By Kasey Kreider

For regulars of Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, there is simply no race more special or more prestigious to win than the annual Clyde Martin Memorial event. The list of names engraved on each of the division’s trophies serves as a who’s who of those that have contributed to the long and rich history of both the speedway and the event itself. Just once a year, the opportunity arises for five new names to be added onto those trophies, and it’s an opportunity that no driver wants to let pass them by.

The annual classic car exhibition at intermission provided fans a trip down memory lane, and a glimpse at some of the machines that had found glory at the speedway from decades ago. Then, it was time for the 35-lap features, with the Hyper Racing 600 divisions paying $2,000 to win courtesy of Groff Motorsports, and the other three classes paying $1,000 to win. The first-ever Clyde Martin Memorial race for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s belonged to Bradley Brown, as he held off a challenge from Christian Bruno to take victory in the nonstop feature. Chris Dolan was next to victory lane, keeping Matt Fernsler at bay to pick up his first win in the big event in the 125/4 Stroke class. Mike Skias led father Pete to the line to add his name to the illustrious list engraved on the 270 trophy. Toby Blumenshine got to the lead early and made it back-to-back wins in the Clyde competing in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. And Jason Swavely rounded out the evening by taking a dominating victory for his first Clyde Martin Memorial win in Hyper Racing Winged 600 competition.

The inaugural Clyde Martin Memorial race for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s was led to green by a former Clyde Martin Memorial winner in 4 Stroke competition, as heat race winner Marty Brian started on pole with Shjon Dove to his outside. Neither of those drivers would come around to lead the opening lap though, because it was Bradley Brown making the three-wide move on the bottom side of turns 1 and 2 to shoot through to the top spot off the exit of the corner.

The current point leader, and likely-to-be champion of the wingless division, was looking to add another first in the record books, and become the first driver to put his name on an all-new Clyde Martin Memorial trophy. But his main competition for the win would come in the form of a challenge by Christian Bruno, who rebounded from a broken wheel center in his heat race to move into second place in the race’s early going. While both drivers ran the top of turns 1 and 2, Bruno made up time running on the bottom through 3 and 4, and around the halfway mark, the battle was on for the lead.

The closest Bruno came was off of turn 4 right around that midway mark, as he drove inside of Brown and was wheel-to-wheel with the No. 23 off the corner. The two drivers touched off the turn, and Brown was able to keep the lead while Bruno regrouped and tucked back in line behind. However, Bruno’s charge had shown Brown that the bottom was the place to be, and when he moved down, the two drivers equalled out in terms of lap time. With no cautions in the 35-lap event, Bruno never got close enough to mount another challenge.

Christian Bruno (No. 5) battled to the inside of Bradley Brown (No. 23), but was unable to complete the pass for the victory in the Clyde Martin Memorial for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Brown backed up an impressive Speedweek performance with a win in the granddaddy of them all. Although Brown had won the Clyde a few times prior in 270 competition, this was his first win in 600 competition of any kind in the event. He beat Bruno to the line by just under a second, while Brian hung on for third to round out the podium. Ryan Groff finished in fourth, and Dove completed the top five.

Bradley Brown celebrated as the inaugural winner of the Clyde Martin Memorial for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Seth Gregory and Noah Martin led the field to green for 125/4 Stroke action, and after Gregory clipped the tires on the start, Martin was able to put his car out in the wind for the first few corners. An early challenge came from one of the hottest drivers in the division, as Masen Stapleton got to second and began challenging for the lead. As the drivers battled, Stapleton made heavy contact with the infield tires, and with something broken, came to a stop on the frontstretch. As that happened, defending Clyde Martin Memorial winner Chase Layser also pulled into the infield and out of the race.

Martin would lead for the restart, but now had Chris Dolan to his outside. Dolan was able to time the start out to fall in line behind Martin before diving inside of him with a run off the corner, pulling off the nifty crossover move and completing the pass to the front. Now, it was all about staying there, and that would be no easy task with plenty of other fast cars behind him. On the next restart, Matt Fernsler began making his charge to the front, as he passed both Martin and Mike Coen to get to the runner-up slot. Another caution gave Fernsler the chance to close in, but Dolan kept him at bay as the race ran past halfway.

Dolan seemed to be quicker for the first few laps after each restart, but about five or so laps into a run is when Fernsler began to reel him back in. The gap was about two car lengths when the caution flew with 14 laps to go, setting up the final run to the finish. Once again, Dolan got away off the jump, but as the race got closer to the finish, Fernsler got closer to Dolan. The two drivers ran nose-to-tail on a bottom-dominant track, where one mistake by Dolan was all Fernsler needed to capitalize. But it seemed as if each time Dolan slipped, so too did Fernsler, and the driver from Annville, PA never quite got the run he needed to make a serious move for the lead.

A composed drive from Dolan gave the young driver his third win of the season, and his biggest of them all, as he joined Layser and Justin Harrington as winners of the Clyde Martin Memorial since the 125 and 4 Stroke divisions were combined in 2020. It was another case of close but no cigar for Fernsler, as he came home just shy of victory once again. Rounding out the podium was point leader Billy Logeman, who rebounded from an early incident and eventful night to keep his championship lead intact. Coen finished fourth, while Michael Hoffmaster bounced back from that same incident to bring home the top five.

Heat races were won by Martin and Stapleton.

Chris Dolan held off Matt Fernsler over the second half of the feature to win the Clyde Martin Memorial in the 125/4 Stroke division. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Mike Skias put in a dominating performance to win his heat race, and drew the pole position for the 270 feature. Sharing the front row with him was the other heat race winner, and a multi-time winner of the Clyde Martin Memorial in Mike Rutherford. Skias had already snapped a winless streak of a few years with a win earlier in the season, and now was looking to break through for his first Clyde Martin Memorial triumph.

While he led in the early laps, one of the stories was his brother, Nick, who had started last in the field after a heat race issue and was trying to work his way back up through the running order. But disaster struck for the point leader entering the night, as he went for a flip on the frontstretch after getting up into the outside guardrail. Although Skias was able to continue, there was heavy damage to the wing and perhaps other parts of the car, which made it very difficult to drive as he tried to stay on track and salvage points in the crucial double-points event.

There was no trouble in paradise for the older Skias brother, though, as Mike continued to show the way while Rutherford and Jason Swavely each took turns in second. Eventually, both drivers would run into their own issues, as Swavely dropped back and eventually made the left turn into the infield, while Rutherford went up in a big plume of smoke with 15 laps remaining.

Mike Rutherford looked as if he could challenge for the win in the 270s before going up in smoke with 15 laps to go. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Their issues opened the door for father Pete Skias, who was the defending Clyde Martin Memorial winner, to move into second, with Bradley Brown and most recent winner Brian Sholley behind them. Mike seemed to still have the fastest car in front of the field, but Pete kept him honest throughout the final run, and it was all about minimizing mistakes and trying to hold on at the end of a grueling 35 laps.

As he rounded turn 4 for the final time, Mike Skias was able to do just that, holding on to lead wire-to-wire and picking up the biggest win of his racing career. Not only did Skias take the win, but he also grabbed the points lead from his brother, after entering the evening fourth in the standings. Pete Skias followed up the win from a year ago with a second-place finish and a proud dad moment, while Bradley Brown finished third and gave Viper Chassis a sweep of the podium places, while also moving to within two points of Mike Skias for the point lead. Sholley finished in fourth, with Christi Sweigart rounding out the top five.

Mike Skias held off his father, Pete, to take the win of the Clyde Martin Memorial in the 270 class. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

It was an all-rookie front row for the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans, with Drew Swinehart starting from the pole and Dustin Geib starting on the outside. But a three-wide move on the initial start gave the top spot to Jamie Flickinger, a driver who had shown speed all throughout the night and one who was looking to make his second career win the biggest of them all.

The first several circuits of the race went clean and green, and as Flickinger began to catch the tail of the field, he soon had company in the form of defending Clyde Martin Memorial winner Toby Blumenshine. Blumenshine had reeled in the No. 9G from a few car lengths back, and a slight washup by Flickinger in traffic gave Blumenshine the run he needed to make the pass happen down the backstretch. Flickinger settled back in line in second, and unfortunately, the race’s first caution would fly for third-place runner Courtney Kupp, as she got upside down after clipping a tire in turn 4.

Quick green flag spurts peppered the next few laps of the race, as drivers only would have a lap or two in between cautions to make ground. A good restart from Anthony Yerger put him into the third position, a spot he had driven up to after starting 11th. Shannon Slaughter settled in the fourth spot, just in front of Bret Cronrath. Cronrath’s championship rival, Corey Schmuck, Jr., had started 15th, and desperately tried to work his way further up into the top 10.

But the biggest incident of the night took place on a lap 16 restart, when multi-time Clyde Martin Memorial winner Dave Ravel got turned sideways in front of the field, hitting the frontstretch wall and bouncing back down into traffic. Ravel’s car went upside down as he got collected by Schmuck, Jr., Dave Williams, Robert Shanaman, and Clinton Hauser, with Hauser’s car also going for a wicked tumble in the melee. Thankfully, all drivers were okay, but many of the cars were not, and Schmuck, Jr. was among the drivers forced out of the race in the incident, which served a massive blow to his championship hopes.

When the race resumed, Blumenshine and Flickinger once again pulled away on the bottom of the speedway. Despite being two of the race’s biggest movers, Yerger and Cronrath were not able to challenge the top two, and instead had to battle amongst themselves for the final podium place. Blumenshine clicked off lap after lap out in front, and after a year in which it seemed like anything that could go wrong, would go wrong, the former Sportsman champ finally had a night where everything went just right.

Blumenshine was able to make it back-to-back wins in the Clyde Martin Memorial, leading Flickinger across the finish line by over a second. The runner-up finish was an equally much-needed result for Flickinger, who finally got some luck on his side and put it on the podium in the biggest race of the year. Yerger held off Cronrath for the final podium spot, although Cronrath was able to gain over 100 points on Schmuck, Jr. in the championship fight with his effort. Slaughter continued her great season with another impressive result, capping off the top five.

Heat races were won by Flickinger and Cronrath.

Toby Blumenshine got to the lead and didn’t look back the rest of the way en route to making it back-to-back Clyde Martin Memorial wins in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The final race of the evening was for the Hyper Racing Winged 600s, and was led to green by Nick Skias and Jason Swavely. Swavely had set a blistering time in the hot lap session to begin the night, and looked equally as strong coming from seventh to second in his heat race. Starting from the outside pole, Swavely wasted no time taking control from the top side, a lane he would run throughout the entirety of the event.

As Skias fell to second, he soon had to deal with a hard-charging Bradley Brown, who was trying to make it a sweep of the Hyper Racing 600 events and put a cool $4,000 in his pocket for the victories. But Brown made a mistake while trying to close in, getting up into the wall in the middle of turns 3 and 4 and breaking the front end in the process. Brown’s car spun to the inside and he would be out of the race, while his championship challenger in Swavely continued leading the way.

The restart saw a new driver take control of the runner-up position, as Zach Light made the move around Skias. Swavely continued to look untouchable out in front of the field, as he opened the gap to multiple seconds over the rest of the pack. Light soon had a fight on his hands in the form of Christian Bruno, who was coming on strong at the end but needed a caution to challenge for the win.

Bruno got his wish when Skias went for a spin with five laps to go. However, the amount of laps remaining meant that it would be a single-file start, and that allowed Swavely to check out once again, while Light and Bruno engaged themselves in a fierce battle behind. The battle for second lasted all the way to the finish, and gave Swavely all the room he needed to score the final win of the night.

Although Swavely had picked up Clyde Martin Memorial wins in Sportsman and 270 competition in the past, this was his first victory in the 600 edition of the event, and he took it with no doubt whatsoever left to be had. Thanks to Brown’s issues, Swavely also took command of the point lead, taking a 31-point advantage to the final five points races of the season. Bruno was able to nip Light at the line for his second second-place finish of the night, while Jesse Maurer’s quest for three-in-a-row ended in fourth and Chris Gerhart rounded out the top five.

Heat races were won by Skias and Brent Ely.

Jason Swavely had the dominant car all night and picked up the Clyde Martin Memorial victory in the Hyper Racing Winged 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Next Saturday, August 6th will be the first ever 270 Showcase at the Clyde, presented by T. J.’s Guns and Ammo. The event will feature two, 20-lap qualifying features for 270 competitors that will each pay $300 to win and help to set the lineup for the 270 Showcase. The Showcase main event will then be 40 laps in length, with the winner taking home anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. In addition to the special event for the 270s, the 125/4 Stroke competitors will have their second wingless race of the season, and the All Star Slingshots will make their only appearance of the year at the Newmanstown bullring. In addition to the 270 drivers, Sportsman competitors will also be able to compete in the event at a discounted car entry fee, so long as their motor meets all regular Sportsman engine rules. Gates will open at 4:30, with warmups and racing set to begin at 6:00. With the 270 drivers and teams stealing the spotlight next Saturday, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!

Results:

Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main (35 Laps):

1. 23-Bradley Brown[3]; 2. 5-Christian Bruno[5]; 3. 16-Marty Brian[1]; 4. 03-Ryan Groff[6]; 5. 3D-Shjon Dove[2]; 6. 1F-James Fries[4]; 7. (DNS) 2K-Nathan Miller

125/4 Stroke A-Main (35 Laps):

1. 7D-Chris Dolan[5]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[10]; 3. 76B-Billy Logeman[12]; 4. 26C-Michael Coen[6]; 5. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[7]; 6. 16-Steve Simmons[8]; 7. 15H-Don Hess[3]; 8. 44-Riley Simmons[14]; 9. 76-Justin Harrington[11]; 10. 67-Cooper Schoenly[18]; 11. 15-Alyssa Holmes[17]; 12. 112-Dylan Yeingst[15]; 13. 81-Dylan Holmes[13]; 14. 9M-Noah Martin[2]; 15. 14-Seth Gregory[1]; 16. 8C-Luke Zimmerman[19]; 17. 17-Masen Stapleton[4]; 18. 7L-Chase Layser[9]; 19. 6X-Chance Thomas[20]; 20. 04-Sam Borger[16]

270 A-Main (35 Laps):

1. 8S-Mike Skias[1]; 2. 3-Pete Skias[6]; 3. 82-Bradley Brown[10]; 4. 28S-Brian Sholley[16]; 5. 34-Christi Sweigart[7]; 6. 4-Dylan Pence[13]; 7. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[15]; 8. 21D-Dave Williams[5]; 9. 23K-Courtney Kupp[8]; 10. 91-Jack Redcay[12]; 11. 3S-Nick Skias[17]; 12. 27O-Mike Rutherford[2]; 13. 14-Jason Swavely[4]; 14. 1L-Dave Labe[11]; 15. 96W-Chase Walker[9]; 16. 11-Mike Uhrich[3]; 17. 39A-Austin Mieczkowski[14]

Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (35 Laps):

1. 21-Toby Blumenshine[5]; 2. 9G-Jamie Flickinger[3]; 3. 5A-Anthony Yerger[11]; 4. 5-Bret Cronrath[12]; 5. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[7]; 6. 16P-Patrick Kirn[13]; 7. 28-Kyle Lindsey[8]; 8. 11S-Drew Swinehart[1]; 9. 23K-Courtney Kupp[6]; 10. 19-Wes Fasnacht[19]; 11. 30-Ryan Heckman[4]; 12. 53-Jared St John[20]; 13. 21V-David Ravel[10]; 14. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[15]; 15. 21D-Dave Williams[14]; 16. 22-Clinton Hauser[17]; 17. 15-Robert Shannaman[16]; 18. 20-Max Fasnacht[9]; 19. 31-Tyler Martin[18]; 20. 11-Dustin Geib[2]; 21. 8-Michael Spadafora[21]

Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main (35 Laps):

1. 14-Jason Swavely[2]; 2. 5-Christian Bruno[8]; 3. 11Z-Zachary Light[4]; 4. 3-Jesse Maurer[7]; 5. 51-Chris Gerhart[5]; 6. 11H-Holden Eckman[12]; 7. 17-Brent Ely[3]; 8. 71-Brian Kramer[9]; 9. 7-Nick Skias[1]; 10. 1-Will Urkuski[11]; 11. 23-Bradley Brown[6]; 12. 117-Cody West[13]; 13. 60O-Michael Rutherford[10]; 14. (DNS) 2K-Nathan Miller

Points (5 Races Remaining):

Hyper Racing Wingless 600 Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 23-Bradley Brown[915]; 2. 1F-James Fries[-323]; 3. 16-Marty Brian[-358]; 4. 03-Ryan Groff[-385]; 5. 5-Christian Bruno[-388]

125/4 Stroke Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 76B-Billy Logeman[1,100]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[-110]; 3. 76-Justin Harrington[-158]; 4. 7D-Chris Dolan[-202]; 5. 16-Steve Simmons[-214]

270 Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 8S-Mike Skias[750]; 2. 82-Bradley Brown[-2]; 3. 3S-Nick Skias[-16]; 4. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-41]; 5. 34-Christi Sweigart[-65]

Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 5-Bret Cronrath[1,003]; 2. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-111]; 3. 20-Max Fasnacht[-175]; 4. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[-193]; 5. 21D-Dave Williams[-210]

Hyper Racing Winged 600 Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 14-Jason Swavely[817]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-31]; 3. 11H-Holden Eckman[-81]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[-129]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[-140]