PORT ROYAL, Pa. — The temperature around the The Speed Palace was cold, but the racing was hot in the main events on Saturday night. Four cars all battled for the lead in the late stages of the Weikert’s Livestock 410 sprint car A-main event.
When the dust settled, it was Brock Zearfoss parking the 3z machine in Kish Bank victory lane.
Garrett Bard and Mark Smith would be the front 2 cars of the 25-lap A-main event, but the field would not complete the first set of corners as Smith would end up spinning in front of the field and collecting Jake Karklin in the accident.
Once the field reset, Bard would line up alongside Justin Whittall to lead the field to green.
The competitors would once again fire to life but not get a lap credited in the books as Zach Newlin and Steve Buckwalter would come together in the first corner to draw the 2nd caution flag of the race.
After the accident was cleared, the field would take the green and go non-stop the rest of the way for an exciting feature event.
Bard would take the early advantage on the initial start while Whittall would be forced to battle with Lance Dewease for the runner up spot.
Dewease, who started started fifth, would charge down Bard and take the lead with just four laps completed.
Whittall, who was piloting the 27H machine for the first time, would begin to hit his stride on the same lap, building momentum on the top side of the racetrack, and would drive around Bard for the runner up spot with 20 laps to go.
Dewease’s lead would only last for six circuits around the speedway before Whittall would drive by him for the top spot off of turn four with 7th place starter Brock Zearfoss close behind him.
Zearfoss would just as quickly go around Dewease for the 2nd spot and had the 2025 Port Royal Speedway track champion in his sights.
Now navigating their way through lapped traffic, the question would be if Whittall would be able to put enough cars between himself and Zearfoss to hold him off or not.
The two would begin battling for the lead with 10 laps remaining with Zearfoss attempting to slide in front of Whittall in turns one and two, but Whittall being able to power back by on the top side of the race track.
After Zearfoss’s attempted sliding pass, he would lose substantial ground between himself and the leader and would take the next six laps to close back in.
With four laps remaining atop of the Wray’s Landscaping and Garden Center scoreboard, Zearfoss would mount a run down the backstraightaway and dive to the inside of the leader Whittall for the race lead.
While still parsing their way through lapped traffic at this point of the race, Zearfoss could not shake Whittall entirely and Ryan Smith and Logan Wagner, running third and fourth respectively, would start to come into the picture for the race win.
Over the final three laps, Zearfoss was able to put enough lapped cars between himself and the rest of the leaders to hold on and win for the first time at Port Royal Speedway in 2026.
“I just told my guys I didn’t even know we won the race. We were just racing so hard,” said Zearfoss. “I could go another 25 like that.”
Justin Whittall would finish in the runner up spot and Ryan Smith would round out the top three.
The Penske Racing Shocks super late models would come down to an exciting final lap as well with Trever Feathers being able to steal the win on the final set of corners of the main event.
Jason Schmidt and Gary Stuhler would compose the front row of the 25-lap A-main with Stuhler jumping out to the early advantage.
Stuhler would lead the field for 24 and 3/4 laps with Feathers following close behind, but in the final lap, Feathers would start to peek to the outside of Stuhler and would charge around the Greencastle driver for the top position off of turn 4, holding him off by just one car length at the finish line.
Stuhler would be credited with 2nd and Rick Eckert would round out the top 3.
In Penns Valley Meat Market 305 sprint car competition, Jeff Weaver Jr. would start on the pole alongside Tyler Brehm and lead all 20 laps to pick up his first career win at Port Royal Speedway.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 2. 27H-Justin Whittall[3]; 3. 69K-Ryan Smith[6]; 4. 55-Logan Wagner[4]; 5. 8-Lance Dewease[5]; 6. 95-Garrett Bard[1]; 7. 11A-Austin Bishop[14]; 8. 10-Dale Blaney[16]; 9. 22-Doug Hammaker[15]; 10. 77-AJ Flick[13]; 11. 35B-Buddy Schweibinz[17]; 12. 0-Rick Lafferty[10]; 13. 38-Brett Strickler[12]; 14. 18J-JT Ferry[20]; 15. 47K-Kody Lehman[24]; 16. 3-John Jerich[19]; 17. 8D-Billy Dietrich[22]; 18. 11T-Mike Thompson[23]; 19. 10W-Jake Waters[21]; 20. 11Z-Zach Newlin[11]; 21. 48-Danny Dietrich[8]; 22. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[9]; 23. 17-Mark Smith[2]; 24. 5K-Jake Karklin[18]
