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7/5/08

Port Royal Speedway

Port Royal, PA

PA Speedweek Round #4

35 cars

Brian Leppo (3^rd car out to time) set the standard in time trials on the 1/2 mile at 16.400 seconds. Alan Cole (13^th car out) was second quick, followed by Doug Esh (23^rd), Brian Paulus (5^th), Cody Darrah (6^th), Chad Layton (2^nd), Sean Michael (22^nd), Rick Lafferty (12^th), Todd Shaffer (29^th) and Fred Rahmer (11^th). Doug Dodson and Vince Snyder failed to get a time in, while Bill Jones Jr. took one at the end after suffering problems in hot laps.

Heat one (started): 1. Jeff Shepard 1 (2) 2. Shaffer 88 (3) 3. Darrah 89 (4) 4. Leppo 71 (5) 5. Craig Keel 9 (1) / 6. Cliff Brian 16 (7) 7. Brian Montieth 21 (6) 8. John Smith III 42 (8) 9. Bill Jones Jr. 12J (9)

Four heats had an invert of five, and took five to the main event. Shepard led the distance in the 10-lapper, while Darrah looked strong and pressured Shaffer throughout the contest, but settled for third.

Heat two (started): 1. Rahmer 51 (3) 2. Stevie Smith 19 (1) 3. Cole 35 (5) 4. Mike Wagner 55 (2) 5. Layton 25 (4) / 6. Curt Stroup 26 (6) 7. Dave Hahn 2H (7) 8. Joey Hershey 44 (8)

S. Smith jumped to the point on the two-groove racetrack, riding the cushion. Rahmer used the bottom to first pressure the leader, then take the point for himself on lap six. Cole may have been the fastest car on the track after falling to sixth before surging to third.

Heat three (started): 1. Mark Smith 7m (3) 2. Mike Erdley 11 (2) 3. Michael 6 (4) 4. Esh 30 (5) 5. TJ Winegardner Jr. 11T (7) / 6. Randy Kaylor 4K (6) 7. Craig Robinson 16R (8) 8. Daryl Stimeling 18 (1) DNS - Doug Dodson 43

Stimeling stalled when coming for the green, and retired. M. Smith inherited the pole, and led flag to flag. The best racing was a heated duel between Michael and Esh for third.

Heat four (started): 1. Greg Hodnett 22 (2) 2. Keith Kauffman 7 (3) 3. Todd Hestor 4 (1) 4. Paulus 28 (5) 5. Lafferty 0 (4) / 6. Bob Bennett 3 (6) 7. Michael Heckman 8H (7) 8. Mark Zimmerman 55z (8) 9. Vince Snyder 15 (9)

Hodnett dominated. Kauffman snookered a couple of cars on the low side. In the last corner he grabbed second from Hestor after a great battle.

B main (started): 1. Montieth (2) 2. Stimeling (1) 3. Brian (6) 4. Bennett (5) / 5. Hahn (7) 6. Hershey (10) 7. Heckman (8) 8. Snyder (13) 9. J. Smith III (9) 10. Zimmerman (12) 11. Stroup (3) 12. Jones Jr. (11) 13. Kaylor (4) DNS - Robinson, Dodson

Montieth was in his own planet in the 10-lapper. Stroup battled for a transfer early before retiring. Hahn stayed half a car length behind Bennett most of the way and third through fourth was a tight race. Hahn received a free right rear for being the first alternate.

A main (started): 1. Darrah (4) 2. Lafferty (1) 3. Esh (6) 4. Hodnett (16) 5. Kauffman (12) 6. Cole (7) 7. Shaffer (9) 8. Michael (2) 9. S. Smith (18) 10. M. Smith (11) 11. Erdley (15) 12. Leppo (8) 13. Montieth (21) 14. Paulus (5) 15. Wagner (14) 16. Shepard (13) 17. Stimeling (19) 18. Winegardner Jr. (22) 19. Brian (23) 20. Keel (17) 21. Bennett (24) 22. Rahmer (10) 23. Hestor (22) 24. Layton (3)

Lafferty shot out to an early lead in the 30-lapper with Michael in tow. On lap six, while running third, Layton broke a rear axle on the frontstretch and slowed to a stop fortunate not to get upside down. The restart saw Lafferty ahead of Michael, Darrah, Eash, Paulus and a charging Rahmer. Four laps, later, M. Smith spun in turn two. Darrah had moved into second by then using a low line, and Rahmer had done the same to take fourth. Esh had passed Rahmer and was challenging Michael for third on the previous lap, but it was negated with the yellow. The next ten laps went non-stop with Darrah in hot pursuit of the leader. Rahmer moved into third by lap 13, but pulled to the infield with mechanical gremlins on lap 13. Esh shot by Michael for third, and on lap 20, Darrah shot under Lafferty to take the lead. A caution for debris on lap 21 saw Darrah leading Lafferty, Esh, Cole, Michael and Hodnett, up from 16^th. Darrah used the low side to pull away from his challengers the rest of the way, surviving a caution for Brian, who had a flat with one to go. Hodnett used the last restart to move into fourth to claim hard-charger hnors, and Kauffman completed a good run for fifth. The win was Darrah's third career sprint victory and paid the 18 year old $7000.

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