By Kasey Kreider
For the first time ever, the Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series descended upon the high banks of the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. A field of 33 entries meant that the A-Main would be tough to make, let alone compete for the win in. But the 25-lap nightcap saw the return of a familiar face to victory lane, putting the exclamation point on a wild night of racing.
Hyper Racing Winged 600
In recent weeks, it just hasn’t seemed to matter where Fleetwood’s Jason Swavely rolls off to start for 600 micro sprint A-Mains. On a wide and racy surface, Swavely made quick work climbing his way from ninth to the lead and extended his points lead by grabbing his third Winged 600 win of the season.
But Swavely’s formula for success was different from the one he had utilized to grab the win in the wingless 4th of July show just six days prior. After his use of the top side of the speedway to win last Sunday, Swavely went to the bottom shelf in Saturday night’s affair while most of the drivers in front of him ran the high line. In just six laps, Swavely rolled the bottom all the way to the front, grabbing the lead away from pole sitter Brent Ely.
Once Swavely got to the front, Bradley Brown and Christian Bruno began to provide a challenge, as those two drivers tried to catch Swavely on the top side. But the defending Hyper Racing Winged 600 champion knew when the time was right to move to the top. And after he jumped upstairs, there was nothing anyone could do to catch him.
“I didn’t feel super great [on the top],” Swavely said. “I kinda adjusted the shocks a little bit, moved the wing back, went to the bottom and got around the guys. I felt really good down there.”
“Then I seen the top really started slicking off… I kinda readjusted myself under that last caution, got the wing back down, and just went to the top.”
Swavely’s win extended his points lead to 111 over second-place finisher Bradley Brown with seven points races, including the double-points Clyde-Martin Memorial, left on the schedule. Brown recorded his second-straight runner-up finish in the winged car, while Bruno put the No. 5 on the podium for the fourth consecutive race. Nick Skias came home in fourth, and Ely, the early leader, finished in fifth.
A-Main Results (25 Laps):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[9]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[3]; 3. 5-Christian Bruno[6]; 4. 88-Nick Skias[5]; 5. 17-Brent Ely[1]; 6. 11H-Holden Eckman[4]; 7. 3-Ryan Groff[8]; 8. 97-Billy Logeman[10]; 9. 07-Trevor Teats[11]; 10. 15P-Christopher Panczner[7]; 11. 2K-Nathan Miller[15]; 12. 0K-Pat Kelly[13]; 13. 66A-Marvin Albright[16]; 14. 13-Ben Freels[18]; 15. 51-Brad Gerhart[12]; 16. 15-Joshua Bortz[14]; 17. L13-Robert Potter[17]; 18. 5A-Anthony Yerger[2]
Points (Top 5) (After Race 8 of 15):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[717]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-111]; 3. 5-Christian Bruno[-177]; 4. 88-Nick Skias[-181]; 5. 97-Billy Logeman[-215]
Jason Swavely won his third-straight race in the span of six days in the Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
With his streak of 11 straight podium finishes having come to an end three weeks ago, Bret Cronrath apparently decided that the best way to start a new streak was with a return trip to victory lane. The Blandon native survived a close call and rebounded from his rare stumble with his fourth win of the season in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans.
Cronrath’s biggest challenge came in the form of pole sitter Michael Spadafora, who led in the early going and appeared to be quicker than the No. 5 through the first few circuits. But the No. 8 Leader Chassis was set up just a little bit too aggressively, and the motor gave way with five laps completed, paving the way for Cronrath to take the lead.
Cronrath dominated the race, but had to endure a close moment while working through lapped traffic. Doug Pearson’s car slid sideways off the exit of turn 2 and clipped the right side of Cronrath’s machine as he tried to scoot by, nearly sending the No. 5 for a spin. But Cronrath kept the ship straight and settled back in to hold onto the victory.
“It sucks that [Spadafora] had to end that way, it probably would’ve been a good race either way,” Cronrath said. “But the more we ran, the better this thing got.”
“Big leads don’t mean anything here, this is a very short track… very tough competitors here with Josh [Stoyer], Corey [Schmuck, Jr.], and Max [Fasnacht] is stepping it up… this whole division really is stepping it up.”
With the win, Cronrath grew his points lead to 45 over second-place finisher Josh Stoyer, who led Max Fasnacht across the line as the No. 20 made it to the podium for the second-straight race. Corey Schmuck, Jr. finished fourth and Dave Ravel came home in fifth.
A-Main Results (25 Laps):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[3]; 2. 15-Josh Stoyer[11]; 3. 20-Max Fasnacht[4]; 4. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[9]; 5. 21V-David Ravel[5]; 6. 21-Alex Lukacs[12]; 7. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[20]; 8. 23K-Courtney Kupp[6]; 9. 77-Michael Kreiser[8]; 10. 1J-Justin Harrington[10]; 11. 21D-Dave Williams[7]; 12. 30-Ryan Heckman[17]; 13. 19-Wes Fasnacht[15]; 14. 31-Tyler Martin[13]; 15. 53-Jared St John[18]; 16. 4W-Brandon Worthington[2]; 17. 77J-Jade Smith[16]; 18. 54-Lisa Warren[14]; 19. 2T-Doug Pearson[21]; 20. 28-Kyle Lindsey[19]; 21. 8-Michael Spadafora[1]
Points (Top 5) (After Race 8 of 15):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[714]; 2. 15-Josh Stoyer[-45]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-119]; 4. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[-129]; 5. 1J-Justin Harrington[-192]
Bret Cronrath got back to victory lane for the fourth time in 2023 in the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
The wild and unpredictable nature of the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s continued on Saturday night. And with perhaps a new candidate submitted for race of the year, Mason Beinhower survived the chaos and outdueled Garyt Smith and Ryan Groff to become the ninth different winner in nine wingless races in 2023.
As two contenders in a tight points battle, Marty Brian and Groff led the way in the early going of the race. But their battle came to a head coming to the end of lap 7, as the two drivers made contact at the top of turn 4 and set off a chain reaction that sent Zack Bealer for a spin before he was collected by Cole Perez, sending the No. 17 upside down.
Bradley Brown snuck by on the bottom and grabbed the lead in the process, and the battle then raged on between himself and Christian Bruno. With both drivers having moved to the top of the speedway, Bruno looked to be a little bit quicker as the trailing car. But that battle went awry with seven laps to go, as Bruno clipped the back of Brown’s machine, sending the No. 23 hard into the turn 3 wall. Brown’s race came to an end, and Bruno was sent to the tail of the field following the contact.
The calamity allowed Groff to inherit the lead, this time with Beinhower and Smith as his challengers. The three drivers put on an incredible show following the restart, as Beinhower threw several sliders on the No. 03 while Smith rolled the bottom inside of both drivers. Groff got boxed in behind his two challengers before the caution flag flew, leaving Beinhower and Smith to battle for the win in a one-lap shootout.
Despite Smith’s best efforts around the bottom, he was unable to get around the No. 21 on the final circuit, as Beinhower rode the cushion all the way to his second win in the last seven days after he had picked up the win at Linda’s last Saturday.
“[Smith] definitely had more speed than me coming into the corner, but I could beat him coming off,” Beinhower said. “My sliders were not that good on Ryan Groff, but I still made it work.”
Smith came home in second, completing a remarkable drive from 16th. Groff held on for third and retook the points lead in the process, with the Manheim driver just seven points ahead of Dominic Schmidt and 11 markers in front of fourth-place finisher Brian entering next weekend. Billy Koch rounded out the top five.
A-Main Results (25 Laps):
1. 21-Mason Beinhower[5]; 2. 2S-Garyt Smith[16]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[2]; 4. 16-Marty Brian[1]; 5. 66-Billy Koch[6]; 6. 11H-Holden Eckman[7]; 7. 08-Dominic Schmidt[11]; 8. 22H-Fred Heinly[19]; 9. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[20]; 10. 18-Jared Lilly[22]; 11. $30-Dominic Foster[12]; 12. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[15]; 13. 5-Christian Bruno[8]; 14. 53S-Shannon Slaughter; 15. 75-Brevan Rothermel[24]; 16. 61-Jordan Nonnemacher[14]; 17. 10L-Lukas Kostic[17]; 18. 1F-James Fries[3]; 19. 2K-Nathan Miller[10]; 20. 23-Bradley Brown[9]; 21. 2J-Jace Marshall[18]; 22. 2SZ-Zachery Bealer[4]; 23. 17-Cole Perez[21]; 24. 3Y-Zachary Young[23]; 25. (DNS) 64-Gunnar Pio
Points (Top 5) (After Race 8 of 15):
1. 03-Ryan Groff[557]; 2. 08-Dominic Schmidt[-7]; 3. 16-Marty Brian[-11]; 4. 23-Bradley Brown[-30]; 5. 3B-Dallas Damask[-92]
Mason Beinhower battled Garyt Smith and Ryan Groff to grab his second-career Hyper Racing Wingless 600 victory at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
125/4 Stroke
After winning four times in 2021, victory lane had been harder to find last season for Matt Fernsler. But the driver from Lebanon has seemed to find the winning formula once again, and Fernsler picked up his second win of the season in the 125/4 Stroke class.
It wasn’t an easy one for Fernsler, as he had to come from fifth on the starting grid and had to find his way around Don Hess to get the job done. Fernsler kept Hess within his sights during multiple short green-flag runs, and finally got the run he needed off of turn 2 to dive to the inside and take the lead away with 10 laps remaining.
Although Fernsler had to endure a couple late restarts, the pilot of the No. 19 never got rattled and held on the rest of the way to claim the win.
“Once we got second there, I knew we had nothing for him [in turns 3 and 4], but in [turns 1 and 2], if I could enter in a little higher, I had that run coming off,” Fernsler said. “I knew if I didn’t get him there, I wasn’t going to get him. We got him coming off and just held on.”
Fernsler’s win brought him within 10 points of Justin Harrington for the points lead, as the driver of the No. 75 rallied from 17th starting spot to finish in fourth. Between the two came Hess and Michael Spadafora, who got a little redemption from the Sportsman race in claiming his first podium of the year. Mike Coen held on to grab a fifth-place finish.
A-Main Results (25 Laps):
1. 19-Matt Fernsler[5]; 2. 15H-Don Hess[2]; 3. 8-Michael Spadafora[4]; 4. 75-Justin Harrington[17]; 5. 26C-Michael Coen[8]; 6. 16-Steve Simmons[6]; 7. 7D-Chris Dolan[3]; 8. 81-Dylan Holmes[1]; 9. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[7]; 10. 78C-Sara Borror[11]; 11. 15-Alyssa Holmes[12]; 12. 21S-Samuel Davenport[15]; 13. 74-Paige Rothermel[14]; 14. 73-Andrew Rothermel[16]; 15. 22J-Jon Hellinger[18]; 16. 112-Dylan Yeingst[13]; 17. 82-John Maurer[10]; 18. 14-Seth Gregory[9]; 19. (DNS) 96-Blayne Bainbridge
Points (Top 5) (After Race 8 of 15):
1. 75-Justin Harrington[670]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[-10]; 3. 15H-Don Hess[-45]; 4. 16-Steve Simmons[-62]; 5. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[-63]
Matt Fernsler made the race-winning pass on Don Hess with 10 laps to go to grab the win of the 125/4 Stroke A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series
Despite always showing speed in outings behind the wheel of the Johnny Blanda Racing No. 15, Alex Swift had gone three years since his most recent trip to victory lane at the Clyde. The driver with multiple wins and championships in the Garden State made his return to Lanco’s victory lane worth the wait, as he claimed the win of the inaugural appearance for the Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series.
Swift shot out of a cannon on the start, getting a massive run off of turn 2 to shoot from third to the lead under pole sitter Dave Williams. After a few weeks of caution-filled races, this 270 A-Main ran with only two yellow flags, with the first one erasing a nearly two-second lead that Swift had built up over the field on lap 7.
A long green-flag run followed, and Swift had to carefully work through a full field of lapped cars while fellow New Jersey native Tommy Rinck tried to close. Rinck got close to the back bumper on a couple of different occasions, but couldn’t make a move before the second caution waved with six laps to go.
While the yellow flag closed the rest of the pack to Swift’s back bumper, it also got him out of lapped traffic. Although Rinck and third-place runner Jason Swavely didn’t let him get out of sight, they were both unable to mount a real threat over the final six-lap run to the finish.
“We’ve been top three here so many times since 2020, won three times that year and haven’t been back since,” Swift said. “It all worked out, the cautions were perfect, and I’m just glad we’re here right now.”
Swift became the first repeat winner of the season for the Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series, backing up his win at Bridgeport earlier in the year. Rinck came home in second, just ahead of Swavely, who kept a 47-point lead in hand over the pilot of the No. 11R with the result. Brandon Heist came home fourth and Anthony Yerger rounded out the top five.
A-Main Results (25 Laps):
1. 15-Alex Swift[3]; 2. 11R-Tommy Rinck[5]; 3. 14-Jason Swavely[7]; 4. 450-Brandon Heist Sr[8]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[11]; 6. 3-Josh Stoyer[10]; 7. 17-Kyle Lindsey[4]; 8. 3S-Nick Skias[23]; 9. 4-Dylan Pence[6]; 10. 19-Matt Fernsler[15]; 11. 32-Alex Lukacs[19]; 12. 1L-Dave Labe[18]; 13. 34-Christi Sweigart[2]; 14. 28S-Brian Sholley[12]; 15. 30-Ryan Heckman[21]; 16. 11-Mike Uhrich[13]; 17. 21J-Josh Weiant[16]; 18. 21D-Dave Williams[1]; 19. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[20]; 20. 31-Tyler Martin[24]; 21. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[25]; 22. 08-Nate Gibble[22]; 23. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[17]; 24. 27O-Billy Logeman[9]; 25. (DNS) 2-Glenn Macomber
Points (Top 5) (After Race 8 of 15):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[652]; 2. 11R-Tommy Rinck[-47]; 3. 17-Kyle Lindsey[-52]; 4. 3S-Nick Skias[-168]; T5. 8S-Mike Skias[-173]; T5. 34-Christi Sweigart[-173]
Alex Swift got his first Lanco win in three years in the first-ever appearance for the Mason Dixon 270 Racing Series at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Next Saturday, July 15th will be East Coast Transponders Night at the Clyde. Rescheduled from June 24th, this points-paying event for all five classes will see the winner of each division walk out with an extra $250 courtesy of East Coast Transponders, with an extra $100 going to second-place finishers and an extra $50 going to those who finish in third. The K.I.D. Night activity will be a candy scramble. Gates will open at 4:30, with warmups and racing following at 6:00. With some extra cash on the line, the on-track action guarantees to be as red-hot as the temperature, so be sure to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!