Courtesy of Port Royal Speedway
By – Kyle Symons

Sunday April 10th, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will invade the Speed Palace for their first of three visits during the 2022 season with the Late Model division at Port Royal Speedway taking center stage.

The River Valley 40 will pay $10,000-to-win for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and they will be joined by the Selinsgrove Ford Limited Late Models who will be vying for a $1,500-to-win purse.  All Krill Recycling, LLC Super Late Model drivers will receive 100 show-up points for the event.

The event will start at 4:00 PM with gates opening at 1:00 PM due to the colder temperatures.  General admission is slated for $25, student admission $10 and pit admission $40.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will return on August 26-27 for the Rumble by the River.  The Friday night portion of that show will see two feature events each paying $5,000-to-win with the weeking wrapping up on Saturday with a $50,000-to-win event for the series.

So far this season the Krill Recycling Super Late Models have competed on three separate occasions with Colton Flinner picking up the victory in all three events.  On opening day Flinner picked up the victory over Kyle Hardy, Gary Stuhler, Trever Feathers and Kyle Lee.  On March 20th the Zimmer’s United Late Model Series held a show at the Speed Palace and Flinner crossed the finish line ahead of Gregg Satterlee, Jared Miley, Michael Norris and Rick Eckert.  This past Saturday night Flinner crossed the finish line ahead of Dylan Yoder, Gary Stuhler, Trever Feathers and Austin Berry.

Locally and regionally fans can expect hotshoes like defending track champion Dylan Yoder, Jeff Rine, Gary Stuhler, Trever Feathers, Rick Eckert, Gregg Satterlee, Mason Zeigler, Drake Troutman, Jared Miley, Kyle Hardy, Kyle Lee, Mike Lupfer, Dan Stone, Chris Casner, Hayes Mattern, Jason Covert, Dan Stone, Bryan Bernheisel, Kyle Knapp, Trevor Collins, Austin Berry, Levi Yetter, Chad Myers, Kody Lyter, Deshawn Gingerich and others to compete against the touring regulars.

Heading into this weekend where the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will also see action at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., and Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, Md., Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio leads the championship standings over Brandon Sheppard (World of Outlaws Case Construction Late Models regular and defending series champion), Tyler Erb, defending Lucas Oil Dirt Series champion Tim McCreadie, Hudson O’Neal, Ricky Thornton Jr., Jimmy Owens, Ashton Winger, Earl Pearson Jr., and Dennis Erb Jr.  Sheppard has the Port Royal event listed on his schedule and the World of Outlaws Late Models are off that weekend so fans can expect a large field of some of the best Super Late Model competitors in the country to be in attendance at the Speed Palace for the first major Krill Recycling Super Late Model event of the 2022 season.

Drivers not in the top ten in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points that have listed Port Royal on their personal schedules include Shane Clanton, Garrett Alberson, Daulton Wilson, Spencer Hughes, Ross Robinson, Max Blair and others.

Also expected to make the event as long as NASCAR competes Saturday night is Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, Cal., the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.  In 2020, Larson won the Rumble by the River at Port Royal which was his first Super Late Model victory in only his second career start in the division.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has competed seven times at the Speed Palace in their series history.  The first event on April 23, 2017 was won by Rick Eckert.  On April 22, 2018 Scott Bloomquist picked up the win.  In 2020 the series got in two out of three nights of the Rumble by the River with Tim McCreadie and Kyle Larson getting the victories.  Last season Jonathan Davenport was the winner on April 18th over with Hudson O’Neal and Tim McCreadie picking up Rumble by the River preliminary features prior to a washout on Saturday night.