By Kasey Kreider
It took valiant efforts from track crew and officials as well as patience from fans and competitors alike as two separate rain delays caused a combined hiatus of roughly two and a half hours, but against all odds, the complete show got in on another Saturday night at the Clyde. After the lengthy wait, five drivers all made their first trips of the season to the Lanco winner’s circle.
Hyper Racing Winged 600
The night’s first feature belonged to the Hyper Racing Winged 600s. After a second-place finish the week prior, Cody West started on pole for the A-Main and never looked back en route to scoring his second Winged 600 win at the Clyde and his first of the season.
A few cautions slowed the action in the first couple of laps, but a 21-lap green flag run would follow. On a heavy track after all of the rain, the bottom was the preferred lane. West broke away from the pack running that inside line and, at one point, amassed a lead of nearly five seconds over runner-up Zach Light before catching the tail of the field.
West still had a hefty lead in hand when the caution flew with three laps to go when Jarid Kunkle appeared to break a rear axle off of turn 2. The caution closed Light and the rest of the field up to West’s back bumper, but they were unable to do anything with him as he sailed off on the restart toward victory.
“As soon as we went into turn 1, I knew we definitely had a good piece underneath of us,” West said. “We were fast all night and everything kind of fell into place. And especially with the track being so heavy, it really helped that I could get out front and run away with it.”
Light finished in second place in his second race of the season, leading Bradley Brown, Brian Kramer, and Christian Bruno across the line as they rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 117-Cody West[1]; 2. 11Z-Zachary Light[2]; 3. 23-Bradley Brown[4]; 4. 71-Brian Kramer[3]; 5. 5-Christian Bruno[6]; 6. 3-Ryan Groff[8]; 7. 14-Jason Swavely[9]; 8. 15P-Christopher Panczner[7]; 9. 5A-Anthony Yerger[15]; 10. 11H-Holden Eckman[14]; 11. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[13]; 12. 2K-Nathan Miller[16]; 13. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[5]; 14. 88-Nick Skias[12]; 15. 66A-Marvin Albright[18]; 16. 17-Brent Ely[10]; 17. (DNS) 5J-Jason Sechrist; 18. (DNS) 0K-Pat Kelly; 19. (DNS) 97-Billy Logeman
Points (Top 5):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[347]; 2. 88-Nick Skias[-53]; 3. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[-69]; 4. 5A-Anthony Yerger[-73]; 5. 97-Billy Logeman[-76]
Cody West dominated to pick up the win the Hyper Racing Winged 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
270
Anthony Yerger started on pole for the 270 A-Main, and after surviving a restart with five laps to go, the driver from Fleetwood, PA claimed a long-awaited triumph in the 270 division.
The veteran of several Sportsman division wins at the Clyde checked out from Corey Schmuck, Jr. on the race’s initial start, as he was left to battle with Jason Swavely and Nick Skias for the runner-up spot. Yerger’s lead see-sawed through lapped traffic, as Schmuck, Jr. even took a peek for the lead off of turn 2 early in the race.
But Schmuck, Jr. and Swavely got deadlocked in a fierce battle for second, and that coupled with a few lapped cars in front of them and clean racetrack for Yerger allowed the pilot of the No. 5A to open up a 2.3-second lead before the race’s only caution flew for Alex Lukacs’ stopped vehicle on the backstretch.
Swavely resumed directly behind Yerger on the single-file restart that followed, but his quest for three-in-a-row would come to an end, as he could only get within two car lengths of the lead by the checkered flag as Yerger picked up the victory.
Skias finished in third, leading Schmuck, Jr. across the finish line. And Jonah Meck continued his hot start to the season by racking up a fifth-place result.
Results:
1. 5A-Anthony Yerger[1]; 2. 14-Jason Swavely[6]; 3. 3S-Nick Skias[8]; 4. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[3]; 5. 48-Jonah Meck[4]; 6. 11R-Tommy Rinck[12]; 7. 17-Kyle Lindsey[5]; 8. 88-Richie Hartman[11]; 9. 21J-Josh Weiant[21]; 10. 74F-Cody West[7]; 11. 1L-Dave Labe[10]; 12. 34-Christi Sweigart[14]; 13. 91-Jack Redcay[17]; 14. 21D-Dave Williams[19]; 15. 96W-Chase Walker[2]; 16. 8S-Mike Skias[13]; 17. 52K-Alex Lukacs[23]; 18. 4-Dylan Pence[15]; 19. 14C-Carter Weiant[22]; 20. 67-Cooper Schoenly[20]; 21. 54-William Mohring[16]; 22. 9M-Chris Dolan[9]; 23. 128P-Paige Hornberger[24]; 24. 39A-Austin Mieczkowski[18]
Points (Top 5):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[333]; 2. 48-Jonah Meck[-14]; 3. 17-Kyle Lindsey[-30]; 4. 27O-Mike Rutherford[-48]; 5. 3S-Nick Skias[-57]
Anthony Yerger held off Jason Swavely to claim a 270 win that was a long time in the making. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
After the first two features were won from the pole, it seemed as if Clinton Hauser would be in position to claim the win of the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main. But Richie Hartman grabbed the bull by the horns and charged from his sixth starting position to pick up his first Lanco win since 2017 and the first win in Megan and Nick Skias’ new Viper Chassis.
Hauser led the first few laps of the event, but Hartman quickly jumped up to fourth for a restart on lap 3. On the race’s resumption, he powered around Patrick Kirn on the outside before completing passes on Tyler Martin and Hauser in successive laps off of turn 4 to take away the top spot.
Hartman had a quick piece, but would have to deal with the Sportsman division’s most dominant driver to hold on for the win. After starting 13th, a bold, three-wide move on a restart helped get Bret Cronrath up into the top three. He then moved past Justin Harrington shortly after the final restart on lap 11, and the fight was on between the two leaders as they worked through lapped traffic.
Coming to the white flag, Cronrath got as close as he would get, pulling to the back bumper of the No. 88 and following him through turns 1 and 2. But Cronrath was unable to mount enough of a run to make a move in the final set of corners, and Hartman, the seven-time track champion, got to the final flag first.
“We had a really good lane to start in, and we really freed up a bunch during the rain and everything trying to get better,” Hartman said. “We ran back-to-back [270 and Sportsman] tonight, so that was a little bit rough… but it worked out in the long run for us. We needed more time in this car, and it just got us better for the Sportsman feature.”
Behind Hartman and Cronrath was Harrington, while Josh Stoyer finished fourth and Corey Schmuck, Jr. rebounded from an early spin to finish fifth.
Results:
1. 88-Richie Hartman[6]; 2. 5-Bret Cronrath[13]; 3. 1J-Justin Harrington[7]; 4. 15-Josh Stoyer[8]; 5. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[5]; 6. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[9]; 7. 31-Tyler Martin[3]; 8. 21-Alex Lukacs[15]; 9. 21D-Dave Williams[16]; 10. 20-Max Fasnacht[12]; 11. 22-Clinton Hauser[1]; 12. 14D-Danny Wright[20]; 13. 46R-James Miller[23]; 14. 19-Wes Fasnacht[22]; 15. 53-Jared St John[19]; 16. 4W-Brandon Worthington[24]; 17. 08-Nate Gibble[21]; 18. 8-Michael Spadafora[17]; 19. 2T-Jamie Flickinger[18]; 20. 28-Kyle Lindsey[14]; 21. 16P-Patrick Kirn[2]; 22. 77-Michael Kreiser[4]; 23. 26P-Dylan Pennypacker[11]; 24. 23K-Courtney Kupp[10]
Points (Top 5):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[385]; 2. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-50]; 3. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[-52]; 4. 15-Josh Stoyer[-76]; 5. 31-Tyler Martin[-140]
Richie Hartman charged from sixth to win the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
125/4 Stroke
After a string of bad luck to start off the season, Chris Dolan got the monkey off of his back by starting on the pole and dominating to lead every lap of the 125/4 Stroke feature.
Dolan, who nearly won in his last race out two weeks prior and had issues getting the car to start ever since, left no doubt en route to his first Lanco win of the season. Dolan checked out and amassed a solid lead over the first half of the race while working through lapped cars.
The race’s only caution, which flew on lap 14, allowed Dolan the opportunity to lay down some more blistering laps in clean air. He wouldn’t catch the back of the field for the rest of the race, and nobody caught him, either.
Dolan claimed the victory by 2.3 seconds at the checkered flag. John Maurer continued his run of podiums with a second, and Justin Harrington got back-to-back third-place finishes between the Sportsman and 125/4 Stroke main events. Matt Fernsler and Michael Hoffmaster rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 7D-Chris Dolan[1]; 2. 82-John Maurer[6]; 3. 75-Justin Harrington[3]; 4. 19-Matt Fernsler[2]; 5. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[14]; 6. 44-Riley Simmons[9]; 7. 15-Alyssa Holmes[4]; 8. 15H-Don Hess[16]; 9. 20J-Jarrid Hellinger[18]; 10. 14-Seth Gregory[13]; 11. 8-Michael Spadafora[5]; 12. 112-Dylan Yeingst[12]; 13. 81-Dylan Holmes[17]; 14. 3H-Corey Harting[15]; 15. 04-Sam Borger[11]; 16. 22J-Charles Hellinger[7]; 17. 78C-Sara Borror[10]; 18. 16-Steve Simmons[8]; 19. (DNS) 21S-Samuel Davenport
Points (Top 5):
1. 82-John Maurer[380]; 2. 75-Justin Harrington[-14]; 3. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[-57]; T4. 19-Matt Fernsler[-90]; T4. 16-Steve Simmons[-90]
Chris Dolan led all 25 laps to win his first 125/4 Stroke A-Main of the season. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
After weeks of bad redraw pulls to start the season, Ryan Groff finally caught a break in the final feature of the night for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. Groff started on the pole for the event, and held off a last-second charge by Bradley Brown to claim his first win of the year.
Groff led Chase Layser and Marty Brian for the majority of the race, as those two drivers battled for second in between the eight cautions that peppered the last 25-lap event of the long night. While Groff was mostly unchallenged, the racing was fierce behind him. Brown made it a three-car battle for the runner-up spot, and got past Layser just before the yellow flag flew with seven laps to go.
The caution erased Groff’s three-second lead and gave the defending Wingless 600 champion a crack at his second win of the year. As the groove moved up, Brown seemed to find an advantage with his No. 23, and a caution with four laps to go after contact between Brian and Layser allowed for one final reset.
Brown peeked to the inside through turns 1 and 2 and drew half a car length alongside, but that proved to be as close as he would get. Groff was able to keep his closest challenger in check and held on through the final corners, leading Brown across the line in nose-to-tail fashion for the win.
“The track was definitely fun,” Groff said. “Towards the end of the race, I can’t see where nobody’s going. I can hear them, but you know, just trying to kind of stay out there and stay ahead… we finally started up front and made it happen.”
Finishing third was Dominic Schmidt, who grabbed back-to-back top-three finishes. Layser came home fourth, and Brent Shearer completed the top five.
Results:
1. 03-Ryan Groff[1]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[5]; 3. 08-Dominic Schmidt[13]; 4. 7L-Chase Layser[2]; 5. 647-Brent Shearer[18]; 6. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[19]; 7. 5B-Ryan Boyd[7]; 8. 16-Marty Brian[3]; 9. 51-Amanda Onimus[24]; 10. 33C-John Barnett Jr[12]; 11. 10-Wayne Scott[14]; 12. 3B-Dallas Damask[9]; 13. 44S-Steve Whary[4]; 14. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[10]; 15. 22-Kyler Heiney[6]; 16. 1F-James Fries[17]; 17. 2K-Nathan Miller[20]; 18. 570-Prestyn Brown[8]; 19. 54-Dakota Bartlet[11]; 20. 64-Gunnar Pio[22]; 21. 11H-Holden Eckman[21]; 22. 10L-Lukas Kostic[23]; 23. 27-Brad Arnold[16]; 24. 21-Mason Beinhower[15]
Points (Top 5):
1. 03-Ryan Groff[352]; 2. 16-Marty Brian[-19]; 3. 23-Bradley Brown[-64]; 4. 08-Dominic Schmidt[-79]; 5. 3B-Dallas Damask[-94]
Ryan Groff held off Bradley Brown on the final restart to score his first Hyper Racing Wingless 600 win of the season. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Next Saturday, May 27th will be Bike Night at the Clyde, as we will have our annual bike giveaways and bike races for the kids in attendance during intermission. As a reminder, all participants in the bike races must wear a helmet. It will be another regular points show for all five divisions, with gates opening at 4:30 and warmups and racing beginning at 6:00. With one more race before the off week, now is the perfect time to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!