Anthony Macri’s The Hottest Man At Port Royal; Wins Fourth Straight In Tuesday’s PA Speedweek A-Main
Story By: CASEY ROBICHEAU / URC – PORT ROYAL, PA – Anthony Macri proved that he is the King of Port Royal Speedway as he was one of only two drivers to pull double duty during the 6th night of PA Speed week on July 1 by competing in both the 410 division, and with the United Racing Club. Not only did Macri, compete in both classes, he put both cars in victory lane at the end of the night, securing his first career URC win in only his second start with the club.
Twenty-six cars signed into the Speed Palace for what would be a very warm, but beautiful night for a mid-week show. The night started off hot with Anthony Macri going quick time in hot laps with a time of 16.849 which turned out to be the quickest time of the night by just under 2 seconds. The heat races saw lots of passing as heat one was won by Jonathan Preston out of NY, heat two came down to an exciting finish with a 3 wide pass for the lead ending with Anthony Macri crossing the line first, and finally the 2019 Rookie of the Year Austin Bishop picking up the win for heat race three.
Jonathan Preston would lead the field to the green flag with the 2019 Champion, Chad Layton to his outside. Preston rocketed out to the lead when the green flag fell positions started to shuffle behind him. With Preston up top, rookie of the year contender Dallas Schott began reeling the leader in by running the bottom after starting fourth. The caution flag waved on lap 4 for Tyler Templin who spun in the middle of turns 1 and 2. On the restart, Schott was able to grab the lead from Preston on lap 7 and began pulling away. However, this was short lived as Templin once again ran into trouble and hit the wall in turns 1 and 2, ending his night early.
Michael Thomas brought out another caution on the restart – and per URC rules the second attempt was single file. Schott led Preston, Derek Locke, Anthony Macri, and Josh Weller. Macri got by Locke and the battle for the lead started to heat up between the top 3 competitors. Just as Preston passed Schott in lapped traffic the caution came out and Schott was put back to the point position since a lap was not complete. One more caution would plague the night as Ryan Stillwaggon spun in turns three and four causing an open red situation as the cars approached the 55 laps on the track deeming a fuel stop necessary. When the green flag came back out Macri was able to get by Preston and finally with 5 laps to go, Macri rolled through the middle of turn 3 and 4 and drove by Schott on the outside. Anthony Macri would then cruise on to victory after an exciting, but caution filled feature, followed by Schott, Preston, Locke, and Weller rounding out the top 5.
“It feels awesome to win my first URC race” Anthony said, “I really didn’t think it would come this soon, I can’t quite put the whole night into words yet.” Macri had won the PA Speed Week 410 portion of the event, and has shown lots of speed at Port Royal as it was his 4th 410 win in a row at the Speed Palace. When asked what makes him so fast at Port Royal, Macri said, “I think I do a good job of keeping the car straight and saving my tires. I’m also not scared to run the fence when I have to.” The cautions did not play in Anthony’s favor as he felt he needed “real long runs for my car to work really well and it seemed like every time I got going there was a caution.” Though the cautions did not seem to faze him in the end as he walked away with the URC win, and the $2,000 payday that came along with it. Anthony would like to thank Sean Michael, and Chris Dyson for giving him the opportunity to drive, and everyone else that helped him out leading to his victory including the sponsors of the no. 20 machine – Thetford, Norcold, and Racer Magazine.
The KSE hard charger for Saturday night went to Steve Buckwalter who started from the 20th position and worked his way to a sixth-place finish. Jonathan Preston, Anthony Macri and Austin Bishop were credited with the three heat race wins.
The United Racing Club returns to action on Sunday July 5 at the newly renovated Bridgeport Motorsports Park. This will be the first of three trips to the high-banked “Kingdom of Speed” and all of the URC drivers are very excited to check out the new track configuration. Tickets for the event are limited at 500 spectator passes, so make sure to order your tickets soon as this is a night you do not want to miss!
Photo Credit: Jesse Carberry
Contingency awards:
KSE Hard Charger – Steve Buckwalter +14
Ultra Shield last redraw spot – Ryan Kissinger
ISC Racers Tape – Derek Locke (4th)
Seals-It – Steve Buckwalter (6th)
Rod End Supply – Adam Carberry (8th)
Ultra Shield – Billy VanInwegen Jr. (11th)
King Racing Products – Austin Bishop (15th)
DMI – Michael Thomas (last in feature)
Feature Laps Led by:
1-4 – Jonathan Preston
5-19 – Dallas Schott
20-25 – Anthony Macri
RESULTS – JULY 1, 2020
HEAT 1 (8 LAPS): 1. 22P-Jonathan Preston[4]; 2. 35-Chad Layton[2]; 3. 63-Josh Weller[3]; 4. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[1]; 5. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon[5]; 6. 47-Adam Carberry[6]; 7. 21R-Tyler Brehm[8]; 8. 15-Tyler Templin[9]; 9. 11Z-Zach Newlin[7]
HEAT 2 (8 LAPS): 1. 20-Anthony Macri[5]; 2. 23J-Jake Eldreth[4]; 3. 66-Ryan Kissinger[6]; 4. 7-Ed Aikin[7]; 5. 2-Dave Axton[1]; 6. 5G-Curt Michael[8]; 7. 7X-Steve Buckwalter[9]; 8. 42-Jesse Pruchnik[3]; 9. 5K-Jake Karklin[2]
HEAT 3 (8 LAPS): 1. 11A-Austin Bishop[1]; 2. 77-Derek Locke[5]; 3. 55-Dallas Schott[4]; 4. 5-Tyler Ross[8]; 5. 54-Joey Amantea[7]; 6. 7T-Michael Thomas[3]; 7. (DNF) 66A-Cody Fletcher[2]; 8. (DNS) 23-Justin Foster
FEATURE (25 LAPS): 1. 20-Anthony Macri[3]; 2. 55-Dallas Schott[4]; 3. 22P-Jonathan Preston[1]; 4. 77-Derek Locke[7]; 5. 63-Josh Weller[8]; 6. 7X-Steve Buckwalter[20]; 7. 66-Ryan Kissinger[9]; 8. 47-Adam Carberry[16]; 9. 35-Chad Layton[2]; 10. 5-Tyler Ross[12]; 11. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[10]; 12. 23J-Jake Eldreth[6]; 13. 66A-Cody Fletcher[21]; 14. 21R-Tyler Brehm[19]; 15. 11A-Austin Bishop[5]; 16. 5G-Curt Michael[17]; 17. 7-Ed Aikin[11]; 18. 54-Joey Amantea[15]; 19. 42-Jesse Pruchnik[23]; 20. 2-Dave Axton[14]; 21. 11-Ryan Stillwaggon[13]; 22. (DNF) 5K-Jake Karklin[24]; 23. (DNF) 15-Tyler Templin[22]; 24. (DNF) 7T-Michael Thomas[18]; 25. (DNS) 23-Justin Foster; 26. (DNS) 11Z-Zach Newlin
TOP 10 2020 URC POINTS (as of 7/1//2020)
1. Dallas Schott (Rookie) – 388
2. Josh Weller – 382 (-6)
3. Adam Carberry – 359 (-29)
4. Chad Layton – 357 (-31)
5. Ryan Kissinger – 327 (-61)
6. Ryan Stillwaggon – 287 (-101)
7. Derek Locke – 272 (-116)
8. Austin Bishop – 267 (-121)
9. Curt Michael – 240 (-148)
10. Tyler Ross – 232 (-156)
