By Kasey Kreider
April showers finally turned to May flowers on Saturday night, and racing returned to the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway after a four-week hiatus. Fast, action-packed, and largely clean racing was the theme of the night, and several former champions and past race winners took their first trips of the season to victory lane.
Hyper Racing Winged 600
In his first race this season at the Clyde, Zach Light got back to victory lane for the first time in nearly two years with a wire-to-wire victory in the Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main. Light started on the pole for the feature, but had to hold off Jarid Kunkle and Jason Swavely through a couple late restarts in order to claim his first victory since May of 2021.
For much of the race, Kunkle and Swavely battled amongst each other for the runner-up position, and that allowed Light to open up a lead of nearly two seconds before the caution flag flew with 10 laps to go. Kunkle cleared Swavely for second on one of the restarts, but the pass didn’t stick after another caution flew before the next lap was completed.
Kunkle and Swavely were left to continue battling on the final restart with seven laps to go, and their side-by-side battle gave Light the cushion he needed to pull away for the win, as he kept the car firmly planted on the bottom for most of the race.
“On the initial start, I stayed down there, and I didn’t see Kunkle’s nose,” Light said. “So I figured I would just hang out down there till I see somebody. And fortunately for me, I never saw anybody.”
Kunkle won the battle for second over Swavely, while Christian Bruno and Nick Skias completed the rest of the top five.
Results:
1. 11Z-Zachary Light[1]; 2. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[2]; 3. 14-Jason Swavely[4]; 4. 5-Christian Bruno[7]; 5. 88-Nick Skias[5]; 6. 15P-Christopher Panczner[15]; 7. 97-Billy Logeman[6]; 8. 3-Jesse Maurer[16]; 9. 23-Bradley Brown[8]; 10. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[11]; 11. 5A-Anthony Yerger[3]; 12. 15-Joshua Bortz[9]; 13. L13-Robert Potter[14]; 14. 66A-Marvin Albright[13]; 15. 0K-Pat Kelly[12]; 16. 11H-Holden Eckman[10]
Points:
1. 14-Jason Swavely[175]; 2. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[-8]; 3. 97-Billy Logeman[-13]; 4. 88-Nick Skias[-19]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[-27]
Zach Light’s first start of 2023 ended in victory lane, as he took the checkers in the Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
After spending most of 2022 out of the driver’s seat, it didn’t take long for Josh Stoyer to not just get reacclimated behind the wheel, but to find victory lane, as he charged from ninth to the win in the second Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman feature of the year.
Behind the wheel of the Shanaman-owned No. 15 Viper Chassis, Stoyer made quick inroads through the field, as he was up inside the top five within the first 10 laps. As polesitter Michael Spadafora continued to lead, Stoyer picked off two more cars before another caution on lap 12, leaving only Spadafora and Corey Schmuck, Jr. in front of him.
Stoyer got past Schmuck, Jr. on the ensuing restart and then set his sights on Spadafora. He dove to the bottom entering turn 3, but the caution waved, negating the pass for the lead. But Stoyer was able to make the same move on the next restart, and the pass stuck.
Schmuck, Jr. never led Stoyer too far out of his sights as he moved into second, but the pilot of the No. 26 couldn’t get closer than a car length to the back bumper of Stoyer through the final set of corners. Stoyer came across the line three-tenths of a second in front of Schmuck, Jr. to claim his first victory at Lanco since 2019.
“We were kinda struggling with what we were gonna do with the car,” Stoyer said. Warmups we were pretty bad, changed shocks… went out in the heat, got a little bit better. And honestly, we didn’t touch a thing. The track came right to us. It was pretty easy driving, honestly.”
Behind Schmuck, Jr., opening night winner Bret Cronrath rallied from being as far back as eighth to round out the podium. Back-to-back Labor Day Shootout winner Brandon Heist finished fourth, and Richie Hartman completed the top five.
Results:
1. 15-Josh Stoyer[9]; 2. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[4]; 3. 5-Bret Cronrath[6]; 4. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[3]; 5. 88-Richie Hartman[14]; 6. 21-Alex Lukacs[19]; 7. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[16]; 8. 28-Kyle Lindsey[2]; 9. 20-Max Fasnacht[17]; 10. 5A-Anthony Yerger[13]; 11. 19-Wes Fasnacht[23]; 12. 8-Michael Spadafora[1]; 13. 77-Michael Kreiser[12]; 14. 31-Tyler Martin[10]; 15. 14M-Chelsey Moore[24]; 16. 1J-Justin Harrington[5]; 17. 16P-Patrick Kirn[11]; 18. 21V-David Ravel[15]; 19. 53-Jared St John[22]; 20. 17-Masen Stapleton[18]; 21. 22-Clinton Hauser[21]; 22. 23K-Courtney Kupp[20]; 23. 30-Ryan Heckman[8]; 24. 21D-Dave Williams[7]
Points:
T1. 15-Josh Stoyer[190]; T1. 5-Bret Cronrath[190]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-15]; 4. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[-23]; 5. 21-Alex Lukacs[-54]
Josh Stoyer snapped a four-year winless streak at the Clyde with his victory in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
After race one of the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 season was decided by 0.010 seconds, race two saw a clinic put on by the division’s defending champion, as Bradley Brown weathered lapped traffic over a 24-lap green-flag run to the checkers to claim his first win of the season.
Brown started on pole and pulled away from Louisiana native Chelby Hinton and young gun Dominic Schmidt on the inside lane. Hinton tried the top for all its worth throughout the feature, but couldn’t make progress on “The Highsider,” who rolled the bottom to perfection to open up a two-second lead.
Throughout the second half of the race, Brown was buried in lapped traffic, but picked and chose his spots wisely to avoid any drama and cruised to a 2.3-second win at the checkered flag.
“The bottom was so good… top had a couple spots where I knew if I missed my mark a little bit I knew I was gonna really slow down,” Brown said. “It was just keeping a nice pace… I just sat there and just hit my marks.”
Hinton, a standout in the midwest micro sprint scene, continued his Pennsylvania road trip with a second-place result in his first trip to the Clyde.
“This is an amazing facility, amazing racetrack,” Hinton said. “And for how the feature ended up… you can’t ask for much more than that. I mean, cushion on both ends, bottom on both ends… that’s phenomenal.”
For the second-straight race, Ryan Groff charged through the field to hop on the bottom step of the podium, rallying from 12th to third. Opening night winner Marty Brian and Zach Jurcik rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 23-Bradley Brown[1]; 2. 24K-Chelby Hinton[3]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[12]; 4. 16-Marty Brian[9]; 5. 96-Zach Jurcik[5]; 6. 64-Gunnar Pio[4]; 7. 7L-Chase Layser[7]; 8. 22-Kyler Heiney[8]; 9. 3B-Dallas Damask[16]; 10. 21-Mason Beinhower[6]; 11. 117X-Tyler Ulrich[14]; 12. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[18]; 13. 54-Dakota Bartlet[23]; 14. $30-Dominic Foster[10]; 15. 14B-Ethan Burdett[17]; 16. 1F-James Fries[11]; 17. 51B-Amanda Onimus[20]; 18. 3Y-Zachary Young[19]; 19. 08-Dominic Schmidt[2]; 20. 24-Logan Rhoad[15]; 21. 117-Cody West[13]; 22. (DNS) 15R-Alex Ruppert; 23. (DNS) 73-Andrew Rothermel
Points:
1. 16-Marty Brian[185]; 2. 03-Ryan Groff[-5]; 3. 96-Zach Jurcik[-25]; 4. 23-Bradley Brown[-40]; 5. 21-Mason Beinhower[-53]
Defending champion Bradley Brown got back to victory lane in dominant fashion in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
125/4 Stroke
The first repeat winner of the season came in the 125/4 Stroke division, as Justin Harrington took advantage of late misfortune for Chris Dolan to start the season two-for-two in the 125/4 Stroke class.
Dolan started on the pole and thoroughly dominated much of the race, as he pulled away to a multi-second advantage and lapped several cars throughout the first portion of the race.
Harrington started in sixth and moved up to the runner-up spot, but needed the aid of lapped traffic to close on the leader. Through lapped cars, Harrington got back within a second of Dolan, but as the No. 7D cleared the slower cars with only a few laps to go, the race looked to be over.
But a bad fuel valve caused Dolan’s car to shut off with just three laps remaining. As he pulled to the infield, Harrington flashed by for the lead and seemingly, the win. But as he entered turn 3 for the final time, the caution flew for a three-car pileup in turn 2, which led to a one-lap shootout to cap off the race.
Harrington fired off well from the Boyer’s Tavern Starting Line and held on through the final circuit to claim back-to-back victories to start the 2023 season.
“[Dolan] had that thing wrapped up. I was just aggressive and I knew I had to get up to the front quick,” Harrington said. “That green flag run, man, I was just getting so frickin’ tired in that car. And then finally I see him pull off, I said, ‘oh no… pull it together boy, we gotta go win another one.’”
Michael Hoffmaster continued his great start to the racing season with a runner-up finish, in front of John Maurer who made it two podium finishes in as many races in third. Matt Fernsler came home fourth, with Don Hess completing the top five.
Results:
1. 75-Justin Harrington[6]; 2. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[4]; 3. 82-John Maurer[7]; 4. 19-Matt Fernsler[9]; 5. 15H-Don Hess[3]; 6. 26C-Michael Coen[20]; 7. 16-Steve Simmons[12]; 8. 78C-Sara Borror[2]; 9. 8-Michael Spadafora[5]; 10. 14-Seth Gregory[14]; 11. 3H-Corey Harting[13]; 12. 112-Dylan Yeingst[16]; 13. 81-Dylan Holmes[15]; 14. 73-Andrew Rothermel[21]; 15. 20J-Jarrid Hellinger[8]; 16. 15-Alyssa Holmes[18]; 17. 7D-Chris Dolan[1]; 18. 21S-Samuel Davenport[17]; 19. 04-Sam Borger[10]; 20. 44-Riley Simmons[11]; 21. (DNS) 74-Paige Rothermel
Points:
1. 75-Justin Harrington[200]; 2. 82-John Maurer[-15]; 3. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[-37]; 4. 16-Steve Simmons[-38]; 5. 15H-Don Hess[-48]
Justin Harrington scored back-to-back wins in the 125/4 Stroke class. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
270
It was an eventful start to the 270 A-Main for Jason Swavely, but once “The Rocketman from Fleetwood” got to the front, he set sail toward his first win of the 2023 campaign.
Swavely started the feature from third, but was going for the lead entering turn 3 when he and polesitter Dave Williams got together. Both drivers nearly spun, but saved it, and Williams continued as the leader while Swavely regrouped behind Christi Sweigart in third.
Swavely ultimately got his Schenck Racing No. 92 back to the front, though, as he took the lead from Williams on lap 7 and began to check out.
Swavely’s biggest challenge came in the form of Billy Logeman, as last year’s 125/4 Stroke champ drove Mike Rutherford’s 450 up into the second spot and stayed within striking range of Swavely throughout the feature. A final restart with three laps to go gave him a chance, but a mechanical issue forced Logeman to the infield and sealed the deal for Swavely to grab the win.
“This thing’s always fast when we bring it out, Bill gives me a heck of a car week in and week out when we’re here,” Swavely said. “This thing was a rocket like normal.”
Mike Rutherford charged from ninth to grab a second-straight runner-up finish, and Matt Fernsler completed the podium in third. Jonah Meck continued his great string of runs with a fourth-place result, and Sweigart held on to finish off the top five.
Results:
1. 92-Jason Swavely[3]; 2. 27O-Mike Rutherford[9]; 3. 19-Matt Fernsler[5]; 4. 48-Jonah Meck[18]; 5. 34-Christi Sweigart[2]; 6. 11-Mike Uhrich[4]; 7. 74F-Cody West[13]; 8. 88-Richie Hartman[6]; 9. 02-Josh Patterson[16]; 10. 21D-Dave Williams[1]; 11. 8S-Mike Skias[19]; 12. 1L-Dave Labe[22]; 13. 17-Kyle Lindsey[12]; 14. 93-Brayden Mickley[14]; 15. 11R-Tommy Rinck[8]; 16. 14C-Carter Weiant[21]; 17. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[23]; 18. 45O-Billy Logeman[10]; 19. 4-Dylan Pence[11]; 20. 52K-Alex Lukacs[15]; 21. 54-William Mohring[17]; 22. 3S-Nick Skias[20]; 23. 9M-Noah Martin[7]; 24. 22-Clinton Hauser[24]
Points:
1. 27O-Mike Rutherford[190]; 2. 48-Jonah Meck[-15]; 3. 17-Kyle Lindsey[-39]; 4. 34-Christi Sweigart[-42]; 5. 1L-Dave Labe[-51]
Jason Swavely put the No. 92 back in the winner’s circle as he capped off the night with a victory in the 270s. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Next Saturday, May 13th will be our Mother’s Day Eve Special at the Clyde. Grandstand admission for all moms in attendance will be only $5. We will also have a Flower For Mom K. I. D. Night activity for the kids to participate in. The event will be a regular points show for all five classes, with gates opening at 4:30 and racing beginning at 6:00. We hope you decide to spend your special weekend with mom by coming out to the racetrack to LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!