Red-hot Bard Wins at Port Royal on PASS Tour

Garrett Bard won his fifth PA Sprint Series race in his last sixth starts Saturday night, taking advantage of his second straight front-row starting position draw and fighting off stout challenges from Kenny Heffner and Tyler Snook to earn the 20-lap feature for IMCA/RaceSaver sprints.

The Wells Tannery driver also won a couple of Laurel Highlands Sprint Series events during his hot streak. The CG Racing Engines/Barnett Self Storage/Environmental Earth Tech driver now has 21 PASS victories – plus those in other series – in barely two years of competition.

Bard received his final and most serious challenge on a late restart with six laps to go. Rookie Snook dove to the inside and briefly claimed the lead, but Bard’s outside power was enough to return him to the top spot and the win.  Kenny Heffner of Watsontown also challenged earlier in the race and re-took second place from Beavertown’s Snook in the waning laps.

Ken Duke Jr. came from his eighth starting spot to finish a strong fourth, and Dom Melair of Warrington advanced from 11th to fifth.  Completing the top 10 were Justin Mills, Rowdy Heffner , Austin Reed, John Walp and Doug Dodson. Rowdy Heffner scored his strong finish in his return after six weeks off due to car damage following a crash.

Twelfth-place finisher Kassidy Kreitz earned the night’s Penns Valley Meat Market Hard Charger Award, coming from 21st starting position after winning her B-Main. Dave Grube II equaled Kreitz’s charge, winning the second B-Main and coming from 22nd to 13th, but Kreitz’s higher finish earned her the award.

Heat race wins for the huge, 46-car starting field were claimed by Reed, Dodson, Kenny Heffner, and Melair, with Kreitz and Grube taking the B-Mains.

This week PASS has two scheduled races, both supporting special super late model shows. On Friday the sprinters are part of the Night of Power at Path Valley Speedway (with ULMS late models) and the purse will be bumped to $400 to win and $200 to start. On Saturday they join program for the Late Model National Open at Selinsgrove Speedway. They return to Port Royal on August 21.

For the latest news and information, visit the series, www.pasprintseries.com, the PA Sprint Series Facebook page, or @pasprintseries on Twitter.

Results from Port Royal Speedway, August 7

HEAT 1 – 1. 34-Austin Reed; 2. M1-Justin Mills; 3. 78-Justin Clark; 4. 99-Devin Adams; 5. 10-Jake Waters; 6. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 7. 54-Mike Melair; 8. 1M-Paul Moyer; 9. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 10. 14X-Cale Reigle; 11. 46-Mike Alleman (DNF); 12. 0Z-Zach Rhodes (DNF).

HEAT 2 – 1. 20-Doug Dodson; 2. 56-Tyler Snook; 3. 95-Garrett Bard; 4. 52-Jeff Weaver; 5. 12-Roger Irvine; 6. 88-Fred Arnold; 7. 7-Drew Young; 8. 80-Dave Wickham; 9. 55B-Rick Romig; 10. 31-Roger Weaver; 11. 25-Dustin Young; 12. 9-Ronnie Rough (DNF).

HEAT 3 – 1. 97-Kenny Heffner; 2. 1-Rowdy Heffner; 3. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 4. 99-George Riden; 5. 5W-Logan Spahr; 6. 3D-Dave Grube; 7. 33-Derek Hauck; 8. 28R-Jason Roush; 90. 87-Austin Graby (DNF); 10. 44K-Tim Stallings (DNF); 11. 8-Nick Sweigart (DNF).

HEAT 4 – 1. 36-Dom Melair; 2. 91-John Fiore; 3. 5-John Walp; 4. 2-Erin Statler; 5. 21-Andrew Boyer; 6. 53W-Jimmy White; 7. 8-Will Brunson; 8. 11X-Bob Garvey; 9. 19-Kruz Kepner; 10. 11W-Donnie Wise (DNF); 12. 03-Branstin Shue (DNF).

B-MAIN 1 – 1. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 2. 54-Mike Melair; 3. 7-Drew Young; 4. 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 5. 80-Dave Wickham; 6. 46-Mike Alleman; 7. 88-Fred Arnold; 8. 55B-Rick Romig; 9. 1M-Paul Moyer; 10. 31-Roger Weaver; 11. 9-Ronnie Rough; 12. 25-Dustin Young; 13. 14X-Cale Reigle (DNF); 14. 0Z-Zach Rhodes (DNF).

B-MAIN 2 – 1. 3D-David Grube II; 2. 33-Derek Hauck; 3. 8-Will Brunson; 4. 28R-Jason Roush; 5. 87-Austin Graby; 6. 8-Nick Sweigart; 7. 11W-Donnie Wise; 8. 11X-Bob Garvey (DNF) 9. 19-Kruz Kepner (DNF). DNS – 53W-Jimmy White; 44K-Tim Stallings; 03-Branstin Shue.

FEATURE – 1. 95-Garrett Bard; 2. 97-Kenny Heffner; 3. 56-Tyler Snook; 4. 67-Ken Duke Jr.; 5. 36-Domenic Melair; 6. M1-Justin Mills; 7. 1-Rowdy Heffner; 8. 34-Austin Reed; 9. 5-John Walp; 10. 20-Doug Dodson; 11. 99-Devin Adams; 12. 69K-Kassidy Kreitz; 13. 3D-Dave Grube II; 14. 91-John Fiore; 15. 10-Jake Waters; 16. 12-Roger Irvine; 17. 2-Erin Statler; 18. 54-Mike Melair; 19. 52-Jeff Weaver; 20. 99-George Riden; 21. 5W-Logan Spahr; 22. 7-Drew Young; 23. 8-Will Brunson; 24. 21-Andrew Boyer; 25. 78-Justin Clark (DNF); 26. 33-Derek Hauck. DNQ – 0Z-Zach Rhodes; 28R-Jason Roush; 55B-Rick Romig; 1M-Paul Moyer; 11W-Donnie Wise; 11X-Bob Garvey; 53W-Jimmy White; 41Z-Jared Zionkowski; 14X-Cale Reigle; 87-Austin Graby; 44K-Tim Stallings; 80-Dave Wickham; 46-Mike Alleman; 31-Roger Weaver; 25-Dustin Young; 19-Kruz Kepner; 9-Ronnie Rough; 8-Nick Sweigart; 88-Fred Arnold; 03-Branstin Shue.

Photo credit: Angela Dmuchowski      Article by:Frank Buhrman