Dietrich Beats the Rain at Port Royal
PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 5, 2018) – Danny Dietrich bested TJ Stutts to claim his fourth career Port Royal Speedway 410 sprint car win on Saturday night worth $3,600, but his first under the lights at the historic track as all three of his previous wins had taken place under the Labor Day sunshine.
Stutts and Dietrich earned the front row for the start of the 25-lap sprint car main and the pair immediately did battle when action began.
Dietrich passed Stutts a total three times during the first two laps before he could make it stick coming out of turn four to complete the second lap.
The pair exchanged the top spot on the opening lap in the first and second turns and again in turns three and four before a low swoop through three and four on the second tour netted him control.
Dietrich then went to the cushion to begin putting daylight between himself and the rest of the field, entering traffic on lap 10.
While Dietrich held sway well out in front, the race was hectic for second through fifth between Stutts, Mike Wagner, Logan Wagner and Greg Hodnett.
Both Wagners raced hard for third for several laps, exchanging the spot several times with Stutts just in front before Logan stepped up to the plate and took third long enough to begin challenging for second during the final laps.
Aboard the Zemco No. 1, Logan Wagner passed Stutts for second on laps 19 and 21 only to see Stutts change lanes and reclaim the spot, where he would finish albeit 3.280 seconds behind Dietrich.
Logan Wagner earned his second podium finish of the season in third while Mike Wagner was fourth with Hodnett finishing fifth.
Sixth through 10th went to Lucas Wolfe, Brock Zearfoss, Freddie Rahmer, Steve Buckwalter and James McFadden.
Heats went to Stutts, Wolfe and Zearfoss.
Immediately upon the completion of qualifying on Saturday, the light rains began falling, forcing a delay in getting the 410 sprint main started however after some 30 minutes of the sprinkles the cars were put on the track and both the 410 sprint and super late model mains were able to be completed amid the continuing light showers.
Feature Finishes
5/5/18
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Danny Dietrich, 2. TJ Stutts, 3. Logan Wagner, 4. Mike Wagner, 5. Greg Hodnett, 6. Lucas Wolfe, 7. Brock Zearfoss, 8. Freddie Rahmer, 9. Steve Buckwalter, 10. James McFadden, 11. Tyler Reeser, 12. Dylan Cisney, 13. Kody Lehman, 14. Anthony Macri, 15. Jared Esh, 16. Trenton Sheaffer, 17. Joey Hershey, 18. Dustin Baney, 19. Robbie Kendall, 20. Tyler Ross, 21. Vince Snyder
DNS: Joe Kata III.
