Anthony Macri Earns First Checkered Flag Of 2021 At Port Royal Speedway Saturday

Story By: JUSTIN SNYDER / PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY – PORT ROYAL, PA – Anthony Macri grabbed the lead early and drove off from there winning the 25-lap Sprint car feature in dominating fashion Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.

In other action, it was Alex Bright winning the USAC East Coast 360 Sprint feature, and Devin Hart scoring his second straight limited late model feature win.

Macri, of Dillsburg, earned $4,000 for his first win of the season that came by an impressive 7.4-seconds in the non-stop main event for the Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Cars.

“I was getting worried in lapped traffic,” Macri said. “They were starting to not play as nice. The first five or six lapped cars just fell my way. They went the other way and I was able to stay on the top.”

Macri was Port Royal’s leading feature winner last year, but was looking for a little more speed so far this season.

“The car hasn’t felt like it was last year in the first couple of races,” Macri said. “We just kept working and working. I’d say tonight’s the first night where I felt we were as good as we were last year.”

Macri is primed for next week’s Keith Kauffman Classic paying $10K sanctioned by the All Stars.

“It’s definitely a confidence boost going into next week,” Macri said. “When we first got here, I seen the track wasn’t dug up as much as it was the weeks before. I knew it would eventually come back to this, but I didn’t think it would be that close to the wall. It played into my favor. I like this kind of track. Anybody can go around here in 15 seconds. This is the Port Royal I like.”

“I have all the confidence in the world in Jim (Shuttlesworth) and my guys. I just have to do my job. I’d say we can beat them.”

Gerard McIntyre Jr. started on the pole and grabbed the lead as Blane Heimbach took second. Macri started sixth, but was up to third in no time.

He shot by Heimbach in turns three and four, but Heimbach returned the pass as they raced down the frontstretch. Macri worked the very top of the speedway and passed Heimbach off turn two with 18 to go.

Macri caught the leader and shot under him entering turn three. He slid up in front of him as they raced off turn four taking the lead with 15 to go.

From there, Macri blasted away from the field increasing his lead even as he raced up against the fence by slower traffic.

Heimbach looked inside of McIntyre for the runner-up spot, but couldn’t make it work.

Three-time and defending track champion Logan Wagner had raced into the top five from the 18th starting spot.

Marci led by 4-seconds with 10 laps to go.

It was Wagner making moves by Heimbach and then McIntyre for the runner-up spot with five to go. Jeff Halligan and 14th starter Danny Dietrich also raced into the top five late in the race.

But up front it was all Macri as he cruised to his eighth career Port Royal win by 7.4 seconds over Wagner and 9-seconds over McIntyre.

“I knew we were pretty good early,” Wagner said. “The guys worked really hard on this car. It was a disappointment in the heat race for me personally. We bounced back in the A-main. I was picking cars off. I didn’t know where I was or who I was racing or what I was going for. After the checkered, I thought I might have won that, I don’t know.
Then I looked up and seen second. Hats off to those guys, I know they work really hard. The car was really good, I just positioned myself bad in the heat race.”

“We’re real happy,” McIntyre said. “We got beat by two of the best cars at Port Royal, so there’s nothing to hang our heads about. Dennis gave me a really good car, and sooner or later, I’ll figure out how to drive it. At the beginning of the race, it really felt good. I have to figure out what I need to do as a driver at the end of the race to close them out. I don’t think we were going to beat the 39 and the 1 was fast, too, but I’d like to be able to race with them a little more. That’s on me. We’ll get it figured out. We’ve had a lot of bad luck. This is refreshing and hopefully more of these to come.”

Dietrich and Halligan completed the top five. Dylan Cisney, Heimbach, A.J. Flick, Jason Shultz and Kerry Madsen rounded out the top 10.

Shultz earned the $1,000 J&S Fabrication Warrior Award. Wagner was the Hard Charger. McIntyre earned $103 from the Port Royal Race Chasers.

Heats for the 36 Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Cars were won by Dylan Cisney, Anthony Macri, Kerry Madsen and Jeff Halligan. TJ Stutts won the B Main.

In the USAC East Coast 360 Sprint main event, Alex Bright led Carmen Perigo Jr. and Colin White on the opening lap. Defending series champion Steve Drevicki quickly raced into third after starting sixth. Drevicki took the runner-up spot from Perigo with a pass off turn four.

As Bright and Drevicki streaked away from the field, a great race for third developed between five cars.

With 12 laps to go, the leaders were 8-seconds ahead of third place. They raced in heavy lapped traffic as Drevicki tried to take the lead. Meanwhile, the battle for third was between Briggs Danner and B-main winner Kenny Miller Jr.

Miller Jr.’s great run came to an end with a second turn flip with seven laps to go. He was okay.

Bright, of Collegeville, Pa., controlled the restart pulling away from Drevicki as the race for third, fourth and fifth continued to be close.

Colin White’s top five run came to an end as well with a fourth turn flip with four to go. He was also okay.

The final laps saw Bright leading Drevicki with Joey Biasi challenging Danner for third.

Bright’s second straight series win at Port Royal came by 4.2-seconds over Drevicki

“When Drevicki showed his nose, that made me get on it a little bit harder,” Bright said. “He showed his nose a couple times. I didn’t completely leave him. I knew I had to stay on it. Right up against the wall with these non-wing cars is fun. When you’re out in the lead like that, you don’t know how hard you need to drive or I could have picked
it up and starting making mistakes. The car was underneath me. We were along the same set-up tonight as last year. We tweaked a couple things. This car was on rails. I can’t wait to come back here.”

“I felt like I was better than him and could run him down,” Drevicki said. “It’s hard to pick that spot to be able to clear him with the momentum we’re carrying around the top. I tried to make a hero out of myself over here and bent the front axle back and I don’t know what else. At that point, I had to settle in for second. It’s a good start to the season and we’ll keep working hard to get that first win. I felt like I had a good car, but it screwed up my entry when I did that. I had to be really careful.”

Danner held off Biasi for third. Chris Allen Jr. completed the top five. Perigo Jr., Damon Paul, Tommy Kunsman, Ed Aiken and Mike Thompson rounded out the top 10.

Heats for the USAC East Coast 360 sprints were won by Briggs Danner, Chris Allen Jr and Alex Bright. Kenny Miller III won the B Main.

Kenny Yoder and Donnie Farlling raced side-by-side for the lead on the opening lap of the Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Model feature.

A quick yellow with one lap completed slowed the pace.

Port Royal’s Devin Hart was already up to fourth. He took third on the restart and nearly had second spot before another yellow flew.

Hart passed Farlling down the frontstretch for second following the restart. He trailed Yoder for a few laps before switching lanes off turn four making an inside pass for the lead with 13 laps to go.

He survived several restarts from there keeping Yoder behind him. Defending track champion Andrew Yoder was into third and Todd Snook moved into the top five during the final laps of the 20-lap main event.

Hart’s fourth career Port Royal win, and second straight, came by 1.4-seconds.

“You’ve got to ride it while it’s up because it can go down real quick, I found that out in 2019,” Hart said. “Last year, we struggled some. I felt like we were good, we just weren’t where we needed to be. That first race this year, we didn’t run as good as I thought we would. We went back to our normal last week, and been really good since, I want to keep it rolling as long as we can.”

K. Yoder, A. Yoder, Snook and Shaun Miller completed the top five. Troy Miller, Derick Garman, Donnie Farlling, Shawn Shoemaker and Matt Murphy rounded out the top 10.

Heats for the 32 Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Models were won by Donnie Farlling, Devin Hart, Kenny Yoder and Andrew Yoder. JR Toner won the B Main.

Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Car Feature (25 Laps) 1. Anthony Macri 2. Logan Wagner 3. Gerard McIntyre 4. Danny Dietrich 5. Jeff Halligan 6. Dylan Cisney 7. Blane Heimbach 8. AJ Flick 9. Jason Shultz 10. Kerry Madsen 11. Mike Wagner 12. Ryan Smith 13. George Hobaugh 14. Brent Marks 15. Steve Buckwalter 16. Justin Whittall 17. Jared Esh 18. Lynton Jeffrey 19. Ryan Taylor 20. Lucas Wolfe 21. TJ Stutts 22. Tyler Bear 23. Michael Bauer 24. Pat Cannon

DNQ: Tyler Reeser, Matt Farnham, Ryan Kissinger, Robbie Kendall, Drew Ritchey, Bryn Gohn, Frankie Nervo, Colby Womer, Kody Lehman, Gary Taylor, Rick Lafferty, Jeff Miller

USAC EC 360 Sprint Feature (25 Laps) 1. Alex Bright 2. Steven Drevicki 3. Briggs Danner 4. Joey Biasi 5. Chris Allen Jr. 6. Carmen Perigo 7. Damon Paul 8. Tommy Kunsman 9. Ed Aiken 10. Mike Thompson 11. Nash Ely 12. Lee Kauffman 13. Jonathan Swanson 14. Brody Adamsky 15. Jason Cherry 16. Aiden Borden 17. John Stehman 18. Joey Amantea 19. Mike Myers 20. David Swanson 21. Colin White 22. Kenny Miller III 23. Bruce Buckwalter 24. Mark Smith

DNQ: Billy Ney, Troy Fraker, Christian Bruno

Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Model Feature (20 laps) 1. Devin Hart 2. Kenny Yoder 3. Andrew Yoder 4. Todd Snook 5. Shaun Miller 6. Troy Miller 7. Derick Garman 8. Donnie Farlling 9. Shawn Shoemaker 10. Matt Murphy 11. Bobby Dunn 12. Travis Mease 13. Casey Steinhoff 14. Ryan Zook 15. Jared Fulkroad 16. Kyle Bachman 17. Shaun Lawton 18. Colin Knaub 19. Ethan Beasom 20. Steve Todorow 21. JR Toner 22. Daulton Bigler 23. Taylor Farlling 24. Jim McBee

DNQ: Trent Brenneman, Brian Booze, Chase Bowsman, Dave Bowsman, Mike Smith, Cayden Ranck, Jason Davis