By Kasey Kreider
Good things come to those who wait. That’s how the saying goes, anyway. But that mantra rang eerily true within the confines of the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway on Saturday night. After the rains came and washed out all feature racing one weekend ago, the six-pack of features that commenced throughout the evening wound up going down as unarguably some of the best so far in this young 2021 season. First-time winners were the theme in the two makeup features, as Dave Williams and Preston Lattomus took home their first victories in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans and Hyper Racing 600s, respectively. The main card of racing saw a return to relative normalcy, as Nick Skias and T. J. Greve picked up their second wins of the season in the 270s and Hyper Racing 600s, respectively, while Toby Blumenshine went back to victory lane for the third time in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans. In the 125/4 Strokes, it was Chase Layser who held off Alex Lukacs and Justin Harrington to take home his first victory of 2021.
Act 1 for the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division would be nothing short of a wild one, as an inversion pill of 11 put Chelsey Moore on pole with Dave Williams alongside. As one of the handicap cars following his win two weekends ago, Toby Blumenshine would once again have to come from 12th to the front in order to go 3-for-3 and keep the perfect season alive.
Williams was able to quickly scamper away to the point from the outside of the front row, with Josh Stoyer following through to second. Corey Schmuck, Jr., David Ravel, and Blumenshine would all make big gains in the early laps to work their way toward the front. Schmuck, Jr. would work past Stoyer on an early restart, and began hounding Williams for the race lead. Cautions and carnage would be a theme for the evening in the Sportsman class, with seven separate caution periods slowing the action in the first feature. Williams was forced to endure several restarts and passed the test with flying colors each time. Schmuck, Jr. never let Williams get more than a couple of car lengths away, but was unable to stick a nose inside and challenge for the lead.
A caution with two laps to go for an incident involving Ravel and Bret Cronrath would give Schmuck, Jr. one more prime opportunity to make a move, with Blumenshine having worked up to third. Schmuck, Jr. stayed right on Williams’ tail over the final two laps, but Williams held a pretty wheel, and the native of Douglassville, PA would hold on for his first Sportsman win, coming home just 0.163 seconds ahead of Schmuck, Jr. in second. Stoyer would get past Blumenshine on the final restart for third, with Blumenshine’s bid for a three-peat ending in the fourth position. Robert Shanaman would round out the top five, as only 11 of the original 24 starters were still running at the finish. Ravel, who was credited with a 13th-place finish following his late race incident, turned the fastest lap of the race with a time of 11.369 seconds.
Dave Williams led all 25 laps en route to his first win in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The first of two features for the Hyper Racing 600s saw Will Urkuski and Logan Rumsey starting from the front row. Rumsey would make the first mistake, however, as he was tagged for jumping the start, moving him back to the outside of row 2. That put Preston Lattomus on the outside of Urkuski for the restart and set the stage for the duel that was to come. Urkuski would break away to the lead on both that restart and the next on lap 3, but Lattomus wouldn’t let him get away too far, as the two gapped Chris Panczner, Rumsey, and Christian Bruno before hitting lapped traffic.
The lapped traffic would be tricky to pass on a track that was still relatively fresh and narrow, but it gave Lattomus the opportunity to make a move. As the leaders raced side-by-side at the exit of turn 2 with six laps to go, Urkuski and Lattomus made contact, which sent both cars up the track and toward the wall. Urkuski’s car would nose hard into the wall and spin down the track, but Lattomus would never come to a stop during the incident. Race officials deemed the contact a racing incident, which allowed Lattomus to retain his spot at the front. Panczner would be on the outside of Lattomus for the ensuing restart, but he would have to worry about battling Bruno for second as Lattomus scooted away for his first win in the 600s at the Clyde.
Lattomus would take the checkers 1.255 seconds in front of Panczner, who held off Bruno for the runner-up spot. Rumsey and Jesse Maurer completed the top five, while Urkuski would be forced to settle for an 18th-place finish, the last car on the lead lap, after leading the first 18 laps. Urkuski’s quick lap of 11.180 seconds was the fastest of the race.
Preston Lattomus led the final seven laps to win the first Hyper Racing 600 feature at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway on Saturday night. (Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
After a full slate of heat racing, the regularly scheduled feature racing began with the 270s. Alex Swift, in his first race this season at the Clyde, was quickest in warm ups and won his heat race, but an inversion pill of 7 would have him starting in that position, with fellow heat winners Anthony Yerger and Jason Swavely on row 3 just ahead. Mike Skias and T. J. Greve would make up the front row, with Chase Walker and Nick Skias starting directly behind them.
Mike Skias would lead the opening five laps, but Nick Skias would work past on lap 6, using momentum from the high side to complete the pass. As the younger of the Skias brothers got away to the point, the driver to watch became Swift. Swift’s car was able to run the bottom unlike anyone else, and he had worked up to third before a lap 12 caution. It only took Swift two laps on the restart to blast his way from third to the lead, and he would retain the advantage through a few quick cautions that followed. But it became a dogfight between the front two, with Swift making time on the bottom and Skias keeping pace on the outside.
But everything changed as the two leaders were exiting turn 4 coming to four laps to go. The leaders approached a lapped car that was running on the bottom, and Swift caught the lapper right at the exit of the corner, forcing him to jam on the brakes and take evasive action. The excursion gave Skias the lead back before the caution waved just a few seconds later. Swift would line up directly behind Skias for the restart, but instead of battling Skias for the win, he would have to fiercely battle Greve and Swavely to hold on to the runner-up spot. With the drivers each running different lines, the battle came to climax when all three cars came together at the exit of turn 4, with everyone miraculously keeping it straight. That battle, however, allowed Skias to get just the gap he needed to hold on for back-to-back victories in the 270s.
The Wernersville, PA driver finished 0.395 seconds ahead of Greve, who beat out Swift and Swavely in that epic battle. Yerger would complete the top five. Skias also turned the race’s fastest lap, with a time of 11.186 seconds.
Nick Skias took his second straight win in the 270s following a fierce battle with Alex Swift. (Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The 125/4 Strokes would be next on the docket of feature racing, and an inversion pill of 2 put Chase Layser, winner of heat 2, on the pole alongside Holden Eckman, winner of heat 1. Kenny Bushey won the other heat race and would start third alongside Mike Coen, who set the quick time during hot laps.
Layser broke away to the lead, but it would come as no surprise to see Justin Harrington, Brent Shearer, and Alex Lukacs start to work their way through the pack over the first couple of laps. Harrington hit a snag in his rally when he and Ron Crossley made contact in turn 2, knocking Harrington back to ninth after starting in fifth. Meanwhile, Coen would work his way past Eckman on an early restart to move up to second and apply pressure on Layser for the race lead. By the time a caution came out on lap 6, however, Harrington had worked his way up to the fourth position and got past Coen and Eckman quickly on the restart that followed to move right up behind Layser.
Harrington would stay with Layser all through the ensuing green flag run prior to a caution on lap 14. The restart saw Layser begin to scamper away though, and it would be Lukacs coming into the picture to challenge Harrington for the second spot. The two would battle hard for a few laps before Lukacs finally completed the pass. Lukacs would try to close the gap to Layser over the final laps, but ran out of time.
Layser came home for his first win of 2021 0.771 seconds in front of Lukacs, while Harrington held off Eckman to complete the podium. Eckman did turn the race’s fastest lap, however, with a time of 12.113 seconds. Shearer, who had won the most recent race for the 125/4 Strokes, rounded out the top five.
Chase Layser led wire-to-wire and picked up his first win of the 2021 season in the 125/4 Stroke division. (Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The second go-round for the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans saw a new player enter the equation. Patrick Kirn, who was not a part of the makeup feature from earlier in the evening, was quickest in hot laps, won his heat race, and with the lucky inversion pill of 1 pulled by Jamie Flickinger, would start on pole for the feature. Toby Blumenshine and Flickinger, who won the other heat races, would start second and third, with Bret Cronrath completing the first two rows.
Kirn and Blumenshine established themselves as the class of the field through the opening laps, with Kirn running the bottom and Blumenshine ripping the top. Kirn would maintain his advantage until a caution for a multi-car incident in turns 1 and 2 on lap 6. Under the caution, something broke on Kirn’s No. 16p and he came to a stop in turn 1, falling out of the race. This allowed Blumenshine to inherit the lead, and it didn’t take long for him to reestablish dominance. Over the ten-lap green flag run that followed, Blumenshine built a 4.723 second advantage before another caution waved. Despite a rash of late cautions, Blumenshine was never legitimately threatened for the lead, and a six-lap run to the checkers saw the Reinholds, PA native build up a 2.435-second margin of victory en route to his third win in four Sportsman races, and his fourth win in total on the season.
Cronrath, Flickinger, and Josh Stoyer waged a competitive battle for second throughout the course of the race. When all was said and done, Cronrath came home just ahead of Stoyer for the silver spot, as Flickinger faded to eighth at the finish. Clinton Hauser came home fourth, with David Ravel rallying from 19th starting position to finish fifth. Dave Williams, winner from earlier in the evening, finished seventh in the second feature of the night. Kirn was credited with a 17th-place finish after his issues and clocked in the fastest lap of the race at 11.391 seconds.
Toby Blumenshine turned in another dominating performance to take his third win of the season in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. (Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The final feature of a jam-packed night of racing would be the second leg of the Hyper Racing 600 doubleheader. An inversion pill of 10 put young Marty Brian, still with only a few 600 starts under his belt, straight into the limelight and on the pole position. Jesse Maurer would start to his outside, while heat race winners Mike Rutherford, Chris Gerhart, and Logan Rumsey would start seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively.
Brian and Maurer got away 1-2 off the initial start, but it would be T. J. Greve who made the biggest move, carrying momentum on the top side to go from sixth to third. Greve had struggled to make moves up top in the first feature en route to finishing tenth, but the top lane had come in for the nightcap and set up a great and intriguing four-car battle at the front. Race leader Brian and fourth-place runner Jayden Wolf stayed committed to making time on the bottom, while Maurer and Greve kept pace right up next to the wall. Wolf threw a couple of sliders on Greve in turns 1 and 2, but could never fend off the crossover moves to hang on to the position. Brian continued holding a steady wheel on the bottom as the leaders approached lapped traffic, but then the caution came out as Rumsey’s car went up in smoke in turn four.
Brian wouldn’t have to deal with lapped traffic, but he would have to deal with a restart, and that was where Greve made his move. As the leaders entered turn 3 on the first lap after the restart, Greve stuffed his No. 24t into the corner on the inside of Brian and was able to make the move stick to get in front of both Brian and Maurer back to turn 1. A caution would fly with seven laps to go, setting Maurer up with an opportunity on the front row. But Greve got away to a great restart and set sail toward back-to-back 600 wins.
The Hartly, DE driver came across 1.696 seconds in front of Maurer, who set the race’s fastest lap at 11.242 seconds. Brian held on for a well-earned third place finish, as Rutherford and Jason Swavely, who was fastest in hot laps, completed the top five. Preston Lattomus, winner from the first feature earlier in the night, had to come through the consi and finished 13th.
T. J. Greve rocketed from sixth to first to pick up the victory in the second Hyper Racing 600 feature of the night. (Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Next Saturday, May 8th at the Clyde will be the Mother’s Day Eve Special. All moms in attendance will be able to get in at general admission for only $5.00. There will also be wine tasting prior to next Saturday night’s racing courtesy of Regards Winery. To accommodate for the makeup features for the 125/4 Stroke and 270 divisions, gates will once again open at 3:30, with warm ups and racing beginning at 5:00. Celebrate your mother’s day weekend by coming out to LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (Makeup From 4/24/2021) (25 Laps):
1) 21d-Dave Williams
2) 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr.
3) 3s-Josh Stoyer
4) 21-Toby Blumenshine
5) 15-Robert Shanaman
6) 9g-Jamie Flickinger
7) 22-Clinton Hauser
8) 23k-Courtney Kupp
9) 99k-Chad Kreiser
10) 53s-Shannon Slaughter
11) 53-Jared St. John
12) 5-Bret Cronrath (DNF)
13) 21v-David Ravel (DNF)
14) 4-Broc Emery (DNF)
15) 77-Mike Kreiser (DNF)
16) 16-Brianne Cronrath-Witmer (DNF)
17) 14m-Chesley Moore (DNF)
18) 20-Max Fasnacht (DNF)
19) 13b-Matt Yoh, II (DNF)
20) 8-Michael Spadafora (DNF)
21) 22j-Raymond Ohlinger (DNF)
22) 30-Ryan Heckman (DNF)
23) 22s-Brett Sculley (DNF)
24) 36s-Steve Smith, Sr. (DNF)
Hyper Racing 600 A-Main (Makeup From 4/24/2021) (25 Laps):
1) 10m-Preston Lattomus
2) 15p-Chris Panczner
3) 17m-Christian Bruno
4) 41-Logan Rumsey
5) 3-Jesse Maurer
6) 2s-Mike Rutherford
7) 14-Jason Swavely
8) 7w-Jayden Wolf
9) 71-Brian Kramer
10) 24t-T. J. Greve
11) 5-Heath Hehnly
12) 11h-Holden Eckman
13) 4s-Johnny Smith
14) 88-Bradley Brown
15) 7-Nick Skias
16) 51-Chris Gerhart
17) 1e-Aaron Espenshade
18) 1-Will Urkuski
19) 39-Olivia Thayer (-1L)
20) 98-Keith Blumenstein, Jr. (-1L)
21) 15-Marty Brian (DNF)
22) 11z-Zach Light (DNF)
23) 17-Brent Ely (DNF)
24) 42u-Tyler Ulrich (DNF)
DNS) 46-B. J. Antonio
270 A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 3s-Nick Skias
2) 52T-T. J. Greve
3) 15-Alex Swift
4) 92-Jason Swavely
5) 5a-Anthony Yerger
6) 3-Pete Skias
7) 23-Bradley Brown
8) 27o-Mike Rutherford
9) 27-Darren Schott
10) 8s-Mike Skias
11) 96w-Chase Walker
12) 11-Mike Uhrich
13) 22j-Josh Ohlinger
14) 9k-Brian Heist
15) 21d-Dave Williams
16) 96-Jerry Dorrell (-3L)
17) 1L-Dave Labe (DNF)
18) 48-Jonah Meck (DNF)
19) 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr. (DNF)
20) 53n-Ben Newmaster (DNF)
21) 82-Heath Hehnly (DNF)
22) 59j-Jimmy Wampole (DNF)
23) 21-Toby Blumenshine (DNF)
125/4 Stroke A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 7L-Chase Layser
2) 44x-Alex Lukacs
3) 76-Justin Harrington
4) 11h-Holden Eckman
5) 76b-Brent Shearer
6) 19-Matt Fernsler
7) 26c-Mike Coen
8) 3x-Kenny Bushey
9) 32-Michael Hoffmaster
10) 16c-Don Hess
11) 29-Barry Shearer
12) 7d-Chris Dolan
13) 81-Dylan Holmes
14) 44-Riley Simmons
15) 26-Tyler Martin
16) 28-Kyle Lindsey
17) 5-Terry Ellex
18) 17-Masen Stapleton (-1L)
19) 04-Sam Borger (-1L)
20) 1st-Steve Simmons (-1L)
21) 56-Dick Huzzard (DNF)
22) 55c-Ron Crossley (DNF)
23) 112-Dylan Yeingst (DNF)
24) 82-John Maurer (DNF)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 21-Toby Blumenshine
2) 5-Bret Cronrath
3) 3s-Josh Stoyer
4) 22-Clinton Hauser
5) 21v-David Ravel
6) 99k-Chad Kreiser
7) 21d-Dave Williams
8) 9g-Jamie Flickinger
9) 53s-Alex Lukacs
10) 23-Courtney Kupp
11) 53-Jared St. John (-1L)
12) 36s-Steve Smith, Sr. (-2L)
13) 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr. (DNF)
14) 30-Ryan Heckman (DNF)
15) 22j-Raymond Ohlinger (DNF)
16) 15-Robert Shanaman (DNF)
17) 16p-Patrick Kirn (DNF)
18) 13s-Charles Hellinger (DNF)
19) 20-Max Fasnacht (DNF)
20) 13b-Matt Yoh, II (DNF)
21) 11m-Jessica Moore (DNF)
22) 22s-Brett Sculley (DNF)
23) 8-Michael Spadafora (DNF)
24) 16-Brianne Cronrath-Witmer (DNF)
Hyper Racing 600 A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 24t-T. J. Greve
2) 3-Jesse Maurer
3) 15-Marty Brian
4) 2s-Mike Rutherford
5) 14-Jason Swavely
6) 21s-Steven Snyder, Jr.
7) 7w-Jayden Wolf
8) 71-Brian Kramer
9) 5-Heath Hehnly
10) 17-Brent Ely
11) 17m-Christian Bruno
12) 51-Chris Gerhart
13) 10m-Preston Lattomus
14) 23-Bradley Brown
15) 11h-Holden Eckman
16) 75k-Jarid Kunkle
17) 4s-Johnny Smith
18) 42u-Tyler Ulrich
19) 11z-Zach Light
20) 1e-Aaron Espenshade
21) 7-Nick Skias
22) 32s-Garyt Smith
23) 41-Logan Rumsey (DNF)
24) 1-Will Urkuski (DNF)