Jeff Halligan Over Dylan Cisney In Sprint Car Thriller Saturday At Port Royal Speedway

Story By: PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY – PORT ROYAL, PA – Dylan Cisney threw everything he had at Jeff Halligan, but Halligan never flinched holding back Cisney for his first career Port Royal Speedway Weikert’s Livestock Sprint car feature win Saturday night by .061.

Cisney would slide Halligan in turns one and two, but Halligan stayed on the gas on the cushion maintaining the lead off two. Halligan had the bottom working in turns three and four while Cisney stayed on the top.

Cisney cleared him twice, but Halligan turned back under Cisney retaking the lead off turn two each time. Cisney had a great run around three and four on the final lap as they were side-by-side down the frontstretch with Halligan nipping him at the line earning $4,000.

“I was pressing my luck, especially the one time I snuck in by him,” Halligan said. “I knew I was pressing my luck. He could have easily closed the door on me and screwed me up big time. I knew if he was going to keep doing it, eventually he wasn’t going to leave that little hole open, so I started cutting down. The first 19 laps, we were getting such great drive off the corners especially four, but after that, I was really struggling. It’s awesome that we won. We did a lot to the car this week and our hard work paid off.”

“I didn’t think there was room for a car, but he kept sticking it in there,” Cisney said. “I tried to drive in there a little deeper and a little faster and clear him and it took me a couple times to do it. It was good, hard, clean racing. That was a lot of fun sliding back and forth with each other.”

Halligan was fast from the start.

“We were good all night,” Halligan said. “I knew if we could hit it tonight in this feature, we’d have a shot at driving past the cars in front of me because you had to get your racecar good, and we were good when we had this car here the last time we got second. At the end, coming off of four, I wasn’t getting the drive I was getting before. I had the wing all the way trunked. It was just enough.”

A five-car crash in the first turn marred the start of the Sprint car main event. Kevin Nouse and Logan Wagner made contact and slid across the track collecting Lucas Wolfe and crashing hard. Kyle Reinhardt and Landon Myers had nowhere to go and got tangled up as well. All drivers were reported okay. Reinhardt and Myers made repairs and returned.

Steve Buckwalter grabbed the lead when the feature resumed. Halligan grabbed the runner-up spot from Ryan Taylor as Cisney and Brent Marks traded sliders for third spot.

Halligan closed and took the lead from Buckwalter with an inside pass of turn four on lap 10. He pulled away.

Halligan began lapping slower cars as Cisney and Marks tried to settle third spot. Buckwalter slowed with six to go bringing out the yellow.

Cisney took second from Marks on the restart. The next time into one, Cisney tried a slider, but Halligan stayed on the cushion and never lifted. They were closer yet the next time around.

With a few to go, Cisney cleared the slider, but Halligan turned his car back under Cisney’s maintaining the lead off two. The final lap Cisney got a great run, but Halligan found just enough speed off the bottom of four to nip him at the line.

Marks, Anthony Macri and Taylor completed the top five. AJ Flick, Tyler Reeser, Kody Lehman, Mike Wagner and Robbie Kendall rounded out the top 10.

Heat races for the 30 cars in the 410 Sprint pits were won by Flick, Halligan, Cisney and Marks. Anthony Fiore won the B-main, but his car wouldn’t fire for the A-main.

Sprint Car Feature (25 laps): 1. Jeff Halligan. 2. Dylan Cisney. 3. Brent Marks. 4. Anthony Macri. 5. Ryan Taylor. 6. AJ Flick. 7. Tyler Reeser. 8. Kody Lehman. 9. Mike Wagner. 10. Robbie Kendall. 11. Tyler Walton. 12. TJ Stutts. 13. Tyler Bear. 14. Kyle Reinhardt. 15. Kyle Smith. 16. Jason Shultz. 17. Rick Lafferty. 18. Curt Stroup. 19. Steve Buckwalter. 20. Landon Myers. 21. Logan Wagner. 22. Kevin Nouse. 23. Lucas Wolfe. 24. Anthony Fiore.

Did Not Qualify: Jeff Miller, Dustin Baney, Nicole Bower, Jonathan Jones, Brie Hershey, Drew Ritchey.

Super Late Models

Bryan Bernheisel led the opening lap of the 30-lap main event for the River Valley Builders super late models. Gregg Satterlee used an inside pass in turn two taking over the top spot.

Kyle Lee moved into second and Andy Haus third as Satterlee increased his lead.

The yellow flew with 13 laps completed as Lee had cut into Satterlee’s advantage.

Sattlerlee controlled the restart and pulled away continuing to dominate the main event.

A yellow with five to go put Lee back on Satterlee’s bumper erasing a 3.7-second lead. Ross Robinson passed Lee on the restart, but had nothing for Satterlee as he scored his third Port Royal win of the season by 1.5 seconds.

“I’ll take it,” Satterlee said. “Any time you can get up here in victory lane is a lot of fun. I’m glad we got a front row starting spot tonight. It wasn’t as easy to move around tonight. Fortunate to get a good redraw and start up front and made my job a little bit easier. I was able to find a line that seemed to work best with the car and make laps. It’s good to get a win.”

Robinson, Lee, Haus and Colton Flinner completed the top five. Marvin Winters, Jim Yoder, Dylan Yoder, Tyler Bare and Gene Knaub rounded out the top 10.

Tim Wilson set quick time over the 32-car field with a lap of 19.811. The heat races were won by Flinner, Satterlee, Robinson and Bernheisel. Jason Miller won the B-main.

Late Model Feature (30 laps): 1. Gregg Satterlee. 2. Ross Robinson. 3. Kyle Lee. 4. Andy Haus. 5. Colton Flinner. 6. Marvin Winters. 7. Jim Yoder. 8. Dylan Yoder. 9. Tyler Bare. 10. Gene Knaub. 11. Bryan Bernheisel. 12. Dillan Stake. 13. Gary Stuhler. 14. Jeff Rine. 15. Roy Deese. 16. Kyle Knapp. 17. Hayes Mattern. 18. Kody Lyter. 19. Trevor Feathers. 20. Jason Miller. 21. Shaun Jones. 22. Tim Wilson. 23. Brett Schadel. 24. Mike Lupfer.

Did Not Qualify: Chad Myers, Deshawn Gingerich, Scott Flickinger, Dave Brouse Jr., Austin Berry, Nick Dickson, Chris Casner, Larry Neiderer.

Limited Late Models

Andrew Yoder grabbed the lead on the opening lap of the 20-lap main event for the Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Models with a three-car battle behind him for second.

Yoder controlled a lap 10 restart as Devin Hart and Shawn Shoemaker battled for second with Hart getting the spot and Donnie Farlling taking third.

The yellow flew with seven to go.

Hart stayed right with Yoder following the restart as Farlling and Spike Moor battled for third.

Another yellow slowed the pace with three left.

Moore took second from Hart as they made contact in turn four. Yoder continued to lead and held on for his second win of 2020. Moore, Hart, Farlling and Curt Dunn completed the top five. Shoemaker, Trent Brenneman, Dillan Stake, Brad McGinnis, and Matt Parks rounded out the top 10.

Heat races for the 28 limited late models were won by Shoemaker, Yoder and Hart. Drew Weisser won the B-main.

Limited Late Model Feature (20 laps): 1. Andrew Yoder. 2. Spike Moore. 3. Devin Hart. 4. Donnie Farling. 5. Curt Dunn. 6. Shawn Shoemaker. 7. Trent Brenneman. 8. Dillan Stake. 9. Brad McGinnis. 10. Matt Parks. 11. Taylor Farlling. 12. Joe Lusk. 13. Drew Weisser. 14. David Latsha. 15. Ronnie Bottenfield. 16. Jim McBee. 17. Scott Landis. 18. Harold Ranck. 19. Ryan Zook. 20. Kenny Yoder. 21. Jason Davis. 22. Kyle Nicholas. 23. Madeline Miller. 23. Kyle Bachman.

Did Not Qualify: Danny Sollers, Jason Mulen, Cayden Ranck, Derick Garman.