From his now famous fence climb of one year ago to this season’s visit to victory lane, Sutter, California’s Logan Seavey has developed a special relationship with Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Seavey claimed victory in Saturday night’s PA Midget Week finale at the Clyde, nailing down the first and only triumph of the week for Keith Kunz Motorsports. The defending USAC National Midget Champion held off Tyler Courtney to score the win in the 40-lap NOS Energy Drink main event before a capacity crowd at the Newmanstown, PA oval.
Chad Boat outgunned pole sitter and Pennsylvania native Andrew Layser to grab the lead at the outset with third-starting Seavey challenging Layser for the runner-up spot. Last year’s Lanco winner and two-time victor in this year’s PA Midget Week, Zeb Wise, Courtney, and Kevin Thomas Jr. fought for position right behind the Seavey/Layser battle.
Boat checked out on the field but the first yellow flag of the event flew with six tours complete, wiping out his advantage. Seavey now held second place with “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney in third. On the restart, Seavey threw a slide job on Boat in turns one and two, only to have the No. 84 zip back under him on the backstretch. On lap eight, Seavey executed another slider and this time, it stuck. Seavey’s Mobil 1/KKM No. 67 secured the top spot and it wasn’t long before Courtney, the current National Midget point leader, bolted into the runner-up spot.
During the middle stages of the race, Courtney attempted a few slide jobs on the leader, but Seavey was able to cross over and zip back by Courtney’s machine each time. Jason McDougal was the man on the move, threading his way in and around traffic on the lightning quick clay oval. McDougal started 12th, and by lap 24, he’d maneuvered his way into third.
The best duel from laps 24 through 31 involved Jerry Coons Jr., Layser, and Grandview Speedway winner Chris Windom, as they scuffled for fourth place. Coons eventually emerged with the position, only to lose it to a rebounding Kevin Thomas Jr. who had stopped on the track, made a quick repair under yellow, and sliced his way back toward the front after restarting in the rear of the field.
Courtney tried one last slider on Seavey as the race restarted after a red flag with seven to go. Seavey held him off and went on to win by three-quarters of a second over Courtney, McDougal, Thomas, and Coons.
Zeb Wise set quick time in USAC Midget time trials. Chris Windom and Jason McDougal were the heat race winners.
The fourth round of Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek presented by 600cc Performance accompanied the USAC National Midget series at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway on Saturday night. With 67 entries filling the pit area, just qualifying for the 30-lap Speedweek feature was quite an accomplishment.
Eddie Strada accumulated the most qualifying points to earn the right to start on the pole, with Aaron Bollinger, Colin White, and Brenden Bright right behind him. When the green flag waved, Strada bolted from the inside of the front row to lead lap one, but was soon challenged for the top spot by Bollinger. With four laps in the books, Speedweek point leader Alex Bright was involved in a tangle with Jason Swavely, and the ensuing damage sidelined Bright and relegated him to a 24th place finish. One lap after going back to green, Tommy Kunsman, who was second in points when the night began, pulled to the infield. Kunsman would end up 23rd in the final finishing order.
Strada stretched his advantage over the second place battle between Bollinger and Tim Buckwalter, while Kenny Miller III and Kyle Spence dueled for fourth. Nearing the halfway point, both Bollinger and Buckwalter ate up the distance between themselves and the race leader. Just before the crossed flags were displayed, Bollinger executed a slide job on Strada in turns three and four. Buckwalter seized the opportunity to dive under both of them, producing a three-wide scuffle for the top spot. Strada dashed back in front off corner number two, but he would soon have to deal with a new challenger.
Kyle Spence was hooked up in the bottom groove, and he rode the low lane past Buckwalter and Bollinger to grab the runner-up position. On lap 16, Strada pounded the tall cushion in three and four as Spence danced by on the low side.
The second half of the event belonged to Spence. A couple of yellows (with ten to go, then with seven laps remaining) did not deter his drive to the winner's circle. It had been a rough Speedweek for the Bear, DE native, but he turned it around on Saturday night, taking the checkered flag with a margin of 1.887-seconds over Strada, who held off Buckwalter for runner-up cash. Bollinger wound up a solid fourth and Kenny Miller III fended off a very quick Jesse Maurer for fifth. Maurer had to go the rear after a lap one skirmish with his teammate Ryan Groff, but Jesse may have had the fastest car over the last dozen laps, as he charged back to finish sixth.
Spence banked $1,000 for his victory, while Tim Buckwalter took over the Speedweek point lead (with one race left to run). Heading to Spirit Auto Center Speedway in Bridgeport, NJ, the Greth Racing No. 71 now had a 17-point cushion over Colin White, with Damon Paul third, just one point behind White in the standings.
RESULTS:
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship, 40 Laps: 1.Logan Seavey, 2.Tyler Courtney, 3.Jason McDougal, 4.Kevin Thomas Jr., 5.Jerry Coons, Jr., 6.Chris Windom, 7.Andrew Layser, 8.Tucker Klaasmeyer, 9.Tanner Carrick, 10.Chad Boat, 11.Karsyn Elledge, 12.Steve Craig, 13.Zeb Wise, 14.Steven Drevicki, 15.Jamie Speers. DNS: Bobby Butler.
Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Presented By 600 Performance, 30 Laps: 1.Kyle Spence, 2.Eddie Strada, 3.Tim Buckwalter, 4.Aaron Bollinger, 5.Kenny Miller III, 6.Jesse Maurer, 7.Brian Carber, 8.Colin White, 9.Damon Paul, 10.Christian Bruno, 11.Ryan Timms, 12.Matt Smith, 13.Bradley Brown, 14.Joe Kay, 15.Joey Amantea, 16.Brenden Bright, 17.Buddy Schweibinz, 18.Austin Quick, 19.Jim Radney, 20.Nash Ely, 21.Holden Eckman, 22.James Morris, 23.Tommy Kunsman Jr., 24.Alex Bright, 25.Jason Swavely, 26.Ryan Groff.
DNQ: Emerson Axsom, Johnny Boland, Geordan Marrero, Steven Snyder, DJ Shuman, Zack Gorski, Richie Hartman, Mark Yoder, Billy Koch, Timmy Lotz, Jeremy Harshman, Garyt Smith, Cody Bryson, Dan Lane Jr., Aidan Borden, Mike Linderman, Kassidy Michael, Kole Kirkman, Mike Thompson, Tyler Lindsay, Steve Schultz, Colton Hardy, PJ Williams, Brandon Heist, Nico Flammer, Don Hess, Jarrett Hjorth, Keith Blumenstein, Shaun Brandel, Jarid Kunkle, Shawn Rooney, Luke Schostkewitz, Mike Meyers, John Barnett, Ben Earnst, Raelynn Moss, Paige Moss, Fred Heinly, Adrianna Delliponti, Matt Carr, John Crowder.
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