Kyle Larson Grabs the Bull By the Horn to Pick Up Bob Weikert Memorial Finale
By- Justin Snyder
Port Royal Speedway- PORT ROYAL, Penn.- Standing in victory lane surrounded by photographers, well-wishers, family and crewmembers, Kyle Larson wondered out loud about the trophy he was about to receive.
“Where’s that bull and do we get both of those,” asked Larson, talking about the prize only matched in stature by the $15,000 payday coming his way too. “Damn that thing looks awesome! It’s going to look great in the trophy case!”
With the family of the legendary Bob Weikert presenting it, Larson literally and figuratively grabbed the bull by the horns as he completed a weekend sweep of the Bob Weikert Memorial, presented by Folkens Brothers Trucking and sponsored by Packers Concessions, at the Port Royal Speedway with the Ollies Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions Sunday night.
The win was worth $10,000, plus a $5000 bonus offered by the track for the overall winner of the two-day event and was Larson’s third consecutive at Port Royal dating back to the PA Speedweek finale. It made for a total of $26,029 combined earnings from two nights of racing.
“I was honestly a little worried the whole race, but I felt like once I got to the lead if I hit my marks good enough I’d be ok,” said Larson “We’re on a pretty good streak here and it was my goal this week to win one of those trophies and I’m happy to be standing here in front of these great fans.”
However, it did not come easy. Australian Kerry Madsen and World of Outlaws regular Carson Macedo led the field to the green flag with Madsen jumping out to the early lead. Macedo got a run on the top of the speedway in turn three and he pulled ahead to lead the first lap by a car length.
Meanwhile, fifth-place starter Aaron Reutzel was on the move early as he moved into third exiting turn two the following lap. Two laps later he used the high side in turns one and two to get by Madsen for the runner-up position and started tracking down Macedo.
Larson, who started sixth, followed suit behind Reutzel and he moved into third as well. Macedo held a near 2.0 second advantage at the time, but by lap seven Reutzel had nearly cut the advantage in half by running just off the wall at both ends of the speedway.
Reutzel threw a slide job attempt at Macedo entering turn one, but Macedo crossed back under to regain the lead on lap 8 and two laps later with the two nose to tail, Larson slid under both of them to take the lead for the first time of the night.
Macedo crossed back under him down the backstretch, but Larson had the momentum and he slid under the driver of his World of Outlaws team to hold the lead at the flag stand for lap 10. Reutzel followed into second and 10th place starter Lance Dewease threw his hat into the mix of things by taking the third spot.
One lap later Macedo’s hopes of picking up the victory ended as he came to a stop on the backstretch with a flat right-rear tire. He would rejoin the field after changing tires in the pits.
“I was working really hard to get around Aaron and I drove it in there pretty hard trying to get into second and we managed to go third to first,” said Larson. “I didn’t know what was going on with Carson, but I knew we had to get out front before Aaron.”
When green flag action returned, Larson jumped out to the lead again, while Dewease was able to duck under Reutzel entering turn three to pull into the runner-up spot at the line. Fifth-place starter Danny Dietrich, flying the legendary Weikert #29 colors, moved into the fourth position while eighth-place starter Jacon Allen moved into fifth.
Four laps later Reutzel used the top of the speedway again to fly back around Dewease to regain the runner-up spot and with Larson in lap traffic on lap 17, he began putting pressure on the leader. By lap 19 Reutzel had cut the distance in half and was using every inch of the speedway, banging his right rear off the fence multiple times along the way.
Larson was struggling to pass the lap car of Macedo and Reutzel attempted to pull a slider in turn three on lap 20, but Larson sped away on the top of the speedway before the caution waved for a slowing Sheldon Haudenschild on lap 23.
Larson once again sped away at the green flag, with Dewease overtaking Reutzel again for the lead. Two laps later Reutzel’s night would come to an end after a broken rear end that came after continuously slapping the wall on the top of the track.
Ninth-place starter Anthony Macri moved onto the podium after a return to green flag racing on the backstretch before the final caution of the event flew with three to go due Madsen shredding a right rear tire. The field was brought to an open-red flag for fuel in the meantime as well.
With three laps standing between him and victory, Larson wouldn’t be denied as he raced out to the lead again on the restart. Dewease was left to fend off Macri as Larson took the checkered flag by a margin of 1.350 second at the line.
Dewease, Macri, Dietrich and Allen made up the top-five while David Gravel, Brent Marks, Daryn Pittman, Ryan Smith and Dylan Cisney rounded out the top-ten.
“My car was just really good, and I could pace myself out front which was really nice.” Said Larson. “Aaron was running really there the first 10 laps. Once he broke and Lance moved into second, I knew he was running somewhere different than me and I did not really know what to do. But I knew as long as I didn’t see his nose, I was going to be ok.”
For Dewease, it was an improvement from the last few weeks in competition for him and his Kreitz Racing team, but he felt Larson was just the better car.
“After not being able to pass anyone last night, we were a lot better tonight but we’re only about three quarters to where we need to be,” said Dewease. “I wanted to let Kyle know that I was there that last restart and maybe get him nervous, but he’s just too good for that and we’ll take a second and work to get better.”
Heat race wins went to Allen, Marks, Cisney and Steve Buckwalter and were all worth $100 courtesy of Pro Lawn LLC of Liverpool, Pa and Sheldon Haudenschild earned $200 courtesy of Packer’s Concessions and Del Shank earlier in the night for setting fast time.
Other awards included a $500 bonus courtesy of the track for Dewease as the highest finishing top-20 points driver in the field, a $700 hard charger award for Brent Marks (+15) courtesy of Valley Supply and Mike Cleck Paving, while Sammy Swindell picked up a $100 Hard Luck bonus after dropping out early courtesy of Eric Ort and Scotty Schatz Motorsports.
Sprint Car Results: 1. Kyle Larson 2. Lance Dewease 3. Anthony Macri 4. Danny Dietrich 5. Jacob Allen 6. David Gravel 7. Brent Marks 8. Daryn Pittman 9. Ryan Smith 10. Dylan Cisney 11. Logan Schuchart 12. Cory Eliason 13. Freddie Rahmer 14. Paul McMahan 15. Josh Baughman 16. Sheldon Huadenschild 17. Mike Wagner 18. Zeb Wise 19. Brock Zearfoss 20. Kasey Kahne 21. Kerry Madsen 22. Carson Macedo 23. Aaron Reutzel 24. Steve Buckwalter 25. AJ Flick 26. Robbie Kendall 27. Sammy Swindell
Limited Late Models
Marvin Winters capitalized on a front row starting spot to lead all 20 laps in Selinsgrove Ford limited late model competition to pick up the win Sunday night.
The win was worth $1200 and was the first at the Port Royal Speedway for Winters. Chad Myers, Dillan Stake, Andrew Yoder and Shawn Shoemaker completed the top five followed by Matt Parks, J.R Toner, Trent Brenneman, Todd Snook and Curt Dunn.
“This is my first win in anything at Port Royal for me, “said Winters, who usually competes in Super Late Model competition at the track. “I was off a little bit set up wise, but luckily we got to start up front and we held on.”
Winters lined up on the front row alongside of Brenneman and he shot out to the lead on the start, At the halfway mark he held a 1.085 second advantage over third-place starter Myers, while eight-place starter Yoder was lurking in third.
With three laps to go, Winter held only a .427 second advantage over Myers and was having issues getting drive off the corners. However, he was able to hold on to take the checkered flag by a margin of .686 seconds.
“I was a little tight in the center and that makes you loose off, so luckily we started up front and could kind of make up for it,” said Winters. “The track was wide, and we could run all over and I don’t know if this has really sunk in yet.”
For Myers he knew he was close, but he was more-so happy to be running up front and have a shot.
“He got caught up in lap traffic a bit and I thought maybe we could get him,” said Myers. “At a track like this and with the competition at this place, anytime you can run up front and get a podium you’re doing something right.”
Daulton Bigler was the night’s hard charger (+10) after he charged forward form 24th to finish 14th and he earned $100 courtesy of BDR Racing Products.
Results- 1. Marvin Winters 2. Chad Myers 3. Dillan Stake 4. Andrew Yoder 5. Shawn Shoemaker 6. Matt Parks 7. JR Toner 8. Trent Brenneman 9. Todd Snook 10. Curt Dunn 11. Ryan Zook 12. Devin Hart 13. Steve Clayball 14. Daulton Bigler 15. Jim McBee 16. Keith Koontz 17. Zach Kauffman 18. David Latsha 19. DJ Groft 20. Drew Weisser 21. Matt Adams 22. Harold Ranck 23. Jennifer Hartz 24. Casey Steinhoff 25. Devin Frey 26. Jared Fulkroad