Article Credit: Brad Strawser
Port Royal, PA — The Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series returned to Port Royal Speedway on Saturday with $12,000 up for grabs for the big block modifieds. Dillon Steuer would roll of in the 2nd starting spot and hold off “Superman” Matt Sheppard in the final laps to claim the Speed Showcase crown.
Steuer would start to the outside of Brandon Grosso for the 60 lap A-main event at The Speed Palace and would take the lead from the opening green flag.
Grosso would trail Steuer closely through the opening 15 laps of the event and was looking to make a pass for the lead in lapped traffic when the 4P of Anthony Perrego would go up in smoke in turn 4 bringing out the first caution of the night.
On the ensuing restart, Alex Yankowski was able to jump his way into the 2nd spot around Grosso, while Grosso would get caught in a 4 car battle for the 3rd spot with Matt Sheppard, Mike Mahaney, and Matt Stangle.
While in that battle, Grosso would end up scrapping the outside wall in turns 3 and 4 that would cause enough damage to his car for him to slow and bring out a caution with 38 laps remaining.
After a few attempts at a restart, Steuer would get back out in front with Alex Yankowski hot on his tail, but with 23 laps remaining smoke started to pour out of the 84y machine and the problems would get worse as Yankowski would slow to a stop with 21 laps remaining. His night would finish at that point, and he would be credited with a 23rd place finish.
Matt Sheppard would get into 2nd on the next restart but would trail Steuer for the next handful of laps. He would look to make his move for the lead in turns 3 and 4 with a sliding move in front of Steuer with 4 laps remaining that Steuer was able to hold off.
The pair would trade sliders with 3 laps to go with Steuer making the strong of the two moves and holding off another from Sheppard coming to the 2 to go signal. The top 2 cars battle through lapped traffic as well which gave Sheppard one last chance in the final set of corners. Sheppard and Steuer were door-to-door off of turn 4, but it was Steuer able to hold of Sheppard for the $12,000 payday.
Fans jumped out of their seats for the exciting finish and Steuer was loving all the support when he climbed from his car in victory lane.
“I’m sure a lot of you guys are cheering because I beat him, not because you’re my fans,” referring to holding of Matt Sheppard, “but maybe I made a few tonight,” said Steuer in his victory lane interview.
Matt Sheppard would finish in second and Mike Mahaney would round out the podium.
In the 602 crate modified A-main event, Stephen Kemery started on the pole and would hold off Joe Toth and James Hill for the $4,000 payday.
In pro stock competition, Devon Camenga raced to the win over Luke Horning and Andy Graves.
Port Royal Speedway will be back in competition on Saturday March 22nd with Weikert’s Livestock 410 sprint cars racing for $6,000 to win and Penske Racing Shock super late models competing for $4,000 to win as the Opening Day program has been rescheduled to this date.
Be sure to follow Port Royal Speedway on Facebook at Port Royal Speedway Trackside Media or on X/Twitter @PortRoyalSpdway.
Full Results:
STSS Big Block Modified A-Main
- 6D-Dillon Steuer[2]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[12]; 3. 35M-Mike Mahaney[4]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne[10]; 5. 6S-Matt Stangle[3]; 6. 14W-Ryan Watt[9]; 7. 58-Louden Reimert[7]; 8. 1P-Billy Pauch Jr[6]; 9. 26-Ryan Godown[18]; 10. 6B-Danny Bouc[13]; 11. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[23]; 12. 99L-Larry Wight[28]; 13. 02-Jack Lehner[16]; 14. 19-Tim Fuller[22]; 15. 1D-Tyler Dippel[15]; 16. 165-Rex King Jr[21]; 17. 3-Mat Williamson[17]; 18. 53-Mike Gular[27]; 19. 20C-Cole Stangle[26]; 20. 7M-Paul Mancini[11]; 21. 44-Stewart Friesen[30]; 22. 32-Brandon Grosso[1]; 23. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[5]; 24. 21A-Peter Britten[8]; 25. 15G-Duane Howard[20]; 26. 20-Rick Laubach[24]; 27. 4M-Logan Watt[14]; 28. 93-Danny Varin[19]; 29. 4P-Anthony Perrego[29]; 30. 5*-Tyler Siri[25]
STSS 602 Crate A-Main Results
- 69K-Stephen Kemery[1]; 2. 9J-Joe Toth[4]; 3. 69-James Hill[8]; 4. 73H-Paulie Hartwig III[7]; 5. 61L-Donovan Lussier[11]; 6. 14S-Ryan Simmons[23]; 7. 21C-Brian Calabrese[26]; 8. 49-Chris Jakubiak[24]; 9. 89-Dylan Madsen[29]; 10. 4H-Travis Hill[6]; 11. 04-Mike Butler[16]; 12. 117-Jesse Hirthler[9]; 13. 4-Steve Davis[17]; 14. 51-Matt Peck[10]; 15. 59C-Colin Cox[2]; 16. 14B-Ethan Bill[19]; 17. 15-Scott Hitchens[28]; 18. 44-Zach Sobotka[27]; 19. 9L-Jimmy Leiby[18]; 20. 22A-Adrianna Delliponti[13]; 21. 43-Michael White[14]; 22. 5B-Bryce Bashore[22]; 23. 74-Jax Yohn[30]; 24. 5K-Gavyn Krupp[5]; 25. 14-Brad Roberts[12]; 26. 27-Michael Ballestero[3]; 27. 12-George Schweigart[20]; 28. 59K-Dakota Kohler[25]; 29. 29-Matt Ellery[15]; 30. 4R-Jordan Henn[21]
Pro Stocks A-Main Results
- 110-Devon Camenga[2]; 2. 2H-Luke Horning[6]; 3. 96-Andy Graves[5]; 4. 6-Shane Playford[7]; 5. 49-Ivan Joslin[15]; 6. 72G-Denis Gauvreau[3]; 7. 81-Bret Belden[10]; 8. 715-Jason Morrison[1]; 9. 28-Philip DeFiglio[12]; 10. 8-Marc Lalonde[8]; 11. 38-Justin Chaput[13]; 12. 35-Ken Gates[9]; 13. 9J-Eric Jean Louis[11]; 14. 25Y-Ken Griffin[14]; 15. 177-Christopher Stalker[4]; 16. 2Z-Hugh Page[16]