Gregg Satterlee and Dillan Stake Earn Butch Renninger Memorial Victories While Lance Dewease Scores Win No. 119 at Port Royal

Gregg Satterlee and Dillan Stake Earn Butch Renninger Memorial Victories While Lance Dewease Scores Win No. 119 at Port Royal

By- Justin Snyder

Port Royal Speedway – PORT ROYAL, Pa. (Sept. 5, 2021) – If Saturday night’s finish is of any idea of what might be coming during next weekend’s 54th Annual Tuscarora 50 presented by Ramsey’s Car Wash and Garage and Packer’s Concessions, LLC., it’s safe to say Lance Dewease has reason to be excited.

Dewease powered forward from the 12th starting spot to pick up his 119th career Port Royal Speedway victory over Mike Wagner and Brent Marks. Courtesy of Lauver’s Concessions, the Juniata County Fair opener paid $5000 to win and sets up Dewease heading into the biggest week of the year for the Weikert’s Livestock 410 Sprint Cars.

“Our car really seems to be struggling in dirty air, but in clean air we had one heck of a race car,” said Dewease. “We love this racetrack and we love this weekend and upcoming week. We’ll work to get the car better in the dirty air and try again to make it work for 50 laps here next week.”

TJ Stutts and Curt Stroup led the field to the green flag and it was Stroup getting the early advantage and leading lap one. Sixth-place starter Brent Marks was on the move early as he powered into the fourth position on lap two.

Stutts took his first shot at Stroup on lap five by attempting a slider in turn’s one and two, but Stroup had the momentum down the backstretch and regained the lead. Meanwhile, ninth place starter Mike Wagner cracked the top-five, while Dewease moved into sixth as well.

Marks got shuffled back as far as ninth on the grid, but started to regain his touch on lap seven as he moved back into seventh and two laps later Stutts was able to execute the slider in turn’s one and two to take the lead from Stroup. The first caution of the event flew one lap later for debris on the frontstretch.

When the field returned to green, Dewease made his move and with 14 to go he was in fourth. One lap later he moved past Stroup for third and the following lap he dispatched of Pat Cannon for the runner-up spot. Marks was also coming on strong as he moved into fourth as well.

With ten to go, Dewease was all over the tail tank of Stutts and one lap later he pulled the trigger and slid past him in turn’s three and four for the race-winning move. One lap later Marks moved into a podium spot and with five laps to go, Dewease held a 1.191 second advantage over Stutts.

The final caution of the event flew with two laps remaining when Danny Dietrich blew a right rear tire while running sixth and came to a stop on the backstretch. Cannon also pulled off the Speedway under yellow with a flat while running fifth.

Wagner brought the field to their feet following the restart as he used the bottom of turn’s three and four to go from fourth to second on the white flag lap. However, Dewease got a great jump on the restart and went untouched over the final two laps to take the win by 1.556 seconds.

Brian Brown advanced 13 positions to finish in fourth, while Stutts faded to fifth to complete the top five. Ryan Smith, Logan Wagner, Anthony Macri, Stroup and Dylan Cisney rounded out the top ten. Macri earned the Valley Supply Hard Charger award after gaining 15 positions from his 23rd starting spot. 19th-place finisher Mike Walter II earned the J&S Fabrication Warrior Award worth $1000 courtesy of a random draw.

“We lost the brakes there late after getting into the outside guardrail, but the car was just so good in clean air,” said Dewease. “I’ve got to thank these fans for coming out here and supporting this event and this track with such passion. And for those of you fans who didn’t know Butch Renninger, he was one hell of a good man. My wife and his daughter were best friends growing up and he was the nicest guy and this means a lot to win here tonight.”

For Wagner, it was a matter of too little, too late, but he was happy with his run to second.

“Earlier in the first caution I thought we were pretty good, but we got backed up and lost a few spots,” said Wagner. “When that last one came out I thought here  we go again, but those guys left me a lane and we were actually running pretty good there at the end. There some big money on the line here coming up and we want to have a shot at bringing home some of it.”

410 Sprint Car Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Lance Dewease; 2. Mike Wagner; 3. Brent Marks; 4. Brian Brown; 5. T.J. Stutts; 6. Ryan Smith; 7. Logan Wagner; 8. Anthony Macri; 9. Curt Stroup; 10. Dylan Cisney; 11. Gerard McIntyre Jr.; 12. Tyler Bear; 13. Justin Whittall; 14. Lucas Wolfe; 15. Jeff Halligan; 16. Danny Dietrich; 17. Trenton Sheaffer; 18. Pat Cannon; 19. Mike Walter II; 20. Jared Esh; 21. Landon Myers; 22. Zach Hampton; 23. Drew Ritchey; 24. Kody Lehman.

Gregg Satterlee became the first driver to win three Butch Renninger Memorial Race’s in the history of the event as he drove his way forward to capture the victory Saturday night as part of the 167th Annual Juniata County Fair opener.

The 18th running of the event sanctioned by the ULMS Racing Series paid an all-time high of $6333 and was Satterlee’s 13th career victory at the Speedway, which moved him into sole possession of 21st on the all-time career win list at the Speedway in the division.

“This is one of my favorite races of the year to come to,” said Satterlee.”I didn’t know Butch, but it’s fun to hear about how much he meant to Port Royal and what all he did racing. It’s fun to win races, but it’s even better when it’s something like this.”

Opening day winner Trevor Feathers and Michael Norris led the field of 28 cars to the green flag and it was Norris getting the early jump and leading lap one of the event. Satterlee, who started fifth, was on the march forward early as he moved into fourth at the completion of lap one.

Fast time award winner from earlier in the night, Max Blair, moved into the runner-up position on the second lap and Satterlee followed suit to crack the podium as well. It would only take three more laps for Satterlee to get past Blair for second and the Rochester Mills, Pa. native set his sights on Norris.

Track points leader Dylan Yoder started the event form the 14th position and was already up to eight by the completion of lap seven, while one lap later Norris was buried in heavy lapped traffic with over a 1.5 second advantage over Satterlee.

Satterlee took advantage of Norris’s struggles and one lap later he cut a full second off the lead and only trailed by .619 of a second. However, the caution flew for a slowing Drake Troutman on the frontstretch and bunched the field back together.

The caution was all Satterlee needed as he chose the top line during a ‘Delaware Restart’ and he set up Norris perfectly on the restart to slide by the leader entering turn one to lead lap 10. Gary Stuhler also capitalized on the restart as he went form fifth to third as well.

With 20 laps remaining Satterlee had worked up his advantage over Norris to 2.536 seconds, but lapped traffic again reared his ugly head three laps later and allowed Norris to cut the advantage to 1.593 seconds.

Norris again cut the distance in half with 15 to go and on lap 20 he was all over Satterlee in lapped traffic. Norris and Satterlee swapped the lead exiting turn two and Satterlee held the advantage entering turn three, but Norris was able to inch forward heading to the line to lead lap 21.

The caution flew for the second time of the race one lap later when Deshawn Gingerich spun in turn four and while under yellow-flag conditions Norris was forced to hand over the point as he discovered a flat left-front tire.

Norris’s misfortune proved to be Satterlee’s gain as he regained the lead as a result and when the field went back to green it was Rick Eckert gaining two spots to move into the runner-up position. 15th-place starter Jason Covert cracked the top-five the following lap  as well and he moved into fourth with nine laps remaining.

However, nobody had anything for Satterlee as he quickly built up a 3.319 second advantage with six laps remaining. With four laps to go, Satterlee caught the tail end of the field again, but he was not to be denied as he cruised home to the victory by 3.682 seconds over Eckert, Blair, Covert and Stuhler.

Kyle Lee, Alex Ferree, Yoder, Jared Miley and Dan Stone rounded out the top ten. Colton Flinner rebounded from a heat race crash to go from 26th to 11th to earn the Georges Used Cars Hard Charger Award.

“I’ve got to thank the Renninger family, the fans and just everyone who comes together to make a race like this happen for us drivers,” said Satterlee. “I hate to see Mikey get a flat there and I would have loved to have raced it out there at the end. I was kind of just biding my time there getting ready for a late battle and I guess luck was just on our slide tonight.”

Butch Renninger Memorial Super Late Model Results (33 laps)- 1. Gregg Satterlee 2. Rick Eckert 3. Max Blair 4. Jason Covert 5. Gary Stuhler 6. Kyle Lee 7. Alex Ferree 8. Dylan Yoder 9. Jared Miley 10. Dan Stone 11. Colton Flinner 12. Marvin Winters 13. Jeff Rine 14. Hayes Mattern 15. Chad Myers 16. Justin Weaver 17. Jim Yoder 18. Jamie Lathroum 19. Gene Knaub 20. Deshawn Gingerich 21. Scott Flickinger 22. Dave Stamm 23. Michael Norris 24. Andy Haus 25. Trevor Feathers 26. Dillan Stake 27. Drake Troutman 28. Kyle Hardy

Dillan Stake capitalized on a front row starting spot to take home the Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Model Butch Renninger Memorial event victory and the record-setting $5033 prize that came with it.

Thanks to a multitude of sponsors, the event was the highest paying Limited Late Model race in the history of the Speedway. For Stake, the win was his second career win at the Speedway and the biggest triumph of his career.

“I’m kind of speechless right now,” said Stake. “Honestly if Devin or Trent couldn’t win this race, I wanted to as the Renninger family is like a second family to me. I’ll say it again, I’m just speechless.”

Shawn Shoemaker and Stake led the field to the green flag and it was Shoemaker getting the early jump on the field and leading lap one. One lap later Stake got by Shoemaker to grab the lead.

Stake stayed steady up front, but as he approached lapped cars on lap 10, Shoemaker was all over his tail. The two cars raced nose to tail for the next two circuits before the caution flew with 12 to go.

Stake stayed on the bottom of the track on the restart, while Shoemaker went to the high side The two again stayed within striking distance of each other and with six to go Stake held close to a 1.0 second advantage.

Shoemaker cut the deficit in half with four laps remaining, but a red flag halted action after a four car pile-up in turn one. All drivers would be ok.

The race stoppage proved beneficial to Stake as his crew was able to give him advice on where the run to hold off Shoemaker. Stake went untouched over the final four circuits to claim the victory by a margin of .517 seconds.

Shoemaker, Todd Snook, Devin Hart and Trent Brenneman rounded out the top-five. Matt Parks, Casey Steinhoff, Barry Miller, Shaun Miller and Derick Quade rounded out top ten.

“I knew Shawn was ripping the top up there, but I didn’t feel like we needed to go there yet,” said Stake. “I was kind of worried there with my tires late, but that red actually kind of helped me. I told my guys if I needed to go to the top to just send me, but we held on this is just really cool.”

For Shoemaker, he felt like the cautions stalled his chances at victory.

“The cautions just killed us and I wad really hoping to go straight through green,” said Shoemaker. “At the end of the day there were a lot of good cars here and to be one of the top three is nothing to sneeze at. I’m proud of how we ran and this is a great event.”

Butch Renninger Memorial Limited Late Model Results (25 laps)- 1. Dillan Stake 2. Shawn Shoemaker 3. Todd Snook 4. Devin Hart 5. Trent Brenneman 6. Matt Parks 7. Casey Steinhoff 8. Barr Miller 9. Shaun Miller 10. Derick Quade 11. Jared Fulkroad 12. Matt Cochran 13. Andrew Yoder 14. Brad McGinnis 15. Daulton Bigler 16. Scott Palmer 17. Danny Snyder 18. JR Toner 19. Derick Garman 20. Steve Todorow 21. Jed Latshaw 22. Matt Murphy 23. Ethan Beasom 24. Devin Weyandt 25. Kenny Yoder 26. Kyle Nicholas