Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Anthony Macri (39) passes leader Donny Schatz to take the lead and win the fourth heat race at Port Royal on Friday.
PORT ROYAL — Anthony Macri had 21 sprint car wins this season going into Friday night at Port Royal Speedway.
However, a victory against the outlaw world had eluded him.
Macri traded that stat as his 22nd victory of the season, and his ninth at Port Royal, it was his first victory with the World of Outlaws on the opening night of the Nittany Showdown.
Macri, of Dillsburg, earned $10,000 for that long-awaited first career Outlaws victory.
“We’ve found something here and the car has been really good.” Macri said. “We tried something on hot laps and time trials and it really wasn’t the direction we wanted to go and we went back to our usual deal. The car felt quite robust. I knew I had to keep my head on my shoulders for 25 laps and not do anything stupid.
Macri started on pole for the 25-lap feature and took the lead as Donny Schatz passed Justin Whittall for second. As Macri pulled away, Whittall edged out Schatz for second place.
In just six laps, Macri reached the back of the field with a 3-second lead. An inside move at the first corner got Lance Dewease past Schatz and into third with eight laps completed.
Dewease brushed past Whittall in traffic down the stretch and moved up to second. He was 2.5 seconds off the lead with 11 laps to go.
Five-time Port Royal champion Logan Wagner started eighth but moved into the top five in the final 10 laps with a pass from Schatz.
Macri maintained his lead over Dewease, but the first yellow card of the race brought the field back together with nine laps to go. The reason for the yellow was Brent Marks. He was stopped on the frontstretch with a broken forehead after touching the outside wall.
Macri controlled the restart by taking the low line while Dewease worked in the middle of the track. Dewease would almost clear Macri in turns
three and four. Macri had just enough speed off the mat to stay in front of Dewease.
Macri stopped two attempts from Dewease and started to walk away. Wagner worked his way up to third place after the restart. Dewease continued to run down the halfway line and stayed to the right with the lead now that they hit traffic with two laps remaining.
“I really didn’t want to see the caution knowing that Lance was in second place.”
Macri said. “I got a little. We went down to three and four and I slid, and I made up my mind, I’d stay on the gas and if we ended up on the rail, we ended up on the rail.”
Macri overtook Robbie Price at turn one on the final lap preventing Dewease from attempting a final corner pass.
Macri scored the win over Dewease and Wagner. Whittall and David Gravel rounded out the top five. Schatz, Spencer Bayston, Sye Lynch, Ryan Smith and Carson Macedo rounded out the top 10.
Spencer Bayston set a fast time over the 40-car field with a lap of 15.597. Lance Dewease was fastest in Flight B qualifying with 15,747.
James McFadden, Logan Wagner, Dewease and Anthony Macri won the eight-lap heat races. Macri passed Justin Whittall at turn four of the final lap to win the race. Brian Brown won the Last Chance Showdown over Devon Borden, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Steve Buckwalter.
The finale is tonight by paying $15,000 to win the 30-lap speed car feature.
Dillan Stake, of Mapleton, Huntingdon Co., won the 20-lap feature for the latest limited models. It was his fifth win of the season extending his points lead. Devin Hart, Taylor Farling, Derick Garman and Andrew Yoder rounded out the top five. Trent Brenneman, Jared Fulkroad, Matt Parks, Shawn Shoemaker and Todd Snook rounded out the top 10.
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