Piston ported engines (2 strokes) have been around for a long long time.
I'd say this engine would work good as a 2 stroke. Lower rpm and more torque, which 2 stroke lack. Most good 2 strokes today run around 9,000 rpm. This engine would run about 1/3 of that as a 2 stroke but produce much more torque.
yeah, now combine it with the elimination of all the parts in the valve train and you're talking about an engine with very few moving parts and the piston assembly being the only start/stop moving parts...