Kyle Spence took his first Lanco win. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger
On an early summer day built for racing, the stars and cars of Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway put on a fantastic show for a growing live-stream audience. With fans still unable to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions, the audience numbers for the track’s free live stream was outstanding. Those fans were treated to an exciting night of racing, with duels throughout the field.
In the Sportsman division, Mike Rutherford lead early from the pole, but the big mover was Anthony Yerger. Trouble for Fran Hine saw the yellow fly early, but Rutherford also had a mechanical failure which ended his night on lap five. Jesse Maurer and Anthony Yerger traded the lead throughout the middle part of the race, especially once battling lap traffic. After a caution on lap 18, Yerger checked out on the field while Maurer fought Patrick Kirn for third. Maurer claimed the position, with Kirn finishing in the third position. Jeremy Eisenhouer and Chase Layser completed the top five.
The 270’s rolled off next, with Heath Hehnly and Billy Logeman. After a dominating performance was derailed one week ago, TJ Greve returned to avenge the defeat and was on the charge from the drop of the green flag. Tommy Kunsman battled Logeman for third, and Bradley Brown was right there in fourth as well. Brown made heavy contact with the outside retaining wall on lap 12, eventually flattening his right rear tire. Mechanical gremlins caught up with Hehnly on lap ten, forcing him out and giving the lead to Greve. Caution flew with five laps to go, meaning a single file restart. Jason Swavely and Tommy Kunsman benefitted from the issues facing the other front runners to line up second and third on the restart. With one to go, Anthony Yerger had a wild flip down the front stretch bringing out the final caution of the race. Yerger was uninjured. A one lap shootout decided the results, with Greve holding on for the win over Swavely, Alex Swift, Corey Schmuck, Jr., and Billy Logeman
TJ Greve in Victory Lane. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger
The Hyper Racing 600’s took to the speedway for the night’s third feature, with Ryan Groff and Austin Quick leading the field to the green. A lap two crash between Bobby Butler and Chris Panczner stunted Quick’s early efforts to run away from Groff. Will Urkuski showed early speed, continuing his upward trends. The field never completed a lap before caution flew again. On the ensuing single file restart, Groff and Quick were still out front followed by Urkuski, Toby Blumenshine, Jarid Kunkle and Kyle Spence. Quick checked out on the green, leading by over one second just a handful of laps in. Heath Hehnly showed again why he is the eight-time class champion, advancing to seventh before the caution flew again on lap 11 for several cars with mechanical issues, including Blumenshine. After leading every lap one week ago, TJ Greve started mid-pack and fought up to eighth before the yellow. The race had a bit of yellow fever as the five caution mark was surpassed at the halfway point. Urkuski and Tommy Kunsman made contact off of turn two bringing out that fifth caution on Lap 13. Kyle Spence was consistently moving forward, picking off one car at a time during each brief green flag sting until he was on the tail tank of race leader Austin Quick. The restart saw the leaders split the racetrack, Quick down low, Spence running his trademark high line. Two laps into the green flag run, Spence carried a ton of speed off turn two, passing Quick before the cars reached turn three. The handling on Quick’s car went away towards the finish, with Maurer coming around the Hyper Racing machine with five laps to go. The race would finish that way with Kyle Spence picking up his first Lanco win on the season, while Maurer, Quick, Kunkle, and Hehnly completing the top five.
Cliff Brian Jr wins in the 125/4 Stroke Division. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger
The 125 and Four Stroke division closed out the night, in a race that had Matt Fernsler and Mike Coen on the front row. Justin Harrington got around both cars from his third starting spot and was long gone early. Coen, Mike Glass, and Fernsler fought a spirited battle for second before caution flew on lap seven for Tyler Martin’s spin in turn four. The man on the move early was Cliff Brian Jr, making both racing lanes work and advancing all the way up to fifth by a caution period on lap 14. Alex Lukacs was on the short end of the stick as AJ Gerhart and Mike Coen made contact battling for ninth position, forcing Crossley to take evasive action and pushing Lukacs into the infield tires. The restart had Harrington alongside Mike Miller on the front row, Holden Eckman and Glass in row two, and Brian and Coen in row three. Brian made a big move to advance to second on the restart. With the leaders catching lap traffic with five to go. Brian used the lap car of Ron Wechter as a pick to perfection, cycling around Harrington and leading the rest of the way to claim his first win of the season.
Two, three, and sometimes four wide action was the norm all night. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger
Racing resumes on Saturday night, with four divisions of action coming up. With racing every weekend, there has never been a better time to come live the excitement that is Lanco!