By Kasey Kreider
Pink Out Night Presented by KDM Skunkworks Race Engines annually serves as one of the most special nights of the year at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. Organized by Kim Glass of the Kim’s Kreations Novelty Stand and TT’s Troops, the night raises funds for breast cancer research while also turning the Clyde into a sea of pink, with pink t-shirts aplenty and even pink accenting on some of the race cars. At intermission, a special presentation was held to honor and recognize all cancer survivors. It was a recognition of their courage, strength, and bravery in dealing with this terrible disease. It was a night where only five drivers could take feature race victories. But on this night, there were far more true winners than just those who would cross the finish line first.
At intermission, all cancer survivors in attendance were recognized as part of a special presentation on Pink Out Night at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
When it came time for the attention to turn back to the racing, five fast and furious features would commence, with night three of All Star Slingshot Speedweek joining the four weekly divisions. It would be 2019 Speedweek champion Kyle Herve taking home the checkers in the All Star Slingshot main event. Herve’s victory would be followed by a 270 feature win for Jason Swavely, as he retook the points lead with Nick Skias still hot on his tail. Bret Cronrath extended his points lead by picking up his third win of the season in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman feature. The drive for nine came into full bloom for Heath Hehnly, as he picked up his second Hyper Racing 600 feature win of the season, and took the points lead from Swavely in the process. The night concluded with Mike Coen making a long-awaited trip back to victory lane, as he took home the victory in the 125/4 Strokes.
Cody Kline had the fastest lap of warmups and would draw the pole position for the All Star Slingshot Speedweek feature. Aidan Donaldson would make up the front row with him. Thomas Nettleship and Shelby McLaughlin won the two heat races and would start seventh and ninth, respectively. Meanwhile, Scott Neary, the winner on the 4th of July, would start eighth, and Dave Carraghan, who had won the prior two Speedweek events at Action Track USA and Linda’s Speedway in addition to winning the first 2021 Slingshot race at the Clyde, would roll off from 12th.
Kline would lead the field to green and lead the race’s first two laps, but his time at the front of the field would be short-lived. After a couple of early restarts, Kyle Herve, who started the race in fourth, had carved his way up to second. By the next restart on lap 3, Herve was in position to pounce, and pounce he did. Herve would move inside of Kline to take the lead away, and try to set sail as Neary, Carraghan, and Brett Bieber were among the quick cars trying to make their way through the pack. By halfway, Neary had moved himself into the second position, and seemed poised to challenge Herve for the win. But on lap 14, Neary’s hopes would be dashed, as his car slowed to a stop while under caution, leaving Neary unable to refire and out of the race.
The restart that would follow would see Carraghan move to the outside of the front row as a result of Neary’s misfortune, and he would have 12 laps to take a crack at Herve to keep his perfect Speedweek alive. The battle over the final green flag run would be fought between those two drivers, as they checked out over the rest of the field. Carraghan would reel in Herve little by little each lap, getting as close as about two car lengths. But the old adage in racing, “catching is one thing, passing is another” would hold true on this night. Carraghan would be able to get to Herve, but couldn’t find a way around. Herve would begin to pull back away in the closing laps, giving him all the breathing room he needed to take home the checkered flag on night three of All Star Slingshot Speedweek.
Herve’s final margin of victory over Carraghan would be 0.765 seconds, as Herve also clocked the race’s quickest lap of 13.191 seconds. Completing the podium would be Bieber, who rallied nicely from tenth to finish in third. Donaldson and Ryan Raidline would complete the top five, as the Slingshots would turn their attention toward the Speedweek finale on Sunday, back at Action Track USA.
Kyle Herve took the lead on lap 3 and then held off Dave Carraghan on the final run to take home the win on night three of All Star Slingshot Speedweek at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The 270s would be the next feature to take to the track, and an inversion pill of 1 meant that no inversion would be necessary, as heat race winner Anthony Yerger would start on pole with Toby Blumenshine alongside. The other heat race was won by Andrew Dietrich, but he would have to start tenth due to the handicap rule. Meanwhile, points leader Nick Skias would have to start back from the 11th spot, with his championship rival Jason Swavely starting up in fourth. Swavely also had the fastest car in warmups, and seemed poised to try and take the points lead back.
Swavely realized the opportunity in front of him, and it wouldn’t take long for the Rocketman from Fleetwood to find the front of the field. Yerger would lead the race’s first four laps, but Swavely would flash by on lap 5 with very little challenge, as the No. 92 looked to be hooked up on this evening. The race’s first and only caution would fly on lap 8, when Austin Mieczkowski’s car would stop on the backstretch. A bizarre and scary moment would then happen as track crews pushed Mieczkowski’s car back to power, as the throttle on the car appeared to be stuck. That would cause Mieczkowski to slam the turn 4 wall and flip upside down, while the rest of the field was running at caution flag speed on the other end of the track. Mieczkowski would be okay, but the car would not be.
The race would resume on lap 8 with Swavely and Yerger on the front row for the restart. Skias, in the meantime, had worked his way up to sixth, as he tried to limit any damage in the points battle. Skias’ car showed plenty of speed in its own right, as it wouldn’t take him long to move into the third spot and begin battling Yerger for second. But by then, Swavely would be in his own zip code, and with no cautions over the final 17 laps, Skias wouldn’t get the opportunity to see what he could’ve done from closer toward the front. Skias would make a big slide job on Yerger for second on the final lap, and the pass would stick. But it was all well behind the Fleetwood, PA driver as he would take his second 270 win of the season, just two weeks after losing the Clyde Martin Memorial on the race’s penultimate lap.
Swavely’s final margin of victory over Skias would be 1.736 seconds, but it was Skias who ran the race’s fastest lap of 11.211 seconds. Swavely’s three-point deficit would become a two-point advantage over Skias with five points races remaining on the schedule. Yerger would finish in third after being passed on the last lap, while Dave Labe and Blumenshine would round out the top five.
Jason Swavely took home a commanding victory in the 270 feature to retake the points lead from his closest challenger, Nick Skias. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
An inversion pill of 9 would see Jamie Flickinger start from the pole for the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman feature, with Clinton Hauser starting on his outside. The two heat race winners were Charles Hellinger and Anthony Yerger, and they would start sixth and 11th, respectively. Meanwhile, the two championship contenders, Bret Cronrath and Toby Blumenshine, would start tenth and 12th, respectively, as a result of the handicap rule.
Flickinger, who had already had some of his career-best runs in the Sportsman division in the early stages of the 2021 season, would break away to the early lead, and check out by more than a second on the race’s first green flag run. It would be third-place starter Corey Schmuck, Jr. working his way to the runner-up spot though, and as the race drew toward halfway, Schmuck, Jr. began reeling in the No. 9g as the leaders approached lapped traffic. In the meantime, the two championship contenders, Cronrath and Blumenshine, were heading in opposite directions. Cronrath had driven his way from tenth to fourth, while Blumenshine began to lose positions from his 12th-starting spot, as it became clear that something was amiss on the No. 21. A caution on lap 13 would give Cronrath an opportunity to close in on the leaders, while Schmuck, Jr. would have an opportunity to battle Flickinger side-by-side for the top spot.
But Flickinger would be undaunted on the restart, breaking away to another sizeable advantage as Schmuck, Jr., Cronrath, and David Ravel began scrapping for second. One wild moment on the backstretch would see Ravel’s car pointed toward the sky after hopping wheels, but Ravel’s car came harmlessly back to earth as he entered turn 3, and he would take the second position in that set of corners. His time as runner-up would be short-lived though, as Cronrath eventually found his way past and began running down Flickinger.
With six laps to go, the race’s second caution would fly for a Ryan Heckman spin, and that would erase a two-thirds-of-a-second lead for Flickinger, forcing him to endure a late restart to hang on to victory. Cronrath would start on his outside, and the battle would be on as the green flag dropped again. Flickinger would clear initially, but Cronrath’s excellent drive off of turn 2 would give him an opportunity to send his car off into turn 3 on the inside of Flickinger, and with that power move, Cronrath would take over the lead and begin driving away. The Blandon, PA driver would scamper away and see the checkers first for his third win of the 2021 season. He would come home 0.959 seconds in front of Flickinger, while also turning the race’s quick lap of 11.353 seconds.
For Flickinger, he would come six laps shy of his first career Sportsman win, but would still be thrilled with a runner-up result. Ravel would have his best finish of the season as well, coming home in the third spot. Schmuck, Jr. and Mike Kreiser would complete the top five. Meanwhile, Blumenshine would limp his ailing car home in the 12th position, causing the points gap between he and Cronrath to grow from one singular point to 47 entering the Sportsman doubleheader next weekend.
Bret Cronrath made a bold pass on Jamie Flickinger with six laps remaining to pick up the victory in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman feature. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
No inversion would be necessary for the Hyper Racing 600 feature as heat race winner Aaron Espenshade drew lucky inversion pill number 1. The pill would allow him to start on the outside of the front row, but it would put the eight-time 600 champion and winner of the first heat race, Heath Hehnly, on the pole. Point leader Jason Swavely had the quickest time in warmups, but would start the race from seventh, looking to keep his points lead intact with his closest rival at the front of the pack.
But it wouldn’t take long for Swavely to become one of the stories of the race for all the wrong reasons. Hehnly would break away to the point, with fourth-place starter Jarid Kunkle moving to second and fifth-place starter Nick Skias moving up to third, a move through the field which included a spectacular slide job from Skias that somehow didn’t wind up in the turn 4 guardrail. But on lap 6, as Swavely was battling for fifth, disaster struck. Swavely and Zach Light would make contact at the top of turns 1 and 2, stuffing Swavely’s car into the wall and leaving nowhere to go for Bradley Brown, who entered the night third in points. Swavely’s car would get pushed upside down, while Brown would also be tipped over on his side as the two cars clumped together in turn 2. The incident would knock Swavely out of the race, serving as a big blow in the points battle, while Light would also be out after damaging the front end of his car in the contact. Brown would continue, but would have to tag the tail of the field.
Points leader Jason Swavely (No. 14) and Bradley Brown (No. 23) both wound up upside down following an incident on lap 6 of the Hyper Racing 600 feature. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
As the race resumed, Hehnly would be able to drive away from Kunkle at the front of the field, seeming primed to take another victory and the points lead as the cherry on top. Hehnly’s lead would grow to up around two seconds as the laps flew by. But over the race’s second half, lapped traffic would become a factor. Another factor would be the glowing, cherry-red brake rotor on Hehnly’s car, perhaps a sign that the brakes could have begun to fade on the No. 5. But a line of five lapped cars in front of Hehnly seemed to be the bigger issue in the race’s closing laps. Hehnly would struggle to pass the lappers as the race ran inside of five laps to go. In clean track, Kunkle chomped into the lead at a rate of more than half-a-second per lap, a charge which looked very similar to one that he had earlier in the season. But as was the case then too, Kunkle would simply run out of laps. He would close to within three car lengths at the white flag, getting the gap down to about two car lengths as the leaders entered turn 3. But there would be nowhere for Kunkle to make a move with Hehnly covering off the inside and a lapped car on the top, and Hehnly would hold on for his second Hyper Racing 600 win of the season.
Hehnly’s official margin of victory would be 0.430 seconds, and he turned the race’s fastest lap with a time of 10.635 seconds. Kunkle would finish as a bridesmaid once again, while Espenshade would continue a run of momentum with an impressive third-place showing. Skias and Brent Ely would complete the top five, while Brown would rally from his tip over to finish sixth, keeping himself alive in the title hunt. Swavely would be credited with a 16th-place finish following his crash, and as a result, found himself 24 points behind Hehnly in the points with four races remaining. Brown’s rally kept him within striking distance, with him now just 85 markers back of the lead.
Heath Hehnly held off a charge by Jarid Kunkle in the closing laps to pick up the victory and take over the points lead in the Hyper Racing 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The final feature would be contested by the 125/4 Stroke division, and an inversion pill of 12 put Noah Martin and Kenny Bushey on the front row for the 25-lapper. Justin Harrington was quickest in warmups and won his heat, but would start 11th due to the handicap rule. The other two heat race winners, John Maurer and Mark Yoder, would start eighth and ninth, respectively.
It would be a frantic start to the race though, as Mike Coen, who started third, would power his way to the bottom of Martin exiting turn 4 and lead the opening lap before clearing for the lead in the next set of corners. Bushey would fall in line in second, with Riley Simmons working her way up to third from fifth starting spot. Martin would suffer some misfortune, as he would be involved in a three-car pileup that brought out the race’s first caution on lap 5. The restart would see Coen easily get away to the lead, but Simmons would move into the runner-up spot, and over the next 15 laps, the chase would be on between those two. Coen would open up the gap to a comfortable margin over Simmons, but Simmons would begin to close in little by little as lapped traffic became a factor. The gap would teeter-totter for a while, but Coen seemed to remain comfortably in control until the caution flew with six laps remaining.
The yellow flag would give Simmons a chance to close on Coen, but would also allow teammates Harrington and Billy Logeman, who had moved to third and fourth, the opportunity to battle for the win as well. Instead however, Coen and Simmons would bust away one-two, while Harrington and Logeman would engage in the battle for third. Chase Layser, who had driven from 12th to fifth, also seemed poised to pounce. But as the battle came off turn 2 on the restart, Logeman and Harrington banged wheels, sending Harrington’s car pinballing into Layser and shoving the No. 7L sideways. Layser would straighten out but lose tons of track position in the excursion. The caution would fly for a separate incident with five to go, and that would lead to one more single file restart. Simmons would have one more shot at Coen, but instead would have to worry about Logeman and Harrington behind her, as they shuffled her pink-accented car to the outside on the restart. After bypassing Simmons, Logeman and Harrington would be left to battle for second, as Coen, with 426 pink breast cancer ribbons on his car as part of a fundraising contest for the Pink Out Night, would come under the checkered flag first to make a long-awaited return to the winner’s circle.
The Shamokin, PA driver’s final margin of victory would be 1.603 seconds, and he set the race’s fastest lap of 12.017 seconds. Logeman would beat out Harrington for the runner-up spot, while Matt Fernsler would come across fourth and Simmons would round out the top five. Layser would only be able to rally back to seventh, allowing Harrington to extend his points lead to 172 with five points races remaining.
Mike Coen led wire-to-wire to pick up his first 125/4 Stroke feature victory of the 2021 season at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Worthington/Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Next Saturday, August 21st will be Luau Night Presented by Boyer’s Tavern of Rexmont at the Clyde. As part of the evening’s festivities, we will have a limited number of Hawaiian leis to be given away, and encourage everyone to wear their best Hawaiian outfit. There will also be bike races at intermission, and we ask that everyone interested bring their helmets and register at the Kim’s Kreations Novelty Stand. As for the on-track action, there will be a total of seven features on the evening, as makeups from July 17th for the 125/4 Strokes, Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans, and 270s will all be taking place. Because of the extra racing, gates will open one hour earlier at 3:30, with warmups and racing set to go off at 5:00. With a jam-packed slate of racing and festivities, you couldn’t pick a better time than next Saturday to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
All Star Slingshot Speedweek A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 24h-Kyle Herve
2. 3-Dave Carraghan
3. 32-Brett Bieber
4. 78-Aidan Donaldson
5. 00-Ryan Raidline
6. 7-Shelby McLaughlin
7. 112-Cody Kline
8. M10-Taylor Mills
9. 1-Tyler Ulsh
10. 16t-Thomas Nettleship
11. 55a-Amanda Angstadt
12. 3L-Nolen Layser
13. 15-Faith Turnbaugh
14. 14b-Brent Schantz
15. 6-Devin Bucks
16. 29-John Heberling (-1L)
17. 8-John Schantz (DNF)
18. 1s-Scott Neary (DNF)
19. 75x-James Hendricks (DNF)
20. 21w-Chuck Whary (DNF)
270 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 92-Jason Swavely
2. 3s-Nick Skias
3. 5a-Anthony Yerger
4. 1L-Dave Labe
5. 21-Toby Blumenshine
6. 88d-Andrew Dietrich
7. 54-Dakota Barlet
8. 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr.
9. 23-Bradley Brown
10. 8s-Mike Skias
11. 21d-Dave Williams
12. 34-Christi Sweigart (-1L)
13. 27-Darren Schott (-1L)
14. 29-Brandon Shearer (-1L)
15. 11-Mike Uhrich (-1L)
16. 4L-Ben Layser (-1L)
17. 91-Jack Redcay (DNF)
18. 82-Heath Hehnly (DNF)
19. 39-Austin Mieczkowski (DNF)
20. 53n-Ben Newmaster (DNF)
DNS: 18-Noah Merkey
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath
2. 9g-Jamie Flickinger
3. 21v-David Ravel
4. 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr.
5. 77-Mike Kreiser
6. 23k-Courtney Kupp
7. 13s-Charles Hellinger
8. 22-Clinton Hauser
9. 53s-Shannon Slaughter
10. 99k-Chad Kreiser
11. 21d-Dave Williams
12. 21-Toby Blumenshine
13. 30-Ryan Heckman
14. 53-Jared St. John
15. 15-Robert Shanaman
16. 5a-Anthony Yerger (DNF)
17. 22s-Brett Sculley (DNF)
18. 16p-Patrick Kirn (DNF)
19. N8-Nate Gibble (DNF)
20. 8-Michael Spadafora (DNF)
DNS: 20-Max Fasnacht
DNS: 14m-Chelsey Moore
Hyper Racing 600 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 5-Heath Hehnly
2. 75k-Jarid Kunkle
3. 1e-Aaron Espenshade
4. 7-Nick Skias
5. 17-Brent Ely
6. 23-Bradley Brown
7. 15p-Chris Panczner
8. 46-B. J. Antonio
9. 71-Brian Kramer
10. 11h-Holden Eckman
11. 15-Marty Brian (-1L)
12. 75-Mark Yoder (-1L)
13. 1-Will Urkuski (-1L)
14. 39-Olivia Thayer (-1L)
15. 24-Logan Rhoad (-2L)
16. 14-Jason Swavely (DNF)
17. 11z-Zach Light (DNF)
125/4 Stroke A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 26c-Mike Coen
2. 75-Billy Logeman
3. 76-Justin Harrington
4. 19-Matt Fernsler
5. 44-Riley Simmons
6. 7d-Chris Dolan
7. 7L-Chase Layser
8. 26-Tyler Martin
9. 82-John Maurer
10. 28-Kyle Lindsey
11. 16c-Don Hess
12. 1st-Mark Yoder
13. 3x-Kenny Bushey
14. 81-Dylan Holmes
15. 17-Masen Stapleton
16. 15-Alyssa Holmes
17. 11h-Holden Eckman (-1L)
18. 3h-Corey Harting (-1L)
19. 04-Sam Borger (-1L)
20. 78-Jarrid Hellinger (DNF)
21. 7a-Noah Martin (DNF)
22. 57k-Blaire Schoenly (DNF)
23. 78c-Charles Hellinger (DNF)
DNS: 32-Michael Hoffmaster
Point Standings (UNOFFICIAL):
270 Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 92-Jason Swavely (973)
2. 3s-Nick Skias (-2)
3. 8s-Mike Skias (-118)
4. 82-Heath Hehnly (-159)
5. 5a-Anthony Yerger (-230)
T6. 3-Pete Skias (-257)
T6. 23-Bradley Brown (-257)
8. 52T-T. J. Greve (-323)
9. 21d-Dave Williams (-330)
10. 34-Christi Sweigart (-342)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath (1,014)
2. 21-Toby Blumenshine (-47)
3. 3s-Josh Stoyer (-213)
4. 22-Clinton Hauser (-227)
5. 21d-Dave Williams (-277)
6. 9g-Jamie Flickinger (-286)
7. 77-Mike Kreiser (-291)
8. 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr. (-293)
9. 15-Robert Shanaman (-346)
10. 16p-Patrick Kirn (-375)
Hyper Racing 600 Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 5-Heath Hehnly (1,006)
2. 14-Jason Swavely (-24)
3. 23-Bradley Brown (-85)
T4. 7-Nick Skias (-169)
T4. 15p-Chris Panczner (-169)
6. 75k-Jarid Kunkle (-200)
7. 17-Brent Ely (-237)
8. 3-Jesse Maurer (-269)
9. 11z-Zach Light (-281)
10. 11h-Holden Eckman (-350)
125/4 Stroke Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 76-Justin Harrington (1,091)
2. 7L-Chase Layser (-172)
3. 19-Matt Fernsler (-173)
4. 44x-Alex Lukacs (-289)
5. 26c-Mike Coen (-369)
6. 11h-Holden Eckman (-419)
T7. 7d-Chris Dolan (-426)
T7. 26-Tyler Martin (-426)
9. 32-Michael Hoffmaster (-469)
10. 44-Riley Simmons (-475)