By Kasey Kreider
If you were a fan of racing – and a lot of it – Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway was the place to be on Saturday night. With mother nature washing out the racing from the weekend prior, three makeup features were on the slate in addition to the regularly-scheduled program of racing to make for a night that included a whopping eight A-Main events. But the racing action delivered in terms of both quantity and quality, as several drivers found victory lane while a few others took big steps toward a championship.
Hyper Racing Winged 600
Only five laps of feature racing were completed prior to the rains coming on August 12th, which forced the postponement of the Hyper Racing Winged 600 feature from that night. Five laps was all that defending champion and current points leader Jason Swavely needed to get to the front, though. “The Rocketman” from Fleetwood carved from ninth to the lead, making the pass on early leader Hayden Wise on only the fourth lap.
When the race resumed, Swavely was well-positioned to claim his fifth Winged 600 win of the season and further extend his points lead. However, it wasn’t without challenge from Christian Bruno, who had followed Swavely up through the field and had the No. 14 in his sights throughout the duration of the A-Main.
But Swavely proved to be unbeatable in the night’s first event, as he scampered away from Bruno during a green-white-checkered restart and flashed under the flagstand for a rare race win coming in the broad daylight.
Bruno crossed the finish line in second position, but made a miscue by failing to pass through the scales after the checkered flag. Bruno was disqualified as a result, promoting Zach Light to the runner-up spot with Anthony Yerger completing the podium. Billy Logeman and Chris Panczner rounded out the top five.
Jason Swavely stormed to his fifth Hyper Racing Winged 600 win of the season in the makeup feature. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Bruno would look to atone for the mistake in the second Winged 600 feature, however, and was in position to challenge for the win starting from the fourth position.
Bruno was locked in a three-car battle with Yerger and Jesse Maurer for essentially the entire race. Yerger paced the way through the first half of the A-Main, but a caution with 11 laps to go provided an opportunity for his challengers to hit the reset button.
Bruno blasted around Maurer after the restart and set his sights on the No. 5A. Bruno made his first dive a few laps later into turn 3, and the two leaders went to war in an epic slider battle as both drivers traded lines each corner. Bruno finally made the pass on Yerger stick coming to five to go, and cruised from there to his second Winged 600 win of the season.
“It was really tight quarters off of [turn] 2 a couple times there,” Bruno said. “I was able to get around him and just didn’t look back.”
Yerger held on for his second podium finish of the night in front of Maurer, who came home third. Randy West turned in a vintage performance with a fourth-place result, while Logeman came home in fifth.
Swavely ended up sixth in the regular feature, leaving his points lead at 245 with three races remaining. A finish of 11th-place or better in this Saturday’s event will mathematically clinch back-to-back championships for the driver of the No. 14.
Makeup Results:
1. 14-Jason Swavely[9]; 2. 11Z-Zachary Light[3]; 3. 5A-Anthony Yerger[5]; 4. 97-Billy Logeman[11]; 5. 15P-Christopher Panczner[8]; 6. 88-Nick Skias[7]; 7. 3-Jesse Maurer[10]; 8. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[4]; 9. 0K-Pat Kelly[14]; 10. 23-Brittany Haldeman[13]; 11. 46-BJ Antonio[2]; 12. 66A-Marvin Albright[15]; 13. 94-Hayden Wise[1]; 14. 17-Brent Ely[17]; 15. 9C-Jadan Bowling[12]; 16. 15-Joshua Bortz[16]; 17. (DQ) 5-Christian Bruno[6]
Results:
1. 5-Christian Bruno[4]; 2. 5A-Anthony Yerger[1]; 3. 3-Jesse Maurer[2]; 4. 117X-Randy West[6]; 5. 97-Billy Logeman[9]; 6. 14-Jason Swavely[10]; 7. 88-Nick Skias[16]; 8. 15P-Christopher Panczner[13]; 9. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[12]; 10. 46-BJ Antonio[11]; 11. 11H-Holden Eckman[7]; 12. 75-Mark Yoder[3]; 13. 11Z-Zachary Light[8]; 14. 23-Brittany Haldeman[20]; 15. 22-Nate Prazenica[18]; 16. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[5]; 17. L13-Robert Potter[19]; 18. 66A-Marvin Albright[21]; 19. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[15]; 20. 0K-Pat Kelly[17]; 21. 21K-Kinser Lightner[14]; 22. (DNS) 15-Joshua Bortz
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 15 Races):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[1,165]; 2. 5-Christian Bruno[-245]; 3. 97-Billy Logeman[-254]; 4. 88-Nick Skias[-317]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[-345]
Christian Bruno passed Anthony Yerger late to grab his second Hyper Racing Winged 600 win of the season. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
125/4 Stroke
Not even a sixth-starting position and a jumped restart late in the race could deny York’s Chris Dolan, as the driver picked up his third-straight 125/4 Stroke victory in the evening makeup feature after a late-race battle with Michael Hoffmaster.
Dolan didn’t waste time making his way through the pack, as he found himself running second to the No. 32 by the race’s halfway mark. The two drivers found themselves battling through some mid-race restarts, but Hoffmaster had an answer for each of Dolan’s moves before a restart with 10 laps to go.
It was on that restart where Dolan was called for a jump, relegating him two spots down the pecking order and making his task much tougher for the remainder of the event.
But a determined Dolan would not be denied. He worked his way back around Justin Harrington and Matt Fernsler, and then tracked Hoffmaster back down with four laps to go. Dolan made his move for the lead through turns 1 and 2, which in turn gave Hoffmaster a better run into turn 3. But Hoffmaster clipped the tires in an effort to shove a nose under Dolan’s machine. Hoffmaster somehow saved the car despite running over several of the infield tires, but the mishap allowed Dolan to drive away with the win.
Harrington and Fernsler completed the podium positions, while Mike Coen and Steve Simmons made up the remainder of the top five.
Chris Dolan stormed back to the front after jumping a late-race restart to claim his third win in a row in 125/4 Stroke competition. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Looking to follow up his third-place effort in the first race, Fernsler found himself starting on pole for the regular feature. All was going according to plan for the Lebanon driver, who looked well on his way toward grabbing his third win of the year before a caution flew with 10 laps to go.
The restart that followed saw a great, side-by-side battle between Fernsler and Brandon Heist, who was aboard the Harrington Motorsports No. 76. The two pilots went wheel-to-wheel for two whole laps before Fernsler finally surged back in front.
Despite Heist’s best efforts to keep it close, he never had a good challenge for Fernsler after that, and car No. 19 found itself in the winner’s circle once again.
“I really wasn’t looking forward to that restart, this thing wasn’t very good on the start,” Fernsler said. “I knew if I could get around him that I should be able to hold him off. Once this thing got the power, it was good.”
Heist finished second while Dolan followed up his earlier win with a third-place run. Hoffmaster came home in fourth with Harrington finishing fifth and keeping his points lead at 76 following the double-feature night.
Makeup Results:
1. 7D-Chris Dolan[6]; 2. 75-Justin Harrington[12]; 3. 19-Matt Fernsler[10]; 4. 26C-Michael Coen[11]; 5. 16-Steve Simmons[8]; 6. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[1]; 7. 14-Seth Gregory[4]; 8. 8-Michael Spadafora[21]; 9. 04-Sam Borger[2]; 10. 81-Dylan Holmes[16]; 11. 78C-Sara Borror[3]; 12. 74-Paige Rothermel[19]; 13. 15-Alyssa Holmes[20]; 14. 21S-Samuel Davenport[15]; 15. 15H-Don Hess[5]; 16. 20J-Jarrid Hellinger[18]; 17. 22J-Jon Hellinger[17]; 18. 112-Dylan Yeingst[9]; 19. 73-Andrew Rothermel[13]; 20. 76-Jim Harrington[14]; 21. (DNS) 82-John Maurer
Results:
1. 19-Matt Fernsler[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Heist Sr[7]; 3. 7D-Chris Dolan[10]; 4. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[15]; 5. 75-Justin Harrington[11]; 6. 26C-Michael Coen[2]; 7. 14-Seth Gregory[8]; 8. 16-Steve Simmons[4]; 9. 73-Andrew Rothermel[12]; 10. 81-Dylan Holmes[9]; 11. 04-Sam Borger[16]; 12. 20J-Jarrid Hellinger[3]; 13. 3H-Corey Harting[18]; 14. 78C-Sara Borror[14]; 15. 22J-Jon Hellinger[6]; 16. 74-Paige Rothermel[17]; 17. 112-Dylan Yeingst[5]; 18. 15-Alyssa Holmes[19]; 19. 8-Michael Spadafora[13]; 20. (DNS) 21S-Samuel Davenport; 21. (DNS) 44-Riley Simmons; 22. (DNS) 15H-Don Hess
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 15 Races):
1. 75-Justin Harrington[1,110]; 2. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[-76]; 3. 19-Matt Fernsler[-86]; 4. 7D-Chris Dolan[-93]; 5. 16-Steve Simmons[-130]
Matt Fernsler kept Brandon Heist at bay for his third win of the year in 125/4 Stroke action. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
270
Jason Swavely had already won the Hyper Racing Winged 600 makeup feature when the 270s rolled on track for their makeup A-Main event. But another race provided another chance for Swavely to add to his incredible season, and the Fleetwood native did just that as left no doubt en route to claiming his sixth 270 win of the year.
After going from ninth to first in the Winged 600s, Swavely accomplished a sixth-to-first run in the same amount of time with the 2 Strokes. Swavely made the move on Kyle Lindsey on a restart and never faced a threat for the remainder of the race. Even when a caution with four laps remaining erased a five-second lead that Swavely had built up, he was still able to pull away to a gap of over two seconds by the time the checkered flag waved.
Lindsey finished the makeup in second, with Nick Skias running third, Tommy Rinck fourth, and Billy Logeman driving up to fifth from near the back of the field.
Jason Swavely dominated the 270 makeup feature to give himself a six-pack of victories in the division in 2023. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
After showing contending speed in the first feature, Logeman had track position to go with it for the second one. The Reinholds native found himself on the outside pole and swiped the lead away from Andrew Dietrich on the third lap, beating Swavely to the punch in the fight to get to the front first.
Swavely hounded Logeman, particularly throughout lapped traffic. But a caution on lap 14 provided Logeman with some relief, and once the No. 27o was in clean air, Swavely was unable to make a move.
A green-white checkered finish gave an opportunity for Swavely to make one final lunge at the win, but he couldn’t cash in, as Logeman was simply too strong out in front. For the second time in 2023, Logeman out-ran the potent No. 92 and denied Swavely a sweep of the 270 features and his third win of the night.
“It’s kind of what we’ve been saying the last couple weeks here… we have a really good car but we keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Logeman said. “You know when that 92 is behind you, you’re never sure what’s going to happen… but we held him off again.”
Behind Logeman and Swavely came Mike Skias, as he put the No. 8s back on the podium by finishing right in front of brother Nick. Rinck rounded out the top five. The first and second-place efforts mean that Swavely’s points lead now sits at 152 with three races left.
Makeup Results:
1. 92-Jason Swavely[6]; 2. 17-Kyle Lindsey[1]; 3. 3S-Nick Skias[2]; 4. 11R-Tommy Rinck[9]; 5. 270-Billy Logeman[18]; 6. 21J-Darren Schott[7]; 7. 3-Pete Skias[11]; 8. 8S-Mike Skias[10]; 9. 21D-Dave Williams[4]; 10. 34-Christi Sweigart[16]; 11. 96W-Chase Walker[15]; 12. 94-Dallas Sanders[8]; 13. 08-Nate Gibble[3]; 14. 74F-David Ravel[22]; 15. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[20]; 16. 5A-Anthony Yerger[14]; 17. 32-Alex Lukacs[5]; 18. 1L-Dave Labe[12]; 19. 14C-Carter Weiant[13]; 20. 4-Dylan Pence[19]; 21. 46T-Matt Thompson[17]; 22. 30-Ryan Heckman[21]
Results:
1. 27O-Billy Logeman[2]; 2. 92-Jason Swavely[6]; 3. 8S-Mike Skias[8]; 4. 3S-Nick Skias[13]; 5. 11R-Tommy Rinck[11]; 6. 91-Jack Redcay[4]; 7. 28S-Brian Sholley[18]; 8. 34-Christi Sweigart[7]; 9. 96W-Chase Walker[9]; 10. 3-Pete Skias[14]; 11. 17-Kyle Lindsey[12]; 12. 21V-David Ravel[10]; 13. 21J-Josh Weiant[15]; 14. 08-Brandon Gibble[3]; 15. 02-Josh Patterson[21]; 16. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[22]; 17. 94-Dallas Sanders[17]; 18. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[24]; 19. 88D-Andrew Dietrich[1]; 20. 4-Dylan Pence[5]; 21. 21D-Dave Williams[16]; 22. 11-Mike Uhrich[19]; 23. 14C-Carter Weiant[20]; 24. (DNS) 74F-Cody West
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 15 Races):
1. 92-Jason Swavely[1,137]; 2. 11R-Tommy Rinck[-152]; 3. 17-Kyle Lindsey[-177]; 4. 8S-Mike Skias[-282]; 5. 34-Christi Sweigart[-329]
Billy Logeman turned a fast car into a winner for the second time in 2023 in the 270 class. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
The Hyper Racing Wingless 600s were one of two divisions who didn’t have to “play two” on this evening. But they still put on a show in their only A-Main of the night, as Marty Brian got revenge for a loss 11 days prior and held off Christian Bruno to the checkered flag, allowing the Ephrata driver to take over the points lead once again.
“The Gunslinger” grabbed the lead right away from the outside pole and drove away from the competition as fierce racing ensued in the battle for second. Dominic Schmidt and Dallas Damask dueled for the runner-up position as Ryan Groff attempted to close in.
Once Groff arrived on the scene, one of the scariest incidents in recent memory at the Clyde took place. As Groff stuck a nose to the outside of Damask off of turn 2, the two drivers got together, forcing Groff’s car up onto the guardrail before it dug into the track surface and tumbled high into the air. The No. 03 cartwheeled multiple times in the night sky before the vehicle violently crashed to the ground. Thankfully – and remarkably – Groff quickly hopped out of his car and was uninjured.
Ryan Groff went for a scary ride down the backstretch in the early laps of the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
As the race resumed, Brian continued to pace the way, but soon had a challenge coming in the form of Bruno. The Deptford, NJ driver started 13th and was caught up in a first-lap incident that sent him all the way to the back of the field. But Bruno methodically picked off cars lap by lap and soon found himself staring at the tail tank of Brian’s No. 16.
It was deja vu in a few ways. For Brian, it brought back shades of the race 11 days prior in companion with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets, when Bruno passed Brian late in the race to claim the win. For Bruno, it was akin to his earlier race in the Hyper Racing Winged 600 makeup feature, when he stalked Jason Swavely for nearly the entire race but couldn’t find a way past.
Ultimately, history would repeat itself for Bruno and not for Brian, as this time the former 4 Stroke track champion kept his mount out in the wind for all 25 laps and scored the win by roughly four car lengths.
“I was trying to get in there and keep the thing on four wheels [against the cushion],” Brian said. “But every time I would run it the same way twice and it would bounce differently.”
But Brian ran the top good enough to seal the deal on his second win of the year with Bruno coming home second. Dallas Damask pipped in front of Dominic Schmidt at the line for third, and that pass gave Brian a three-point lead in the standings entering next week’s doubleheader. Fred Heinly came from 14th to cap off the top five.
Results:
1. 16-Marty Brian[2]; 2. 5-Christian Bruno[13]; 3. 3B-Dallas Damask[5]; 4. 08-Dominic Schmidt[4]; 5. 22H-Fred Heinly[14]; 6. 7L-Chase Layser[12]; 7. $30-Dominic Foster[16]; 8. 00-Justin Yohn[7]; 9. 18-Jared Lilly[21]; 10. 2S-Garyt Smith[22]; 11. 17-Cole Perez[9]; 12. 57S-Jansen Strine[3]; 13. 10L-Lukas Kostic[15]; 14. 39T-Olivia Thayer[1]; 15. 21-Mason Beinhower[18]; 16. 73-Brevan Rothermel[19]; 17. 98-Keith Blumenstein Jr[23]; 18. 03-Ryan Groff[8]; 19. 11H-Holden Eckman[6]; 20. 2-Zachery Bealer[10]; 21. 44-Alex Heckendorn[11]; 22. 117-Cody West[17]; 23. (DNS) 1F-James Fries; 24. (DNS) 33C-Matthew Chowns
Points (Top 5) (After 11 of 15 Races):
1. 16-Marty Brian[896]; 2. 08-Dominic Schmidt[-3]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[-89]; 4. 3B-Dallas Damask[-161]; 5. 5-Christian Bruno[-171]
Marty Brian led wire-to-wire to claim his second win of the season in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
The Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans turned in another enthralling race as well, as an early battle between Bret Cronrath and Brandon Heist seemed like it would decide the race. But when things went awry for them, Nick Skias was there to capitalize for his second win of the season.
Cronrath and Heist shared the front row for the feature and pulled away by a bit from the rest of the field as they chased each other around the track. The other thing they were chasing though was lapped traffic, and as the leaders approached the back of the field, they quickly found themselves in a pickle.
Heist was peeking inside of Cronrath down the backstretch as both drivers approached Lisa Warren’s machine. As everyone dove for the bottom of turn 3, Cronrath and Heist made contact, sending both cars around and Heist’s upside down. In a stroke of skill and luck, Skias swerved his car into the gap between the two leaders and came out unscathed.
Brandon Heist (No. 5R) and Bret Cronrath (No. 5) crashed while battling for the top spot, opening the door for Nick Skias (No. 88) to squeeze through and take over the lead. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
With the lead now in hand, Skias took advantage of a golden opportunity and dominated the rest of the way as the race ran green. Skias took the flag first for his second win behind the wheel of the Viper Chassis No. 88 and the fourth total for that car.
“It is unfortunate with what happened over [in turn 3] with them two,” Skias said. “I’m not sure that I’d be standing here if both those cars would be running, but I mean, I’ll take it… every time you step foot in this car there’s definitely high expectations, it’s really fast.”
Dave Williams came home in second with Alex Lukacs in third, as those drivers each scored their best finishes of the year. Justin Harrington finished fourth, and Dan Lane completed the top five.
Cronrath rebounded from the incident to finish 11th. That was still good enough to beat his closest championship contender, Josh Stoyer, who was collected in an earlier crash and finished 13th. Cronrath now holds an 85-point lead in the standings with four feature events left to go.
Results:
1. 88-Nick Skias[4]; 2. 21D-Dave Williams[3]; 3. 21-Alex Lukacs[8]; 4. 1J-Justin Harrington[13]; 5. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[11]; 6. 7C-Curtis Miller[17]; 7. 16P-Patrick Kirn[10]; 8. 28-Kyle Lindsey[20]; 9. 77-Michael Kreiser[7]; 10. 21V-David Ravel[15]; 11. 5-Bret Cronrath[1]; 12. 20-Max Fasnacht[21]; 13. 15-Josh Stoyer[5]; 14. 19-Wes Fasnacht[18]; 15. 54-Lisa Warren[14]; 16. 4W-Brandon Worthington[6]; 17. 23K-Courtney Kupp[9]; 18. 8-Michael Spadafora[22]; 19. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[2]; 20. 2T-Doug Pearson[16]; 21. 77J-Jade Smith[19]; 22. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[12]
Points (Top 5) (After 11 of 15 Races):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[1,051]; 2. 15-Josh Stoyer[-85]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-146]; 4. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[-206]; 5. 1J-Justin Harrington[-212]
After inheriting the lead, Nick Skias never looked back en route to his second Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman win of the year. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
This Saturday, August 26th, the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway returns to action with another packed racing program. The Hyper Racing Wingless 600s and Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans will contest their makeup features from August 12th, while those competitors and everyone else will run a full, regular points show. Kids in attendance will have an opportunity to participate in cookie decorating as the K.I.D. Night activity. Start times will once again be moved up an hour, so gates will open at 3:30 with warmups and racing beginning at 5:00. With seven features on tap, next week is a perfect time to catch all the action and come LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!