By Kasey Kreider
It’s a simple rule in racing. If you keep putting yourself in position to win races, then sooner or later, wins will start coming your way. Jason Swavely entered Saturday night as one of the most consistent drivers of the 2021 season so far, holding down the early season points lead in both the Hyper Racing 600 and 270 divisions. However, Swavely’s run to the top of the championships had come with a notable absence of a points-paying victory in either division. So perhaps it was only fitting on this night that weeks of consistent finishes finally paid off in the form of not one, but two victories. Swavely started on pole in both the 270 and Hyper Racing 600 features and led wire-to-wire on both occasions to make his first stops back to the winner’s circle since the season-opening No Wing Spring Fling. Perhaps a similar mantra also rang true for Corey Schmuck, Jr., who was able to turn around his fortunes after a season of bad luck to take home the victory in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. While the other three features were all won from the pole, it was Billy Logeman who opened up the night by putting on a riveting drive from 12th to first to take home back-to-back points-paying victories in the 125/4 Stroke division.
Following a moment of recognition for all veterans and active military members in attendance, the feature racing action for Veterans Night at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway began with the 125/4 Stroke division. Billy Logeman and Mike Coen had each taken heat race victories earlier in the evening, but would have to start 12th and 13th, respectively, due to the handicap rule. In the meantime, the other heat race winner, Chris Dolan, would start from the outside of the front row, with Brandon Shearer’s No. 78 machine going off from the pole position.
Prior to the beginning of the features, all veterans and active military members in attendance were recognized for their service to our country. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Shearer would bust away to point off of the initial start and build a sizeable early lead as the rest of the field jockeyed for position on a very racy surface at the Clyde. Mike Miller started the race from sixth, but wouldn’t stay there for long, carving past Tyler Martin, Holden Eckman, Matt Fernsler, and the heat-race winner Dolan in the opening laps. As he moved to second, however, it was clear that he would soon have company in the form of Logeman’s similarly colored white and gold-accented ride. Logeman sliced and diced his way through the field from his 12th-starting position, and by the first caution of the race for Memorial Day winner Chase Layser’s stopped machine on lap 10, Logeman had worked his way into the third position.
Despite the large early lead that Shearer had built up, what came next seemed inevitable. Logeman made the pass on the inside of Miller for second on the restart, and one lap later, swooped to the outside of Shearer, motoring his way around and through to the point in turn 3. With some of the other quick cars throughout the course of the season struggling to make their way through the pack, Logeman was able to set sail over the remainder of what turned out to be a 16-lap run to the checkered flag. Despite catching lapped traffic in the closing laps, Logeman was still able to maintain his massive advantage, allowing him to cruise home unchallenged for a second straight points-paying victory.
The Reinholds, PA driver came across the line 3.212 seconds in front of the second-place finisher Shearer, while also setting the fastest lap of the race at 11.551 seconds. Shearer parlayed his pole position start into an impressive runner-up result. Not to be outdone, Miller came home in the third position, as both drivers picked up their first podium finishes of the season. Dolan finished off his solid night with a fourth-place effort, while Alex Lukacs completed the top five. Lukacs took advantage just slightly of an uncharacteristically quiet night for Justin Harrington, who came from 10th to finish sixth and saw his point lead unofficially chipped down to 34.
Billy Logeman charged from 12th starting position to take his second victory in the 125/4 Stroke division. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Next up would be feature time for the 270s. After a season which had seen Jason Swavely have to start anywhere from mid-pack on back multiple times due to either issues during the heat race or the handicap rule, the points leader would begin this feature race from the pole position. Bradley Brown would line up alongside, with Mike Skias and heat race winners Dave Labe, Randy West, and Andrew Dietrich completing the first three rows.
After a relatively clean first feature of the night, the 270s would start out a bit rocky, with a hard four-car accident in turns 3 and 4 involving Zach Hollinger, Corey Schmuck, Jr., Anthony Yerger, and Darren Schott. Pete Skias would then go for a tumble in turn 2 after the ensuing restart, serving as a continuation of a rough 2021 season so far at the Clyde for him. Once the race got going, however, it was clear that Swavely’s car was the one to beat out front. The Fleetwood, PA native would open up nearly a 1.5-second lead over Mike Skias, who had gotten past Brown on the race’s initial start. An issue for Brandon Shearer on lap 12 would slow the race one more time, but Swavely would once again pull away on the restart, proving that this night would finally be his.
When all was said and done, Swavely capped off his dominating performance with a 1.816-second margin of victory, while also turning the race’s fastest lap of 10.943 seconds. Mike Skias came home smoothly in second, while Brown was finally able to put a full race together without any bad luck befalling his No. 23 machine as he finished third. Alex Swift made the most headway of any of the three handicap cars, working his way from 10th to finish in fourth. Labe, meanwhile, followed up his heat race win with an impressive fifth-place finish. With the victory, Swavely unofficially grew his point lead to 67 over Mike Rutherford, who could only muster a ninth-place finish after starting 12th.
Jason Swavely started on pole and led all 25 laps en route to his first feature victory of the season in the 270s. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The third and perhaps best feature of the evening would be contested among the competitors of the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. The pole position would go to Corey Schmuck, Jr., who had just seen his 270 feature come to an early end after the four-car melee in turns 3 and 4. To his outside would be Clinton Hauser, and behind those two would come the three heat race winners, Bret Cronrath, Jamie Flickinger, and Brianne Cronrath-Witmer. Toby Blumenshine was the quickest car in warmups, but would have to start 12th as a result of the handicap rule.
The first green flag run saw Schmuck, Jr. break away to the lead, but Hauser and Cronrath would not let him get more than a couple of car lengths away as the three began to establish a race-long battle for the win. Cronrath would move to second just before a caution for Raymond Ohlinger’s spin as the leaders were catching the tail of the field. What followed after the restart could only be described as a tense nose-to-tail battle that would go on for the race’s next 15 laps. Schmuck, Jr. would clear once again to the lead, but couldn’t break away from Cronrath and Hauser, who continued to battle for second.
The battle would reach its climax as the leaders approached lapped traffic with roughly seven laps to go. Schmuck, Jr. would make his car wide working past the lapped cars, even making slight contact with Cronrath at one point, which allowed Hauser to slip back into the second spot. The three continued to run nose-to-tail, however, with Josh Stoyer and Blumenshine creeping into the picture as well as the leaders approached two laps to go. It was on that 24th lap where the battle for the win would change its complexion, as spins at opposite ends of the racetrack by Mike Kreiser and Broc Emery set up a two-lap dash to the finish. The restart would be single file, but it wouldn’t keep Hauser from challenging. Despite Schmuck, Jr.’s excellent restart, Hauser would close right back to the back bumper as the leaders took the white flag, and began to have a peek inside of Schmuck, Jr.’s car before the caution waved once again. The final restart would see Hauser lay back just a touch to try and anticipate when Schmuck, Jr. would stand on the gas. But the Lititz, PA driver got another excellent restart, gapping Hauser by two car lengths to turns 3 and 4. Hauser would frantically try to close the gap over the final lap, but could only draw to the back bumper of Schmuck, Jr.’s No. 26, unable to make a move as the two flashed under the checkered flag nose-to-tail.
Schmuck, Jr.’s final official margin of victory was 0.164 seconds. The race’s fastest lap would go to Hauser with a lap time of 11.351 seconds, but he would have to be the bridesmaid on this evening. Cronrath would hang on to finish third, while Blumenshine and Stoyer would complete the top five. Blumenshine’s rally from 12th to fourth allowed him to keep a triple-digit point lead in the championship, as he now stands unofficially 106 points in front of Cronrath at the top of the standings.
Corey Schmuck, Jr. celebrated after holding off Clinton Hauser and Bret Cronrath to take his first victory of the season in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The final race of the evening would be for the Hyper Racing 600s. Jason Swavely was looking to make it “same song, second verse” as the inversion pill of 7 would put him on the pole after he went from 10th to fourth in his heat race. Likewise, Jarid Kunkle stole the show of his heat race, making daring moves to go from 10th to third. That effort paid off nicely, as he would be rewarded by starting on the outside of row 1. Mike Rutherford would roll off sixth after winning his heat race, and Zach Light, the other heat race winner, would have to come from 12th due to the handicap.
It would be no surprise to see Kunkle ride the high side on the initial start, especially starting from the outside of the front row. However, it was Swavely who was able to clear Kunkle and slide up on the high side in front of him by the time they got to turn 1. Swavely would pull away lap-by-lap over Kunkle, who soon had to worry about Rutherford challenging from behind. Rutherford would make the pass for second before too long, but would have a large gap to the leader in front of him. Swavely would work to manage that gap through lapped traffic, not giving Rutherford or Kunkle any opportunity to close. It would be the lapped traffic that reignited the battle for second, which came to a head with just a few laps to go. Kunkle worked outside of Rutherford off of turn 4 as Rutherford tried to use the lapped car of Olivia Thayer as a pick. With big momentum and seemingly nowhere to go with it, Kunkle squeezed inside of Thayer while sliding in front of Rutherford into turn 1, taking back the runner-up spot for good.
That battle would take place well behind Swavely, however, as the championship leader came across 1.370 seconds in front of Kunkle, once again leading wire-to-wire to take home his first points-paying victory of the season in the Hyper Racing 600s. Swavely also ran the fastest lap of the race, with a quick time of 10.558 seconds. More notably, the race became the first race of the 2021 season to run caution-free, as Swavely took the checkers 4 minutes and 37 seconds after the race’s initial green flag. Kunkle and Rutherford would finish second and third, respectively, while Bradley Brown and Brent Ely completed the top five. The victory allowed Swavely to extend his point lead unofficially to 65 over Chris Panczner, who finished the night in 12th. Meanwhile, the runner-up finish for Kunkle allowed him to move into a tie with Panczner for second in the championship standings.
Jason Swavely took his “Pink Panther” themed ride to victory lane in the Hyper Racing 600 feature for his second victory of the night. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Next Saturday, June 19th will be the Father’s Day Eve Special at the Clyde. In honor of Father’s Day, all fathers in attendance will be able to get in at general admission for only $5. As usual, the gates will open at 4:30, with warmups and racing slated to begin at 6:00. Be sure to spend a day at the Clyde with dad, and come out to LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
125/4 Stroke A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 76b-Billy Logeman
2. 78-Brandon Shearer
3. 3-Mike Miller
4. 7d-Chris Dolan
5. 44x-Alex Lukacs
6. 76-Justin Harrington
7. 19-Matt Fernsler
8. 82-John Maurer
9. 26c-Mike Coen
10. 1st-Steve Simmons
11. 26-Tyler Martin
12. 3x-Kenny Bushey
13. 11h-Holden Eckman
14. 44-Riley Simmons
15. 81-Dylan Holmes
16. 78c-Jarrid Hellinger
17. 32-Michael Hoffmaster (-1L)
18. 28-Kyle Lindsey (-1L)
19. 17-Masen Stapleton (-1L)
20. 112-Dylan Yeingst (-1L)
21. 15-Alyssa Holmes (-1L)
22. 04-Sam Borger (-1L)
23. 16c-Don Hess (DNF)
24. 7L-Chase Layser (DNF)
270 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 92-Jason Swavely
2. 8s-Mike Skias
3. 23-Bradley Brown
4. 15-Alex Swift
5. 1L-Dave Labe
6. 3s-Nick Skias
7. 39x-Richie Hartman
8. 2-Mike Miller
9. 27o-Mike Rutherford
10. 88d-Andrew Dietrich
11. 21d-Dave Williams
12. 96w-Chase Walker
13. 72-Jonathan John
14. 11-Mike Uhrich
15. 34-Christi Sweigart (-2L)
16. 39-Austin Mieczkowski (DNF)
17. 74-Randy West (DNF)
18. 82-Heath Hehnly (DNF)
19. 29-Brandon Shearer (DNF)
20. 3-Pete Skias (DNF)
21. 27-Darren Schott (DNF)
22. 3h-Zach Hollinger (DNF)
23. 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr. (DNF)
24. 14-Anthony Yerger (DNF)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr.
2. 22-Clinton Hauser
3. 5-Bret Cronrath
4. 21-Toby Blumenshine
5. 3s-Josh Stoyer
6. 16-Brianne Cronrath-Witmer
7. 5a-Anthony Yerger
8. 9g-Jamie Flickinger
9. 16p-Patrick Kirn
10. 13s-Charles Hellinger
11. 8-Michael Spadafora
12. 21d-Dave Williams
13. 77-Mike Kreiser
14. 4-Broc Emery
15. 22j-Raymond Ohlinger (-1L)
16. 13-Matt Yoh, II (-1L)
17. 15-Robert Shanaman (-1L)
18. 20-Max Fasnacht (-1L)
19. 14-Danny Wright (DNF)
20. 22s-Brett Sculley (DNF)
21. 23k-Courtney Kupp (DNF)
22. 11g-Nate Gibble (DNF)
23. 53-Jared St. John (DNF)
24. 99k-Chad Kreiser (DNF)
Hyper Racing 600 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 14-Jason Swavely
2. 75k-Jarid Kunkle
3. 2s-Mike Rutherford
4. 23-Bradley Brown
5. 17-Brent Ely
6. 117-Cody West
7. 5-Heath Hehnly
8. 1-Will Urkuski
9. 11z-Zach Light
10. 71-Brian Kramer
11. 75-Mark Yoder
12. 15p-Chris Panczner
13. 51-Chris Gerhart
14. 11h-Holden Eckman (-1L)
15. 16t-Joe Timmins (-1L)
16. 39-Olivia Thayer (-1L)
17. 98-Keith Blumenstein, Jr. (-1L)
18. 24-Logan Rhoad (-1L)
19. 7-Nick Skias (DNF)
DNS: 1e-Aaron Espenshade
Point Standings (UNOFFICIAL):
125/4 Stroke Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 76-Justin Harrington (631)
2. 44x-Alex Lukacs (-34)
3. 19-Matt Fernsler (-126)
4. 7L-Chase Layser (-164)
5. 11h-Holden Eckman (-205)
6. 26-Tyler Martin (-249)
7. 26c-Mike Coen (-274)
8. 78-Brandon Shearer (-278)
9. 28-Kyle Lindsey (-302)
10. 04-Sam Borger (-306)
270 Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 92-Jason Swavely (635)
2. 27o-Mike Rutherford (-67)
3. 3s-Nick Skias (-104)
4. 82-Heath Hehnly (-128)
5. 8s-Mike Skias (-154)
6. 23-Bradley Brown (-179)
7. 21d-Dave Williams (-235)
8. 14-Anthony Yerger (-242)
9. 3-Pete Skias (-281)
10. 52T-T. J. Greve (-284)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 21-Toby Blumenshine (655)
2. 5-Bret Cronrath (-106)
3. 3s-Josh Stoyer (-162)
4. 22-Clinton Hauser (-180)
5. 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr. (-187)
6. 9g-Jamie Flickinger (-194)
7. 77-Mike Kreiser (-212)
8. 21d-Dave Williams (-215)
9. 15-Robert Shanaman (-230)
10. 16-Brianne Cronrath-Witmer (-284)
Hyper Racing 600 Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 14-Jason Swavely (544)
T2. 15p-Chris Panczner (-65)
T2. 75k-Jarid Kunkle (-65)
4. 2s-Mike Rutherford (-76)
5. 5-Heath Hehnly (-79)
6. 7-Nick Skias (-105)
7. 17-Brent Ely (-111)
8. 23-Bradley Brown (-122)
9. 24t-T. J. Greve (-151)
10. 3-Jesse Maurer (-157)