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Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway, Jeff Halligan and the Risser Motorsports team had their best opportunity of the young 2022 season to find out how they measure up against some of the best sprint car competition the country has to offer.

At the end of the night, they had their answer.  They were able to load up feeling good about their program after a hard-earned top-10 finish against the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions.

April 23:  Keith Kauffman Classic / Port Royal Speedway / Port Royal, PA

     (42 cars, Qualifying 1st in group/8th overall, Heat 3rd, Dash 7th, A-main 9th)

Halligan’s Risser Motorsports / TheTreeCenter.com / Victory Auto of Lewistown / EMM Sales & Service / Jake’s Golf Carts, No.45 was one of 42 cars registered to take a shot at the $10,000 prize awaiting the winner of the Keith Kauffman Classic, honoring the winningest driver in the speedway’s history.

The All Star sanctioned event used a five group qualifying format for the large field.  Halligan was the fifth of nine cars in Group B to take time.  On his first of two laps, he laid down a 15.737 that held up and earned him quick time in the group and 8th quickest in the entire field.

“We timed well and we’ll be in the dash as long as we can transfer in our heat.  This is our first true night race of the season, so we’ll have to adjust a little.  The things we’ve learned so far this season on the daytime surfaces don’t all translate.  We need to make the right decisions the rest of the night“, Halligan commented after time trials.

The qualifying effort put Halligan 4th in the starting lineup for heat number two.  Under All Star rules, the 8-lap heats are lined up “straight up by time, except for the fastest qualifier in each group/heat, which will invert to the 4th starting position”.   In the five group format, the top four finishers of each heat transfer directly to the A-main, with the heat winner and the quickest transfer from each heat earning a spot in the random draw for their starting position in the dash.

Given the rule, all Halligan needed to do was fend off some stout competition and finish in a transfer position to secure a spot in the dash draw.  He was able get it done, finishing 3rd in the heat race.

During the draw for the ten available starting spots in the 6-lap dash, Halligan pulled pill number eight.  On the opening lap, he was able to charge into the 6th spot but ultimately came home 7th, earning the inside row four starting spot for the night’s finale.

Halligan didn’t get the start he wanted in the 30-lap A-main.  By lap three he had slipped back to the 11th position.  Around the halfway point of the event, the Ephrata (PA) driver started to find a rhythm and make forward progress.  With five laps remaining, he had clawed his way back to 8th in the running order.  When the checkered flag fell on the event, Halligan crossed the line with a hard-earned 9th place finish.

“We just missed it a little in the feature tonight.  The positives are that even though the car didn’t feel very good out there and we dropped early, we were able to pass cars later and we were really strong at the end.  We definitely learned some things in the feature.  Overall, the night was a success”, Halligan commented.

Halligan now sits 5th in the season point standings at ‘The Speed Palace’.  A mere 15 points separates a very close battle among the 3rd-5th place teams.

“We’re in a really good spot with everything right now.  Even though we may not have been a top-10 car in the feature, we were able to get a top-10 because we put ourselves in a good position all night long.  Every time you hit the track; it matters.  Every spot you earn matters at the end of the night”, Halligan concluded.

Remember the well-known and often repeated quote by the late author Zig Ziglar?  He said, “Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.“

Halligan and Risser Motorsports have been the model of consistency thus far at Port Royal, but that isn’t a result of just doing the same thing every week.  In today’s sprint car racing, being good on one night is hard, being good on multiple nights is very difficult.  Behind the scenes, Halligan and team have been adjusting, learning, trying new things, and improving.

When you add it all together, the result is a team that it going to get hot at some point.  To fans it may appear as if it happens suddenly, but it will have been because of weeks and months of effort leading up to it.

Up Next

Halligan and the Risser Motorsports team will be back at Port Royal Speedway on Saturday, April 30th for a dual heats, passing points format show.  It will also be camera and autograph night for fans, with the pits being open to all ticketholders for an hour prior to the night’s event.  Stop by to say hello, get a photo and get a close up look at Jeff’s No.45!

Season Stats

7 races, 0 wins, 3 top 5s, 5 top 10s

Jeff Halligan has had the Risser Motorsports / TheTreeCenter.com / Victory Auto of Lewistown / EMM Sales & Service / Jake’s Golf Carts, No.45 near the front through the first five races at Port Royal Speedway.  The performances have been consistent, but more importantly the less visible details show their program has gotten better from race number one to race number five.  That’s not a coincidence.  There is a plan.

April 16th:  Port Royal Speedway / Port Royal, PA

     (23 cars, Heat 1st, A-main 5th)

On an unseasonably cool Spring evening with threatening skies, twenty-three 410 sprint car teams filed into Port Royal Speedway for the final tune-up before the All Stars arrive the following week for their first ‘Speed Palace’ event of the 2022 season.

Three 8-lap heats were lined up by pill draw.  While all cars would transfer to the A-main, the handicap system was in use, so the top three spots were the coveted ones, resulting in a total of nine handicapped drivers.  Those drivers would line up for the A-main based on their season points average per race, with the lowest average starting first.  Any handicapped driver who had not competed in a minimum of 3 races at ‘The Speed Palace’ in 2022 would be required to start behind the other handicapped starters.

Halligan started from the pole of heat number three and used the high line to power his way to the lead and survive a heated battle with Dylan Cisney over the first half of the race.  He would pull away in the closing laps and win by 1.5 seconds.

Lining up 6th for the 25-lap main event, Halligan set his sights on another top-5 finish or possibly his first podium of the season.  The objective got a little harder when he didn’t get the start he wanted and slid back a spot in the running order.  For nearly three-quarters of the race, he fought unsuccessfully to get back the ground he lost at the outset.

Over the course of the final eight laps, the Ephrata (PA) resident finally got within striking distance and made his move.  Halligan grabbed 6th away from Gerard McIntyre on the 18th circuit, then claimed 5th from TJ Stutts with five laps remaining.  

It was Halligan’s 3rd consecutive top-5 at Port Royal and it moved him into 3rd in the season point standings.  

“All our work so far this season has been gearing us up for the All Stars next week.  That’s our approach.  We circled certain events on the schedule, like the Kauffman Classic, the Weikert Memorial, PA Speedweek, and the Tuscarora 50.  We use the races leading up to those events to prepare for them.  That doesn’t mean we don’t care about the other races or points.  We’re just trying to be as prepared as we can be for the big ones.  It’s all about being prepared, then executing“, Halligan shared.

Up Next

This Saturday, April 23rd, the first benchmark of the 2022 season will be at hand for Jeff Halligan and the Risser Motorsports team.  They will roll into Port Royal Speedway to take on the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions in the 7th annual Keith Kauffman Classic with $10,000 on the line for the victor.

“We’re right there.  We were able to run a 15.636 in our heat race today, so we know we have the speed to get it done.  This next race (here at Port) is an opportunity for us“, Halligan said, sounding confident and determined.

Season Stats

6 races, 0 wins, 3 top 5s, 4 top 10s