Dewease Earns Record Seventh Tuscarora 50 Win in Front of Record Crowd at Port Royal Speedway

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By- Justin Snyder 

Port Royal Speedway- PORT ROYAL, Penn. (Sept. 12, 2020) In the world of sports, the number seven is entrenched with greatness.

Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson all won seven championships to cement their legacy as NASCAR’s greatest drivers.

In football, seven is what everyone is aiming for in terms of scoring touchdowns. In baseball and basketball, game seven is when all the chips are on the line and the stars come out and legends are made.

On Saturday night, Lance Dewease further entrenched his name in the history books of sprint car racing and Port Royal Speedway as he bested Anthony Macri and Dylan Cisney and the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 to pick up his record breaking seventh Tuscarora 50 presented by Packer’s Concessions and Ramsey’s Car Wash of Mifflintown title at the Juniata County oval.

Even more impressive, Dewease has now won Tuscarora 50 titles in four separate decades (90’s, 00’s, 2010’s and 2020). Oh yea, the win was worth an all-time high $53,000 plus $1275 in lap money.

“Honestly, I always just wanted to race and I never  dreamed of winning seven or anything really,” said Dewease. “I’ve had some great teams over the years and some great wins, but this team here is so much fun and this is just really cool.”

Dewease and Rico Abreu led the field to the green flag and it was Dewease jumping out to the early lead. Abreu was right on his tail at the flagstand. Two laps later Macri, who started sixth, got by TJ Stutts for third.

Two laps later Stutts slowed on the track to bring out the first caution with motor issues. Meanwhile Kyle Larson, who started 22nd on the grid, was already up to 11th. When the field went back to green-flag action Larson broke inside the top-10, but Dewease was in command up front.

Over the next seven laps, Abreu kept Dewease within striking distance and he was slowly reeling in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver. He tried on lap 13 to slide him for the lead entering turn 1 and he briefly held the lead, but Dewease powered back under him down the backstretch.

Buried heavy a lapped traffic, five laps later, Abreu once again reeled in the leader and this time he used a head of steam off the outside of turn three and four to lead lap 19.

“It was getting interesting there in lap traffic and I think I was maybe a little too relaxed,” said Dewease. “He got by me there and I was definitely a little upset with myself, but I wasn’t about to push it that early in the race.”

Abreu didn’t have a lot of time to open up a lead though as the caution flew one lap later when Brian Brown came to a stop on the backstretch. Abreu led the next five laps with limited movement throughout the field before a competition yellow flew at halfway that allowed teams to make adjustments and fuel up.

Once the field went back to green flag action, Abreu jumped out to the lead and by lap 30 he held nearly a 1.0 second advantage. Dewease was searching around the speedway for a way to make up ground and  by lap 37 he had cut the distance slightly.

Meanwhile, Larson was running in seventh and newly crowned track champion Logan Wagner was running in 9th from his 19th starting spot.

Fan’s dreams for a late race battle between Abreu and Dewease were shattered though on lap 37 when Abreu slowed on the backstretch with mechanical issues to hand  the lead back to Dewease.

“We made a few changes there at the halfway point and I think we were going to have something for him anyways, but it’s a shame we didn’t get to find out,” said Dewease. “Rico is a class act and you hate to see that for him, but I wasn’t going to be upset about leading the race as 50 laps is the name of the game.”

Dewease commanded the field on the restart and jumped out to a 1.5 second advantage  by lap 40, Meanwhile Macri and Cisney were putting on a show behind him for the second position as the two traded sliders at both ends of the track.

One lap later it was last year’s Tuscarora 50 winner, Aaron Reutzel, slowing with rear end damage after contact with the outside guardrail  to bring out the caution. Meanwhile Larson had cracked the top five.

With everyone wondering if Yung Money had one last charge in him, Dewease jumped out to a 2.3 second advantage over the next five laps. Macri and Cisney continued to go after the second positon, with Macri finally clearing Cisney on lap 45. Larson moved into fourth as well.

Macri cut the distance in half over the final handful of laps, but Dewease was just too far ahead to catch and the Fayetteville, Pa. legend brought the record-setting crowd to it’s feet as he crossed the checkered flag on top for the second consecutive night.

Maxcri, Cisney, Larson and Thursday’s winner Cory Eliason completed the top five while Wagner, Tyler Courtney, Spencer Bayston, Kerry Madsen and Freddie Rahmer made up the rest of the top- 10.

“Sometimes you have the best car and don’t win and sometimes things fall your way and it seemed tonight it was just meant to be,” said Dewease. “We haven’t had a season up to our standards this year and it just seems we haven’t been real good. I think people maybe underestimated us a bit and I this is just a really special night.”

For Macri, he thought that he wasted too much time battling with Cisney for second and that if he’d cleared him earlier he may have had a shot.

“We were good all night, but I think I used up my stuff a bit trying to hold off Dylan,” said Macri, who also earned $300 for setting quick time earlier in the night. “This is the second night in a row we’re sitting here second to that 69k car, so maybe we’re just a second-place car this weekend.”\

Earlier in the night Lucas Wolfe picked up $2000 during a non-qualifier feature  event that lasted 20 laps. Wolfe also earned a guaranteed spot in next years Tuscarora 50, which speedway official announced will once again be a three-day show in 2021 with an increased purse and feature the All Stars again.

Brett Michalski, Tyler Walton, Curt Stroup and  Tyler Bear completed the top-five.

A-Main (50 Laps)

1. 69K-Lance Dewease [1]; 2. 39M-Anthony Macri [6]; 3. 5C-Dylan Cisney [5]; 4. 57-Kyle Larson [22]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [10]; 6. 1-Logan Wagner [19]; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [4]; 8. 39-Spencer Bayston [20]; 9. 2M-Kerry Madsen [8]; 10. 51-Freddie Rahmer [11]; 11. 5-Brent Marks [25]; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich [9]; 13. 14-Tony Stewart [7]; 14. 55-Mike Wagner [17]; 15. 9-James McFadden [14]; 16. 12-Blane Heimbach [21]; 17. 17-Ian Madsen [18]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [23]; 19. 21-Brian Brown [16]; 20. 18-Gio Scelzi [13]; 21. 87-Aaron Reutzel [12]; 22. 13-Paul McMahan [15]; 23. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 24. 11T-TJ Stutts [3]; 25. 98-Jared Esh [24]

Lap Leaders: Lance Dewease (1-18), Rico Abreu (19-37), Lance Dewease (38-50)

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