By Kasey Kreider

A three-week hiatus from racing finally gave way to a night full of hot and heavy action at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, in both a literal and figurative sense. On an afternoon in Newmanstown which saw temperatures in excess of 90 degrees, drivers would have to keep their cool to find success as the steamy afternoon turned into a sizzling evening.

Five drivers were able to not only beat the heat, but also their competitors as they took victories in the evening’s five features. Steven Snyder, Jr. made it two in a row in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s, taking the lead after Bobby Butler broke from the front with nine laps to go. Chase Layser got a tough season turned around by winning from the pole of the 125/4 Stroke feature. Mike Rutherford fended off immense pressure from Lee Reinhardt all throughout the course of Saturday’s 25-lapper to take the 270 win. Bret Cronrath showed a return to championship form in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans, notching his first win of the season there. And after coming close in the 270 feature three weeks ago and in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 feature earlier in the night, Bradley Brown finally broke through to end his Lanco winless streak, taking the checkers in the Hyper Racing Winged 600 main event.

Bradley Brown started on pole of the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main for the second straight race, and this time looked to stay there after dropping to third in the previous event. Brown’s time at the front was short-lived, though, as third-place starter Bobby Butler got past on a quick early restart and set sail in the top spot, searching for his second points-paying win and third total win of the season.

The race’s most intense battle was the one that was fought for second, as Brown was tasked with holding off a hard-charging Steven Snyder, Jr., who was trying to go back-to-back. The two would fight tooth and nail for the position as the race ran green up through the halfway mark. Never shy with the sliders, Snyder, Jr. would pull the trigger on several occasions, looking to grab the preferred lane and get past. Brown would have a counter each time, though, and held onto the spot approaching ten laps to go.

Things came to a head around that point, though, when Snyder, Jr. and Brown made contact entering turn 1. Brown slapped the outside guardrail and would lose momentum, allowing Snyder, Jr. to get past for the runner-up spot. The runner-up spot became the top spot in short order, however, as Butler broke from the lead coming off of turn 2 with just nine laps remaining. Butler’s stoppage caused a caution, and Brown showed some displeasure with the Rising Sun, MD driver as the field cooled down for the yellow flag.

Brown would still be on Snyder, Jr.’s outside for the restart, and eventually lined up directly behind him after another caution on the restart. But with clean air and no more traffic to negotiate with, the raw pace of the No. 21s and its pilot would be too much for the rest of the field to keep up with.

Brown instead had to worry about P. J. Williams, who was able to get around for the second spot. Williams pulled away handily from the rest of the pack, but still could get nowhere near Snyder, Jr. in the race’s closing laps.

Snyder, Jr. picked up the win by just under three seconds over Williams in second. It would be Snyder, Jr.’s second straight win in the wingless division and third win in as many nights, after also picking up the win in the winged class during the opening points night. Brown salvaged a third-place effort, coming home in front of Tyler Ulrich and Gunnar Pio, who completed the top five.

Snyder, Jr. also picked up a heat race win, with the other going to Connor Gross.

Steven Snyder, Jr. inherited the lead with nine laps to go and never looked back en route to winning his second straight Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The 125/4 Stroke feature saw the debut of a new lineup format for 2022, utilized in both the 125/4 Stroke and Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman divisions. Instead of the random pill draw/redraw format used by the other three classes, the heat race lineups and the top 12 feature starters would be set by a points handicap, with drivers who had the lowest point averages starting in front of those with the highest point averages. After a rough start to the season, Chase Layser won his heat and would start on the pole as a result of having the lowest point average of any of the top 12 starters.

Speed had not been the issue for Layser all year, as evidenced by his dominant win in the No Wing Spring Fling. And speed would not be the issue on this night either, as he jumped away from the pole and built up a sizable margin on the race’s start.

But despite building a large lead, Layser had to negotiate through a gaggle of lapped traffic, all while trying to maintain his multi-second advantage over Billy Logeman, who had picked his way from 10th to second and was trying to make it three-for-three in points races to begin the year. For more than fifteen laps, the front runners sliced and diced their way through the back of the field, doing their best to avoid getting in sketchy situations around the tight confines of the Clyde.

Layser, though, had done a masterful job of getting through the traffic while keeping his lead intact, and took the white flag with a more than two-second advantage over his closest competitor. But after 24 laps of green flag racing, the caution would fly for a spin in turn 2, right in front of the fierce battle for third between Chris Dolan and Justin Harrington.

Logeman would get one opportunity to make a move on Layser on the ensuing green-checkered restart. But Layser fired off cleanly and gave Logeman no opportunity to make a move over the race’s final circuit.

Layser took a much-needed trip back to the winner’s circle, with Logeman having to settle for second and Dolan bringing home an equally-needed third-place finish to complete the podium. Harrington and Don Hess rounded out the top five.

Layser and Dolan won the twin heat races earlier in the evening.

Chase Layser led all 25 laps from the pole to pick up his first winged win of the season in the 125/4 Strokes. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The 270s came next to the speedway, with Mike Rutherford and Pete Skias lining up on the front row. The 270 main events had provided chaos and craziness to begin the season, and with fast cars scattered all throughout the field, the trend figured to continue.

Rutherford established himself as the early dominant driver in clean air, but he soon had company in the form of Bridgeport regular Lee Reinhardt, who started 10th but made his way up to fourth position in short order. After an early restart, Reinhardt then moved past both Skias and Jason Swavely in the same corner to take over the runner-up position.

A few laps later, disaster struck in that third-place battle, as Swavely caught the wall in turns 1 and 2 and left nowhere for Skias to go, as he bounced off Swavely’s car and went for a tumble through the center of the corner. Swavely continued in third as Skias would be forced to retire.

The trend for the rest of the race then began to form, as short green flag runs saw Rutherford break away to leads of a few car lengths at a time, before Reinhardt would slowly begin to close the gap. Each time Reinhardt would get within striking distance, the caution would fly, and the cycle would repeat.

With the bottom being the dominant line for the leaders, catching would be hard enough, with passing being even tougher. The race’s final restart came with seven laps to go, and once again, Rutherford would pull out to a four or five car length advantage. Reinhardt could never get closer than about three car lengths for the remainder of the run to the checkers.

Rutherford, also a No Wing Spring Fling winner, found victory lane with the wing on for the first time since last July, while Reinhardt’s great drive through the field came one spot short. Swavely’s solid third-place run completed the podium, while T. J. Greve ran out of time to potentially make things more interesting at the front, as he charged from 24th to fourth. Defending champ Nick Skias completed the top five.

Heat races were won by Rutherford, Swavely, and Bradley Brown.

Mike Rutherford held off Lee Reinhardt to take the victory in the 270 feature. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman class would see the debut of their feature being lined up based off of the points handicap, and that put Robert Shanaman on the pole with Jamie Flickinger outside.

On the start, though, it was Toby Blumenshine going three-wide to lead from the inside of row 2. He held the lead down the backstretch and into turn 3 before Flickinger was able to scoot back by on the bottom, leading the first lap and taking command of the top spot early.

An early stack up in turn 4 involving Bret Cronrath, Austin Graby, and Dave Ravel put the race under caution, but since all three drivers never came to a stop, they would retain their running positions inside the top 10. That proved to be crucial, as all three of those drivers moved into the picture and into the battle for the win as the race continued. Cronrath carved up to third, with Graby moving to fifth and eventually fourth when Courtney Kupp broke and pulled to the infield.

However, Kupp and Graby made contact as Kupp was trying to get out of harm’s way. That contact led to a caution, an ensuing restart, and the top wing on Graby’s car eventually flipping entirely back, forcing him out of the running. As that happened to Graby, Blumenshine passed Flickinger for the lead, but he would once again only hold it for about a corner, as Cronrath pulled a power move on the bottom of turns 3 and 4 to take the lead away before the caution eventually flew.

As the field paced under that caution, Blumenshine was forced to pull off from second, allowing Ravel to inherit the spot and Corey Schmuck, Jr., who had issues in his heat race and started 18th, to move to third. After a restart crash that saw Jared St. John go for a wild ride and an eventual red flag to get Tyler Martin and Kyra Pierce’s cars unhooked from each other, the battle for the win was on between the 2021 Sportsman champ and the driver who was looking to keep his perfect start to 2022 alive.

Schmuck, Jr. got past Ravel quickly and began challenging Cronrath for the lead on the first few laps after the restart, but the car then began to fade as the run went on, allowing Cronrath to build up a sizable advantage. Lapped traffic made things a little dicey in the closing laps, but Cronrath was able to hold on throughout the 15-lap run to the checkered flag to bring home the win.

Schmuck, Jr. was forced to settle for second on this night behind the Blandon, PA native, while Ravel completed the podium and Jeremy Eisenhour and Flickinger rounded out the top five.

Cronrath, Blumenshine, and Kupp picked up the heat race wins.

Bret Cronrath rallied from near-disaster early to grab his first win of the 2022 Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman campaign. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The Hyper Racing Winged 600s rounded out the evening, and Brian Kramer rolled off from the pole position. The start was wild, as outside pole sitter Mike Rutherford was able to stay alongside Kramer and pull ahead of him down the frontstretch and into turn 1. As Kramer tried to make a dive on Rutherford entering turn 3, he and Holden Eckman made contact, sending Eckman sliding sideways in front of the field and collecting four other cars in the process.

On the second attempt at the start, Bradley Brown made his move. Perhaps driving with a little extra motivation after how the wingless feature played out, he shot under Kramer and Rutherford coming out of turn 4, and slid up in front of both drivers with the top spot in hand off of turn 2.

Brown was dominant throughout the feature, but the battling from second on back was wild all the way through the pack. Kramer and Rutherford traded the spot several times throughout the race, while Zach Light, Cody West, and Jason Swavely all worked their way into the battle as well. A wild incident occurred just past halfway, when West got into the wall in turns 3 and 4 and bounced into Swavely, sending both cars into simultaneous tumbles and collecting Bobby Butler in the process. All drivers were okay, but West and Swavely’s cars were pretty well demolished.

Kramer and Rutherford continued battling for second, with Light challenging for the spot thanks to some great restarts as well. But Brown was pretty much untouched over the course of the main event, living up to his nickname and ripping the high side faster than anyone on the speedway. After coming close so many times since his last Lanco win in September of 2020, Brown would finally get to pull back into the winner’s circle.

The New Providence, PA driver beat Rutherford to the line by nearly four seconds to claim the win, with Light coming home third in front of Jesse Maurer and Butler. After running in the top three for most of the evening, Kramer faded to finish seventh at the checkered flag.

Brown and Rutherford picked up the heat race wins for the evening.

Bradley Brown avenged some prior close losses by picking up the victory in the Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Next Saturday, May 28th will be Checkered Flag Fan Club Night at the Clyde. It will be the last regular points show featuring all five weekly divisions prior to the Clyde’s only off week of the season on June 4th. Gates will open at 4:30, with warmups and racing to follow at 6:00. There’s no better way to spend your Memorial Day weekend than by coming out to LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!

Results:

Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main (25 Laps):

1. 21S-Steven Snyder Jr[6]; 2. 29-PJ Williams[8]; 3. 23-Bradley Brown[1]; 4. 42U-Tyler Ulrich[10]; 5. 28-Gunnar Pio[14]; 6. 3D-Shjon Dove[19]; 7. 71-Brian Kramer[7]; 8. 99-Cliff Brian Jr[16]; 9. 24-Pierce Robert[12]; 10. 16T-Joseph Timmins[15]; 11. 24L-Logan Rhoad[2]; 12. 16-Marty Brian[5]; 13. 5B-Bobby Butler[3]; 14. 1F-James Fries[11]; 15. 99X-Brandon Heist Sr[13]; 16. 5A-Alex Ruppert[4]; 17. 14G-Connor Gross[9]; 18. 94-Sanders Dallas[17]; 19. (DNS) 2K-Nathan Miller

125/4 Stroke A-Main (25 Laps):

1. 7L-Chase Layser[1]; 2. 76B-Billy Logeman[10]; 3. 7D-Chris Dolan[2]; 4. 76-Justin Harrington[9]; 5. 15H-Don Hess[6]; 6. 44-Riley Simmons[7]; 7. 04-Sam Borger[11]; 8. 9M-Noah Martin[5]; 9. 73-Andrew Rothermel[12]; 10. 16-Steve Simmons[8]; 11. 15-Alyssa Holmes[13]; 12. 19-Matt Fernsler[20]; 13. 81-Dylan Holmes[3]; 14. 112-Dylan Yeingst[4]; 15. 3H-Corey Harting[16]; 16. 67-Cooper Schoenly[17]; 17. 78C-Sara Borror[19]; 18. 17-Masen Stapleton[21]; 19. 14-Seth Gregory[18]; 20. 8C-Luke Zimmerman[15]; 21. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[14]; 22. (DNS) 20J-Charles Hellinger

270 A-Main (25 Laps):

1. 27O-Mike Rutherford[1]; 2. 4R-Reinhardt Lee[10]; 3. 92-Jason Swavely[3]; 4. 52T-TJ Greve[24]; 5. 3S-Nick Skias[6]; 6. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[23]; 7. 88D-Andrew Dietrich[9]; 8. 8S-Mike Skias[13]; 9. 34-Christi Sweigart[11]; 10. 11R-Tommy Rinck[18]; 11. 27-Darren Schott[17]; 12. 21D-Dave Williams[20]; 13. 23K-Courtney Kupp[22]; 14. 48-Jonah Meck[19]; 15. 96W-Chase Walker[15]; 16. 82-Bradley Brown[8]; 17. 1L-Dave Labe[16]; 18. 39A-Austin Mieczkowski[5]; 19. 4-Dylan Pence[12]; 20. 28S-Brian Sholley[4]; 21. 53N-Ben Newmaster[7]; 22. 3-Pete Skias[2]; 23. 5-Bret Cronrath[14]; 24. 91-Jack Redcay[21]

Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (25 Laps):

1. 5-Bret Cronrath[5]; 2. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[18]; 3. 21V-David Ravel[10]; 4. 3S-Jeremy Eisenhour[8]; 5. 9G-Jamie Flickinger[2]; 6. 21D-Dave Williams[15]; 7. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[4]; 8. 20-Max Fasnacht[9]; 9. 30-Ryan Heckman[19]; 10. 77-Michael Kreiser[17]; 11. 19-Wes Fasnacht[20]; 12. 11S-Drew Swinehart[21]; 13. 11-Dustin Geib[12]; 14. 07-pierce Kyra[13]; 15. 15-Robert Shannaman[1]; 16. 31-Tyler Martin[7]; 17. 16-Brianne Cronrath Wittmer[14]; 18. 53-Jared St John[16]; 19. 21-Toby Blumenshine[3]; 20. 28-Austin Graby[11]; 21. 23K-Courtney Kupp[6]; 22. 5A-Jason Swavely[22]; 23. (DNS) 8-Michael Spadafora

Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main (25 Laps):

1. 23-Bradley Brown[3]; 2. 2S-Michael Rutherford[2]; 3. 11Z-Zachary Light[5]; 4. 3-Jesse Maurer[10]; 5. 4B-Bobby Butler[8]; 6. 11H-Holden Eckman[4]; 7. 71-Brian Kramer[1]; 8. 24-Pierce Robert[9]; 9. 17-Brent Ely[12]; 10. 7-Nick Skias[14]; 11. 15P-Christopher Panczner[15]; 12. 117-Cody West[6]; 13. 14-Jason Swavely[7]; 14. 51-Chris Gerhart[19]; 15. 15J-Joshua Bortz[16]; 16. 75-Brevan Rothermel[11]; 17. 73-Andrew Rothermel[17]; 18. 23R-Rickards Garth[13]; 19. 1-Will Urkuski[18]; 20. (DNS) 2K-Nathan Miller