By Kasey Kreider
After six and a half months without racing, the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway roared to life to kick off the 66th season of racing under the Lanco Micro Midget Club. An offseason filled with changes and track enhancements was paid off in the form of five exciting features and two fantastic photo finishes, with a mixture of first-time winners and veterans alike making trips to victory lane.
270
The storied 270 division began its next chapter with a new winner, as Kyle Lindsey outdueled Mike Rutherford in a dramatic battle for his first Lanco victory.
Lindsey started from the outside pole, but inherited the lead after Corey Schmuck, Jr. went for a spin in turn 3 on the third lap. Through several early cautions, Lindsey held onto his advantage over second-place runner Jonah Meck, along with Nick Skias, Tommy Rinck, and Mike Skias.
Lindsey pulled away initially on the high line following a restart on lap 7. But Meck was making good time rolling the bottom, and began to close in prior to a caution on lap 16.
A few more quick cautions that followed set up a final restart on lap 20. Lindsey led Meck and Rutherford, who had methodically moved up from 10th starting spot to third, back to the Boyer’s Tavern Starting Line. Rutherford timed the restart to absolute perfection to pick off Meck in the run down to turn 3, and set his sights on Lindsey during the final six-lap run.
Lindsey and Rutherford ran side-by-side for the entire run to the finish, with neither driver able to gain much of an advantage. With Lindsey running the high line and Rutherford not able to get more than half a car length alongside on the bottom, his only chance was to pull the pin on a turn 3 slider.
Rutherford executed the pass, but Lindsey was there for the crossover, and beat the “Master of the Micros” back to the line by three-quarters of a car length for a wild first win.
“I was scared. I saw him come right up and I was like ‘oh boy, here we go,’” Lindsey said in victory lane. “The only place I could go was underneath. So I’m just happy I was able to pull him by the checkered flag.”
“We just got there a little late,” Rutherford said. “He ran a great race. I wish I would have had a few more laps to try and work him into a mistake. But just kind of [threw] a hail mary there at the end and he crossed me over and got back to the line first.”
Behind Lindsey and Rutherford finished Meck, as he followed up his podium result from the last race of 2022 with another one to kick off the new season. Dave Labe and Nick Skias completed the top five.
Results:
1. 17-Kyle Lindsey[2]; 2. 27O-Mike Rutherford[10]; 3. 48-Jonah Meck[6]; 4. 1L-Dave Labe[17]; 5. 3S-Nick Skias[5]; 6. 4-Dylan Pence[9]; 7. 88-Ava Bellinger[7]; 8. 34-Christi Sweigart[19]; 9. 11R-Tommy Rinck[3]; 10. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[13]; 11. 52K-Alex Lukacs[21]; 12. 8S-Mike Skias[8]; 13. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[1]; 14. 14C-Carter Weiant[15]; 15. 54-William Mohring[18]; 16. 91-Jack Redcay[16]; 17. 21J-Josh Weiant[23]; 18. 14-Jason Swavely[4]; 19. 21D-Dave Williams[11]; 20. 11M-Jessica Moore[12]; 21. 33-Jordan Zimmerman[22]; 22. 3Y-Zachary Young[14]; 23. 3-Pete Skias[20]
Points (Top 5):
1. 17-Kyle Lindsey[100]; 2. 27O-Mike Rutherford[-5]; 3. 48-Jonah Meck[-10]; 4. 1L-Dave Labe[-15]; 5. 3S-Nick Skias[-20]
Kyle Lindsey made the race-winning crossover move in the final corner to claim his first-career 270 victory. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
125/4 Stroke
July of 2021 was the last time that former 125/4 Stroke champion Justin Harrington had visited victory lane at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. But as he did during that title season of 2021, Harrington picked up the win on the opening points night of the year.
Harrington rolled off in fourth at the drop of the green flag, and quickly found himself in second behind fellow past champion Mike Coen.
Coen led the race’s first three circuits, but disaster struck on a lap 4 restart when Coen’s car broke in front of the inside line. Chris Dolan, Corey Harting, and Don Hess all were collected in the stack up.
Harrington inherited a lead he would never relinquish. Despite constant pressure and a late charge from John Maurer, Harrington got to the checkered flag first to break the year-and-a-half long winless drought.
“It feels pretty damn good I’ll tell you,” Harrington said post-race. “We did a lot of homework and went back to the basics where we were good three years ago, and finally got it figured out again.”
Steve Simmons completed the podium behind Harrington and Maurer, while Alyssa Holmes scored a career-best fourth and Dolan rebounded to round out the top five.
Results:
1. 75-Justin Harrington[5]; 2. 82-John Maurer[7]; 3. 16-Steve Simmons[9]; 4. 15-Alyssa Holmes[12]; 5. 7D-Chris Dolan[8]; 6. 20J-Jarrid Hellinger[18]; 7. 15H-Don Hess[4]; 8. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[10]; 9. 112-Dylan Yeingst[16]; 10. 04-Sam Borger[14]; 11. 3H-Corey Harting[1]; 12. 78C-Sara Borror[13]; 13. 73-Andrew Rothermel[17]; 14. 19-Matt Fernsler[19]; 15. 21S-Samuel Davenport[15]; 16. 26C-Michael Coen[2]; 17. 8-Michael Spadafora[11]; 18. 44-Riley Simmons[6]; 19. 81-Dylan Holmes[3]
Points (Top 5):
1. 75-Justin Harrington[100]; 2. 82-John Maurer[-5]; 3. 16-Steve Simmons[-10]; 4. 15-Alyssa Holmes[-15]; 5. 7D-Chris Dolan[-20]
Justin Harrington (middle) got back to victory lane for the first time since July 2021 in the season opener for the 125/4 Strokes. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Winged 600
A side-by-side battle between young phenom Steven Snyder, Jr. and former track champion Chris Gerhart accentuated the opening laps of the Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main. But Snyder, Jr. had Jim Radney’s No. 95 Hyper rockin’ on the high line, and pulled away down the stretch to claim his second-straight opening night win in winged competition.
Snyder, Jr. started from the pole with Gerhart on his outside. The two drivers quickly flip-flopped lanes though, and ran side-by-side for the first several laps with Snyder, Jr. eeking away by about a car length at the end of each straightaway.
After a caution on lap 9, Snyder, Jr. began to grow the gap as the bottom lane seemed to fade. From there, the race was pretty well decided. And even a restart with three laps to go provided no challenge for the Rising Sun, MD driver as he cruised to a 1.3-second victory at the finish.
“[Gerhart] showed me there on the start that the bottom was actually pretty good on drive off, but the momentum on the top was still really good,” Snyder, Jr. said. “This thing was a rocket tonight.”
Gerhart held off Billy Logeman for second at the stripe, while defending champion Jason Swavely finished off a quiet but solid night in fourth and Jesse Maurer completed the top five.
Results:
1. 95-Steven Snyder Jr[1]; 2. 51-Chris Gerhart[2]; 3. 97-Billy Logeman[3]; 4. 14-Jason Swavely[7]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[5]; 6. 88-Nick Skias[18]; 7. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[11]; 8. 5A-Anthony Yerger[6]; 9. 11H-Holden Eckman[14]; 10. 3D-Shjon Dove[4]; 11. 2S-Garyt Smith[9]; 12. 15P-Christopher Panczner[17]; 13. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[13]; 14. 15-Joshua Bortz[12]; 15. 19-Sam Moyer[15]; 16. 23-Bradley Brown[8]; 17. 5J-Jason Sechrist[10]; 18. 66A-Marvin Albright[16]
Points (Top 5):
1. 95-Steven Snyder Jr[100]; 2. 51-Chris Gerhart[-5]; 3. 97-Billy Logeman[-10]; 4. 14-Jason Swavely[-15]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[-20]
Steven Snyder, Jr. battled Chris Gerhart in the opening laps before pulling away to win the Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
After an eventful heat race where it looked as if the two-time defending Sportsman champion Bret Cronrath was out to lunch, the driver and crew made some adjustments to turn in a dominant feature performance, as Cronrath led wire-to-wire to pick up the opening night win.
Cronrath had to battle with an extremely tight car during the heat race, but battled back to make the redraw and rolled off second in the feature. 2016 Sportsman champion Dan Lane, Jr. was the polesitter, but Cronrath was able to grab the top spot on the opening lap.
Cronrath was pretty much untouched until a lap 14 restart, where Lane, Jr. got an excellent start and battled side-by-side with Cronrath for a lap and a half. Lane, Jr. was half a car length in front when the caution waved on lap 15, but Cronrath had led at the last completed lap and re-inherited the lead.
After admitting post-race that Lane, Jr.’s challenge “woke him up,” Cronrath pulled away and set sail on the final restart, stretching the advantage to 1.4 seconds at the checkered flag and beginning his quest for a three-peat in style.
“The more we ran, the better this thing got,” Cronrath said. “And I kind of just got into a groove. Just fortunate enough to hold on for 25 laps.”
Lane, Jr. finished second in his return to the Sportsman class, while a fellow returning driver in Josh Stoyer completed an excellent run from 10th to finish third. Dave Ravel finished fourth and Corey Schmuck, Jr. came all the way from 21st to finish out the top five.
Results:
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[2]; 2. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[1]; 3. 15-Josh Stoyer[10]; 4. 21V-David Ravel[7]; 5. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[21]; 6. 19-Wes Fasnacht[18]; 7. 16P-Patrick Kirn[4]; 8. 30-Ryan Heckman[9]; 9. 53-Jared St John[13]; 10. 21-Alex Lukacs[12]; 11. 77-Michael Kreiser[8]; 12. 14M-Chelsey Moore[16]; 13. 2T-Doug Pearson[24]; 14. 23K-Courtney Kupp[23]; 15. 22-Clinton Hauser[5]; 16. 17-Masen Stapleton[6]; 17. 28-Kyle Lindsey[14]; 18. 20-Max Fasnacht[3]; 19. 1J-Justin Harrington[11]; 20. 4W-Brandon Worthington[17]; 21. 77J-Jade Smith[20]; 22. 31-Tyler Martin[15]; 23. 5A-Anthony Yerger[22]; 24. 21D-Dave Williams[19]
Points (Top 5):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[100]; 2. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[-5]; 3. 15-Josh Stoyer[-10]; 4. 21V-David Ravel[-15]; 5. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-20]
Bret Cronrath came out on top of a brief battle with Dan Lane, Jr. to grab the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman win. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
Marty Brian led 24 of the 25 laps of last season’s Hyper Racing Wingless 600 opener. In the final corner, Brian moved down low to protect a slide job that never came, and Bobby Butler blew past on the high line for the win.
So it may have only been fitting that Brian got sweet redemption on this night, as he battled Steven Snyder, Jr. through the closing laps and won a drag race to the finish line by 0.010 seconds to claim his first 600 victory at the Clyde.
Zach Jurcik passed polesitter James Fries on the opening lap and checked out to a lead of more than two seconds rolling the bottom before the race’s first caution flew on lap 7.
On the restart, Jurcik washed up a little bit entering turn 3, opening the door for Snyder, Jr. to sneak past both he and Bradley Brown on the restart. Brian then moved into second over the course of a long green-flag run, and began to close in lapped traffic before the caution flew with eight laps to go.
On the restart, Brian rolled the bottom as Snyder, Jr. pounded the cushion. The two leaders were nearly deadlocked until Snyder, Jr. scraped the guardrail coming to five laps to go, allowing Brian to gain the advantage.
But a caution with a lap and a half remaining set up a green-white-checkered finish. Brian stayed disciplined on the low line while Snyder, Jr. peddled for all his worth on the top. Both drivers entered turn 3 in a near dead heat, but Brian got just enough of a launch off the bottom to beat Snyder, Jr. to the stripe in a finish that was too close for the naked eye to call.
“I was just trying to stay steady and not let Steven get in my head,” Brian said. “I just had to keep it slow and come off good.”
“In my opinion, he ran a little better race than I did,” Snyder, Jr. said. “I made a lot of mistakes up on the top, but he was fast on the bottom. He was creeping it really good like what he needed to do there.”
Ryan Groff drove up from an 11th starting spot to complete the final podium of the night. Reese Nowotarski came home in fourth with Jurcik hanging on to complete the top five.
Results:
1. 16-Marty Brian[9]; 2. 21S-Steven Snyder Jr[4]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[11]; 4. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[6]; 5. 96-Zach Jurcik[3]; 6. 5-Christian Bruno[10]; 7. 21-Mason Beinhower[7]; 8. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[8]; 9. 3B-Dallas Damask[15]; 10. 11H-Holden Eckman[21]; 11. 08-Dominic Schmidt[16]; 12. 2S-Garyt Smith[2]; 13. 10L-Lukas Kostic[12]; 14. 3Y-Zachary Young[23]; 15. 23-Bradley Brown[5]; 16. L13-Robert Potter[20]; 17. 54-Dakota Bartlet[18]; 18. 3D-Shjon Dove[13]; 19. 44-Alex Heckendorn[14]; 20. 7L-Chase Layser[19]; 21. 1F-James Fries[1]; 22. 73-Andrew Rothermel[22]; 23. 24-Logan Rhoad[17]
Points (Top 5):
1. 16-Marty Brian[100]; 2. 21S-Steven Snyder Jr[-5]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[-10]; 4. 10X-Reese Nowotarski[-15]; 5. 96-Zach Jurcik[-20]
By 0.010 seconds, Marty Brian claimed his first Hyper Racing Wingless 600 win at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Next Saturday, April 15th will be a regular points-paying show for all five weekly classes. Gates will open at 4:30, with warmups and racing beginning at 6:00. After a thrilling opening night, you won’t want to miss any more of the action from the Clyde with these same stars and cars. So be sure to come out Saturday and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!