PERSEVERING AT PORT ROYAL: THE JJR TEAM CLOSES OUT THE NITTANY SHOWDOWN WITH A 12TH PLACE FINISH ABOARD THE ALBAUGH – YOUR ALTERNATIVE #41 ON A COOL AUTUMN NIGHT AT PORT ROYAL SPEEDWAY

PORT ROYAL, PENNSYLVANIA (October 8, 2022) – Following his tenth place finish on Friday night to successfully open the two-day Nittany Showdown at Port Royal Speedway, affectionately known as The Speed Palace, Carson Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing (JJR) team were back in the town of Port Royal, which was founded in 1812 and originally named Perrysville after the war hero Commodore Perry, ready to put on another quality show World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprit Car Series style. This venue is nestled into this little community of a 1,000 residents and is surrounded by mountains and farms which is picturesque. The show was moved up because of the colder temperatures, but the action on the track was about to heat up on the Juniata County Fairgrounds. The JJR crew rolled the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 out of the hauler to finish preparations for the night of action. There were 42 teams registered and ready to compete on the final night at Port Royal Speedway as the fans mingled in the midway buying their favorite driver’s merchandise and enjoying the food of Central Pennsylvania.

The size of the field again warranted two equally sized groups, Group A and B, for My Place Hotels Qualifying. Each driver/team had drawn a pill earlier in the evening and the first 21 drivers were in Group A with the remaining 21 drivers in Group B for their two laps at speed. When scanning the time trial order, the Durst Inc./Liquid Trucking/Wilwood Racing #41 with Carson Macedo behind the wheel would be the first car out in Group B. The track is large enough to allow two cars to take time at the same time, so Carson would share the track with Ayrton Gennetten when it was time to race against the clock. He flipped the shield down on his new Shifty Illusions custom painted Bell Helmet and lowered his right foot to let the horses run in his Kistler Engines power plant. Carson was at full stride when he took the green and focused on hitting his marks around the entire racetrack. One small error results in precious lost time, so precision and courage come together for each of these talented speed chauffeurs. When Macedo stopped the clock on the first lap he set the early mark to beat with a lap of 15.898 seconds. He stayed at full song the next time around looking for anything he may have lost on the first lap. When the clock recorded his second lap performance it reflected a time of 15.939 seconds. The better of his two circuits positioned Carson as sixth quick overall in Group B to start the night as David Gravel was fastest in that group with a lap of 15.674 seconds. Friday night’s winner Anthony Macri set the overall quick time out of Group A with a lap of 15.659 seconds.

Using the results from time trials to set the starting lineups in the four 8-lap heat races found the Albaugh – Your Alternative #41 on the inside of row two in the fourth heat race with the “Living Legend” Mike Wagner to his outside. Spencer Bayston and Brad Sweet manned the front row with Jeff Halligan and Sheldon Haudenschild in row three. Noah Gass, Freddie Rahmer, Trenton Sheaffer and Brie Hershey lined up to fill out the remainder of the starting lineup. With a full moon peering over the trees in turn 2, the field rolled onto the track and lined up in the two-by-two starting formation. When they went green, Carson drove the Liquid Trucking/Larry Davis Farms/WELD Racing #41 Maxim down the frontstretch and entered turn one lower than Bayston and Sweet exiting turn two in second behind Bayston. Unfortunately, before they complete a lap the red flag came out for Trenton Sheaffer flipped end over end in turn 4 negating the forward advance for the forty-one. It would be a complete restart and this time Sweet stayed high and maintained position, but this time Mike Wagner and Freddie Rahmer made contact forcing another race slow down under yellow conditions this time. The third time was a charm as Spencer Bayston raced into the lead over Sweet and Macedo as they raced by the flagstand. The remainder of the heat race would go non-stop with Bayston dominating and collecting the win by 3.499 seconds over Brad Sweet with Carson Macedo coming home third. Sheldon Haudenschild and Freddie Rahmer battled hard to earn the final two transfer positions out of the fourth heat race.

The 24-car field of eligible competitors who had earned their way into the 30-lap Nittany Showdown finale paying $15,000-to-win at The Speed Palace, along with an additional three provisional starters – Kraig Kinser, Jeff Halligan and Ryan Smith, lined up around the half-mile track surface to wait to be pushed off. The driver of the Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)/Boltz Family/Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution #41 Maxim was buckled into his Crow Enterprizes safety belts ready to roll. The JJR crew of Philp Dietz, Clyde Knipp and Nate Repetz worked hard all night and were now ready to see their work converted to speed and hopefully outcomes at a track that has historically been challenging for the team. It was an all-Pennsylvania front row with Brent Marks sitting on the pole and Anthony Macri pacing to his outside. Row two was occupied by two Outlaws – Brad Sweet and David Gravel – with Carson Macedo slated to get started from the outside of row six in the twelfth spot. After Brock Zearfoss had to move to a backup car after a wreck in the dash, he surrendered his eighth starting position and the starters behind him crisscrossed and moved up one spot in the starting order. That moved Carson from the outside to the inside of row six with Lance Dewease to his outside. When the yellow lights were turned out and replaced with the green ones, Brent Marks wheeled his #19 into the lead over Macri. Carson meanwhile was mired in a fierce battle for the 12th position with Shark Racing’s Logan Schuchart. Carson would work his way by the talented racer and when the first yellow flag of the feature was thrown on lap 11 for fourth running Spencer Bayston, who had smoke coming out from under his hood with a blown engine, Macedo would restart from the 11th position. While under the yellow, Brock Zearfoss also stopped, but was able to rejoin the field. It was a double file restart with 19 laps to go and Marks brought them back up to speed leading Macri. The green flag racing was short-lived as the red was thrown when Justin Whittall spun up the track in turns 3 and 4 right in front of Carson Macedo who avoided him, but Whittall collected quite a few cars sending Brock Zearfoss, Freddie Rahmer and himself flipping. Also collected in the incident was Devon Borden, Sheldon Haudenschild and Logan Schuchart. The restart order at the front of the pack was Brent Marks, Anthony Macri, David Gravel, Donny Schatz and Danny Dietrich with Carson Macedo getting restarted from tenth. When they got back going, a hard charging Anthony Macri would take the lead from Brent Marks as they dragged raced down the frontstretch and he entered low and slid up across the track into the lead. Carson was caught in a gaggle of cars racing for position and getting shuffled back as he lost some momentum. Anthony Macri was on a mission and led the remainder of the feature to sweep the weekend taking the win over Brent Marks and David Gravel with two legends, Donny Schatz and Lance Dewease, rounding out the top five. Carson was able to salvage a 12 place finish to end the Nittany Showdown weekend. Certainly not the results they were looking for, but they will stay focused and determined and figure this place out sooner rather than later.

The team now will head back to the Midwest for the last race ever at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska on Friday night before heading to Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City on Saturday night for the Throwdown at Lakeside.

A 12th Place Finish in the Nittany Showdown Finale at Port Royal Speedway! Photo Credit: Cameron Saich

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To stay connected with Jason Johnson Racing (JJR), go to www.jasonjohnsonracing.com.

To stay up-to-date with Carson Macedo and his success journey on and off the track, as well as to purchase his gear and merchandise directly, visit www.carsonmacedoracing.com.