pennsylvaniasprintseries Archives

Bedford PASS checkers fly for rookie Bard

By Frank Buhrman and Stephanie Stevens Dodson BEDFORD, Pa. (Sept. 21) – Coming into Saturday’s racing at Bedford Speedway, rookie Garrett Bard had three wins in Pennsylvania Sprint Series competition and one with the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series, all in less than three months. Now he can add a win to both lists, after taking the 25-lap feature co-sanctioned by the two IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car groups. Bard led the entire race but hardly had it easy. With leaders entering traffic in about five laps, Bard had to contend with challenges from Drew Ritchey and Doug Dodson until polesitter and rookie Kyle Keen, running fourth, lost his right front tire on lap nine and skidded along the outside guard rail before stopping in turn two, ending an impressive return to racing two weeks after getting married. At the same time as Keen’s misfortune, Randy Sterling and Devon Adams made contact. All three cars were done for the night. With three front-runners out, 10th-place starter Christian Rumsey inherited fourth and Tyler Denochick fifth. The restart saw [Read More]

Grube scores first PASS win of 2019

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (Sept. 13) – Dave Grube alluded to his tough 2019 season (“We tore up a bunch of cars this year”) and his father’s resolve that the team “finish the season strong.” Fortunately, he was able to relate those comments Friday from victory lane at Williams Grove Speedway. Grube made a fourth-lap pass to take the lead from rookie Garrett Bard, and held off challengers including another strong rookie Dylan Proctor and national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car point leader Ken Duke to claim his first win in more than a year in the 20-lap Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature. The York Haven driver last put his ride in the winner’s circle at BAPS Motor Speedway on Aug. 18, 2018. Proctor matched his career-best finish while Duke drew the 12th starting position, charged to third and fell just a few laps short. Defending PASS champion Zach Newlin came home fourth, followed by Devin Adams, who raced from 16th starting to claim fifth. That finish gave Adams the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Hard Charger Award for advancing 11 [Read More]

PASS visits The Groves this weekend

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – After running for the final time in 2019 on their smallest bullring, Pennsylvania Sprint Series teams move to two of their largest venues Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway and Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway. Features for the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars both nights will be 20 laps. This will be the only PASS feature this season at Williams Grove. Rain washed out an event scheduled in the spring. Veteran Scott Ellerman of Landisburg is the only former PASS winner at Williams Grove pre-entered, but about 30 other drivers will be trying to join him on that winners’ list. Adult admission is $18 with $10 for youth. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. with racing at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, gates will open at 4 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. This is the final of four appearances for PASS at Selinsgrove. Hometown racer Ken Duke Jr., who leads the national RaceSaver Sprint Car points, won the first two races and Devin Adams took the most recent event. Both are entered for [Read More]

Bard prevails in PASS feature at Path Valley

By Frank Buhrman SPRING RUN, Pa. (Sept. 7) – Wells Tannery is an unincorporated community in Fulton County, Pa., with a nice community park. It’s also home to race driver Garrett Bard and if Bard’s fortunes continue on their current upward curve, he may become the first thing you’ll know about Wells Tannery. The 23-year-old scored his second victory in a two-month career in the Pennsylvania Sprint Series Saturday night at Path Valley Speedway. It was his third IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win, with the other having come the previous weekend in a Laurel Highlands Sprint Series race at Bedford Speedway. Bard started on the pole and led all the way for a convincing win but John Walp didn’t make it easy, challenging after a lap 14 caution. On the restart, Walp tried Bard on the inside but to no avail. On lap 20, Scott Lutz slipped into second but couldn’t catch Bard. Following Bard, Lutz and Walp at the finish were New Jersey’s Larry McVay and Rob Felix. Zach Newlin was the hard charger, [Read More]

Duke adds BAPS to dream season

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (Aug. 25) – Ken Duke Jr. is enjoying a season most racers can only dream about, winning races and leading both the Pennsylvania Sprint Series and national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car point standings, but one track was conspicuously missing from the top tier of his 2019 resume: BAPS Motor Speedway. On Sunday night, Duke took care of that small discrepancy with a convincing victory in the 20-lap PASS feature at the York County speedway. It’s not that you could call Duke’s performance at BAPS poor: he had a 12-race streak of top 10 finishes at BAPS dating to early 2017 but his last victory at the track had come nearly three years ago, on Sept. 3, 2016. With the victories mounting at other regular PASS tracks like Port Royal, Path Valley, Clinton County and Duke’s hometown Selinsgrove Speedway, BAPS stood out. No more. After drawing the outside front row starting position Sunday, Duke out-charged pole sitter and Saturday night Port Royal winner Landon Price for the early lead, then [Read More]

Price is all right in PASS feature win at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman and Stephanie Stevens Dodson PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Aug. 24) – Seventeen-year-old Landon Price claimed his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car victory Saturday in the Pennsylvania Sprint Series main event at Port Royal Speedway. Price, whose previous best finish was fifth at BAPS Motor Speedway (twice) and previous best at Port Royal was 13th, took the lead from Doug Dodson and scored a dominating win. Thirty-eight cars were entered in the Port Royal show. Dodson was 1.5 seconds ahead of Price before a lap seven caution. On the restart, Dodson took the outside line through turns one and two and Price charged through the middle to take the lead. Once the leaders entered traffic, Price’s lower line proved beneficial, as the second through fourth place runners were running high and struggling with a choppy cushion. At the checkered flag, Price led runner-up Dodson by two-plus seconds. Rookie Garrett Bard passed Nick Sweigart for third place on the final lap and Devin Adams finished fifth. Feature results – 1. Landon Price; 2. Doug Dodson; 3. [Read More]

It’s a trifecta weekend for PASS

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Pennsylvania Sprint Series teams have one of their most demanding weekends Aug. 23-25 with three races scheduled across Central Pennsylvania. On Friday night, PASS/IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car drivers join their Laurel Highlands Sprint Series colleagues for a co-sanctioned event at Clinton County Motor Speedway. Then they head to two of their home tracks, racing Saturday at Port Royal Speedway and Sunday at BAPS Motor Speedway. Port Royal’s will be the sixth PASS event at Port Royal this year, with one rainout, and the last before the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge on Oct. 12. PASS veterans claimed the first three features with Ken Duke Jr. taking two and Nick Sweigart the other, but since then, youth has prevailed. Devin Adams claimed the June 8 feature just after graduating from high school, and Garrett Bard won on July 20 in just his fourth outing in the division and first at the Port. Port Royal has averaged the largest car turnout of all PASS tracks this year, so Saturday’s show should be memorable. On Sunday, [Read More]

Sweigart wins on last-lap pass at BAPS

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (Aug. 3) – Nic Sweigart passed Zach Newlin on the final lap to claim the victory in Saturday’s 20-lap IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature at BAPS Motor Speedway. It was Sweigart’s second win of the season and the second of his career at York Haven. The race was co-sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Sprint Series and the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series. A five-time winner at BAPS over the last two seasons, Newlin set sail and built a lead of nearly three seconds before a lap seven caution. Sweigart moved through the field from his ninth starting position. On lap 12, he passed Eddie Wagner for the runner-up spot and set his sights on Newlin, charging around high against the outside wall. The momentum from that high run enabled him to catch the leader in the first set of turns and slip past on the backstretch. Sweigart then swooped low in three and four, denying Newlin his preferred line and preserving the win. Wagner held on for third with John Walp fourth [Read More]

Selinsgrove checkers give Duke PASS weekend sweep

By Frank Buhrman SELINSGROVE, Pa. (July 27) – Ken Duke Jr. capped a perfect racing weekend with a late pass for the lead and his second straight hometown victory in Saturday’s 20-lap Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. The Selinsgrove IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win followed Duke’s victory Friday at Clinton County Motor Speedway and was his seventh of the year in PASS competition; he also has won with the Laurel Highlands Sprint Series. “The track didn’t slick off quite as much as I thought it would for the feature,” Duke said in victory lane, “so we were a little tight at the beginning, but the longer we ran, the better we got. Those guys started coming back to me a little bit, and my eyes got a little bit bigger, and we went after them, and we were lucky enough to pull it off.” “Those guys” referred to in Duke’s comments were polesitter Tyler Reinhardt, Kruz Kepner and Keith Prutzman, who were all involved in the battle for the lead. Reinhardt, making only [Read More]

Duke wins Clinton County PASS battle

By Frank Buhrman LOCK HAVEN, PA. (July 26) – Ken Duke Jr. emerged from an intense, nearly race-long three-car battle to win the 25-lap IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car event co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Sprint Series and Laurel Highlands Sprint Series Friday at Clinton County Motor Speedway. Duke took his sixth PASS event of the season and third at Lock have. Most of the race was a dogfight between Duke, polesitter John Walp and outside front-row starter Dylan Proctor, with Proctor leading the most laps but all three drivers taking turns at the front. After Duke, who had started third, grabbed the lead for the final time, Walp spun and had to restart in the rear. That enabled sixth starting Jack Frye to move into third but he was unable to challenge for the lead. Scott Ellerman finished fourth and Scott Lutz finished fifth. Feature results – 1. Ken Duke Jr.; 2. Dylan Proctor; 3. Jake Frye; 4. Scott Ellerman; 5. Scott Lutz; 6. Reed Thompson; 7. Dakota Schweikart; 8. Jeffrey Weaver; 9. Dale Schweikart; 10. Tylor [Read More]