Mantua – The Portage County Soap Box Derby race was held on Saturday, June 15 in Mantua. Forty-three racers competed in three race divisions resulting in three first place winners who will compete at the First Energy All American Derby race in July.
In the Stock Division, brothers Stephen and Matt Adkins battled each other throughout the race and met for a second time in the finals. Matthew Adkins remained undefeated in the race, and is the Stock 2013 Champion.
P.J. Moore was the Super Stock 2013 Champion. The S.S. field was the largest division with twenty-five racers, and the most experienced with two champions from last year competing in it. P.J. beat Brent Christman by 0.20 seconds the first time they met. Brent went on to compete in the challengers race, worked his way to the finals, only to lose a second time by three thousands of a second. P.J Moore remained undefeated.
Tyler Fleming was Masters 2013 Champion. Tyler met Zack Michael in the first heat and won by one thousandth of a second. Tyler won his second race by four-thousandths of a second, his third race by ten- thousandth of a second. In the final race he again met Zack who worked his way back to the finals. This time Zack beats Tyler, now they are tied with one loss each — to be eliminated from a race you must have two losses. The final race could not have been more exciting with two winners competing to be the champion — in the end, Tyler was triumphant.