4.10.21 Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway Results
Perhaps the word of the night on what turned out to be a wild, action-packed opening points night of the 2021 season was patience. All four of Saturday night’s victors had to patiently battle their way through the field of leaders, through lapped traffic, and in some cases, both at the same time. But when all was said and done, Toby Blumenshine and T. J. Greve made trips to victory lane for the second time in as many weekends, winning the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman and 270 features, respectively. Nick Skias pulled off a grand slam of sorts in the Hyper Racing 600s, setting the quick time in hot laps, winning his heat race, and taking the checkers in the 25-lap main event while also turning the fastest lap of the race. Meanwhile, Justin Harrington bounced back after jumping the initial start to take home the win in the 125/4 Stroke division.
The heat races throughout all four divisions were especially calm, allowing the feature racing to begin just as the sun had set over the picturesque Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. However, the 2021 debut of the newly-rebranded Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division set the tone for the wild feature racing action that was to come.
An inversion pill of 9 put Clinton Hauser, the fifth-place finisher from his heat race earlier in the night, on the pole position, with Max Fasnacht lining up to his outside. Hauser got away nicely on the opening start of the race, but the start was short-lived, as Jamie Flickinger clipped the infield tires at the exit of turn 2, sending the car into a massive flip which saw it go multiple feet into the air before landing back on all four tires. Flickinger was uninjured, but the car was significantly damaged.
The ensuing restart saw Hauser once again get away to the point, with Corey Schmuck, Jr. getting through to second before another quick caution on lap 2. The lap 2 restart saw Bret Cronrath work his way into the picture, as a big outside move got the No. 5 through to the second position after initially starting the race in seventh. It was Hauser who was able to set sail during the opening laps, but then the first twinge of attrition, which also became a theme for the night, set in. Hauser’s car slowed and crawled to a stop at the exit of turn 4, putting the field under caution and putting Hauser out of the event after leading the first seven circuits. Bret Cronrath inherited the lead, with Schmuck, Jr. second and Blumenshine, who had started the night fifth, in the third spot.
However, last week’s wingless 270 winner would not stay there for long. Blumenshine powered to the inside of Schmuck, Jr.’s No. 26 on lap 13, and four laps later made a similar inside move on Cronrath to take over the race lead. Cronrath would have a mechanical issue a lap later, pulling his ill race car into the infield and putting Schmuck, Jr. to second, but the Lititz, PA native wouldn’t stay there, either. His car sputtered to a stop with four laps to go, setting up a late restart with Blumenshine out front and Robert Shanaman up to second. From there on, it was déjà vu all over again for Blumenshine, who pulled away to a comfortable advantage on the last restart, just as he had seven days prior, to cruise home to the checkered flag.
The native of Reinholds, PA came home 1.215 seconds ahead of the second-place Shanaman, with defending champ Mike Kreiser, winner of one of the two heats from earlier in the night, rounding out the podium. Dave Ravel made a few huge moves on restarts and carved his way from 20th to an outstanding 4th-place effort, while Chad Kreiser brought home the rest of the top five. Courtney Kupp took home the other heat race victory of the night and rebounded from an early issue to finish in the 10th spot. Bret Cronrath turned the fastest lap of the race, 11.044 seconds, prior to his lap 18 mechanical woes.
For the second time in as many weekends, Tyler Ulrich would start on pole for the Hyper Racing 600 feature, as the inversion pill of 2 flip-flopped the front row between he and fellow heat race winner Ryan Groff. Nick Skias, winner of the third heat, would line up third, with last week’s wingless 600 winner Jason Swavely completing the first two rows.
The start of the main event saw the second first-lap rollover in as many races, this time at the expense of William Urkuski. Ulrich held onto the race lead on the initial start, but wouldn’t hold it on the second or third attempts, as Ryan Groff used outside momentum to get by on both occasions, with the latter being the one that counted. What followed was a fierce three-car battle for the lead between Groff, Swavely, and Jarid Kunkle, who had worked his way from eighth on the grid. Skias ran in fourth while Ulrich slipped back into the clutches of Logan Rumsey at the outskirts of the top five. Groff, Swavely, and Kunkle ran nose-to-tail-to-nose-to-tail down the straightaways, fanning out in the corners and through lapped traffic. After Groff paced the first ten laps, Swavely finally made his move under at the exit of turn 4 in lapped traffic, squeezing just in front of Groff off the corner.
It seemed that Swavely, this time sporting “the pink panther” colors of his winged 600 ride, would be destined to start the season two-for-two. But on lap 19, the mechanical gremlins reared their heads once again, as Swavely’s car lost power in turns 3 and 4. Jarid Kunkle would inherit the lead, but his time at the front would only last two laps. Skias, who had bided his time and worked his way past Groff for second, dove to the bottom of Kunkle in turn 1, slid up and slammed the door shut on Kunkle at the exit of turn 2, causing Kunkle to bobble and crack out of the throttle, and giving Skias all the room he needed to scamper away and lead the final five laps.
Skias, of Wernersville, PA, pulled away to a final gap of 1.836 seconds for the victory. Skias left almost nothing left to be desired on the night, as his lap time of 10.608 seconds was best of anyone in the feature. This gave Skias the fastest hot lap time and the fastest lap in the feature, in addition to his heat and feature race wins. Kunkle and Groff would hang on for second and third, respectively, while Heath Hehnly began his quest for championship number nine with a quiet, yet impressive 12th to 4th-place run. Logan Rumsey, winner at Linda’s Speedway the night prior, finished off the top five.
There was no questioning the speed of Justin Harrington’s No. 76 machine in the 125/4 Stroke class, especially if last week’s run by Brent Shearer and hot laps from earlier in the evening were any indication. But it would be far from smooth sailing for the Manheim, PA native. The eventual feature winner came home second to Mike Coen in the second heat race, but the inversion pill of 6 meant that Harrington would line up on the front row alongside polesitter Ron Crossley, who was piloting the car that T. J. Greve had driven to the wingless 125/4 Stroke win over Shearer seven days before. Alex Lukacs would line up third with heat race winners Sara Borror, Coen, and Cliff Brian, Jr. completing rows one through three.
Harrington lined up second, but fired off before Crossley did on the initial start. Race officials deemed that Harrington had jumped the start, and therefore would have to move back a row for the second attempt. This moved Lukacs to the front row, and the pilot of the No. 44x would take full advantage, moving past Crossley and into the race lead by the time the field came around to complete the first lap. It wasn’t long, however, before Harrington moved into the runner-up position, bringing Brian, Jr. with him and through to third. Harrington and Brian, Jr. battled for the second spot, making contact at one point which resulted in Brian, Jr. losing momentum, and the third position to Mike Coen.
Harrington began reeling Lukacs in for the race lead, but lapped traffic proved a little more challenging for the driver in pursuit. That all changed when a lap 10 caution for a multi-car incident in turn 1 closed Harrington right to Lukacs’ back bumper and set the stage for a pivotal restart. Harrington was able to swoop from the outside of the front row to the inside of Lukacs off the exit of turn 4, completing the pass on the inside of turn 1. Harrington had to endure a few more cautions in the following laps, which included a lap 14 incident for Coen just after he had taken over the runner-up position. Harrington appeared to be cruising to victory until Tyler Martin and Cliff Brian, Sr. tangled with two laps to go, setting up a green-white-checkered shootout. The single file restart saw Lukacs hound the back bumper of Harrington’s car through the first few sets of corners, before Harrington scooted away coming to the white flag.
Harrington’s final margin of victory was 0.936 seconds back to Lukacs, with Cliff Brian, Jr., Chase Layser, and Ron Crossley completing the top five. Harrington also ran the race’s fastest lap, with a quick time of 11.463 seconds.
In last weekend’s wingless 270 feature, T. J. Greve was slated to start on pole, but a mechanical issue prior to the green flag sent him to the rear of the field. Greve was able to make a fierce charge up to third, but one had to wonder what would have happened if Greve had been able to start from the front.
There would be no need to wonder this week, as an inversion pill draw of 3 inverted the three heat race winners at the front of the field. T. J. Greve would once again line up on pole, with Bradley Brown second and Matt Fernsler third.
Greve was able to lead the field to the green flag, but the bigger story was the one beginning to unfold behind him. Pete Skias was looking for his second win in as many nights after taking the checkers at Linda’s Speedway on Friday night. The veteran made a savvy move from eighth to fourth on one of the early starts, and by lap 4 was able to bypass Bradley Brown for second, setting his sights on the Hartly, DE driver. Skias began reeling in Greve by running the top side, and by lap 10 had closed the gap and made his move. Skias took over the race lead, but in the process was catching the tail of the field. As the leaders came off turn 2 a lap later, Skias attempted to lap to the outside of Jack Redcay’s car. Redcay, not appearing to realize that Skias was coming through on the outside, pinched Skias’ machine into the wall. The No. 3 rode the wall down the remainder of the backstretch and off into turn 3 before digging in and flipping over, coming to rest in front of a stunned audience at the center of the corner. Skias was uninjured, but the bid to win on back-to-back nights would have to wait.
T. J. Greve was able to sneak through the incident on the inside, and re-inherited the lead for the restart, with Heath Hehnly to his outside. Greve was able to quickly clear his new challenger, while Jason Swavely made a big three-wide move to slot his No. 92 in the third spot. From there, Hehnly and Swavely would stage an epic battle for the runner-up position over the race’s final 20 laps, but it was out of sight, out of mind for Greve, as he drove to a 2.313-second victory over Hehnly, who held off Swavely for the silver spot. Bradley Brown and defending champion Mike Rutherford completed the top five. Prior to his accident, Pete Skias clocked in the fastest lap of the race, with a time of 11.108 seconds.
Next Saturday, April 17th at the Clyde will be Yuri’s Night/World Space Party Night. To celebrate the night, glow sticks will be given out to all kids in attendance. The All Star Slingshots will join the party as well, making their 2021 season debut in addition to the four weekly sprint classes. The gates will open at 4:30, with warm ups and racing set to begin at 6:00. On what promises to be a very bright and very exciting night of racing, come out next Saturday to LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 21-Toby Blumenshine
2) 15-Robert Shanaman
3) 77-Mike Kreiser
4) 21v-Dave Ravel
5) 99k-Chad Kreiser
6) 21d-Dave Williams
7) 20-Max Fasnacht
8) 16-Brianne Cronrath-Witmer
9) 53s-Shannon Slaughter
10) 23k-Courtney Kupp
11) 8-Michael Spadafora
12) 16p-Patrick Kirn
13) 36s-Steve Smith, Sr.
14) 13b-Matt Yoh, II (-1L)
15) 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr. (DNF)
16) 4-Broc Emery (DNF)
17) 5-Bret Cronrath (DNF)
18) 53-Jared St. John (DNF)
19) 22-Clinton Hauser (DNF)
20) 22j-Raymond Ohlinger (DNF)
21) 9g-Jamie Flickinger (DNF)
Hyper Racing 600 A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 7-Nick Skias
2) 75k-Jarid Kunkle
3) 03-Ryan Groff
4) 5-Heath Hehnly
5) 41-Logan Rumsey
6) 24t-T. J. Greve
7) 71-Brian Kramer
8) 42u-Tyler Ulrich
9) 3-Jesse Maurer
10) 11h-Holden Eckman
11) 51-Chris Gerhart
12) 15p-Chris Panczner
13) 23-Bradley Brown
14) 2s-Mike Rutherford
15) 11z-Zach Light
16) 1e-Aaron Espenshade
17) 17-Brent Ely
18) 15-Marty Brian
19) 98-Keith Blumenstein, Jr. (-1L)
20) 9-Joe Kepple (DNF)
21) 14-Jason Swavely (DNF)
22) 7w-Jayden Wolf (DNF)
23) 75-Mark Yoder (DNF)
24) 39-Olivia Thayer (DNF)
25) 1-William Urkuski (DNF)
125/4 Stroke A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 76-Justin Harrington
2) 44x-Alex Lukacs
3) 99-Cliff Brian, Jr.
4) 7L-Chase Layser
5) 55c-Ron Crossley
6) 16c-Cliff Brian, Sr.
7) 32-Michael Hoffmaster
8) 19-Matt Fernsler
9) 26-Tyler Martin
10) 82-Jesse Maurer
11) 11h-Holden Eckman
12) 78c-Sara Borror (-1L)
13) 78-Jarrid Hellinger (-1L)
14) 1st-Jared St. John (-2L)
15) 15-Alyssa Holmes (-2L)
16) 17-Masen Stapleton (-2L)
17) 3x-Kenny Bushey (DNF)
18) 44-Riley Simmons (DNF)
19) 26c-Mike Coen (DNF)
20) 112-Dylan Yeingst (DNF)
21) 04-Sam Borger (DNF)
22) 53n-Ben Newmaster (DNF)
23) 81-Dylan Holmes (DNF)
24) 7d-Chris Dolan (DNF)
25) 28-Kyle Lindsey (DNS)
270 A-Main (25 Laps):
1) 52T-T. J. Greve
2) 82-Heath Hehnly
3) 92-Jason Swavely
4) 23-Bradley Brown
5) 27o-Mike Rutherford
6) 26-Corey Schmuck, Jr.
7) 3s-Nick Skias
8) 21d-Dave Williams
9) 34-Christi Sweigart
10) 19-Matt Fernsler
11) 5a-Anthony Yerger
12) 8s-Mike Skias
13) 22j-Josh Ohlinger
14) 4k-Trent Eberhart (-1L)
15) 7L-Chase Layser (-1L)
16) 91-Jack Redcay (DNF)
17) 3-Pete Skias (DNF)
18) 49w-Jonathan West (DNF)
19) 48-Jonah Meck (DNF)
20) 55x-Jimmy Wampole (DNF)
21) 96w-Chase Walker (DNF)
22) 1L-Dave Labe (DNS)
23) 22-Clinton Hauser (DNS)