RACE RECAP (9/17/2022): Swavely, Schmuck, Jr., Brown, Coen, and Skias Cap Off Points-Paying Season With Wins While Swavely, Brown, Logeman, and Cronrath Claim 2022 Championships

By Kasey Kreider

Five long months of racing action built up to one final points-paying night at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. And while four of the championships had already been decided entering the final night, one still remained to be claimed entering the final 25-lap points races of the year.

Hyper Racing Winged 600 champion Jason Swavely claimed his sixth win of the year in the division to cap off his title season. Corey Schmuck, Jr. picked up his eighth win of the season in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans, but a second-place result from Bret Cronrath allowed him to claim back-to-back championships. Bradley Brown ended his championship campaign in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s with a last-lap pass for the win. Mike Coen found victory lane for the first time in 2022 in the 125/4 Strokes, with champion Billy Logeman ending his season in fourth. And in the 270s, Pete Skias made a late pass on champion Bradley Brown to score his third victory in five weeks.

In his final race before retirement, Will Urkuski was looking to claim one last victory, a checkered flag that had eluded him since 2017. He would start the 25-lap feature from the pole, with Zach Light to the outside. All Jason Swavely needed to do to claim his first Hyper Racing Winged 600 title was show up, but he was looking to do far more than just that after rolling off from eighth.

Urkuski led in the race’s early going, with Brent Ely moving into second and Swavely quickly moving his way through the field. The laps clicked off in a hurry as the race ran green almost the entire way from the start, and the three leaders established themselves in three different lines around the speedway. Swavely was up against the wall catching the front two, while Ely kept pace with Urkuski running the bottom and car No. 1 was planted firmly in the middle.

After laps of coming close to making the pass on the outside, Swavely finally got past Ely and into second. The race’s first caution then flew with five laps remaining, setting up a single-file restart and an opportunity for Swavely to pounce on the leader. The two drivers raced side-by-side for about a lap following the restart before another caution flew. Swavely had just been able to beat out Urkuski to the line at the last completed lap, and would lead for the final restart.

From there it was all she wrote, as Swavely pulled away and led the final laps unchallenged to claim victory. The Rocketman from Fleetwood’s epic late-season run of wins and consistent finishes put him in position to clinch the title entering the final night, and win number six simply put an exclamation point on a dominant second half of the year. Urkuski’s final ride finished on the podium in second, with Ely capping off the top three. Light and Cody West completed the top five.

Heat races were won by Urkuski and Jesse Maurer.

Jason Swavely capped off his Hyper Racing Winged 600 championship season with his sixth victory of the year in the final points-paying feature. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The evening’s only championship fight was in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans, and their feature would be led to green by Michael Spadafora and Wes Fasnacht, while the title contenders Bret Cronrath and Corey Schmuck, Jr. shared row six. After gaining a few points through the heat race, Cronrath entered the feature with a 47-point lead, meaning that a finish of 12th or better would clinch the title.

But the feature started off rocky for the Blandon, PA driver, as he got shuffled back on the start and was in a hornet’s nest near the back of the pack. Schmuck, Jr., on the other hand, was moving forward, applying more pressure toward Cronrath’s title defense efforts. Cronrath slowly began working his way back through the field, moving into the top 10 before the first caution on lap 9.

The following restart proved to be one of the defining moments of the race, as Cronrath passed several drivers on the outside as the bottom lane got stacked up. Cronrath found himself in fourth and with an opportunity to not just win the championship, but also the race. However, he would have to get past Spadafora, Schmuck, Jr., and Max Fasnacht to do so.

Spadafora continued to lead the way in search of his first win, but both Schmuck, Jr. and Cronrath were hot on his heels as the race wound down. With nine laps to go, all three leaders caught a lapped car, and as Spadafora got jammed up behind the slower machine, Schmuck, Jr. and Cronrath split past him and raced side-by-side into turn 3. Schmuck, Jr. gained the advantage and took the lead off the corner, a spot he wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the race. But with Cronrath up to second, the championship would belong to him.

Schmuck, Jr.’s eighth win of the season left him 42 points shy of the title. Although Cronrath had only picked up two victories, consistency had been the key, and that consistency gave little opportunity for Schmuck, Jr. to erase the points lead even with the late-season wins. Cronrath became the first back-to-back Sportsman champion since Jason Swavely’s three straight titles from 2011-2013. Following Cronrath across the line was Spadafora, who turned a season of great speed into a long-awaited first podium. Kyle Lindsey and Toby Blumenshine rounded out the top five.

Heat races were won by Wes Fasnacht and Clinton Hauser.

Despite coming up short in the championship fight, Corey Schmuck, Jr. picked up an eighth victory in 2022 in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The Hyper Racing Wingless 600 feature had Dallas Damask and Olivia Thayer rolling off from the front row, and Damask took control of the race early running on the top side of the speedway. The young driver who had impressed in his Lanco debut earlier in the season was hunting for his first win, but soon had a challenge from the division’s inaugural champion in Bradley Brown, who quickly climbed from seventh on the grid.

In a role reversal from last week, Brown went to work erasing a multiple-second lead before being aided by a caution on lap 13. A restart stackup after an issue for third-place Mason Beinhower led to another caution, and one more caution would follow on that lap after a problem on Thayer’s machine brought her to a stop. As the race resumed, Damask continued to hold the advantage, but was being hounded by Brown at each end of the speedway.

The battle between the two came down to the final laps, and as Damask bobbled and scrubbed the wall, opportunity came knocking for Brown. The New Providence, PA driver pulled a move as the leaders raced toward the white flag, but Damask had an answer, and was able to take the top spot back away as both drivers came off of turn 2 for the final time. As they entered turn 3 side-by-side, Brown sent it in on the bottom, while Damask stood on the binders and tried to get the car set for a drag race to the finish line. But Brown had made the move to perfection, and Damask couldn’t get the run off the bottom he needed to edge Brown out at the line.

Bradley Brown (No. 23) made the last-corner pass on Dallas Damask (No. 3) to take the victory of the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 feature. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Brown’s fifth win of the season in wingless action may have been his most dramatic, and served as a fitting way to close out his championship-winning campaign. Damask was forced to settle for second, coming 0.151 seconds shy of victory at the final line. Shjon Dove picked up his best finish at Lanco with a third, and was followed across the line by Ryan Boyd and Nathan Miller to round out the top five.

Brown and Damask won the night’s two heat races.

Bradley Brown capped off his championship-winning season in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s with his fifth feature victory of the year. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The 125/4 Stroke feature had each of the night’s heat race winners, Dylan Holmes and Sara Borror, on the front row. It would be Holmes, who had looked strong in that heat race triumph, getting out to a sizable early advantage as he looked to become the division’s fifth first-time winner in 2022.

But Holmes’ advantage began to dwindle away once the 2017 4 Stroke champion Mike Coen found his way to the runner-up spot. Coen was looking for his first win of the season, and closed a few tenths a lap before catching Holmes around the halfway mark. With nine laps to go is when Coen made his move to the bottom, and upon taking the lead, he began to stretch his legs at the head of the field.

A caution with six laps to go regrouped the field though, and gave some familiar players an opportunity to steal a late victory. Matt Fernsler made his way to second on the restart, as he too was looking to find the winner’s circle after many close calls throughout the year. Fernsler never let Coen get more than about two car lengths away from him over the final sprint to the finish, but the veteran never opened the door for a potential pass for the win.

Coen made the trip to victory lane for the first time all season, parking it in the winner’s circle in the final 125/4 Stroke points race of the year. Fernsler had to settle for another second-place finish, consistency that allowed him to also finish second in the season point standings. Completing the podium was Chase Layser, while the champion Billy Logeman was fourth and Brent Shearer rounded out the top five.

Mike Coen passed Dylan Holmes and held off Matt Fernsler to score the 125/4 Stroke win. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

The final points-paying feature of the season was on tap for the 270s, but before that came the Cash Dash presented by the Race Chasing Award Fund. Dylan Pence started on the pole for the six-lap event, but was overtaken by outside pole sitter Mike Rutherford after a side-by-side battle. Rutherford looked to be on his way to the win, but then broke from the lead, allowing Pence to take the top spot back away and hold it for the remainder of the event. Pence picked up the win over Mike Skias, Pete Skias, Brianne Cronrath-Wittmer, and Rutherford, pocketing the $100 bonus from race director Mike Knappenberger for his efforts.

Dylan Pence drew the pole and picked up the win in the 270 Cash Dash presented by the Race Chasing Award Fund. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

When feature time rolled around, Rutherford was slated to start on pole, but more issues with his machine left him unable to start, and moved Bradley Brown, who clinched the championship by showing up to race, on the pole at the start. Brown got away to the lead at first, but was quickly pressured by Pete Skias in a battle that would last the entirety of the race. Skias actually grabbed the lead on a lap 3 restart, but had to give it back when another caution flew before the lap was completed.

On the next run, the two drivers traded the top spot, with Brown able to answer each time and keep control of the lead prior to the next caution. For most of the race, the bottom seemed like the preferred line. But a few drivers further back in the field had made time running on the top, and as the race wound down inside of 10 laps to go, Skias migrated up to the high line as a last-ditch effort to make something happen.

The line was working for Skias, and a restart with four laps to go gave him an opportunity to set up Brown for one final set of moves. Skias ripped the high line through turns 1 and 2, getting a big run into turn 3. The first lap around, Skias dove to the bottom, but wasn’t quite close enough to get all the way inside, and he had to back out of the throttle and try again. The next time by, Skias was close enough, and got all the way inside to take away the lead for good out of turn 4.

Skias was able to pull away and lead the final few laps, scoring his third victory in less than a calendar month in the final points-paying race of the year. Brown ended in second, but he was still able to bring the Gold Rush Racing Team a championship at the end of an emotional season. Brown became the first driver to win multiple championships in the same year since Mike Rutherford in 2015. Cronrath-Wittmer capped off a great night on the podium in third, while Cody West and the Cash Dash winner Pence finished off the top five.

Heat races were won by Pence and West.

Pete Skias made the pass on Bradley Brown after the final restart to claim another win in the 270 division. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Next Saturday, September 24th will be Pink Out Night at the Clyde. The annual event organized by Kim Glass and TT’s Troops works to raise funds for breast cancer research while honoring breast cancer victims and survivors. All in attendance are encouraged to wear pink to support the cause, and the Kim’s Kreations Novelty Stand will have a limited supply of Pink Out shirts available on race day. Items will be raffled off during the night, and all proceeds from the t-shirt sales and raffles will go toward Hershey Medical Center’s Breast Cancer Research Fund. In addition to the Pink Out festivities, all kids are welcome to dress up in costumes, as trick-or-treating will take place during intermission with the race teams. The non-points event will see all five weekly classes back at the Clyde for one final race in 2022, and they will also be joined by the Stage 1 Modifieds as they cap off their three-race series. Additionally, points payouts, trophies, and the annual special awards will be distributed throughout the evening. With the extra events throughout the night in mind, all start times will be one hour earlier than usual, as gates will open at 3:30 with warmups and racing beginning at 5:00. On what promises to be an action-packed final night of racing in 2022, be sure to turn the Clyde pink and don’t miss out on one more opportunity to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!

The 2022 track champions at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, from left to right: Jason Swavely (Hyper Racing Winged 600); Bradley Brown (Hyper Racing Wingless 600 and 270); Billy Logeman (125/4 Stroke); Bret Cronrath (Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman). (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)

Results:

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

1. 14-Jason Swavely[8]; 2. 1-Will Urkuski[1]; 3. 17-Brent Ely[3]; 4. 11Z-Zachary Light[2]; 5. 117-Cody West[6]; 6. 23-Bradley Brown[10]; 7. 3-Jesse Maurer[4]; 8. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[5]; 9. 97-Billy Logeman[12]; 10. 87C-Cecelia Perrotti[11]; 11. 7-Pete Skias[7]; 12. (DNF) 11H-Holden Eckman[13]; 13. (DNF) 15P-Christopher Panczner[9]

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

1. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[12]; 2. 5-Bret Cronrath[11]; 3. 8-Michael Spadafora[1]; 4. 28-Kyle Lindsey[8]; 5. 21-Toby Blumenshine[15]; 6. 20-Max Fasnacht[10]; 7. 3S-Masen Stapleton[7]; 8. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[16]; 9. 53-Jared St John[3]; 10. 30-Ryan Heckman[6]; 11. 22-Clinton Hauser[5]; 12. 31-Tyler Martin[20]; 13. 21D-Dave Williams[13]; 14. 23K-Courtney Kupp[9]; 15. 16P-Patrick Kirn[14]; 16. 11-Brent Shearer[18]; 17. 77-Michael Kreiser[17]; 18. 15-Robert Shannaman[4]; 19. 77X-Lisa Warren[19]; 20. 19-Wes Fasnacht[2]

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

1. 23-Bradley Brown[7]; 2. 3-Dallas Damask[1]; 3. 3D-Shjon Dove[8]; 4. 5BX-Ryan Boyd[4]; 5. 2K-Nathan Miller[12]; 6. 1F-James Fries[9]; 7. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[10]; 8. 42-Chase Layser[6]; 9. 16P-Patrick Kirn[11]; 10. 16-Marty Brian[5]; 11. 39X-Olivia Thayer[2]; 12. 21-Mason Beinhower[3]

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

1. 26C-Michael Coen[9]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[11]; 3. 7L-Chase Layser[13]; 4. 76B-Billy Logeman[12]; 5. 76-Brent Shearer[17]; 6. 7D-Chris Dolan[10]; 7. 81-Dylan Holmes[1]; 8. 112-Dylan Yeingst[3]; 9. 20J-Charles Hellinger[19]; 10. 04-Sam Borger[4]; 11. 78C-Sara Borror[2]; 12. 44-Riley Simmons[6]; 13. 15-Alyssa Holmes[18]; 14. 14-Seth Gregory[15]; 15. 15H-Don Hess[14]; 16. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[7]; 17. 16-Steve Simmons[8]; 18. 7-Michael Spadafora[16]; 19. 17-Masen Stapleton[5]

270 A-Main (25 Laps):

1. 3-Pete Skias[4]; 2. 82-Bradley Brown[2]; 3. 16-Brianne Cronrath Wittmer[3]; 4. 74F-Cody West[8]; 5. 4-Dylan Pence[9]; 6. 21D-Dave Williams[5]; 7. 28S-Brian Sholley[7]; 8. 21-Toby Blumenshine[20]; 9. 28-Kyle Lindsey; 10. 53-Jared St John[15]; 11. 34-Christi Sweigart[13]; 12. 8S-Mike Skias[10]; 13. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[19]; 14. 14-Jason Swavely[6]; 15. 11-Brent Shearer[18]; 16. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[14]; 17. 30-Ryan Heckman[17]; 18. 91-Jack Redcay[16]; 19. 450-Randy West[12]; 20. 23K-Courtney Kupp[11]; 21. 27O-Mike Rutherford[1]

Point Standings (FINAL):

Hyper Racing Winged 600 Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 14-Jason Swavely[1,269]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-93]; 3. 11H-Holden Eckman[-188]; 4. 3-Jesse Maurer[-261]; 5. 1-Will Urkuski[-365]

Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 5-Bret Cronrath[1,519]; 2. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-42]; 3. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[-322]; 4. 21-Toby Blumenshine[-334]; 5. 21D-Dave Williams[-361]

Hyper Racing Wingless 600 Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 23-Bradley Brown[1,380]; 2. 1F-James Fries[-450]; 3. 16-Marty Brian[-673]; 4. 3D-Shjon Dove[-681]; 5. 2K-Nathan Miller[-728]

125/4 Stroke Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 76B-Billy Logeman[1,592]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[-131]; 3. 7D-Chris Dolan[-217]; 4. 7L-Chase Layser[-239]; 5. 76-Justin Harrington[-333]

270 Point Standings (Top 5):

1. 82-Bradley Brown[1,205]; 2. 8S-Mike Skias[-122]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-194]; 4. 3S-Nick Skias[-205]; 5. 34-Christi Sweigart[-226]