 410-sprint win of the season, and fourth overall at Port Royal including a 360-sprint win.
"Speedweek was brutal," Macri said. "Mentally exhausting. I took a vacation and went to Florida for a week because I needed to get away from racing and have an escape and clear my head. Speedweek beat me up pretty bad. Got to put that in the past, move on, and that's what we did tonight."
Early in the night, it looked like his luck might not be much different. When Macri returned to his pits after getting heat in his engine, mechanic Jim Shuttlesworth noted a noisy ignition magneto, so the team changed engines, but missed practice laps.
"I fired the car off for heat in the motor and I knew it didn't sound right," Macri said. "I brought it back to the pits and we took the hood off, and realized it was the mag, and we tried to change motors in time for hot laps, but we missed it by about two minutes."
Despite the challenges, Macri ended up where he wanted to be.
"We had to keep pushing through," he said. "I knew if I did my job, and Jim did his job, everybody did their job during the motor change, and it paid off."
Steve Buckwalter raced into the feature lead over Wolfe and Kody Lehman. Macri started sixth advancing to third in the opening laps.
A yellow slowed the race with four laps completed, erasing Buckwalter's 1.161-second lead.
Wolfe went after Buckwalter on the start. They swapped the lead a few times before settling back into place with Macri watching from third.
As Buckwalter secured the lead again, Macri passed Wolfe for second, but another yellow negated that pass.
Wolfe got a perfect restart staying right with Buckwalter and taking the lead as they raced through turns three and four with 15 laps to go.
"I had a good restart the first time and dove under him, but that allowed him to see me and cross back under," Wolfe said. "The next start, he went to defend that which allowed me good speed off his right rear and I had great exit speed off two, and was able to get in front and lead some laps."
Wolfe pulled away as Macri worked on Buckwalter for second. He'd take the spot off turn two with Wolfe ahead by 1.371-seconds.
Macri quickly cut into Wolfe 's lead ducking under him in the corners. Wolfe's line near the top of the turns kept him out front.
Wolfe lost some momentum as he started lapping slower cars and that was what Macri needed as he worked the lead away from with eight to go.
"I knew I had the car to win," Macri said. "It definitely didn't come easy. I had to work for it. I had to search around. The top was definitely fast. I had a good enough car that I could go to the bottom in one and two, and get a good exit. At one point, I knew Lucas saw me and I was worried he knew I was running the bottom, but luckily he left it open for me, and I was able to pass him and maintain and make smart decisions from there."
Meanwhile, point leader and three-time track champion Logan Wagner had raced into the top five after slipping back to ninth earlier in the race. He and Dylan Cisney swapped third spot a few times over the final laps with Wagner getting the spot.
Macri won by 2.179 seconds over Wolfe.
"It's a better night all together," Wolfe said. "I've had a couple which is certainly what we're trying to achieve. There's a lot of really good spots, and some weak spots. It's the full spectrum. It's tough to give races away whatever the circumstances. Anthony goes good here. I was able to move around after he got in front, and did an okay job of matching his pace some laps."
Wagner picked up his ninth podium finish of the season in 14 races. Cisney and Jeff Halligan completed the top five.
Lehman, Buckwalter, Trenton Sheaffer, AJ Flick and Tyler Walton rounded out the top 10. Heat races for the 26 cars went to Cisney, Wolfe and Lehman.
Jared Esh finished second in his heat race, but required immediate medical attention after being struck by a clump of mud. He was transported to a local hospital for facial injuries, but was otherwise okay. He was scheduled to start third in the main event.
Danville's Jeff Rine picked up his second Port Royal win of the season in the main event for the super late models earning $3,000. Rine started fourth and had a spirited battle with polesitter Rick Eckert for the top spot before Eckert dropped out late in the race.
Dylan Yoder charged from the 17th starting spot to finish second. Dillan Stake, 24th starter Colton Flinner and 13th starter Gary Stuhler completed the top five. Ross Robinson, 14th starter Justin Weaver, 19th starter Jim Yoder, Mike Lupfer and Nick Dickson rounded out the top 10.
Port Royal's Trent Brenneman started on the pole and went on to win the 20-lap limited late model feature earning $1,000. Andrew Yoder, 11th starter Shawn Shoemaker, Ryan Zook and Barry Miller completed the top five. Casey Steinhoff, Derick Garman, Todd Snook, Shaun Lawton and JR Toner rounded out the top five.
Bob Dunn was injured after his car slammed the inside backstretch wall during the first race for the limited late models. He was transported by helicopter to the hospital. A Facebook post Sunday stated he had facial fractures and lacerations.