portroyalspeedway Archives

Spahr streak to six with latest Port Royal PASS checkers

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 27, 2023) – The Logan Spahr dream season continued Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway when the Lewisberry driver captured his sixth straight River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature win of 2023 in the 20-lap race that was part of the Bob Weikert Memorial weekend featuring the All Star Circuit of Champions. The race ended up nearly a copy of the previous Saturday’s win (number five) at Selinsgrove Speedway: Spahr drew an advantageous third starting position for the feature, but then had to follow a determined early leader, in this case Jared Zionkowski. Spahr caught Zionkowski in traffic just past the race’s midway point and executed the winning pass on lap 14, going outside a slower car as Zionkowski passed inside. Finally, as with the previous week, a late caution flag gave Spahr’s challenger one last shot, but Spahr was up to the task and pulled away for a three-second final margin of victory. Zionkowski, a former semi-regular with PASS, nearly made his return after a season’s [Read More]

Spahr continues PASS streak at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (May 6, 2023) – The more things change, the more they stay the same. The change was a River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series feature race run Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway without a rain cancellation for the first time since the middle of last month. The consistency was Logan Spahr, who remained undefeated on the season by taking his third straight IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car win, with a victory margin of 2.595 seconds over runner-up Drew Young. It was actually win number four in a row for Spahr, who won 2022’s season-ending Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, and five of PASS’s last six races. It was his second 2023 win at the Port and third of a three-year career in the KR MacDonald/High Tech Metals/RL Snyder Electric no. 5 owned by Wally Eshenaur. He made it look easy, taking advantage of drawing the pole starting slot and leading all 20 feature laps. Young, who started alongside Spahr on the front row, dogged him all the way but had to [Read More]

Spahr picks up where he left off with win at Port Royal

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 8, 2023) – After hitting his stride at the end of the 2022 River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series season, Logan Spahr picked up right where he left off Saturday night. Spahr wired the field to capture the 20-lap 2023 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car main event at Port Royal Speedway, where the series is sponsored by Penns Valley Meat Market. The race kicked off the Silver Anniversary season for PASS, one of the oldest IMCA RaceSaver regional groups in the nation. Spahr led a youth movement that also included runner-up Seth Schnoke (3.07 seconds back), fourth-place Dylan Shatzer and fifth-place Zach Rhodes. Another member of the youth contingent, Owen Dimm, came home sixth. That left it up to third-finishing Ken Duke Jr. of Selinsgrove to uphold the honor of the veterans, and his run did so nicely. Duke is hardly ancient, but he has more PASS starts (238) and victories (22) than the other top-five finishers combined (131 and three, respectively). Spahr, who moved from micro-sprints into full-sized [Read More]

Trying again, PASS heads to Port Royal this Saturday

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 4, 2023) – The anticipation was already sky high. Now it’s much higher. Foiled by Mother Nature in its effort to get the season started last weekend, the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series re-charges and heads to Port Royal Speedway this Saturday for its Silver Anniversary inaugural race. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car portion of the program will include qualifying events and a 20-lap feature. Nearly a week before the race, 35 drivers had already indicated their intentions of racing, including nine of the top 10 from 2022 points. They include runner-up Austin Reed, third-finishing Doug Dodson, fourth-finishing and two-time former champ Ken Duke and fifth-finishing Kruz Kepner. Dodson was a Port winner in last season’s PASS opener at the track, and Duke scored the first of his two Port wins four years ago this weekend. Reed and Kepner have both posted runner-up finishes and are ready to move up a spot. Logan Spahr is the most recent Port winner in a RaceSaver car, having claimed last [Read More]

Spahr in right place at right time to capitalize at Keystone RaceSaver Challenge

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Oct. 21, 2022) – Logan Spahr put himself in the right position to take advantage of Kenny Heffner’s misfortune, then kept his car in the right position despite a determined challenge by Garrett Bard, and those moves earned him the Keystone RaceSaver Challenge victory Friday at Port Royal Speedway. Also known as the Blue Collar Classic, the Keystone race ended the 2022 season for the IMCA RaceSaver Pennsylvania Sprint Series and capped a tremendous finish to the season for the former micro-sprint champion. A third-place finish in the season opener at Lincoln Speedway in March showed the team’s potential, but an early summer run of mechanical woes threatened the positive outlook. That all turned around in August, and at the end of that month, Spahr claimed the team’s first victory, at Selinsgrove Speedway, then added another Selinsgrove win four weekends later. After struggling most of the season at Port Royal, there was a fourth-place finish two weeks ago, setting the stage for Friday’s race. Still, it might not have happened [Read More]

Weaver wins sprint to Founder’s Cup

By Frank Buhrman PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Oct. 21, 2022) – Jeff Weaver outdueled fellow front-row starter Reed Thompson for the initial lead and held the advantage for the next 15 laps to win the Founder’s Cup feature for IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Cars Friday at Port Royal Speedway. The event is held as part of the River Valley Builders Pennsylvania Sprint Series Keystone RaceSaver Challenge, giving non-qualifiers for the Keystone race itself a meaningful event, which for most is their last of the season. Weaver, Thompson and several other front-runners provided some hot racing for fans who braved temperatures dipping into the 30s for the night’s final race. D.J. Cassler stoutly challenged Thompson for the runner-up spot, while third- and fourth-finishing Branstin Shue and Jarrett Rosencrance waged a laps-long war for those positions. Thompson mounted challenges following restarts on the first and eighth laps but Weaver was able to hold onto the top spot and score the win. Thompson’s runner-up finish came about 4-1/2 hours after he was inducted into the Pennsylvania RaceSaver Hall of Fame [Read More]