PORT ROYAL, PA -- The “Myerstown Missile” Brent Marks certainly lived up to his nickname on Thursday night at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pennsylvania, opening the 54th edition of Tuscarora weekend with a FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory worth $8,000, his first of the season.

Blasting ahead from fifth on the grid, Marks, now a four-time winner against “America’s Series” over the course of his career, took the lead for the first time on lap 11 and never looked back, outdueling full-time All Star and two-time winner in 2021, Bill Balog. Impressive enough, of Marks’ four-career All Star victories, three have occurred at the Port Royal “Speed Palace,” with this most recent automatically locking Marks into Saturday’s $54,000-to-win main event.

Balog held on to finish second on Thursday night at Port Royal Speedway, followed by Swindell Speedlab’s Daryn Pittman, Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason, and multi-time Lernerville Speedway champion and early race leader, AJ Flick.

“I was just trying to be as smart as I could,” Brent Marks said in Port Royal Speedway victory lane, driver of the M&M Painting and Construction, BAPS Auto Paints & Supply, No. 19 sprint car. “The track actually turned out great for how much weather we got. I was a little worried early about how it was going to turn out, but it was a lot of fun. It’s been a while since we had a super, super fast track here, so it was definitely different to what we are used to. This car was a ton of fun to drive and I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”

Kicking things off from the pole position, Apollo, Pennsylvania’s AJ Flick earned the initial advantage, leading the first eight circuits over the “Northpole Nightmare” Bill Balog. Although stretching to a convincing lead, Flick’s momentum came to a halt on lap eight, as lapped traffic entered the picture creating a two lane roadblock. Balog quickly came to call, sliding by Flick with a move in turn four on lap nine.

Podium Interviews From Night One At The Tuscarora 50.

Meanwhile, Marks, who had already battled his way to third by lap five, was also in position to pounce, ultimately following Balog by Flick just before the flagstand. The former full-time Outlaw was able to show his nose to Balog on multiple occasions on lap 10, finally working by the Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup No. 17B the following circuit.

From that point forward, it was all Brent Marks at the front of the pack, surviving one last literal tangle with heavy traffic, as well as pressure from Balog, before a late-race caution on lap 28 rid the track of slower cars.

“It got pretty wicked there in lapped traffic. Running wide open, I was getting leary on our fuel, so once I got back to traffic, I just tried to be careful,” Marks continued. “All in all, traffic allowed Bill (Balog) to close back in on me, so there’s definitely pros and cons to being careful. Those last three laps, I was just cruising around.”

Tuscarora 50 competition will continue with another preliminary contest on Friday evening, September 10. Dubbed the Night Before the Tuscarora 50, the Friday night program will award $10,000. The weekend will then cap with the 54th running of the 50-lap Tuscarora 50 on Saturday, September 11. Commemorating its 54th edition, the 2021 Tuscarora 50 will award a $54,000 payday.

For those who can not witness the All Star Circuit of Champions live and in person, FloRacing.com, the official media partner and broadcast provider of the All Stars, has you covered. To access live and on-demand racing action from the All Star Circuit of Champions, visit FloRacing.com and become an annual PRO subscriber. Race fans can see all the USAC and dirt late-model action they want in addition to Eldora Speedway’s slate of races and those of the All Star Circuit of Champions. The subscription unlocks access to premium content across the entire FloSports network. Watch the events across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast.