By: Richie Murray – USAC Media (Photo Courtesy USAC)
Speedway, Indiana (June 12, 2024)………Twenty-seven USAC Silver Crown drivers and machines are prepared to take on Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway for this Saturday night’s USAC Eastern Blast on June 15 at the dirt half-mile.
Among the 27 entries are Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.), the defending series champion who has won the only two previous Silver Crown appearances at Port Royal in 2022-23. Past Port Royal front runners in this Saturday’s field also include Pleasant Hill, Ohio’s Matt Westfall (2nd in 2022), York, Pennsylvania’s Chase Dietz (2nd in 2023), Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon (3rd in 2022 & 23), Stoystown, Pennsylvania’s Carmen Perigo (4th in 2023), Kingsburg, California’s Kody Swanson (5th in 2023) and Greenfield, Indiana’s C.J. Leary who won the pole in 2022 and finished 5th in 2023.
Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) also ran inside the top-10 at Port Royal with a 6th in 2022. Meanwhile, 2020 USAC Silver Crown champ Justin Grant returns to the Port Royal fray after scoring a 6th in 2023.
The list of fellow Port Royal Silver Crown returnees also consists of Fort Branch, Indiana’s Chase Stockon (11th in 2023), Clarklake, Michigan’s Brian Ruhlman (13th in 2022), Collegeville, Pennsylvania’s Alex Bright (13th in 2023) and Sunbury, Pennsylvania’s Mark Smith (16th in 2022).
Muskogee, Oklahoma’s Kaylee Bryson enters the event as the most recent USAC Silver Crown dirt winner at the Belleville (Kan.) High Banks. She took 18th at Port Royal in 2023. Columbus, New Jersey’s Mark Bitner (19th in 2022) is back in action this Saturday as well as Shelbyville, Indiana’s Gregg Cory (22nd in 2023), Alvin, Texas’ Trey Burke (25th in 2023) and Raisin City, California’s Mitchel Moles (24th in 2023) who owns the one-lap USAC Silver Crown track record at Port Royal, set in 2023.
Drivers vying for their first career Port Royal USAC Silver Crown starts include 2015 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion Robert Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) and newly crowned 2024 USAC Indiana Midget Week titlist Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.). Briggs Danner (Allentown, Pa.), who just recently won his first career USAC National Sprint Car feature on Tuesday at Grandview, will make his Port Royal champ car debut at Port Royal on Saturday.
Leading series Rookie Trey Osborne (Columbus, Ohio) is set to take in his first Port Royal experience on Saturday. Also eying first Port Royal USAC Silver Crown starts are Kyle Steffens (Saint Charles, Mo.), Chris Fetter (Troy, Mo.), Dave Berkheimer (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), Nathan Moore (Kaufman, Texas) and Tom Savage (Red Lion, Pa.) who is making his USAC Silver Crown debut.
The Eastern Storm/USAC Eastern Blast event will feature both the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the USAC Silver Crown National Championship, plus winged 410 c.i. Sprint Cars. The USAC Silver Crown portion of the program will conclude with a 50-lap main event paying $8,000-to-win.
Pits open at 4pm Eastern, front gates open at 5pm and hot laps begin at 6pm, followed by qualifying and racing. Adult admission tickets are $30, students age 13 to 18 are $15 and children 12 and under will be admitted free. Pit passes are $35 for members and $40 for non-members.
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PORT ROYAL USAC SILVER CROWN ENTRY LIST: (27 CARS)
01 MARK SMITH/Sunbury, PA (L & M Motorsports)
08 KYLE STEFFENS/St. Charles, MO (Steffens Motorsports)
4 ®MARK BITNER/Columbus, NJ (Henry Yeska)
6 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Klatt Enterprises)
9 BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (Chris Dyson)
10 ®BRIGGS DANNER/Allentown, PA (DMW Motorsports)
15 CHRIS FETTER/Troy, MO (Chris Fetter)
21 ®DAISON PURSLEY/Locust Grove, OK (Team AZ Racing)
22 LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Rice Motorsports-Abacus Racing)
24 ®ALEX BRIGHT/Collegeville, PA (John Haggenbottom)
26 KAYLEE BRYSON/Muskogee, OK (Sam Pierce)
31 DAVE BERKHEIMER/Mechanicsburg, PA (Berkheimer Racing)
32 GREGG CORY/Shelbyville, IN (Williams-Cory Racing)
38 ®TOM SAVAGE/Red Lion, PA (Savage Motorsports)
48 ®NATHAN MOORE/Kaufman, TX (Chip Thomas-Joe Moore)
49 BRIAN RUHLMAN/Clarklake, MI (Brian Ruhlman)
52 CARMEN PERIGO/Stoystown, PA (John Stehman)
53 SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Five Three Motorsports)
54 MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH (Westfall Racing)
60 TREY BURKE/Alvin, TX (Legacy Autosport-Robert Wilson Racing)
69 CHASE STOCKON/Fort Branch, IN (Pink 69 Racing)
77 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA (Doran-Binks Racing)
81 ®TREY OSBORNE/Columbus, OH (BCR Group)
86 ®CHASE DIETZ/York, PA (Bruce Lee)
91 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (Hemelgarn Racing)
97 ROBERT BALLOU/Rocklin, CA (Hans Lein)
119 ®MITCHEL MOLES/Raisin City, CA (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports)
® represents a USAC Silver Crown National Championship Rookie
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USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-263, 2-C.J. Leary-262, 3-Justin Grant-224, 4-Logan Seavey-205, 5-Taylor Ferns-196, 6-Bobby Santos-183, 7-Kaylee Bryson-178, 8-Mario Clouser-158, 9-Jerry Coons Jr.-136, 10-Gregg Cory-134.
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USAC SILVER CROWN WINS AT PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY:
2-Logan Seavey
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USAC SILVER CROWN WINNERS AT PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY:
2022: Logan Seavey (6/18)
2023: Logan Seavey (6/17)
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USAC SILVER CROWN TRACK RECORDS AT PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY
1 Lap – 6/17/2023 – Mitchel Moles – 20.899 – 86.129 mph
50 Laps – 6/17/2023 – Logan Seavey – 29:32.10 – 50.787 mph
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PORT ROYAL USAC SILVER CROWN RESULTS:
2022 FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (6), 2. Matt Westfall (4), 3. Brady Bacon (2), 4. Dallas Hewitt (11), 5. C.J. Leary (1), 6. Shane Cottle (7), 7. Shane Cockrum (10), 8. Kody Swanson (5), 9. Jason McDougal (12), 10. Carmen Perigo (19), 11. Brian Tyler (16), 12. Chase Stockon (17), 13. Brian Ruhlman (15), 14. Jimmy Light (18), 15. Austin Nemire (21), 16. Mark Smith (9), 17. Jake Swanson (3), 18. Travis Welpott (23), 19. Mark Bitner (22), 20. Mike Haggenbottom (20), 21. Tom Paterson (24), 22. Justin Grant (8), 23. Gregg Cory (14), 24. Kyle Robbins (13). 31:43.07 (New Track Record)
2023 FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (4), 2. Chase Dietz (3), 3. Brady Bacon (6), 4. Carmen Perigo (9), 5. Kody Swanson (2), 6. Justin Grant (7), 7. Matt Westfall (12), 8. Shane Cottle (13), 9. C.J. Leary (5), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (14), 11. Chase Stockon (11), 12. Jake Swanson (10), 13. Alex Bright (16), 14. Steve Buckwalter (20), 15. Wayne Johnson (17), 16. Mario Clouser (8), 17. Mark Smith (22), 18. Kaylee Bryson (15), 19. Travis Welpott (26-P), 20. Ryan Thomas (21), 21. Mark Bitner (23), 22. Gregg Cory (24), 23. Taylor Ferns (25-P), 24. Mitchel Moles (1), 25. Trey Burke (19), 26. Russ Gamester (18). NT
