Mike Wagner

Mike Wagner (right) was injured in a crash Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. (Jeremy Elliott | jelliott@pennlive.com)

PORT ROYAL: Mike Wagner suffered one of his worst outings as a Sprint Car driver Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.

Within an hour, Wagner was involved in two head-turning crashes in Turns 1 and 2 at the speedy half mile.

The second incident led to Wagner being transported to the Hershey Medical Center. He suffered a contained compression fracture to his vertebrae and fitted with a brace according to a post by his son, Mike Wagner II, on Facebook.

It was the best possible scenario for Wagner, who was kept overnight but will not have to undergo surgery.

The first incident occurred during heat-race action. Cars got out of shape, and Lancaster's Doug Esh took evasive action and was hit from behind. He hit the inside wall and came back across the track, forcing cars to scatter.

Wagner got caught up in the accident and destroyed his race car. He was uninjured and jumped in another car to compete in the B-Main.

It didn't go much better. Wagner was racing through Turn 2, when Curt Stroup hit the inside wall. Again, Wagner was involved, this time suffering the compression fracture.

Wagner captured his first win at the speedway this season a couple weeks ago and was the point leader heading into Saturday's race. He held a 105-point advantage over Rick Lafferty, who finished third in the main event.