PORT ROYAL, Pa. — After he drew seventh for the 30-lap feature on night one of the Bob Weikert Memorial at Port Royal Speedway, Kyle Larson sat on his four-wheeler with slight concern as he watched the B Main stream on his phone.
The track was getting slick and Larson’s wheelhouse, up along the fence, wasn’t being utilized with authority. Come feature time, though, all concern quickly vanished at the talented hands of Larson and crew chief Paul Silva, as Larson still punished the top on his way to the $10,000 prize.
It marked another astounding feat for Larson, who has now won 18 of his last 32 races on dirt, nine features with the All Star Circuit of Champions and the last five races he’s entered in central Pennsylvania.
Larson took the lead on lap 20 from Brent Marks and raced to a 1.933-second victory.
“Just a really, really good car,” Larson said. “We seem to get it better and better each time we hit the track. It makes it a lot of fun. Makes racing a little less stressful.”
Larson started yet another victory plot by timing third of 37 cars with a lap of 16.409.
David Gravel was overall fast qualifier with a lap of 16.130. And while the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions sanctions the two-day event that honors legendary owner-driver Bob Weikert, the format runs a little different than the series rules.
Points are awarded for time trials, heats, and ultimately the feature. The top 24 in time trials are inverted across four heats and passing points set the pool for the re-draw, where 10 drivers based on points through the heat races are eligible.
Larson started his heat sixth and wound up third, which put him points wise safely in the top 10. That’s where he drew an undesirable seventh and not long after sat on his four-wheeler while streaming the 410 B Main, watching on with slight concern that he’d have to make most of his gains on the bottom.
“The more I race in Pennsylvania, the more I’ve realized I can’t run the bottom,” Larson said with a laugh, when things were obviously stress-free. “So I committed to making the top work. I got stuck on the bottom the first few laps and it was really bad.”
Larson lost a position on the first lap before a caution flew on lap two for T.J. Stutts. On the following restart, though, Larson moved to the top and everything changed after that. He picked off four positions over the next eight laps and was fourth before the next caution for Cory Eliason, Kerry Madsen and Paul McMahon on lap nine.
Six circuits later, on lap 15, Larson powered into second before he and Marks, the race-leader, reached lapped traffic.
After Marks and Larson exchanged the lead for a lap and a half, Larson motored around Marks on the top off turn four with 10 laps to go and was off to the races from there, another gaudy trophy and nice check secured.
Anthony Macri charged from 11th to finish third. Logan Wagner and Aaron Reutzel rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson [7]; 2. 5-Brent Marks [2]; 3. 39M-Anthony Macri [11]; 4. 1-Logan Wagner [3]; 5. 69K-Lance Dewease [5]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [21]; 7. 41-David Gravel [9]; 8. 11-Zeb Wise [12]; 9. 5C-Dylan Cisney [26]; 10. 2-AJ Flick [17]; 11. 55-Mike Wagner [18]; 12. 17h-Sheldon Haudenschild [14]; 13. 87-Aaron Reutzel [8]; 14. 39s-Sammy Swindell [10]; 15. W20-Greg Wilson [22]; 16. 98-Kyle Reinhardt [13]; 17. 55K-Robbie Kendall [19]; 18. 13-Paul McMahan [23]; 19. 25-Tyler Bear [1]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee [25]; 21. 3-Jac Haudenschild [20]; 22. 35-Tyler Reeser [27]; 23. 29-Danny Dietrich [4]; 24. 2M-Kerry Madsen [15]; 25. 26-Cory Eliason [16]; 26. 17B-Steve Buckwalter [24]; 27. 11T-TJ Stutts [6] Lap Leaders: Brent Marks (1-19), Kyle Larson (20-30)