by Barry Angstadt
After a frustrating beginning to the 2017 racing season, Jason Swavely was back in a big way on Saturday night, winning the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint feature at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Joining Swavely as Kids Night feature winners at the speedway were: Josh Stoyer (270's); Austin Graby (Sportsman); Eddie Nocera (Hammer-Down Engines Four-Strokes); and William Manotti. Both Stoyer and Manotti made it back-to-back wins in their respective divisions.
Saturday was also Lias Tire/ American Racer Tire Night at the Clyde. If the winning driver had American Racer Tires on the left and right-rear corners, he/she received two brand new American Racer Tires. Winning drivers who did not have two rear wheels shod with American Racer rubber received one brand new rear tire from Lias Tire.
A caution period on the original start left Chris Oraschin facing traffic and his front row mate, Kelby Stauffer, with a bent up racecar as it wiped out both front row starters.
On the restart, Swavely dashed into the runner-up position with Rutherford quickly following to third. With Chris Panczner leading and Swavely pulling alongside to challenge, the pair ran side-by-side around the entire track on lap four, and it was Swavely jumping into the top spot to finally break the lap-after-lap excitment.
The scariest moment for Swavely came with 11 tours complete, when two cars got together in turn four. The leader was right behind them at the moment, and Swavely simply steered like crazy, threading the needle and darting between the two cars. "No idea how I made it through there, " he laughed afterwards.
Swavely, who hails from Fleetwood, Pa., drove away from Rutherford over the final few laps to secure the win - on his wife's birthday, no less. Jarid Kunkle, Heath Hehnly, and Jim Radney completed the top five.
Josh Stoyer, Mohnton Pa., took the lead from Heath Hehnly on a double-file restart with eight circuits scored, then held on through several caution periods to notch his second consecutive Viper Chassis 270 Sprint victory.
Stoyer beat Hehnly, Mike Miller, Devin Adams, and Brian Sholley to the stripe in the 25-lapper. He was the only car in the field to run on American Racer tires, so Stoyer received the Lias Tire bonus of two brand new rear tires.
Austin Graby picked up his first Sportsman feature win, holding off Nick Skias and Cameron Bellinger to seal the deal. Following Graby, Skias, and Bellinger to the checkered flag were Richie Hartman and Jason Swavely.
Eddie Nocera, the 2015 point champion of the Hammer Down Engines 250cc Four-Stroke Class, registered the victory on Saturday night. Nocera took the lead when Lew Kepple slowed in turn two, giving up the top spot to Nocera's No. 62.
Nocera went on to win the 25-lap event over Mike Coen, Cliff Brian Jr., Tommy Phipps Jr., and Aidan Jones.
Lancaster's William Manotti grabbed the lead on a restart with three laps in the books, then went on to win his second consecutive 125cc main event. Brandon Gibble finished second with Kerry Lengle third, Kyler Heney wound up fourth and Angelo Mercado finished fifth
RESULTS:
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Jason Swavely, 2.Mike Rutherford, 3.Jarid Kunkle, 4.Heath Hehnly, 5.Jim Radney, 6.Chris Panczner, 7.Ryan Hook, 8.Brent Ely, 9.Ryan Groff, 10.Hunter James, 11.Bradley Brown, 12.Shaun Brandel, 13.Jimmy Glenn, 14.Kassidy Michael, 15.Will Urkuski, 16.Zach Light, 17.Nash Ely, 18.Amber Oraschin, 19.Kyle Spence, 20.Chris Oraschin, 21.Danny Stratton 22Bret Cronrath, 23.Kelby Stauffer, 24.Rebecca LaMothe.
DNQ: Logan Spahr, Brianne Cronrath-Wittmer, Austin Graby, Don Hess, Bruce Ginther Jr., Chris Gerhart, William Manotti, Mike Sherman, Austin Quick.
Viper Chassis 270cc Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Josh Stoyer, 2.Heath Hehnly, 3.Mike Miller, 4.Devin Adams, 5.Brian Sholley, 6.Toby Blumenshine, 7.Christi Sweigart, 8.Dylan Adams, 9.Jarrett Imler, 10.Anthony Yerger, 11.Terry Ellex, 12.Dallas Schott, 13.Adam Harnish, 14.Kyle Spence, 15.Billy Logeman, 16.Nick Skias, 17.Andrew Dietrich, 18.Mike Rutherford, 19Curtis R. Miller, 20.Sheena Schaefer, 21.Dan Lane Jr., 22.AJ Gerhart DNS: Tajae Adams, Walt Wampole.
Sportsman Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Austin Graby, 2.Nick Skias, 3.Cameron Bellinger, 4.Richie Hartman, 5.Jason Swavely, 6.Dan Lane Jr. 7.Anthony Yerger, 8.Brian Kramer, 9.Sheena Schaefer, 10.Dave Schroeder, 11.Patrick Kirn, 12.Kane Rogers, 13.Mike Kreiser, 14. Cody Sechrist, 15. Alan Durham, 16. Chris Gerhart, 17. Steve Smith, 18.Dennis Adams, 19.Mike Miller, 20.Clinton Hauser, 21.Ricky Sechrist, 22.Robert Shanaman, 23.Sami Schenck
DNQ: Zak Vickers, Curtis R. Miller (behind the wheel).
Hammer Down Engines 250cc Four-Stroke Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Eddie Nocera, 2.Mike Coen, 3.Cliff Brian Jr. 4.Tom Phipps, 5.Aidan Jones, 6.Kyle Spence, 7.Ron Zimmerman, 8.Ron Wechter, 9.Lewis Kepple Jr., 10.Zach Young, 11.Zak Vickers.
125cc Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.William Manotti, 2.Brandon Gibble, 3.Kerry Lengle, 4.Kyler Heiney, 5.Angelo Mercado, 6.Corey Schmuck Jr., 7.Matthew Donley, 8.Noah Merkey, 9.Richard Stuck, 10.Brandon Stuck, 11.Kalani Adams, 12.Austin Graby 13.Ryan Swavely, 14.Jimmy Wampole, 15.Nate Gibble. DNS: Holden Eckman.