Lonnie Wheatley (March 5, 2023) – Dylan Cisney saved the best for last in Sunday afternoon’s Port Royal Speedway season opener.
Lurking in the podium weeds for the bulk of the 25-lapper around the 1/2-mile Speed Palace, the Port Royal native slid past Parker Price-Miller on the final round to take the $5,000 winner’s share.
“You have to be patiently aggressive,” Cisney explained. “You have to watch what you’re doing in traffic and keep yourself making the right decisions hopefully, and somehow drive the shit out of it all at the same time.”
Cisney started the feature event from the pole position, but it was front row outside starter Jeff Halligan gunning into the lead at the outset and pacing the opening 22 circuits while weathering a pair of cautions in the opening 11 rounds.
With Halligan leading the way, Cisney slipped to third when Price-Miller took advantage on a lap six restart and kept the lead duo in his sites as lapped traffic came into play over the final seven rounds.
With the lapped traffic in play, Price-Miller went to work on Halligan for the point with a handful of laps to go before taking command on the 23rd round with Cisney following on his tailtank.
Cisney pounced on Price-Miller in turns one and two on the final lap and held on to take the hometown win with Price-Miller settling for runner-up honors.
“I got by him (Halligan) and felt like I was just going to run my own race and went back to the top and Dylan threw a bomb on me,” Price-Miller commented. “I wasn’t expecting him to be there. That was a great race.”
After starting sixth, Anthony Macri found himself in the lead mix as well in the closing laps before settling for third after posting ten Port Royal wins in 2022.
“Day racing here is very unique and different than when we race at night,” Macri explained. “I felt like if we could have stayed in traffic a little longer we could have got those guys to move around and maybe had a shot.”
Danny Dietrich crossed the stripe fourth with Halligan fading to fifth after leading the opening 22 rounds. Mike Wagner was sixth with Justin Whittall earning Hard Charger honors by racing from 12th to seventh. Freddie Rahmer, Jason Shultz and Devon Borden completed top ten. Borden rebounded from the tail after coming to a stop after five laps.
Slated to start the feature fourth, Lance Dewease was unable to fire for the feature and forced pitside.
Five-time and reigning track champion Logan Wagner struggled in the opener, earning the sixth and final transfer from the “B” Main and then spinning in turn three 11 laps into the “A” Main to bring out the second and final caution before ultimately being credited with a 22nd place finish.
Sunday- March 5, 2023, Results:
Port Royal Speedway (Port Royal, PA)
Class: Winged 410s
Car Count: 29
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 5-Dylan Cisney (1), 2. 9p-Parker Price-Miller (4), 3. 39m-Anthony Macri (6), 4. 48-Danny Dietrich (5), 5. 45-Jeff Halligan (2), 6. 55-Mike Wagner (11), 7. 67-Justin Whittall (12), 8. 51-Freddie Rahmer (13), 9. 35-Jason Shultz (3), 10. 23-Devon Borden (9), 11. 44-Dylan Norris (7), 12. 35b-Austin Bishop (8), 13. 91-Kyle Reinhardt (15), 14. 27-Chris Windom (19), 15. 33-Gerard McIntyre (14), 16. 11-T.J. Stutts (20), 17. 39-Troy Wagaman (16), 18. 20-Ryan Taylor (18), 19. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni (23), 20. 39T-Cameron Smith (17), 21. 2-A.J. Flick (21), 22. 1-Logan Wagner (24), 23. 17b-Steve Buckwalter (10), 24. 69k-Lance Dewease (DNS).
B Main (8 Laps): 1. 27-Chris Windom, 2. 20-Ryan Taylor, 3. 2-A.J. Flick, 4. 11-T.J. Stutts, 5. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni, 6. 1-Logan Wagner, 7. 69x-Kassidy Kreitz, 8. 98-Jarrett Cavalet, 9. 0-Rick Lafferty. DNS: 33w-Mike Walter II, 5k-Jake Karklin.
Heat Winners: Devon Borden, Anthony Macri, Dylan Norris.