Story By: A2DPR / JEFF HALLIGAN RACING – PORT ROYAL, PA – Jeff Halligan has been very consistent over the past month. His last four non-sanctioned races occurred at four different Pennsylvania tracks and all resulted in top ten finishes.
The arrival of the All Star Circuit of Champions at Port Royal Speedway for the annual, lucrative two-day Bob Weikert Memorial was the measuring stick the team had been preparing for.
Halligan got his Saturday night off to a solid start by laying down a lap of 17.630, which was 14th quickest in the stout field of forty cars.
He backed that effort up by driving from 5th to 3rd in a very intense 10-lap heat race in his Risser Motorsports, TheTreeCenter.com, Victory Auto of Lewistown, EMM Sales & Service, Jake’s Golf Carts, Pine Hill Trailers, Keystone Ag Spraying No.45.
The combined qualifying effort put Halligan 12th in the accumulated points being used to lock the top twenty cars into the A-main.
Halligan converted that outside sixth row starting spot into a 7th place finish in a steady, workmanlike effort that saw him pick up a position about every five laps.
“We timed well and we went forward every time we hit the track, so I’m pretty happy with our night. Just a couple hundredths quicker in qualifying could have really set us up nicely but we had a good night.”, Halligan shared.
Right out of the gate on Sunday it looked like Halligan was going to pick up where he left off the night before. With 40 cars signed in once again, he improved his qualifying result slightly with a 13th best overall lap.
Once again it put the Ephrata, PA native inside the third row for his heat race but that’s where the similarities ended. Instead of moving forward to make the most of the passing points system, Halligan was fighting just to hold his ground. By the end of the 10-lap affair, he found himself in 7th.
When all qualifying points were tallied, it was still good enough to lock into the Bob Weikert Memorial finale but he would have a steeper hill to climb.
Halligan started the 29-lap A-main in the 17th position. At the halfway point progress was slim. He had only gained two spots.
Following a lap seventeen caution, Halligan restarted 14th. The Risser Motorsports No.45 started to come alive. Jeff cracked the top ten on lap twenty and continued to chip away, using a last lap pass to take possession of 8th at the finish line.
“Tonight was a good rebound. It was a good run for us in the feature after going backwards a little in the heat race. I’m proud of this team. You have to work for everything you get in this sport and they show that kind of fight night after night.“, Halligan shared.
Halligan and the Risser Motorsports team will be on hand at BAPS Motor Speedway Thursday, June 1st for the Greg Hodnett Foundation Race.
A return to Port Royal Speedway on Saturday, June 3rd will round out the race weekend.