Newmanstown, PA (June 15) - Even flu-like symptoms could not deter Mike Rutherford on Saturday night at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, as the Lebanon, PA throttle-jockey registered his fifth consecutive victory in the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint feature. The triumph was his sixth of the season in the Clyde's 600cc division, and Rutherford is now undefeated since May 18.
Other winners in the Father's Day Eve program included Josh Stoyer (Viper Chassis 270 Sprints); Charles Hellinger (Sportsman); and Marty Brian (250cc Four-Strokes and 125cc). Tyler Henry picked up his first Restricted 600 win at the Newmanstown oval.
Jarid Kunkle bolted to the lead at the outset of the Hyper Racing 600 Sprint main, with pole sitter Nash Ely in hot pursuit. With four laps in the books, Kunkle suffered mechanical failure and dropped out, handing over the top spot to N. Ely.
Ely, last week's runner-up, looked to have the field covered after Kunkle fell out of the race. Nash was strong on three double-file restarts, easily out-running Rutherford down the front stretch and into turn one. It was a single-file restart, however, that proved to be his undoing with just four laps remaining.
Rutherford got a big run down the home chute, then threw a slide job on Ely as they blasted through turns one and two. Heading into three and four, Ely returned the favor, sliding Rutherford's No. 2s, but Rutherford shot off the fourth turn banking on the low side and went back in front to lead lap 22. He pulled away over the final few circuits, winning by three-quarters of a second over Ely, who said afterward that it was "just experience, or the lack of it," that cost him his first-ever Lanco victory.
Rutherford recorded his fifth straight triumph in the Clyde's 600 Sprint class, with N. Ely and Jered Hook finishing second and third. Ironically, those same three drivers finished in the exact same order for the second week in a row. Hook survived a race long battle with his brother, Ryan, to secure third-place money. Ryan Hook was fourth and Zach Light held off Jesse Maurer for the fifth position.
Rutherford, J. Hook, and Kunkle won heat races for the 26 car field. Chelsey Moore was given credit for the consolation win when only five cars showed up on the starting grid, eliminating the need for the consi since everyone would qualify.
Josh Stoyer was the Viper Chassis 270 Sprint winner on April 20, but mechanical gremlins and just plain bad luck hounded the Mohnton, PA chauffeur since that date. Fate tried to deal him a bad hand on Saturday, too, as he lost his steering early in the 25-lapper for the 270's, but Stoyer's determination and a bad-fast hot rod carried him to his second victory of the season.
Stoyer led all the way from his pole starting position, but Nick Skias, Mike Rutherford, and Andrew Dietrich closed in during the latter stages as Stoyer, with no steering, fought lapped traffic. N. Skias almost got around the leader when Stoyer had to slow in turns three and four because a lapped car spun right in front of him on the final revolution. But the yellow flag saved Stoyer, and he managed to stay at the head of the pack on the restart with one to go.
At the finish, it was Stoyer, N. Skias, Rutherford, Dietrich, and Billy Logeman who made up the top five.
270 heat winners included N. Skias, Adam Harnish, and Stoyer. Ben Layser got credit for the consolation victory even though it was not needed because only six cars showed up in the staging lane and all six would qualify for the feature.
On June 8, Charles Hellinger finished a strong second to Sportsman winner Nick Skias. The order of finish was reversed one week later, though, with Hellinger winning his first career main event at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Hellinger hung right with early leader Clinton Hauser before making his move on the tenth trip around the clay. Hellinger snatched the lead from Hauser and quickly motored away from the pack. Just a single caution period interrupted the 25-lap affair, and that occurred one circuit prior to Hellinger taking the number one position.
Nick Skias, who started 14th, raced his way into the runner-up slot with three to go, but Hellinger's advantage was too great to overcome without the aid of another yellow flag. Skias trailed Hellinger to the finish, with David Ravel, Hauser, and Mike Kreiser completing the top five.
Sportsman heats went to Hellinger and Hauser.
It was quite the night for Marty Brian, as the young charger from Ephrata claimed victories in both the 250cc Four-Stroke and 125cc main events.
In the Four-Stroke feature, Marty dashed from the pole position to lead all the way to the checkered, winning his fifth of the season and third in a row. Jim Harrington finished second to Marty for the second straight week, while rookie Alex Lukacs impressed the large group of supporters who turned out to cheer him on with his very first podium finish at the Clyde. Lukacs, whose sponsor Intechgrate Systems and PAIN Tour had approximately 35 people in attendance on Saturday, wound up third ahead of Tommy Phipps Jr. and Jessica Moore.
Marty also won the lone heat race for the 250cc Four-Strokes.
The 125cc feature, also 25-laps in distance, saw Marty Brian inherit the lead when Kassidy Michael - running a Four-Stroke against the 125's just like Marty and his brother, Cliff - suddenly slowed while setting the pace on lap four. Michael headed for the infield and the race stayed green, going the entire distance without a yellow.
Marty Brian easily outran everyone to the checkered, beating Kerry Lengle to the stripe by 1.24-seconds. It was Lengle's second consecutive runner-up effort, and once again he was the first 125cc racer to cross the finish line. Mike Glass settled for third and last week's winner, Cliff Brian Jr., cashed in for fourth place money. Brandon Gibble raced home in fifth.
The 125cc victory made it a clean sweep of his night's activities, as Marty won both of his heat races and both features in which he took part. Kassidy Michael won the other 125cc heat race.
Schnecksville, PA's Tyler Henry recorded a couple of Restricted 600 Sprint wins at other tracks, but until Saturday, had not tasted victory at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. He fixed that issue in grand style, leading every one of the 15 laps in the Restricted 600 feature as Hunter McFadden and Logan Rumsey, the May 18 winner, dueled for runner-up status.
Henry cruised to the triumph with Rumsey sneaking past McFadden for second on the final lap. Ryan Schultz placed fourth.
Rumsey was the heat race winner for the Restricted 600's.
This Saturday, June 22nd, is another wildly competitive five division program featuring the Hyper Racing 600's, the Viper Chassis 270's, Sportsman, 250cc Four-Stroke and 125cc Micro Sprints. Qualifying heats and consolations will lead up to 25-lap main events for all five classes. Gates open at 4:30, warm-ups begin at 6 p.m., and the first heat race goes green at 7:00.
You've just gotta come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
RESULTS:
Hyper Racing 600 Sprints (25 Laps): 1.Mike Rutherford, 2.Nash Ely, 3.Jered Hook, 4.Ryan Hook, 5.Zach Light, 6.Jesse Maurer, 7.Ryan Groff, 8.Brian Kramer, 9.Holden Eckman, 10.Will Urkuski, 11.Chris Panczner, 12.Chris Gerhart, 13.Brent Ely, 14.Don Hess, 15.Jeremy Harshman, 16.Bradley Brown, 17.Steve Schultz, 18.Chelsey Moore, 19.Chris Good, 20.Kassidy Michael, 21.Kyler Heiney, 22.Jarid Kunkle, 23.Alex Bright.
DNQ: Heath Hehnly, Walt Wampole, Aaron Bollinger.
Viper Chassis 270 Sprints (25 Laps): 1.Josh Stoyer, 2.Nick Skias, 3.Mike Rutherford, 4.Andrew Dietrich, 5.Billy Logeman, 6.Bradley Brown, 7.Mason Peters, 8.Corey Schmuck Jr., 9.Jeff Haefke, 10.TJ Greve, 11.Adam Harnish, 12.Mike Skias, 13.Dan Lane Jr., 14.Jarrett Imler, 15.Mike Boyer, 16.Christi Sweigart, 17.Zak Vickers, 18.Toby Blumenshine, 19.Josh Ohlinger, 20.Ben Layser, 21.Ray Ohlinger, 22.Jonah Meck, 23.Ricky Sechrist, 24.Zack Hollinger.
DNQ: Trent Eberhart, Nate Gibble.
Sportsman Feature (25 Laps): 1.Charles Hellinger, 2.Nick Skias, 3.Dave Ravel, 4.Clinton Hauser, 5.Mike Kreiser, 6.Kyler Heiney, 7.Jeremy Eisenhour, 8.Nate Gibble, 9.Robert Shanaman, 10.Sam Borger, 11.Jamie Flickinger, 12.Brittany Zeller, 13.Dennis Fenstermacher, 14.Steve Smith Sr.
250cc Four-Stroke Feature (25 Laps): 1.Marty Brian, 2.Jim Harrington, 3.Alex Lukacs, 4.Tommy Phipps Jr., 5.Jessica Moore, 6.Riley Simmons, 7.Eddie Nocera, 8.Dylan Yiengst, 9.Jenna Heagy, 10.Ron Wechter, 11.Jared St. John.
125cc Feature (25 Laps): 1.Marty Brian, 2.Kerry Lengle, 3.Mike Glass, 4.Cliff Brian Jr., 5.Brandon Gibble, 6.RJ Rossi, 7.Holden Eckman, 8.Shane Davis, 9.Tyler Martin, 10.Barbie Eichorn, 11.Chase Layser, 12.Matt Kreider, 13.Kassidy Michael, 14.Kyler Heiney, 15.Jimmy Wampole, 16.Kayla Fetter.
Restricted 600 Sprints (15 Laps): 1.Tyler Henry, 2.Logan Rumsey, 3.Hunter McFadden, 4.Ryan Schultz.
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