Gregg Satterlee’s commanding second round victory on the Appalachian Mountain Speedweek trail Saturday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway could be a glimpse of what’s to come with six miniseries races left. | RaceWire

The Indiana, Pa., driver never skipped a beat on a night when he set fast time, won the dash, and led all 35 laps for the $5,000 victory from the pole. That encourages Satterlee because this season filled with rainouts and offbeat nights has been anything but rhythmic for him

“I feel like tonight, things kind of clicked, for whatever reason,” Satterlee said. “You could say things fell our way. Had cautions when I needed them in that feature. Our car was good. Didn’t have anything stupid happen. For once it was just not an uphill battle all night long.”

Satterlee isn’t exaggerating. Last week at Port Royal, he finished 12th, leaving him not as confident as he’d like heading into the eight-race miniseries he finished runner-up to Tyler Emory last year.

Friday at Clinton County Speedway in Mill, Pa., didn’t boost the morale either as he backslid from the pole to finish fourth at the third-mile. Satterlee actually never managed to lead a lap, his race hindered when he blew the opening corner of Friday’s feature that shuffled him back to sixth by the second lap. A smooth night on Saturday, needless to say, was exactly what he needed.

“I was trying not to do anything stupid,” Satterlee said. “Sometimes being conservative is being stupid. But tonight, I was just making sure I wasn’t one of those guys that was spinning myself out or do something like I did (Friday) driving off the racetrack.”

Satterlee owned up to the error that caved his chances at Friday’s win, saying “I was the one who was driving it, you know what I mean?” But he’ll also say his car hasn’t been in tip-top shape like it had been for parts of last season and most of 2022, the year he finished 18th in the final DirtonDirt.com Top 25 poll.

But after Saturday’s feature in which he navigated tricky lapped traffic and a brief challenge from runner-up Hayes Mattern, he’s led to believe “our car is definitely headed in the right direction.”

"Last week, we got 12th in a regular show (and) that was frustrating,” Satterlee said. “It’s not I started 20th and got up to 12th. I started to like seventh and got to 12th. It’s just very easy to not be good when your car is off.”

Satterlee’s in great standing heading into the heart of the miniseries, now atop the standings and 79 points ahead of Matt Cosner. Through two miniseries race last year, he’d been 47 point behind Emory from the lead prior to the third-round victory at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway.

The miniseries heads back to Hagerstown on Sunday and Satterlee couldn’t be more optimistic.

“Our goal is to win as many races as we can and try to win the points. After that, we have the Firecracker (in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series action at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.). We have a lot of big races this month. That’s pretty big on my list as hometown racer there. We have lots of family that go. Really want to get things tuned up and get things ready for the Firecracker.”