Wolfe Flips It and Wins It from 16th
PORT ROYAL, Pa. (June 24, 2017) – Lucas Wolfe of Mechanicsburg came back from an opening lap rollover and a restart position of 16th to blast to his third 410 sprint car victory of the season at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday night, taking $3,200 for the win.
The opening lap of the 25-lap 410 sprint car main was marred by a third turn 11-car melee that saw Wolfe turn over to begin the incident that ended up collecting 10 more machines with some cars flipping through the corner.
The incident began when second starter Curt Stroup suddenly lost power as he traversed the backchute, sending the rest of the field scrambling to avoid him.
Wolfe turned into the first victim but others involved included TJ Stutts, Jordan Givler, Ryan Taylor, Davey Sammons, Kody Lehman, AJ Flick, Dale Blaney, Cale Grubb and Blane Heimbach.
After the lengthy red flag period for clean up, all but four cars were able to rejoin with Wolfe restarting 16th in the field.
Once the race got going, new second starter Steve Buckwalter took the lead aboard the Wilson No. 38 with new fourth starter Dylan Cisney blasting into second on the second tour.
Buckwalter was fleet at the front and Cisney was having trouble closing any distance but when Buckwalter suddenly lost power on the 10th lap, just after entering the backmarkers, Cisney inherited control with Greg Hodnett now in second.
Hodnett would jab at the lead with Cisney reclaiming the spot thanks to impressive rallies in turn two.
Using the top groove, the leaders displayed fantastic bursts of speed as they hit the mid-point of the second turn and that sent them careening onto the straightaway with the power to dart by traffic and each other with ease.
Chasing the front pair at the halfway point was Brock Zeafoss and Lance Dewease as the front four all kept a torrid and hectic pace around the oval, jetting off of the second turn.
Dewease struck next on the 14th lap when he made a two-car low side pass to blast by Zearfoss and Hodnett to go from fourth to second.
And shortly after the lap was scored, Joey Hershey slowed to a stop on the backchute, setting up a restart with Wolfe up to fifth.
Dewease bolted low and into the lead in the first corner when action resumed with Cisney dropping off of the cushion as the pair ran onto the backstretch to pull back inside Dewease for control.
Cisney beat Dewease into the third corner to reclaim the lead but suddenly Wolfe was on the scene.
Using a lightning-fast burst of speed off of the second turn cushion to annihilate Zearfoss, Hodnett and Dewease in the blink of an eye, Wolfe crossed the line as the pacesetter with nine laps to go.
And that was the end of the story as Wolfe blistered the speedway to the finish line to record the win going away with a 2.819 second advantage over point leader Cisney.
Dewease was third followed by Hodnett and Zearfoss.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Wagner, James McFadden, Blane Heimbach, AJ Flick and Carl Bowser.
Heats went to Heimbach, Wolfe and Blaney with Jordan Givler taking the consolation race.
Feature Finishes
6/24/17
410 sprints, 25 laps: 1. Lucas Wolfe, 2. Dylan Cisney, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Greg Hodnett, 5. Brock Zearfoss, 6. Mike Wagner, 7. James McFadden, 8. Blane Heimbach, 9. AJ Flick, 10. Carl Bowser, 11. Dale Blaney, 12. TJ Stutts, 13. Jared Esh, 14. Dustin Baney, 15. Ryan Taylor, 16. Trenton Sheaffer, 17. Kody Lehman, 18. Joey Hershey, 19. Steve Buckwalter, 20. Mike Erdley, 21. Curt Stroup, 22. Jordan Givler, 23. Davey Sammons, 24. Cale Grubb
DNQ: George Streaker Jr., George Hobaugh, Jon Brennfleck, Mike Wagner II.
From Port Royal Speedway PR
(Photo courtesy of Racing Photos by Tony De Seta)
