On a night whee fans were back in the stands for the first time this season, the cars and stars of Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway put on a fantastic show from beginning to end. In addition to the four regular divisions, the All-Star Slingshots made their first appearance this season at the 1/8 mile bullring.
The Sportsman Division opened the festivities, with a nine-car invert holding the promise of plenty of passing. Clinton Hauser and Nate Gibble lead the field to the green, and a host of very quick cars in tow. Early trouble for Jeremy Eisenhouer saw a complete restart with no laps complete. The pilot of the 3s was able to tag the back of the field and continue. Clinton Hauser took the early lead and had a lead over a second and a half at the race’s second caution. Toby Blumenshine and Nick Skias were moving quickly towards the front at the caution caused when Noah Merkey came to a stop on the front stretch. Patrick Kirn was also strong, continuing a start to the season which has showed significant speed. On the restart, Clinton Hauser bogged down allowing several cars to come past and bottling up the field towards the back. Eisenhauer spun in turn four, and Toby Blumenshine went for a wild ride off turn two as not every car reacted the caution. Blumenshine lost his top wing in the process and was black flagged for having only a wing tree on the car without the wing, ending his race. Due to the yellow, Hauser was placed back at the front of the field for the ensuing single file restart. Behind the leader, Nate Gibble continued his strong run followed by Kirn, Nick Skias, and Billy Logeman. Skias went two for one getting past both Kirn and Gibble. Kirn spun off turn two and collected Billy Logeman. Logeman sat stalled on the racetrack with the driver’s side exposed to the racing line and the remainder of the field bearing down on him, but the big hit never came. Since the field got the lap in, the race would have another chance at a double file restart. Hauser’s restart woes continued, with Skias powering around the outside of turns three and four, claiming the race lead by the time the field reached the line. Anthony Yerger and Patrick Kirn continued their charge towards the front as the caution flew with fourteen laps remaining for a four car incident in turn two. After a wild first half, the remainder of the race was comparatively sedate. With the lead growing by a wider and wider margin each lap, Skias was untouchable once he got to the front, picking up his first Sportsman victory of the season. Skias won in the same car that has carried Jesse Maurer to two victories so far this season.
Next on tap was the All-Star Slingshot feature, which saw only two cars invert for the initial race start after the random draw. With thirteen cars in attendance, the field was a bit thinner than normal; but this was a case of quality over quantity. Dylan Hoch took the lead from the pole as Tyler Hoch began a charge towards the front. After issues during his heat race, Brett Bieber started towards the back of the top ten. In one of the most uncharacteristic Slingshot races this track has seen, the race went clean and green from start to finish. Dylan Hoch had put a handful of cars a lap down by the halfway point. Andrew Turpin started second ad ran there the entire race, holding a full second gap over Dave Carraghan for most of the race. At the checkered flag, Dylan Hoch claimed a 5.9 second win over Turpin, Carraghan, Tyler Hoch and Josh Patterson. The rest of the field was at least one lap down in a feature that took only five and a half minutes to complete.
The Hyper Racing 600’s were third on the card and saw the same two car invert as the slingshots, leaving a significant amount of heavy iron at the front of the field. Zach Light and Bradley Brown made up the front row; showing some of their best speed in this season. Jason Swavely went high wide and handsome on the opening circuit to claim the lead from third and set sail as the battle raged for third place between Brown, Chris Gerhart, Mike Rutherford, and Chris Panczner. Passing was plentiful throughout the field as well, with Kyler Heiney making a notable charge towards the front. Just five laps in, Swavely had opened the gap to over one second ahead of Light as the race’s first caution came out for the spinning Brent Ely in turn four. Jarid Kunkle made his presence known on the restart throwing sliders at Light at both ends of the racetrack. As the fight between Light and Kunkle simmered; Gerhart and Brown traded haymakers for several laps. Swavely disappeared into lap traffic during the long green flag run; while Light and Kunkle dueled amongst the same lappers the leader hit several of laps earlier. With four laps to go, Swavely lead by over five seconds and was well on his way to victory when Austin Quick, Brian Kramer, and Jason Sechrist crashed in turn three. Swavely was right behind the incident and had nowhere to go, contacting the stopped car of Kramer and ending his night. What looked like a runaway turned into a shootout between Kunkle, Gerhart, and Light. Kunkle let it rip on the restart and checked out with Gerhart falling in a second back. Brown, Light and Rutherford battled for third; finishing in that order. This was Kunkle’s first win of the season.
In the 125 and Four Stroke division, Isaac Graby and Justin Harrington would lead the field to the green. Back-to-back race winner Cliff Brian, Jr. started in fifth. Graby lead from the drop of the green, but Harrington was all over his tail tank. Alex Lukacs and Marty Brian went to battle and charged towards the front. Caution number one flew just four laps in for the spin of Tyler Martin in turn four. On the restart, Harrington made a fantastic getaway and took the lead with an outside pass in turn three and four. On the restart, Kenney Bushey, Kyle Lindsey, Jared St John, and Austin Graby crashed in turn two bringing out the race’s second caution. Without a lap completed, a single file restart ensued, and Harrington flipped the script diving inside of Isaac Graby in turn one to claim the lead. Brian went to work on Graby and took second just as Alex Lukacs spun after contact in turn four. Lukacs would continue but had to restart from the rear. On the restart, Graby couldn’t get up to speed and a multiple car crash ensued. Ron Crossley almost went over after launching off the left rear of Graby. The field got a lap in under green, meaning another double file restart was in order. Harrington and Cliff Brian Jr made up the front row on the restart, while Holden Eckman and Mike Glass restarted in row two. Riley Simmons started towards the rear of the field and worked her way up to eighth on the restart in a fantastic showing. After his early race troubles, Lukacs had already made it back to the twelfth position as the green flew. Harrington was able to hold on to the lead, when Tyler Martin had his second spin of the race in turn four. The race was only to the halfway point at the restart when calamity corner struck again, this time claiming Glass, Chase Layser, Simmons, Dylan Yeingst, Crossley, and Ron Wechter. This time the restart was single file and Harrington pulled away as the Brian brothers went to battle with each other. Marty tried inside, he tried outside, but there was no getting around his older brother. The caution flew again as three cars all had separate issues at different points on the racetrack. Dylan Yeingst pulled off into the infield with mechanical trouble, while Shane Davis stopped outside of turn three, and Tyler Martin had a half-spin into the inside of turn four. The final restart saw Harrington pull away easily; but the battle wasn’t over yet. Cliff Brian, Jr. came back to attack on the final two laps, finishing jut eight tenths of a second back of the race winner Justin Harrington. Marty Brian, Chase Layser, and Austin Graby rounded out the top five.
The 270’s took to the speedway next to complete the night’s racing events. Nick Skias and Mike Kreiser made up the front row. Skias was long gone on the restart, while Richie Hartman picked up the second position. Jason Swavely was the man on a mission, flying around his trademark high live the Rocketman from Fleetwood was up to third by the second circuit. The race was clean and green to the halfway point; and the quickest on the track behind the race leader was Alex Swift who charged seventh at the halfway point. Toby Blumenshine was very quick as well, running up to a solid fifth place before the first caution of the race flew with two laps to go. Skias had worked well in traffic the entire race; but was very quick running the bottom of the racetrack. On the restart, Skias went down low, and Swavely went high. It looked like the result was sealed, but Alex Swift spun in turn two bringing out the caution flag. With Swavely known for running the high side and potentially tipping his hand on the last restart, Skias had a choice to make: go with what worked the entire race or try and cutoff Swavely’s preferred line. Skias chose to stay at the bottom, and the outcome was sealed when Swavely went low as well. Skias claimed his second win of the night by only fifteen one-hundredths of a second at the line. Swavely came home second, Hartman third, Toby Blumenshine fourth, and Heath Hehnly completed the top five.
Racing action returns to Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway next weekend, with another night of action-packed micro-sprint racing. The Newmanstown oval will see two race nights in five days in advance of the Independence Day holiday. June 27 will see the regular four divisions take to the track; while The Clyde kick’s off the weekend on Thursday night with Thursday Night Thunder for the wingless 600’s and winged 270’s. Fans are welcome at the track, with adult tickets only $10 and everyone under 13 is always free at The Clyde. Now more than ever, it’s a perfect time to live the excitement that is Lanco!