By Kasey Kreider
To win a championship at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, a driver and team have to be on their game for all six months of the season. Flashes of dominance, remarkable consistency, and sometimes a good amount of luck are all crucial toward holding the championship trophy at season’s end. This season’s four different track champions had all triumphed in Lanco points chases before, and executed that same winning formula to perfection once again throughout the 2023 season.
Hyper Racing Winged 600
It had been known for weeks before the final points race of the season that Jason Swavely was going to become a two-time champion of the Hyper Racing Winged 600 division at the Clyde. But Swavely was not in the Winged 600 field on Saturday night, and the opportunity came knocking for some fresh blood to try and find their way into victory lane.
Enter Shannon Slaughter, as the Lititz native in her first full season racing Winged 600s picked the pole in the redraw after a strong heat race performance. Slaughter kept a red-hot Jesse Maurer behind her for the initial circuits of the race before beginning to pull away as the race waged on for second. Former Clyde Martin Memorial winner Chris Panczner turned up the wick in his No. 15P machine and ripped away the runner-up spot after driving up from sixth at the start.
Slaughter’s lead was right around a second when the race’s first caution flag flew with 10 laps remaining. The slow-down opened the door for hard chargers Panczner and Christian Bruno – who had started eighth – to close in on the tail tank of the No. 53s. The biggest restart of Slaughter’s life was a good one, but it was good enough to bring Bruno with her on the bottom line.
The Deptford, NJ native then went to the high side, building up a run as Slaughter’s back end began to get squirrely on corner exit. After a few peeks, Bruno finally bursted alongside the race leader on the backstretch, and made the race-winning pass with six laps left.
“I knew if I could kinda keep a lane above her and keep the air on the wing I could probably get a little momentum,” Bruno said. “She kept getting a little sideways off of [turn] 2, I knew that was where I was going to have to get her.”
But Bruno got the job done for his third Winged 600 win of the season. Meanwhile, Slaughter held off a furious challenge from Panczner down the stretch to garner a career-best second, and Panczner’s great run in his own right culminated with a third-place result. Holden Eckman and Maurer rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 5-Christian Bruno[8]; 2. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[1]; 3. 15P-Christopher Panczner[6]; 4. 11H-Holden Eckman[4]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[2]; 6. 88-Nick Skias[5]; 7. 5A-Anthony Yerger[12]; 8. 71-Brian Kramer[9]; 9. 46-BJ Antonio[14]; 10. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[10]; 11. 0K-Pat Kelly[11]; 12. 22-Nate Prazenica[13]; 13. 75-Mark Yoder[3]; 14. 1F-James Fries[16]; 15. 17-Brent Ely[7]; 16. 66A-Marvin Albright[15]; 17. L13-Robert Potter[17]; 18. 97-Billy Logeman[18]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 14-Jason Swavely [1,225]; 2. 5-Christian Bruno[-125]; 3. 97-Billy Logeman[-212]; 4. 88-Nick Skias[-233]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[-257]
Christian Bruno passed Shannon Slaughter in the closing laps to pick up his third win of the season in Hyper Racing Winged 600 competition. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
All Bret Cronrath needed to do to clinch his third consecutive Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman championship was muster a 17th-place result in the final points race of the season. But Cronrath had his eyes on much more than just that, and put the cherry on top of another title campaign with his sixth win of the season.
Cronrath started the feature event on pole and was never really challenged throughout the duration of the 25-lapper. Perhaps it was a fitting way for the season to end, as despite several tough competitors and battles throughout the course of the season, there was no question who the division’s top driver of 2023 was.
“Last year, we got caught up in [the points battle] so much we drove ourselves nuts,” Cronrath said. “So this year we were just coming here every week, playing it out by warmups, by heat race, and just trying to win some races.”
“I’ve been very fortunate to battle it out with a lot of good people, and once again it just fell our way.”
Six straight podium finishes to kick off the season helped build up the points advantage early in the year, while a first victory in the Clyde Martin Memorial strengthened his hold on the lead. Second-place points finisher Josh Stoyer never let Cronrath out of shouting distance, but the Blandon native’s once again remarkable consistency made points gains hard to come by for everyone who was chasing him.
Kyle Lindsey came home with a season-best second-place finish in the final points race, while Stoyer capped off his great season in third. Corey Schmuck, Jr. came from 12th to fourth and Justin Harrington rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[1]; 2. 28-Kyle Lindsey[3]; 3. 15-Josh Stoyer[9]; 4. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[12]; 5. 1J-Justin Harrington[6]; 6. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[10]; 7. 31-Jeremy Eisenhour[18]; 8. 20-Max Fasnacht[11]; 9. 23K-Courtney Kupp[14]; 10. 19-Wes Fasnacht[15]; 11. 54-Lisa Warren[16]; 12. 2T-Doug Pearson[2]; 13. 4W-Brandon Worthington[17]; 14. 21-Alex Lukacs[5]; 15. 8-Michael Spadafora[8]; 16. 21D-Dave Williams[7]; 17. 30-Ryan Heckman[4]; 18. 77J-Jade Smith[13]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[1,312]; 2. 15-Josh Stoyer[-71]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-229]; 4. 1J-Justin Harrington[-262]; 5. 25X-Dan Lane Jr[-277]
Bret Cronrath’s sixth win of the season helped propel him to a third consecutive Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman championship. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
Ephrata’s Marty Brian had wrapped up the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 championship by virtue of the previous Saturday’s rain out. But a full field of 24 drivers were on hand to fight for a victory as the second full-time season of Hyper Racing Wingless 600 action came to a close.
Former No Wing Spring Fling winner Bobby Butler led the field to the green flag on a tacky Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway surface that was ripe for sliders. Only one caution – a lap 2 entanglement between Christian Bruno and John Barnett, Jr. – slowed the pace of the frantic feature event.
Butler led the first four go-rounds before Kyle Lick made his first attempt at the lead entering turns 1 and 2. For the next five laps, Newmanstown turned into slide job city, as the two veterans traded the top spot with sliders that were sticking almost every corner. Finally, Lick was able to hold onto the top spot for good, and Zach Light’s No. 11z began to drive away from the pack with the Lehighton gasser at the wheel.
Some heavy lapped traffic provided a few “hold-your-breath” moments for the race leader, but Lick survived any and all chaos and drove away around the top of the speedway to a long-awaited first win at the Clyde.
“I always say if I wanna win, I wanna win here when it’s cowboy-up around the fence, like it should be,” Lick said. “That was easily the hardest I’ve probably raced here ever.”
Behind Lick was an all-out brawl for the second spot between Butler, Brian, and Dallas Damask. Damask came out on top of that hard-nosed battle for a solid second-place result, while Brian rounded out the podium. Butler finished fourth and Bruno drove all the way from the back of the field up to fifth without the aid of a caution.
As the 2019 4 Stroke champion at the Clyde, “The Gunslinger” Marty Brian added another trophy to the mantle in his third season racing in the 600 class. The intention may not have been to chase points at the beginning of the season, as Brian missed an event early in the year. But after a thrilling opening-night win and another triumph in August, Brian found himself right in the points mix along with Dominic Schmidt. Schmidt’s rough night in the double-header at the end of August coupled with Brian’s strong late-season efforts ensured that the pilot of the No. 16 would join Bradley Brown as champions of the Wingless 600 division at Lanco.
Results:
1. 11Z-Kyle Lick[2]; 2. 3B-Dallas Damask[7]; 3. 16-Marty Brian[4]; 4. 86B-Bobby Butler[1]; 5. 5-Christian Bruno[9]; 6. 28-Gunnar Pio[3]; 7. 03-Ryan Groff[8]; 8. 15D-Matthew Donley[13]; 9. 08-Dominic Schmidt[10]; 10. 21-Mason Beinhower[5]; 11. 11H-Holden Eckman[14]; 12. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[23]; 13. 23-Dan Lane Jr[15]; 14. 71-Brian Kramer[11]; 15. 22H-Fred Heinly[12]; 16. 17-Cole Perez[20]; 17. 7-Matt Warner[17]; 18. 86-John Oliver[24]; 19. 61-Jordan Nonnemacher[16]; 20. 33C-Matthew Chowns[19]; 21. 45-Tucker Gordner[21]; 22. 33-John Barnett Jr[6]; 23. 75-Andrew Rothermel[18]; 24. (DNS) 18M-Brayden Mickley
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 16-Marty Brian[1,176]; 2. 08-Dominic Schmidt[-134]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[-177]; 4. 5-Christian Bruno[-181]; 5. 3B-Dallas Damask[-303]
Kyle Lick came out on top of a fierce battle with Bobby Butler to claim his first Hyper Racing Wingless 600 win at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Two feature wins and impressive consistency helped propel Marty Brian to the 2023 Hyper Racing Wingless 600 championship. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
125/4 Stroke
After claiming his third win of the year in the most recent points race, Justin Harrington simply had to show up to the Clyde on Saturday night to claim his second points championship in three years at the speedway. Harrington claimed the title, while Chris Dolan scored his sixth points-paying win of the year in the 125/4 Stroke division.
Don Hess led the field down for the start, but the caution quickly flew when contact between Sara Borror and Steve Simmons triggered a six-car pileup in turn 3. The crash promoted Dolan from seventh to third in the new starting order, and the York native followed Don Hess around the speedway for the first 11 laps after the restart.
But Hess slid up the speedway just enough off of turn 2 on the 12th lap for Dolan to dive to bottom and take away the lead from the No. 15H. In a race that didn’t see any cautions the rest of the way, Dolan was able to cruise to another commanding win.
“I came off of [turn] 4 one time and looked up at the scoreboard and was like, ‘ah, he might get it tonight,’” Dolan said. “I saw him washing up off [turn] 2 and I was just waiting for another mistake.”
Hess came home in the runner-up spot, while Matt Fernsler drove from the back row to a third-place finish. Dylan Yeingst and Harrington completed the top five, as Harrington’s championship run concluded with the No. 75 flipping across the finish line as he and Simmons made contact battling for that fifth spot.
Despite the tough ending, it was still a season to remember for Harrington, as he picked up wins in the first two races of the year before a consistent summer and subsequent third win paved the way for him to become the first two-time champion of the combined 125/4 Stroke class. The Manheim driver only finished outside of the top five twice and beat Dolan in the standings by 101 points.
Results:
1. 7D-Chris Dolan[7]; 2. 15H-Don Hess[1]; 3. 19-Matt Fernsler[15]; 4. 112-Dylan Yeingst[4]; 5. 75-Justin Harrington[16]; 6. 16-Steve Simmons[3]; 7. 26C-Michael Coen[8]; 8. 8-Michael Spadafora[9]; 9. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[5]; 10. 81-Dylan Holmes[10]; 11. 73-Andrew Rothermel[13]; 12. 15-Alyssa Holmes[11]; 13. 21S-Samuel Davenport[12]; 14. 74-Paige Rothermel[14]; 15. 78C-Sara Borror[2]; 16. 14-Seth Gregory[6]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 75-Justin Harrington[1,290]; 2. 7D-Chris Dolan[-101]; 3. 19-Matt Fernsler[-112]; 4. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[-112]; 5. 16-Steve Simmons[-166]
Chris Dolan claimed his seventh total win at the Clyde in 2023 in the 125/4 Stroke feature. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Justin Harrington won three races and had 12 top 5s en route to his second 125/4 Stroke championship at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
270
While it may not always be the most entertaining thing to watch, sometimes you just have to sit back and marvel at a driver who turns in as dominant of a season as Jason Swavely had in 2023. Swavely entered the evening with his first 270 championship at Lanco already under wraps. Piloting his own No. 14, Swavely ended the year fittingly with a dominant, wire-to-wire win in the 270 nightcap.
The victory was Swavely’s sixth in 14 270 points races contested during the 2023 season. Add to that victories in both 270 Labor Day Shootout events, six total Winged 600 wins, and a sweep of the Wingless 600 and Winged 270 4th-of-July races, and the mammoth total of wins for Swavely stands at 16 entering Saturday’s non-points season finale.
Swavely picked up the “triple crown” of sorts in Hyper Racing Winged 600 competition, as he claimed the championship and scored victories in both the Clyde Martin Memorial and the Labor Day Shootout.
Swavely split time in the 270s between his own car and Bill Schenck’s No. 92. Swavely even contested a race – which he won – behind the wheel of friend Anthony Yerger’s No. 5A. No matter what car he was driving, though, it was clear that Swavely was the favorite to win all season long. “The Rocketman from Fleetwood” certainly lived up to the nickname.
“Anybody that’s racing, this is like a dream year for everybody,” Swavely said. “You gotta take them when you can, and we’re taking them. We’re gonna ride it as long as we can.”
Finishing second to Swavely in the final race was Nick Skias, while dad Pete Skias came home in third after a remarkable 360-degree spin that saw the crafty veteran never let his car come to a stop. Tommy Rinck finished fourth to claim second in the points and Alex Lukacs rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 14-Jason Swavely[1]; 2. 3S-Nick Skias[2]; 3. 3-Pete Skias[4]; 4. 11R-Tommy Rinck[8]; 5. 32-Alex Lukacs[6]; 6. 48-Jonah Meck[3]; 7. 8S-Mike Skias[9]; 8. 21D-Dave Williams[5]; 9. 4-Dylan Pence[16]; 10. 14C-Carter Weiant[11]; 11. 22-Clinton Hauser[20]; 12. 34-Christi Sweigart[10]; 13. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[15]; 14. 45O-Josh Stoyer[14]; 15. 17-Kyle Lindsey[19]; 16. 11-Mike Uhrich[13]; 17. 27O-Billy Logeman[21]; 18. 1L-Dave Labe[12]; 19. 31-Tyler Martin[18]; 20. 96W-Chase Walker[17]; 21. 21J-Josh Weiant[7]; 22. (DNS) 93-Kodiak Hockensmith
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[1,332]; 2. 11R-Tommy Rinck[-230]; 3. 17-Kyle Lindsey[-259]; 4. 8S-Mike Skias[-345]; 5. 3S-Nick Skias[-384]
Jason Swavely’s remarkable season ended with both a Hyper Racing Winged 600 and a 270 championship at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Amy Williams/Amy’s Photos)
Saturday, September 23rd, the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway returns to action for the final time in 2023. The season finale will feature non-points events for all five weekly divisions, while the Stage 1 Modifieds will return for their third race of the year and the All Star Slingshots will contest their only race of 2023 at the speedway. As is tradition, trick-or-treating will take place for the kids during intermission. With the extra classes, all start times are moved up one hour from normal, so gates will open at 3:30 with warmups and racing beginning at 5:00. Don’t miss out on your final opportunity until next April to come LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!