By Kasey Kreider
(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
To say that the weather wasn’t exactly friendly on Saturday night at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway would be an understatement. Despite that, competitors and fans alike braved the excessive heat and stuck it out through an hour-long rain delay to take part in another exciting show of competition. Masen Stapleton, Gunnar Pio, Toby Blumenshine, Mike Coen, and Jason Swavely beat the heat – and their competitors – to pick up Saturday’s feature victories.
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
Masen Stapleton had flashed plenty of speed out of his No. 17 Viper Chassis during last Saturday’s Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main at the Clyde. He didn’t get the result to show for it on that night, but this Saturday night was a different story. The Reamstown pilot drove a masterful race to keep the field behind him and claim his first Sportsman win at the racetrack.
Stapleton pulled away from Richie Hartman and Toby Blumenshine in the early laps, but Hartman then broke from the runner-up spot, bringing out a caution on lap 7. With the former champion in second, Blumenshine slowly started nibbling away at the lead over the course of a long green-flag run while the race ran into its second half.
But a caution with seven laps to go allowed Stapleton to regroup, and on the final run to the checkers, he drove away from the competition behind him to put a stamp on his first Sportsman victory – and second overall win – at the Clyde.
Blumenshine once again settled for second, as he finished in that spot for the fifth time in a Sportsman race this year. Despite that, Blumenshine took over the points lead from Brandon Heist, who had a rough night and finished 14th. Corey Schmuck, Jr. started 14th and sliced through the pack to get up to third. Josh Stoyer and Kyle Lindsey made up the rest of the top five.
A-Main Results:
1. 17-Masen Stapleton[1]; 2. 21-Toby Blumenshine[5]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[14]; 4. 15-Josh Stoyer[4]; 5. 28-Kyle Lindsey[7]; 6. 77-Michael Kreiser[6]; 7. 1J-Justin Harrington[10]; 8. 31-Tyler Martin[13]; 9. 21D-Dave Williams[9]; 10. 30-Ryan Heckman[11]; 11. 22J-Jonathan Hellinger[8]; 12. 8-Michael Spadafora[12]; 13. 77J-Jade Smith[16]; 14. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[18]; 15. 2T-Doug Pearson[17]; 16. 23K-Courtney Kupp[15]; 17. 88M-Richie Hartman[2]; 18. 20-Max Fasnacht[3]; 19. 99K-Chad Kreiser[19]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 15 Races):
1. 21-Toby Blumenshine[640]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[-22]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-68]; 4. 1J-Justin Harrington[-124]; 5. 15-Josh Stoyer[-161]
Masen Stapleton collected his first Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman victory on Saturday night at the Clyde. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
Searching for his second victory of the week, Kunkletown’s Gunnar Pio put himself behind the eight ball when he jumped a restart with nine laps remaining. But the young hot shoe was determined to get back to the front, and came from fourth to first in the span of a lap to grab his second points win – and third overall – at the Clyde in 2024.
After a first-lap pileup, the race then went green for 16 straight laps, and saw a fascinating battle at the front between Pio and the race leader Pat Bealer. The two drivers seemed deadlocked for the better part of half the race, as Bealer ran the bottom groove while Pio stuck it up top on the juiced up racetrack.
A caution with nine laps to go reset the field, but Pio proved to be a bit trigger happy on the restart, hopping on the throttle before Bealer and being called for a jumped start as a result. The two-spot deduction put Pio in fourth spot for the second attempt, while Pat’s son Zack Bealer joined his dad on the front row.
But it didn’t take long for Pio to burst through the pack of leaders. The No. 28P ripped outside of Bradley Brown off turn 4 before sliding both Bealers into turn 1. Although Pat Bealer was able to cross him over out of turn 2, Pio threaded the needle between the leaders through turns 3 and 4, and completed the race-winning pass into the next set of corners.
“It was just tough because [Bealer] was running so high, I didn’t want to put myself in a bad position,” Pio said. “I stayed patient till the caution came out, and then did what I had to do.”
Pat Bealer led son Zack Bealer across the line to round out the podium, while Chris Gerhart made a rare wingless appearance and went from 11th to fourth. Last week’s winner Alex Ruppert came from 17th to round out the top five. With an 11th-place finish, Dallas Damask held onto a nine-point lead in the standings over Bradley Brown.
A-Main Results:
1. 28-Gunnar Pio[3]; 2. 44-Pat Bealer[2]; 3. 2SZ-Zachery Bealer[9]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[11]; 5. 5R-Alex Ruppert[17]; 6. 23-Bradley Brown[5]; 7. 34E-Abel Engler[8]; 8. 12-Cole Cabre[4]; 9. 66-Billy Koch[23]; 10. 11H-Holden Eckman[6]; 11. 3B-Dallas Damask[14]; 12. 08-Dominic Schmidt[18]; 13. 3-Jesse Maurer[12]; 14. 21-Mason Beinhower[19]; 15. 1F-James Fries[15]; 16. 22H-Fred Heinly[13]; 17. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[1]; 18. 2-Jakob Stitzel[7]; 19. 18-Jared Lilly[22]; 20. 03-Ryan Groff[24]; 21. 16-Marty Brian[10]; 22. 2S-Garyt Smith[16]; 23. 17-Cole Perez[20]; 24. 9W-Weston Doklan[21]
DNQ: 15D-Matthew Donley; 3L-Nolen Layser; 16L-Logan Dontonville; 78-Chase Bixler
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 15 Races):
1. 3B-Dallas Damask[501]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-9]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[-29]; 4. 16-Marty Brian[-34]; 5. 2SZ-Zachery Bealer[-84]
Gunnar Pio rocketed from fourth to first on the final restart to win Saturday night’s Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Border Magic 270
A wild and chaotic finish highlighted the Border Magic 270 feature on Saturday night. Fighting with Isaac Graby and Jason Swavely over the closing laps, it was Toby Blumenshine in a one-off appearance in Jake Dupler’s No. 1A who finally broke his string of second-place finishes with a last-lap pass for the win.
Graby started on the pole for the second straight race, and after being plagued by an early mechanical issue last weekend, the No. 08 paced the field throughout Saturday night’s event. Rarely was Graby’s lead more than a car length, though, as Blumenshine and a charging Swavely were soon breathing down his neck.
After the final restart with five laps to go, Swavely was able to make the pass on Blumenshine for second, and went to the higher groove of the speedway to try to find a way past Graby. Coming to the white flag, the two leaders hooked bumpers, opening the door for Blumenshine to get inside both drivers. As Graby regathered his race car, Blumenshine drag-raced Swavely down the backstretch, and the Reinholds native surged ahead through the final turn to score an improbable win.
“I wasn’t expecting my first win this year to be in a 270,” Blumenshine said. “I seen those guys getting together, and I thought we were all wrecking, so I just ducked underneath. And then coming down the backstretch… I thought if I can just take [Swavely’s] line going into 3 and coming out of 4 that I might have a shot to win this thing.”
Behind Blumenshine and Swavely, Mike Skias charged through the chaos from 19th to finish third. Graby led all of the first 24 laps but was forced to settle for fourth. Anthony Yerger completed the top five, while Nick Skias kept his points lead in hand with an eighth-place finish.
A-Main Results:
1. 1A-Toby Blumenshine[3]; 2. 92-Jason Swavely[13]; 3. 8S-Mike Skias[19]; 4. 08-Issac Graby[1]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[4]; 6. 2-Mike Miller[6]; 7. 7D-Chris Dolan[8]; 8. 3S-Nick Skias[12]; 9. 11R-Tommy Rinck[10]; 10. 4-Dylan Pence[21]; 11. 82-John Maurer[2]; 12. 1L-Dave Labe[7]; 13. 21D-Dave Williams[14]; 14. 47X-Ernest Newmaster III[16]; 15. 34-Christi Sweigart[15]; 16. 2T-Doug Pearson[17]; 17. 19-Matt Fernsler[9]; 18. 96D-Dakota Deemer[18]; 19. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[11]; 20. 3-Josh Stoyer[5]; 21. 96W-Chase Walker[20]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 15 Races):
1. 3S-Nick Skias[593]; 2. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[-41]; 3. 7D-Chris Dolan[-56]; 4. 8S-Mike Skias[-109]; 5. 82-John Maurer[-141]
Toby Blumenshine avoided some chaos and made a last lap pass to win Saturday night’s Border Magic 270 feature. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Offroad Motorsports 125/4 Stroke
Although the weather was extremely hot Saturday night, there are few drivers at the Clyde who are on more of a hot streak recently than Danville’s Mike Coen. The former 4 Stroke champion picked up his second win in the last four races and his fifth-straight top-four finish on Saturday night.
Points leader Chris Dolan was the pole sitter and in search of another win. But his hopes of that were quickly dashed when the chain broke on lap 2, handing over the lead to Coen.
Coen’s toughest challenger would be John Maurer, as the pilot of the No. 82 was searching for back-to-back 125/4 Stroke victories. With eight laps to go, Maurer briefly took away the top spot, but Coen pulled off the crossover move and reclaimed the advantage into the next set of turns.
A late-race restart breathed some more life into Maurer’s hopes for victory. As Coen’s motor began to lay down, Maurer closed right to the bumper of the No. 26c and got inside him off the final corner. But it was too little, too late, and Coen held on by half a car length for the win, a triumph that also gave him the points lead entering next weekend.
“The motor started laying down the last two laps, I wasn’t even sure we were gonna be able to hold John off,” Coen said. “Luckily enough, we did beat him to the line.”
Dave Schroeder finished in third to round out the podium. Sara Borror and Seth Gregory completed the top five.
A-Main Results:
1. 26C-Michael Coen[2]; 2. 82-John Maurer[6]; 3. X-Dave Schroeder[8]; 4. 78C-Sara Borror[3]; 5. 14-Seth Gregory[12]; 6. 19-Matt Fernsler[5]; 7. 44S-Trevor Waegel[15]; 8. 3-Kiptyn Stratton[17]; 9. 16-Daniel Lane Jr[7]; 10. 81-Dylan Holmes[22]; 11. 15H-Don Hess[9]; 12. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[4]; 13. 5-Keegan Stratton[23]; 14. 58N-Ella Rae Nardelli[10]; 15. 3H-Corey Harting[19]; 16. 112-Dylan Yeingst[11]; 17. 73-Andrew Rothermel[18]; 18. 04-Sam Borger[16]; 19. 15-Alyssa Holmes[21]; 20. 8-Michael Spadafora[14]; 21. 21S-Samuel Davenport[20]; 22. 75-Chris Dolan[1]; 23. 4W-Brandon Worthington[13]; 24. 4-Mike Miller[24]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 15 Races):
1. 26C-Michael Coen[568]; 2. 14-Seth Gregory[-25]; 3. 75-Chris Dolan[-27]; 4. 16-Daniel Lane Jr[-30]; 5. X-Dave Schroeder[-76]
Mike Coen held off John Maurer by just 0.049 seconds to win Saturday night’s Offroad Motorsports 125/4 Stroke feature. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
After a week away from the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 class, two-time defending champion Jason Swavely coupled his return to the track with a return to Brubacher Victory Lane, coming from the sixth position to park his No. 14 in the winner’s circle for the second time this season.
Brent Shearer and Brian Kramer were fighting for the lead through the first half of the feature, trading a few sliders and the top spot on a couple of occasions before Swavely ran them down. As the two front runners got caught behind a lapped car, Swavely was able to pass them both, but an immediate caution flag forced the lineup to revert to the last completed lap, with Swavely in second behind Kramer.
Kramer’s No. 71 found its groove running the middle line through the corners. But eventually, the momentum from the top side was too much for Kramer to counter, as Swavely got a run and ducked inside to make the pass for the win with nine laps to go.
“Brian was really good through the center,” Swavely said. “I could run about a half a lane higher than Kramer, and I could actually get up in the fluff and kinda diamond off, and I think I was really catching him there.”
Kramer finished second, with Shearer coming home in the third spot. Bradley Brown finished fourth, and points leader Billy Logeman rounded out the top five.
A-Main Results:
1. 14-Jason Swavely[6]; 2. 71-Brian Kramer[1]; 3. 29-Brent Shearer[2]; 4. 23-Bradley Brown[8]; 5. 97-Billy Logeman[5]; 6. 5A-Anthony Yerger[7]; 7. 1T-Trevor Gach[4]; 8. L13-Robert Potter[9]; 9. 66A-Marvin Albright[10]; 10. 22-Shawn Rumbaugh[11]; 11. 11Z-Zachary Light[3]; 12. 58-Andrew Rothermel[12]; 13. 11H-Holden Eckman[13]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 15 Races):
1. 97-Billy Logeman[630]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-46]; 3. 29-Brent Shearer[-64]; 4. 14-Jason Swavely[-112]; 5. 11H-Holden Eckman[-149]
Jason Swavely passed Brian Kramer with nine laps remaining to win Saturday night’s EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 feature. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
The Clyde returns to action next Saturday, June 29, with one final regular points show for all five classes before a massive month of July. For all kids in attendance, there will be a candy scramble organized by the K.I.D. Club. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m., with warmups and racing starting at 6 p.m. As we close out the first half of the season, don’t miss the opportunity next Saturday night to come out LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!