Lane Wins Sportsman; Cliff Brian Jr. Sweeps 4-Strokes; Glass Is Smooth In 125's
By Barry Angstadt
Newmanstown, PA (June 16) - Heath Hehnly and Chris Snyder don't care why or how they got to be on such a wave of momentum, they just want to ride it as long as they possibly can.
Driving Snyder's Hyper Racing, Spar Motors, Zartman Erosion Control No. 5, Hehnly blasted to his third win of the season in Saturday night's 25-lap main for the Hyper Racing 600 Sprints at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Nick Skias gained a measure of redemption in the Viper Chassis 270 feature, winning his first of the year in Randy Schaefer's No. 3s.
Other winners on Saturday included Dan Lane Jr. (Sportsman), Mike Glass (125cc), and Cliff Brian Jr., who claimed both of the feature races for the 250cc Four-Stroke Micro Sprints. The first race of the night was a make-up of the postponed Four-Stroke main from May 5. Brian won that one, then notched victories in his regularly scheduled heat race and feature to seep the Four-Stroke portion of the program.
This Saturday, June 23rd, is going to be a fun-filled and exciting night at the Clyde, as the Lanco club hosts Kids Night presented by DMI. The evening will be full of games and activities for the young fans, with plenty of prizes and giveaway items handed out to the youngsters, too. The Honeybrook Quarter-Midgets will be on hand for some exhibition racing, and the final 23 laps of the Viper Chassis 270 feature (rained out on May 5) will kick off the evening of entertainment and competition.
Gates open at 4:30 on Saturday, with warm-ups set to begin at 6 p.m. The postponed 270 race will get the green flag immediately following warm-ups (approximately 6:45), then the full program of heats, consolations, and 25-lap DMI feature races will get underway.
In the Father's Day Eve program on June 16, the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint feature saw Nash Ely jump into the early lead with Brian Kramer chasing him around the ultra-tacky oval in the opening laps. Eighth-starting Heath Hehnly made some big moves in the early going, slicing his way forward using the top, bottom, and middle lanes of the progressively banked clay. On a restart with six complete, Hehnly threaded the needle, zipping between two cars to go from fifth to third. He threw a slide job on Kramer to grab the runner-up spot on the 11th revolution, then executed another slider on Ely to grab the lead off turn four with ten to go. Some real good racing took place from third on back over the final stages of the 25-lapper, as Andrew Layser, Steven Bracall, and Zach Light fought tooth and nail with Kramer for second through fifth positions.
At the finish, it was Hehnly, from Manheim, scoring his third win of the season (and his second in the past three 600cc main events), waltzing to the checkered ahead of N. Ely. Kramer held off Layser for his best 600cc finish at the Clyde, and Bracall made a rare Clyde Martin visit pay off with a nifty fifth-place effort.
On June 9, it appeared as though Wernersville's Nick Skias was well on his way to the Viper Chassis 270 victory. Nick had a comfortable lead over his brother, Mike, when a crankshaft bearing decided to come apart on his No. 3s with just a few laps to go. This past Saturday, however, Nick gained a measure of redemption, putting together a nearly flawless race to notch the win.
Starting on the pole, N. Skias bolted to a sizable lead as the first nine tours went non-stop. The racing behind him was fierce, though, between Jarid Kunkle, Cameron Bellinger, TJ Greve, and Devin Adams. Andrew Dietrich soon joined the fun as those five drivers swapped positions in some breath-taking slide jobs and daring passes for position. N. Skias fended off some challenges from Bellinger on four restarts in the middle portion of the 25-lapper, then went on to win by more than one second over Greve, who came out on top in the wild action among himself, Mike Rutherford, Kunkle, Dietrich, and Mike Skias.
When the checkered flag waved, it was Nick Skias sealing the deal over Greve and Rutherford, with Toby Blumenshine putting on a late race charge to finish fourth. Kunkle wound up fifth in an incredibly competitive main event.
Nick Skias elected to start last in his Sportsman Micro Sprint heat race and feature because someone promised him some bonus money if he could win after coming from the rear. And he almost pulled off the feat in the main event, finishing second to 2016 Sportsman point champion Danny Lane Jr.
Lane, from Elverson, rolled off the grid in 11th place, and immediately went to the top, ripping the fence and shooting his way to the runner-up spot by lap four. Skias noticed Lane's rapid advance and he too went to the high groove as he maneuvered through the field.
Lane passed Alan Durham for the lead as they exited turn two on the ninth trip around the track, with Skias charging into third on the same lap. One lap prior to halfway, Skias zipped past Durham to secure second place, but Lane was too strong on this night, forcing Skias to come up one position short in his bid for the bonus cash. Even a restart with eight to go did not help Skias, and Lane recorded his first Sportsman triumph of the season. Skias settled for runner-up pay, with Durham notching his best effort in a long time with a third place run. Toby Blumenshine and Kane Rogers completed the top five.
Ephrata's Cliff Brian Jr. darted from tenth starting position to second in the first four circuits of the May 5 make-up feature for the 250cc Four-Strokes. With defending Four-Stroke champ Mike Coen setting the pace, Brian fell back a couple of spots before a caution period at the halfway point turned the tide in his favor. Kassidy Michael tried to duck under Coen in turns one and two, but she clipped an infield tire and spun. That put Brian back into third for the restart, and he took full advantage of his good fortune. Brian wrestled the top spot from Coen on lap 14, then cruised to the victory over Coen, little brother Marty Brian, Tommy Phipps Jr., and Donna Geib.
In the regularly scheduled Four-Stroke main, Cliff Brian Jr. started eighth and snatched the lead from Jessica Moore on the third tour of the oval. His brother Marty passed Donna Geib for second on the 12th circuit and, while he closed in on his older sibling near the end, Marty ran out of time to offer a serious challenge for the win. Cliff pulled out the broom and registered the Four-Stroke sweep of the night, winning every race he ran on Saturday. Marty chased him to the checkered as Aidan Jones, Coen, and Phipps Jr. made up the rest of the top five in the green-to-checkered, non-stop 25-lap feature.
Myerstown's Mike Glass finally listened to his wife's advice and ran her car in 125cc competition on Saturday. Wife Kim's suggestion paid off nicely, as Glass went from third to first on the opening lap, held off Kyler Heiney and nine-time 125cc champ Mike Miller to score his first Clyde Martin victory. Heiney, Miller, Kerry Lengle, and Corey Schmuck Jr. finished second through fifth.
RESULTS:
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Heath Hehnly, 2.Nash Ely, 3.Brian Kramer, 4.Andrew Layser, 5.Steven Bracall, 6.Zach Light, 7.Don Hess, 8.Shaun Brandel, 9.Tomas Partington, 10.Tyler Lindsay, 11.Kassidy Michael, 12.Bruce Ginther Jr., 13.Justin Murphy, 14.Ron Crossley, 15.Mike Rutherford, 16.Brent Ely, 17.TJ Greve, 18.Chris Panczner, 19.Bradley Brown, 20.Logan Spahr, 21.Holden Eckman, 22.Will Urkuski, 23.Jarid Kunkle, 24.Ryan Groff.
DNQ: Jeremy Harshman, Randy Kunkle Jr., Matthew Donley.
Viper Chassis 270 Sprints, 25 laps: 1.Nick Skias, 2.TJ Greve, 3.Mike Rutherford, 4.Toby Blumenshine, 5.Jarid Kunkle, 6.Mike Skias, 7.Andrew Dietrich, 8.Dan Lane Jr., 9.Heath Hehnly, 10.Devin Adams, 11.Christi Sweigart, 12.Matthew Kreider, 13.Mike Uhrich, 14.Brian Sholley, 15.Greg Miller, 16.Ryan Groff, 17.John Ruoss, 18.Cameron Bellinger, 19.Bradley Brown, 20.Corey Schmuck Jr., 21.Adam Harnish, 22.Patrick Kirn, 23.Walt Wampole. DNS: Mike Miller.
Sportsman Feature, 25 laps: 1.Dan Lane Jr., 2.Nick Skias, 3.Alan Durham, 4.Toby Blumenshine, 5.Kane Rogers, 6.Patrick Kirn, 7.Kory Merkey, 8.Ava Bellinger, 9.Robert Shanaman, 10.Michael Kreiser, 11.Jeremy Eisenhauer, 12.Clinton Hauser, 13.Austin Yingst, 14.Sam Borger, 15.Dallas Schott, 16.Ricky Sechrist, 17.Noah Merkey. DNS: Kody Hibshman.
250cc Four-Stroke Feature (Postponed on May 5): 1.Cliff Brian Jr., 2.Mike Coen, 3.Marty Brian, 4.Tommy Phipps Jr., 5.Donna Geib, 6.Aidan Jones, 7.Zak Vickers, 8.Riley Simmons, 9.Ron Wechter, 10.Kassidy Michael, 11.Jessica Moore, 12.Dylan Yeingst. DNS: Eddie Nocera, Ron Zimmerman.
250cc Four-Stroke Feature, 25 laps: 1.Cliff Brian Jr., 2.Marty Brian, 3.Aidan Jones, 4.Mike Coen, 5.Tommy Phipps Jr., 6.Zak Vickers, 7.Jessica Moore, 8.Riley Simmons, 9.Donna Geib, 10.Dylan Yeingst, 11.Ron Wechter, 12.Kassidy Michael. DNS: Eddie Nocera.
125cc Feature, 25 laps: 1.Mike Glass, 2.Kyler Heiney, 3.Mike Miller, 4.Kerry Lengle, 5.Corey Schmuck Jr., 6.Brian Kramer, 7.Richard Stuck, 8.Chase Layser, 9.Terry Ellex, 10.Dalton Eckman, 11.Kyle Hehnly, 12.Jimmy Wampole.
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