Port Royal Speedway, a track to remember (22 March 2024)
After getting home from a Caribbean Cruise on Monday the 11th of March, I had just a few days to prepare for my next little trip.
Brett Deyo was putting on the Short Track Super Series , Speed Showcase at the Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania, and it was an event I really wanted to attend .
It was a show that got postponed from late last year due to bad weather. The Port Royal Speedway was a place I’d never visited and was looking forward to it.
I hadn’t done much planning, because I wasn’t sure what I would need to attend to, at home after being away.
Therefore my plans were thrown together at the last minute.
The few hotels that were local to the track were charging ridiculous prices, so I reluctantly booked one at Danville PA, that was over an hour from the track .
A silly move, I know , but it was a last minute thing, and when I booked it, Fridays show looked doubtful, with rain in the forecast .
I suppose one advantage of it being that far away from the track, was, it was less distance to drive home on Sunday LOL.
The lead up to the weekend went quite well, with no major issues at home to sort out .
An oil change was done on my Impala at Seaway GM , and the weather was nice enough for me to get the Thunderbird out of hibernation.
I took her for a little ride around town to get the dust off.
The Impala was loaded up on Thursday night, and at 7-00 am , on Friday morning , I set off from home.
As it was early , and less busy, I chose to cross into the USA at the 1000 Islands border.
It was a nice drive down through NY to PA , with only a bit of rain and fog to contend with .
I arrived at the Red Roof Inn in Danville at 1-30 pm and was allowed entry to my room before 2-00 pm.
I chilled out for a while before setting off to the track.
It was cloudy , but no rain, which was encouraging. On route I happened to pass by the Selinsgrove Speedway. (That’s another place on my hit list)
I arrived at Port Royal at about 3-45pm and didn’t have long to wait before the pit gates opened at 4-00 pm.
The Port Royal Speedway is unique, and is located right in the center of the town.
The pit road is located by driving down a house lined street, that runs along the back straight.
Once inside , I had a quick look around the pits and came across a few of my local drivers in attendance .
Josh Jock from Akwesasne was one.
I then wandered into the middle to figure out a good vantage point for shooting pics.
It was a two day show and Friday’s portion was for the qualifying heats.
There were three divisions taking part, Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks , and Canada was represented in all of them.
Action photography on the middle is very challenging, with many jersey barriers and fences that impede the shooting. I tried various positions, and in the end I settled on turn four which had a clear view.
Like all Deyo STSS shows, things got underway with the Canadian and American flags being displayed on a rolling lap during the anthems.
During one of the Modified heats, there was a huge wreck and Milt Trautschold flipped over right in front of me.
I was in the right place at the right time to catch this one.
There were a lot of cars in attendance and with a track surface that was cutting up pretty bad, it caused a lot of cautions.
The racing was taking longer to get through than I’d hoped, so with a long drive back to the hotel to encounter, I decided to miss the Sportsman heats.
By now it was 10-00 pm and by the time I got back to Danville (after a coffee stop at the Sheetz in Selinsgrove) it was 11-30 pm.
Saturday was more relaxed , and I had plenty of time to be back at Port Royal for the pits opening at 11-00 am .
Racing was set to begin at 3-00pm so I relaxed and chatted with friends until then.
As stated , I’d missed the Sportsman heats the previous night, where my local driver , Cedric Gauvreau of Gatineau , Quebec had suffered an engine fire. The crew had been working hard to get the car repaired and cleaned up.
Cedric’s dad Eric, was busy tweaking the motor.
I also checked out the Milt Trautschold Modified that did the scary flip the night before.
His car was all fixed and was ready to go again.
As start time approached , I returned to my lawn chair on turn four.
It was nice to see Jessica Friesen back behind the wheel of a modified this weekend. Since she became a mother, her racing has taken a backseat , so I don’t get to see her in action much these days. While I was sitting there , she drove by on her four wheeler to check out the track conditions,
Back in the day. I was one of the fortunate ‘togs’ , to have been around, taking pics, when she began her modified career.
FLASHBACK to 2008 at the Brockville Ontario Speedway
She raced a lot at my local tracks, and had wins at the Brockville Ontario Speedway and the now defunct Autodrome Edelweiss while driving for Lasalle Motorsports.
The second day of racing began, with Consi’s for the Modifieds and Sportsman.
There was no need for a Pro-Stock consi, as all cars in attendance were allowed in their big race.
This was the first feature on the program.
It was won by 711 Rich Crane, with Canada’s Bruno Cyr chasing him home in second.
Next up, was the Sportsman Feature
One of the early leaders, was one of my locals , 44 David Rogers from Lafargeville NY .
He had a tire let go, late in the race and young Nolan Watt surged to the front.
Nolan took the checkers and here he is in Victory Lane with his mum and dad (Ryan Watt the Modified driver) .
We then had a long intermission for track prep, before the nights 75 lap main event.
The early contenders were Ronnie Johnson , Mike Mahaney and Ryan Godown
After 20 laps the cream was rising to the top.
Matt Sheppard had secured the lead and had started lapping back markers as others began chasing him.
Tim Fuller 19 had moved up through the pack , as did Mat Williamson 3 , Louden Reimert 58 and veteran driver Billy Decker.
Decker kept on moving up, and was dueling Sheppard for the lead on the last few laps ,but just hadn’t got that ‘little bit extra’ to pass.
Following them across the line was young Reimert to complete the podium.
Victory Lane pics were all done by 9-45 pm and I was out of the gate as quick as I could for the long ride back to Danville.
It took a while to get out of the town , as you could imagine , but after another Sheetz coffee stop , I was back at the Red Roof by 11-30 pm.
I was up at 7-00 am on Sunday and was soon on my way .
I stopped at one of my regular breakfast haunts of the past. The Buffett at the Maple Diner at Mexico NY on the I81, is is always worth it , when passing on a Sunday morning.
By 2-00 pm I was back home in Cornwall , Ontario , with an afternoon of photo editing ahead of me.
The Port Royal Speedway PA , became track number 258 on my TRACKCHASER totals