By Kasey Kreider
(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Opportunity came knocking for a few of the drivers in the championship fights on Saturday night at the Clyde. With next weekend’s season finale looming, some of the points contenders ran into troubles that dashed their hopes for a title, while others either kept their chances alive or strengthened their grip on a championship trophy with much-needed victories or strong runs. One driver even wrapped up a championship a week early, with four classes still set to determine their title-holder next Saturday night.
Border Magic 270
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity – at least that’s how the old saying goes. But it might have applied to Saturday night’s Border Magic 270 feature. When the two leaders crashed going for the lead on a lap 8 restart, Sinking Spring’s Mike Skias was there to pick up the pieces and grab his second win of the season.
John Maurer started on pole position and built up a healthy lead at the start of the race, while Dylan Pence ran in second ahead of a pack of roughly a half-dozen cars. Maurer’s lead was up to nearly 2.5 seconds before a caution, but the ensuing restart opened the door for disaster to strike.
Going into turn 1 following the race’s resumption, Maurer and Pence made contact while fighting for the same piece of real estate entering the corner. The collision between the two leaders sent Pence’s car upside down, while knocking the pipe off of Maurer’s No. 82.
With both drivers out of the running, Skias was there to inherit the lead. Once Skias’ No. 8s found the front, he turned in a masterful drive the rest of the way, pulling away from Tommy Rinck and the competitors behind him. A great restart with four laps to go allowed Skias to cruise to the win by five car lengths.
“When they got together, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Skias said. “I started dialing myself in better and better, and the car just kept getting hooked up better and better. I think maybe by the end of the feature we probably could’ve had a shot at them if they didn’t wreck… I will definitely take it.”
Rinck made it back-to-back podiums finishing second, while Billy Logeman rounded out the top three. Meanwhile, Nick Skias extended his points lead to 69 over Brandon Heist with a fourth-place result. This means that a finish of 21st or better next Saturday night will clinch a third 270 track championship for Skias. Richie Hartman rounded out the top five, with Heist having to settle for sixth.
Results:
1. 8S-Mike Skias[4]; 2. 11R-Tommy Rinck[3]; 3. 27O-Billy Logeman[8]; 4. 3S-Nick Skias[5]; 5. 747-Richie Hartman[9]; 6. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[6]; 7. 7D-Chris Dolan[18]; 8. 5A-Anthony Yerger[12]; 9. 90-Alyson Godusky[7]; 10. 21D-Dave Williams[11]; 11. 47X-Ernest Newmaster III[15]; 12. 4-Dylan Pence[2]; 13. 2T-Doug Pearson[13]; 14. 82-John Maurer[1]; 15. 28S-Brian Sholley[17]; 16. 08-Issac Graby[10]; 17. 34-Christi Sweigart[14]; 18. 1A-Toby Blumenshine[16]
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 13 Races):
1. 3S-Nick Skias[1070]; 2. 5R-Brandon Heist Sr[-69]; 3. 8S-Mike Skias[-72]; 4. 7D-Chris Dolan[-133]; 5. 11R-Tommy Rinck[-298]
Mike Skias took his second win of the year in the Border Magic 270s. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman
Although Brandon Heist may have seen his chances at a 270 title fade almost entirely, the Jonestown native put a stranglehold on the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman crown with one of his most dominant performances of the season en route to his fifth Sportsman win of the year.
Heist started outside of Ryan Heckman on the front row, took the lead on lap 1, and never looked back throughout the course of the 25-lap main event. Heist had to endure five cautions within the first half of the race, but none of the yellows halted his ultimate journey toward victory lane. When the race ran green from lap 12 to the checkered, it opened the door for Heist to build up a monster lead. When all was said and done, Heist scored the victory by over five seconds.
“This car, for some reason here, no matter what we throw at it, it’s just always fast,” Heist said. “I just did what I did, and just drove to the front, and stayed there and stayed smooth. And then kind of was hoping nothing bad would happen.”
Nothing bad happened for Heist, but the same couldn’t be said for his championship rival Toby Blumenshine. Blumenshine was caught up in a big pileup on a lap 6 restart and was unable to finish, being credited with a 17th-place result. That ballooned Heist’s gap to 79 points in the championship, essentially meaning that Heist just has to start Saturday night’s feature in order to wrap up his first Lanco title.
Heckman held off Corey Schmuck, Jr. at the line for his best-career Sportsman finish. 270 winner Mike Skias finished fourth, and Tyler Martin brought home a fifth-place result.
Results:
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[2]; 2. 30-Ryan Heckman[1]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[8]; 4. 15-Mike Skias[6]; 5. 31-Tyler Martin[10]; 6. 88M-Tommy Rinck[7]; 7. 17-Masen Stapleton[20]; 8. 77-Michael Kreiser[9]; 9. 20-Max Fasnacht[4]; 10. 16P-Patrick Kirn[21]; 11. 23K-Courtney Kupp[17]; 12. 21D-Dave Williams[11]; 13. 77J-Jade Smith[3]; 14. 22J-Jarrid Hellinger[16]; 15. 25X-Ian Cumens[14]; 16. 28-Kyle Lindsey[5]; 17. 21-Toby Blumenshine[13]; 18. 8-Michael Spadafora[12]; 19. 19-Wes Fasnacht[19]; 20. 1J-Justin Harrington[15]; 21. 2T-Doug Pearson[18]
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 13 Races):
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[1198]; 2. 21-Toby Blumenshine[-79]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-86]; 4. 15-Josh Stoyer[-402]; 5. 77-Michael Kreiser[-410]
Brandon Heist poses with his family in Brubacher Victory Lane after triumphing in Saturday night’s Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman feature. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
A near-full field of EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600s took to the Clyde on Saturday night. Despite some added challengers to the mix, it was still a familiar face heading back to Brubacher Victory Lane, as Jason Swavely took his new RTS Chassis into the winner’s circle for his fourth win of the year.
Brent Ely started on pole and led the first four laps of the feature, as the driver usually known for “catfishing” ripped around the guardrail nicely in an effort to keep Swavely and Bradley Brown behind him. A lap 5 restart allowed Swavely to take advantage of the high side, however, and that was all he needed to claim the lead by the time the drivers came off of turn 2.
Swavely was in command the rest of the way, as a restart with three laps to go didn’t end up changing the outcome of the race amongst the front runners.
“This thing’s absolutely unreal, we got these things rolling,” Swavely said. “The top was so dominant, it actually got really slick on exit down in [turns] 1 and 2… when the top gets going, it’s just so fast, and you gotta be up there.”
Swavely took the win, but with a second-place finish, Bradley Brown was able to become the first driver to clinch a championship in 2024 at the Clyde. The native of Ephrata – who was also the champion of the Wingless 600 and 270 divisions in 2022 – left the speedway with a 101-point advantage over Billy Logeman, just enough to mathematically clinch the crown with one race to go.
Chris Panczner finished in third to round out the podium. Brent Shearer and Trevor Gach were the rest of the top five.
Results:
1. 14-Jason Swavely[4]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[2]; 3. 15P-Christopher Panczner[8]; 4. 29-Brent Shearer[6]; 5. 16T-Trevor Gach[12]; 6. 17-Brent Ely[1]; 7. 5A-Anthony Yerger[7]; 8. 75K-Jarid Kunkle[5]; 9. 8-Kyle Lick[18]; 10. 97-Billy Logeman[15]; 11. 11Z-Zachary Light[9]; 12. 73-Wyatt Miller[10]; 13. 20S-Nick Skias[3]; 14. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[16]; 15. 13-Ben Freels[20]; 16. 51-Amanda Onimus[17]; 17. 22RW-Michael Rankin[19]; 18. X-Scott Lutz[21]; 19. 75-Brevan Rothermel[14]; 20. 117-Cody West[11]; 21. 71-Brian Kramer[13]; 22. 0K-Pat Kelly[22]; 23. 11H-Holden Eckman[23]
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 13 Races):
1. 23-Bradley Brown[1154]; 2. 97-Billy Logeman[-101]; 3. 14-Jason Swavely[-146]; 4. 29-Brent Shearer[-163]; 5. 11H-Holden Eckman[-397]
“The Rocketman” Jason Swavely claimed his fourth win of the year in the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 division. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Offroad Motorsports 125/4 Stroke
In a nonstop, 25-lap feature for the Offroad Motorsports 125/4 Strokes, York’s Chris Dolan took a big step toward potentially grabbing his first Lanco championship in his final full-time season of micro sprint competition. The driver of the Harrington Motorsports No. 75 led wire-to-wire to score his fifth points win of the year.
Dolan started from the pole and hopped out to a big lead before getting to lapped traffic. Meanwhile, John Maurer was quickly working himself up from the 10th starting position. Maurer took the second spot just prior to halfway, and at that point, was 3.3 seconds behind Dolan’s machine.
But lapped traffic gave Maurer a chance to close the gap in a hurry, and Dolan’s lead dwindled away with each passing lap. At the white flag, Maurer was three car lengths back with a lapped car directly in front of Dolan. Maurer almost made it to the back bumper of the leader entering the final set of turns, but just ran out of time, as Dolan powered off the final corner to hold on by the skin of his teeth.
“I knew starting on the pole, I’d have a good shot at it,” Dolan said. “This place is so fun when it gets slick like that, you really gotta sit back and save your tires… I did not do a good job at saving my tires, so lapped traffic there at the end was kind of tough. I just knew I had to be patient, and I’d eventually find a way through.”
Dolan extended his points lead to 36 over Mike Coen entering the season finale, meaning that a finish of eighth or better next weekend would secure Dolan his first championship.
Behind Dolan and Maurer, Labor Day Shootout winner Brent Shearer came home third, with Trevor Waegel and Coen completing the top five.
Results:
1. 75-Chris Dolan[1]; 2. 82-John Maurer[10]; 3. 76-Brent Shearer[5]; 4. 44S-Trevor Waegel[3]; 5. 26C-Michael Coen[4]; 6. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[7]; 7. X-Dave Schroeder[9]; 8. 78C-Kerry Lengle[13]; 9. 15H-Don Hess[16]; 10. 81-Dylan Holmes[8]; 11. 112-Dylan Yeingst[6]; 12. 14-Seth Gregory[11]; 13. 15-Alyssa Holmes[14]; 14. 3H-Corey Harting[19]; 15. 4W-Brandon Worthington[12]; 16. 21S-Samuel Davenport[15]; 17. 74-Paige Rothermel[20]; 18. 8-Michael Spadafora[17]; 19. 16-Daniel Lane Jr[2]; 20. 73-Andrew Rothermel[18]
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 13 Races):
1. 75-Chris Dolan[1070]; 2. 26C-Michael Coen[-36]; 3. 14-Seth Gregory[-66]; 4. X-Dave Schroeder[-131]; 5. 16-Daniel Lane Jr[-139]
Chris Dolan extended his points lead with a victory in Saturday night’s Offroad Motorsports 125/4 Stroke feature. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
Another week provided another nail-biter in Hyper Racing Wingless 600 competition. It was Kunkletown’s Gunnar Pio making the winning pass on Ryan Groff with four laps remaining to score his fourth win at the Clyde in 2024.
A race that saw three different leaders saw Jace Marshall out in front through the early circuits, as the New Tripoli native was in search of his first Lanco win. However, a lap 10 restart saw Groff pull off a stellar move, as he hung around the tires and slid up in front of Marshall and Pio to take the top spot from third.
With 10 laps to go, Marshall’s race came undone as he went for a wild flip in turns 3 and 4, triggering a four-car pileup. Marshall’s incident led to an open red, as some fence repair was required before the dash to finish.
Once the repairs were completed, an epic battle for the win then took place. Pio threw a slider that almost cleared Groff, but the No. 03 drove it deep into turn 3 to put himself back in the lead. When Pio got a second chance to throw a haymaker, he wouldn’t be denied, as he made the decisive move that Groff couldn’t counter coming to complete lap 21, and then drove off to victory.
“Track was really good tonight, I’m kinda out of words right now,” Pio said. “I thought we were gonna be done, I thought me and Ryan were pretty equal there. I was like ‘man, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to catch him,’ but we ended up catching him there.”
Dominic Schmidt was also able to get around Groff for second, while Groff held off Marty Brian – who charged all the way from 18th – to round out the podium and keep an 11-point lead over the defending track champion. A finish of third or better next Saturday clinches the title for Groff, but any other outcome keeps Brian firmly in the mix. Matt Warner rounded out the top five in Saturday night’s A-Main.
Results:
1. 28P-Gunnar Pio[8]; 2. 08-Dominic Schmidt[6]; 3. 03-Ryan Groff[4]; 4. 16-Marty Brian[18]; 5. 98-Matthew Warner[9]; 6. 8-Kyle Lick[15]; 7. 21-Mason Beinhower[23]; 8. 3-Jesse Maurer[21]; 9. 44-Pat Bealer[1]; 10. 96-Zach Jurcik[12]; 11. 46-BJ Antonio[3]; 12. 1F-James Fries[13]; 13. 10L-Lukas Kostic[17]; 14. 09-Vincent Gueci[19]; 15. 23-Bradley Brown[5]; 16. 76-Jacob Bierman[16]; 17. 3X-Danny Buccafusca[10]; 18. 00-Peyton Knecht[22]; 19. 17-Cole Perez[14]; 20. 2J-Jace Marshall[2]; 21. 2SZ-Zachery Bealer[11]; 22. 83-Gabe Gerber[24]; 23. 12-Cole Cabre[7]; 24. 64-Ronnie Dawson[20]
DNQ: 2-Jakob Stitzel; 3L-Nolen Layser; 18-Jared Lilly; 22H-Fred Heinly; 9-Joe Kepple; 3Y-Zachary Young; 14X-Cole Gerber; 25X-Dan Lane Jr
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 13 Races):
1. 03-Ryan Groff[967]; 2. 16-Marty Brian[-11]; 3. 23-Bradley Brown[-65]; 4. 3-Jesse Maurer[-202]; 5. 08-Dominic Schmidt[-208]
Gunnar Pio got past Ryan Groff with four laps remaining to pick up his fourth win of the year in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Next Saturday, Sept. 21, is the final race of the 2024 season at the Clyde. It is championship night for all five weekly classes, as it will be determined who will join Bradley Brown as track champs for the year. In addition to the regular divisions, the All Star Slingshots will return to the Clyde for their first appearance in two years at the speedway. For kids in attendance, it will also be Trick or Treat Night at the track. Gates will open at 3:30 p.m. for the season finale, with warmups and racing beginning at 5 p.m. With what promises to be a memorable night on tap, don’t miss out on your final chance until next April to come and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!