Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Anthony Macri (39) passes leader Donny Schatz to take the lead and win the fourth heat race at Port Royal on Friday.

PORT ROYAL — Anthony Macri had 21 sprint car feature wins this season heading into Friday night at Port Royal Speedway.

A win against the World of Outlaws had eluded him, however.

Macri changed that stat as his 22nd win of the season, and ninth at Port Royal, was his first ever win with the World of Outlaws on opening night of the Nittany Showdown.

Macri, of Dillsburg, earned $10,000 for that long-awaited first career Outlaws win.

“We’ve hit on something here and the car has been really good,” Macri said. “We tried something in hot laps and time trials and it really wasn’t the direction we wanted to go and we switched back to our regular deal. The car felt pretty stout. I knew I had to keep my head on my shoulders for 25 laps and not do anything stupid.”

Macri started on the pole of the 25-lap feature, and grabbed the lead as Donny Schatz passed Justin Whittall for second. As Macri streaked away, Whittall raced back by Schatz for second.

In only six laps, Macri reached the back of the field with a 3-second lead. An inside move into turn one got Lance Dewease by Schatz and into third with eight laps completed.

Dewease drove by Whittall in traffic on the backstretch and into the runner-up spot. He was 2.5-seconds behind the leader with 11 laps to go.

Five-time Port Royal champion Logan Wagner started eighth but cracked the top five in the final 10 laps with a pass of Schatz.

Macri maintained his lead over Dewease, but the first yellow of the race brought the field back together with nine laps to go. The reason for the yellow was Brent Marks. He was stopped on the frontstretch with a broken front end after contacting the outside wall.

Macri controlled the restart taking the low line as Dewease worked the middle of the race track. Dewease would nearly clear Macri in turns

three and four. Macri had just enough speed off the cushion to stay in front of Dewease.

Macri held off two tries from Dewease and began pulling away. Wagner worked his way into third spot following the restart. Dewease continued to race the middle line and stayed right with the leader now as they reached traffic with two laps left.

“I really didn’t want to see the caution knowing Lance was in second,”

Macri said. “It got to me a little bit. We went down into three and four and he slid me, and I made up my mind, I was staying in the gas and if we ended up in the guardrail, we ended up in the guardrail.”

Macri lapped Robbie Price in turn one on the final lap keeping Dewease from trying a final corner pass.

Macri scored the win over Dewease and Wagner. Whittall and David Gravel completed the top five. Schatz, Spencer Bayston, Sye Lynch, Ryan Smith, and Carson Macedo rounded out the top 10.

Spencer Bayston set quick time over the 40-car field with a lap of 15.597. Lance Dewease was quickest in Flight B qualifying at 15.747.

James McFadden, Logan Wagner, Dewease, and Anthony Macri won the eight-lap heat races. Macri passed Justin Whittall off the fourth turn on the final lap to win the dash. Brian Brown won the Last Chance Showdown over Devon Borden, Sheldon Haudenschild and Steve Buckwalter.

The finale is tonight paying $15,000 to win the 30-lap sprint car feature.

Dillan Stake, of Mapleton, Huntingdon Co., won the 20-lap feature for the limited late models. It was his fifth win of the season extending his point lead. Devin Hart, Taylor Farlling, Derick Garman and Andrew Yoder completed the top five. Trent Brenneman, Jared Fulkroad, Matt Parks, Shawn Shoemaker and Todd Snook rounded out the top 10.