Newmanstown, PA (June 9) - The night did not begin well for Kyle Spence, but it ended with the Vineland, NJ driver standing in victory lane.
Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway presented a seven feature program on Saturday night that included a pair of main events that were rained out on May 5. In the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint make-up, Spence slowed suddenly on the backstretch, the victim of mechanical gremlins. The leaders of the race, Chris Gerhart and Bradley Brown, along with several others, could not avoid contact with the No. 7h. Spence was forced to retire from the race, while Gerhart and Brown had to restart at the back of the field.
That handed the lead to Heath Hehnly, and the Manheim, PA wheel-twister seized the opportunity, holding off a hard-charging TJ Greve over the final laps to score his second straight 600cc victory at the Clyde.
Spence rebounded by claiming a dominating win in the regularly scheduled 600cc main, his first triumph of the season at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. Joining Hehnly and Spence in Saturday's winner's circle were Nick Skias (Sportsman make-up feature from May 5), Mike Skias (Viper Chassis 270cc), Jason Swavely (regularly scheduled Sportsman feature), Kassidy Michael (250cc Four-Stroke), and Corey Schmuck Jr. (125cc).
In the May 5 make-up race for the 600's, Gerhart caught and passed Brown for the lead in heavy lapped traffic on the eighth revolution. Just four laps later, both Gerhart and Brown were collected in the pile-up when Spence slowed on the back chute, handing the top spot to Hehnly. The defending and six-time point champ did not waltz to the victory, though, as the final circuits saw him struggle on entry into turn three, allowing Greve to close in and challenge. Hehnly warded off the attacks - barely - and held on to win his second of the year. Greve finished a close second with Mike Rutherford racing home in third. Brown charged from the back of the pack to salvage fourth place money, and Jarid Kunkle rounded out the top five.
The Sportsman Class also made up their rained out feature from May 5th on Saturday night, and Wernersville, PA's Nick Skias flew from his tenth starting position to snatch the lead from Mike Kreiser on a restart with ten laps complete. Kreiser, Toby Blumenshine, Sami Schenck, and Dave Ravel waged an entertaining battle for the runner-up spot as Skias cruised out front. At the finish, it was Skias recording his third Sportsman triumph of the season, with Kreiser notching a career-best second place finish. Blumenshine won the battle for third over Schenck, and Ravel completed the top five.
The regularly scheduled Hyper Racing 600 Sprint feature was a dandy, as Spence and pole-sitter Logan Spahr traded slide jobs and swapped the lead numerous times in the opening stages of the 25-lapper. Spence had his nose in front as laps five and six were scored, then began to pull away as Spahr fell back into the clutches of Ryan Groff. With Spence blasting into his own zip code, the race for second was terrific, with Groff, Spahr, Austin Quick, TJ Greve, Mike Rutherford, and Heath Hehnly waging war during the second half of the event. When the checkered flag waved, it was Spence beating Groff to the stripe by more than five seconds! Spahr registered a hard earned third place finish, with Greve and Quick rounding out the top five.
For much of the Viper Chassis 270cc main event, it appeared as though Nick Skias was going to record his second win of the night, and his first 270 triumph of the season. Nick set the pace for the first 18 tours, all of which went clean and green on the racy, progressively banked oval. Unfortunately for Nick, his Viper Chassis/ Denver Meats No. 3S locked up on the front stretch just as he completed lap 18, bringing out the first yellow of the race and ending his bid for victory. His demise meant that his brother, Mike Skias, inherited the top spot, and Mike took full advantage of his good fortune by speeding to the win. His job was made a bit easier because of a torrid, three-car tussle for the runner-up position between Kyle Spence, Mike Rutherford, and TJ Greve. By the time Rutherford secured second place, there were not enough laps left for him to catch and challenge M. Skias.
Mike Skias, from Reading, PA, was first under the checkered with Rutherford trailing by just over a half-second. Bradley Brown staged a late race charge to finish third, with Greve and Jarid Kunkle ending up fourth and fifth.
Fleetwood, PA's Jason Swavely, making a rare start in the Sportsman Class, took the initial green flag in the 11th position in the regularly scheduled main event for that division. Swavely rim-rode his way into the runner-up slot by the halfway point, then used the momentum from a big run on the high side to hustle under race leader Devin Adams and take the lead with seven to go. Dave Ravel's No. 21v came to life during the second half of the 25-lapper, as he climbed up to third and offered a stiff challenge to Adams for the runner-up spot. Swavely danced away to score a dominant win, with Adams finishing second over Ravel. Sami Schenck and Kory Merkey wound up fourth and fifth.
Manheim's Kassidy Michael slipped past Donna Geib to grab the lead at the halfway point of the 250cc Four-Stroke feature, then went on to win her third of the year at the Clyde. Geib held on to finish second, with defending Four-Stroke point champion Mike Coen taking the checkered in third. Marty Brian held off his older brother Cliff for fourth place cash.
Corey Schmuck Jr., from Lititz, PA, has finished second and third in 125cc action this season, but that elusive victory had eluded him until Saturday night. When Kerry Lengle muscled past Mike Glass to take the lead on the fourth trip around the clay, Schmuck followed him into the runner-up position. Schmuck then made his move on lap eight, grabbing the lead from Lengle and crossing the start/finish line in first place just before the caution lights flashed. Kyler Heiney wrestled second away from Lengle on the restart, but there was no catching Schmuck on this night, as Corey finally made a visit to victory lane. Heiney chased him to the checkered flag, with Lengle, Brian Kramer, and Glass finishing third through fifth.
This Saturday, June 16, the Father's Day Eve program will feature the 250cc Four-Stroke make-up feature from May 5, in addition to a full slate of qualifying heats, consolations, and 25-lap mains for the five weekly divisions.
On Saturday, June 23, the Viper Chassis 270 make-up race (from May 5) will be run as part of Kids Night presented by DMI/ Bulldog Rears & Racing Components. The huge night of racing and fun will include the final 23 laps of the rained out 270cc main from May 5, a full program of competition for the five weekly divisions, plus an exhibition race by the Honeybrook Quarter-Midget Club. There will be lots of activities, games, and giveaways for the youngsters in attendance as well.
The time schedule for the next two weeks (June 16 & 23) is as follows: gates open at 4:30 p.m. with warm-ups set to begin at 6:00. Racing gets underway at 6:45 with the Four-Stroke make-up feature on the 16th and the postponed 270 feature on the 23rd starting off each week's show, respectively.
RESULTS:
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 25 laps (postponed on May 5): 1.Heath Hehnly, 2.TJ Greve, 3.Mike Rutherford, 4.Bradley Brown, 5.Jarid Kunkle, 6.Bruce Ginther Jr., 7.Brent Ely, 8.Chris Gerhart, 9.Shaun Brandel, 10.Kassidy Michael, 11.Chris Panczner, 12.Brian Kramer, 13.John Moore, 14.Kyle Spence, 15.Zach Light, 16.Michael Thompson, 17.Austin Quick, 18.Jimmy Glenn, 19.Will Urkuski, 20.Don Hess, 21.Holden Eckman, 22.Nash Ely, 23.Ryan Groff. DNS: Amber Oraschin, Andrew Layser. DQ: Logan Spahr.
DNQ: Chris Oraschin, Brandon Heist, Chelsey Moore, Matthew Donley, Cory Roth.
Sportsman Feature, 25 laps (postponed on May 5): 1.Nick Skias, 2.Mike Kreiser, 3.Toby Blumenshine, 4.Sami Schenck, 5.Dave Ravel, 6.Kory Merkey, 7.Louie Kirn, 8.Alan Durham, 9.Clinton Hauser, 10.Robert Shanaman, 11.Dave Schroeder, 12.Jeremy Eisenhauer, 13.Patrick Kirn, 14.Sam Borger, 15.Noah Merkey, 16.Austin Yingst, 17.Devin Adams, 18.Ricky Sechrist. DNS: Steve Smith, Ava Bellinger, Sam Barge, Kody Hibshman
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Kyle Spence, 2.Ryan Groff, 3.Logan Spahr, 4.TJ Greve, 5.Austin Quick, 6.Mike Rutherford, 7.Bradley Brown, 8.Brent Ely, 9.Zach Light, 10.Nash Ely, 11.Jimmy Glenn, 12.Michael Thompson, 13.Shaun Brandel, 14.Kassidy Michael, 15.Will Urkuski, 16.Brian Kramer, 17.Heath Hehnly, 18.Jarid Kunkle, 19.Bruce GHinther Jr., 20.Holden Eckman, 21.Rebecca LaMothe, 22.Chris Panczner, 23.Jim Radney, 24.Jason Swavely.
Viper Chassis 270 Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Mike Skias, 2.Mike Rutherford, 3.Bradley Brown, 4.TJ Greve, 5.Jarid Kunkle, 6.Dan Lane JR., 7.Dan Lane JR., 8.Andrew Dietrich, 9.Brian Sholley, 10.Heath Hehnly, 11.Toby Blumenshine, 12.Christi Sweigart, 13.Corey Schmuck, 14.John Ruoss, 15.Devin Adams, 16.Matthew Kreider, 17.Adam Harnisch. 18.Nick Skias, 19.Mike Uhrich.
Sportsman Feature, 25 -laps: 1.Jason Swavely, 2.Devin Adams, 3.Dave Ravel, 4.Sami Schenck, 5.Kory Merkey, 6.Robert Shanaman, 7.Louie Kirn, 8. Noah Merkey, 9.Austin Yingst, 10.Mike Kreiser, 11.Clinton Hauser, 12.Toby Blumenshine, 13.Alan Durham, 14.Patrick Kirn, 15.Sam Borger, 16.Dave Schroeder, 17.Jayson Conover, 18.Ricky Sechrist, 19.Anthony Yerger, 20. Nick Skias, 21.Jeremy Eisenhauer.
250cc Four-Stroke Feature, 25 laps: 1.Kassidy Michael, 2.Donna Geib, 3.Mike Coen, 4.Marty Brian, 5.Cliff Brian Jr., 6.Zak Vickers, 7.Aidan Jones, 8.Tommy Phipps Jr., too. 9. Jessica Moore, 10.Ron Wechter, 11.Dylan Yeingst, 12.Eddie Nocera, 13. Riley Simmons.
125cc Feature, 25 laps: 1.Corey Schmuck, JR., 2.Kyler Heiney, 3.Kerry Lengle, 4.Brian Kramer, 5.Mike Glass, 6.Dalton Eckman, 7.Randall Kreider, 8.Chase Layser, 9.Jimmy Wampole. DQ: Richard Stuck.
Submitted by Barry Angstadt
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