7.23.21 Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway Results
By Kasey Kreider
At a fast, tight bullring such as the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, it oftentimes takes a driver who is willing to straddle the edge between control and chaos in order to pick up a victory. On a racetrack that featured a big cushion and produced even bigger excitement, no driver was able to walk the proverbial tightrope better than young hot shoe Daison Pursley. The Oklahoma “invader,” who entered the evening with prior experience driving a USAC midget at the speedway, was able to rip the top like no other en route to a dominating, wire-to-wire victory on Keizer Wheels Preliminary Night, bagging $2,000 for himself in the process and establishing himself as a clear favorite for Saturday night’s $10,000 prize. The win also put Pursley within striking distance for the overall Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek championship, as Colin White’s tumultuous night allowed closest challenger Christian Bruno to close the gap to six points entering the finale, with Pursley just 22 markers back in third.
The evening began with warmups, as 86 cars signed in to compete for 26 A-Main spots, with the $2,000 grand prize slated to go to the winner. On the very final lap of warmups, Florida’s Easton Lebo turned in the quick time of the session, seemingly establishing himself as a threat for a quick time in time trials. However, it would instead be Rising Sun, MD’s Steven Snyder, Jr., the winner from Wednesday at Action Track USA and the quick-timer from Spirit Auto Center Speedway in Bridgeport on Tuesday, going fastest of anyone in the time trial session. Snyder, Jr. was fastest overall with his lap of 11.039 seconds, while Billy Koch was fastest of the drivers in the other flight.
With the top 24 timers in each flight being inverted, the fastest drivers in the session would have to come from sixth in their heat races in order to accrue passing points, as the top 18 in passing points at the conclusion of the heats would lock themselves into the 35-lap main event. The eight heat races that followed would see a hearty combination of both thrills and spills. Heat 4 would see Olivia Haworth, who was celebrating her 17th birthday, go for the wildest and scariest ride of the night, as her car violently tumbled down the frontstretch after battling wheel-to-wheel for the race lead. Haworth would walk away unharmed but frustrated, as her night would come to an early end. Meanwhile, heat 6 would see some of the best racing of the year so far, as Daison Pursley, Christian Bruno, and Neal Allison engaged in an epic three-car, and oftentimes three-wide, battle for the win. Ultimately, Pursley would come out on top, which gave him the highest point total for the evening and set his Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 71k on pole for the A-Main. In addition to Pursley, Brian Kramer, Easton Lebo, Heath Hehnly, Jarid Kunkle, Alex Ruppert, James Morris, and Kyle Lick all picked up heat race victories on the evening.
In the midst of all that, however, a subplot was beginning to develop involving championship leader Colin White. White entered the evening with a 41-point lead over his closest championship challenger in Christian Bruno, but was in a backup car following issues at Linda’s on Thursday. After having issues in warmups, White could only lay down the 33rd-fastest lap time among those in his time trial flight. Although White was able to rally from ninth to fourth in his heat race, the effort was still only good enough to put him 24th in passing points, relegating him to a B-Main for the second straight night.
White would roll off in B-Main number 2, but the format would be different than the prior nights of Speedweek. Instead of taking the top two finishers from each of the four B-Mains directly to the feature, the top five finishers of each B-Main would instead transfer to the Last Chance Showdown, where the top eight finishers from that race would transfer to the main event. After Bobby Butler took the win in B-Main number 1 to lock his spot in the Last Chance Showdown, all eyes would turn to White, who would start on the outside of the front row for the second 15-lap B-Main. On the start, disaster struck, as White was sent spinning like a top after banging wheels with another competitor in turn 4. Somehow, the rest of the field managed not to hit White’s spinning car, and he would tack on at the back, now with more work to do. The adversity would continue on the next restart, as White would spin while trying to avoid a pileup on the backstretch. White would again escape damage, but with the three-strike rule, was out of mulligans and could not afford to get involved in another incident. Slowly but surely, White was able to settle in, and by using the bottom line, worked his way up into a transfer spot in what would be a wild B-Main, with only six of 14 starters finishing. White would finish second behind B-Main winner Jesse Maurer, and along with fellow B-Main winners Tommy Kunsman and Reese Nowtarski, would transfer to the Last Chance Showdown.
The Last Chance Showdown would be far less eventful for White, as he was able to work his way from sixth to second and comfortably transfer behind winner Bobby Butler. Quick timer of Flight B Billy Koch, who had been relegated to the Showdown following heat race issues, would attempt a slider on Chris Gerhart for the eighth and final transfer spot in the final corner, but the former track champion would cross him back over to hang on, and send one of the fastest cars on the evening back to the trailer early.
With that, the stage would be set for the 26-car, 35-lap, $2,000-to-win main event. Daison Pursley, who had spent the week getting a Pennsylvania racing education, would have no better teacher for Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway than the driver sharing the front row with him. Heath Hehnly, who had struggled the first few nights but had found his footing with a third-place finish at Linda’s on Thursday, would roll off for the feature from position number two. Young gun Alex Ruppert and former Speedweek race winner Kyle Lick would make up the second row, while quick-timer Steven Snyder, Jr. would have to come from 11th on the starting grid. Meanwhile, after all the chaos of the night so far, Colin White would actually start two positions better than where he had the night prior at Linda’s, when he started 22nd and rallied for an eighth-place finish. White would still start a whopping 11 spots behind Christian Bruno, however, putting his championship lead in serious jeopardy. Trouble for Easton Lebo, the quick-timer in warmups and 18th-place starter, would mean that he would have to start from the rear, slotting White into the 19th spot for the race’s initial green flag. From there, the race would be on.
The first three lap spurt of the race would see Pursley break away to the lead, despite an early challenge from Ruppert. But White and Eddie Strada would be the drivers to watch, as they would roll the bottom on the opening laps and carve their way up the running order. When the first caution flew on lap 4 for a three-car entanglement between Tommy Kunsman, Brian Kramer, and Chris Gerhart, White had already made up nine positions, from 19th to tenth, while Strada had moved to eighth after starting 15th. White would still be a magnet for drama, though, as he and Matt Carr would make contact on the restart, with Carr sliding to a stop on the frontstretch and White getting away unharmed.
At the front, Pursley would have to hold off more punches from Ruppert and Jason Swavely, but would find his line at the top, right next to the cushion, and would check out to an astonishing three-second lead over the next six laps. Alec Quiggle’s spin in turn 3 would set the stage for a wild lap 10 restart, which featured separate incidents involving both of the top championship combatants. First, White, who had moved up to seventh, would clip a tire on the restart, causing him to nearly spin through the infield, while losing almost all of the positions that he had gained. However, White would be bailed out when Bruno and Swavely tangled off of turn 2, which sent Swavely’s car hard into the outside guardrail and left him furious with the pilot of the No. 17m. The caution would give White an opportunity to rerack from the sixth spot, and on the next green flag run, he would put on a masterful drive up to second, staying loyal and patient on the bottom while Pursley continued to rip the lip out in front.
Mike Rutherford’s turn 2 spin with 16 laps to go would reset the lineup once more, and erase what had been a two-second gap between Pursley and White at the front. Bruno, in the meantime, had rallied his way up to third, leaving White sandwiched by his two championship combatants. Connor Gross and Hehnly would run fourth and fifth, with Strada having moved into the sixth position. Strada would have a blinding restart on the top, almost moving up to the runner-up spot, but Gavan Boschele’s spin would wash away the attempt, and make it a single file restart the next time. Despite being so good on the top, Pursley knew that the bottom was the way to go through the first set of corners as the car wound up to full song, and he would give White no opportunity to get by on the restart. The race appeared as if it may run green to the end from there, with Pursley clearly in command. But with three laps remaining, Bobby Butler went for a slide in turn 1, forcing birthday boy Mike Fry to wave the caution flag, and set up a frantic sprint to the finish line.
The single-file restart would see Pursley break away once again to the lead, but the drama on the final run, as it had been most of the night, would be focused on White. Bruno would move to the inside of White on the restart, but it became apparent that White had bigger issues to deal with. As he passed the flag stand with two laps to go, it was evident that something had broken on the right front corner of the race car, making it impossible for White to keep pace at the front. As White would drop through the field and see valuable points flutter away, Pursley would come out of turn 4 to see the twin checkers and pick up a dominating victory, in which he became the first driver to win a race during the week after starting in a top three position. The Locust Grove, OK native came home with a 1.849-second margin of victory, and also ran the race’s fastest lap at 11.085 seconds. Bruno would come home in second, with Strada charging to complete the podium. Meanwhile Gross, who had started the week going out of the ballpark at Greenwood Valley Action Track, ensured that he would finish the week as a part of the $10,000-to-win A-Main on Saturday, as the top four finishers grabbed guaranteed spots into Saturday’s finale. Hehnly would complete the top five, turning in another stout performance in his Groff Motorsports entry.
Meanwhile, after rallying from 19th to second, White would have to settle for and salvage an 11th-place finish. White lost roughly 40 points as he dropped over the final few laps, and as a result, his points lead entering the finale dwindled to just six over Bruno, with Pursley just 22 points back of White following his victory. Although White controls his own destiny entering the finale, Bruno would only need to beat White by two or three positions in Saturday’s A-Main to take the title, with Pursley far from out of it despite needing a little more help.
Saturday, July 24th will be the Rodota Trucking and Excavating Finale for Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. The winner of the A-Main will take home $10,000, while Colin White, Christian Bruno, and Daison Pursley will conclude their fight to be crowned champion of the 2021 Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek. Admission sales will begin at 3:30, with warmups slated to start at 5:30. General admission will be $10.00, while pit admission will be $35.00. As a reminder to those who purchased a two-day pit pass, you must have your wristband from Friday and be wearing it to be admitted for Saturday. With everything on the line, you will not want to miss this opportunity to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek A-Main (35 Laps):
1. 71k-Daison Pursley
2. 17m-Christian Bruno
3. 1e-Eddie Strada
4. 14g-Connor Gross
5. 72-Heath Hehnly
6. 10x-Reese Nowtarski
7. 71m-Gavin Miller
8. 21s-Steven Snyder, Jr.
9. 21k-Tommy Kunsman
10. 75-Jarid Kunkle
11. 6-Colin White
12. 11z-Kyle Lick
13. 5-Alex Ruppert
14. R7G-Gavan Boschele
15. 20-James Morris
16. 7gx-Brenden Bright
17. 15n-Neal Allison
18. 10m-Preston Lattomus (-1L)
19. 101e-Easton Lebo (-1L)
20. 4b-Bobby Butler (DNF)
21. 23q-Alec Quiggle (DNF)
22. 2s-Mike Rutherford (DNF)
23. 14-Jason Swavely (DNF)
24. 93-Matt Carr (DNF)
25. 71-Brian Kramer (DNF)
26. 51-Chris Gerhart (DNF)
Point Standings:
Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Point Standings (Top 10):
1. 6-Colin White (417)
2. 17m-Christian Bruno (-6)
3. 71k-Daison Pursley (-22)
4. 21s-Steven Snyder, Jr. (-73)
5. 71-Tim Buckwalter (-99)
6. 14g-Connor Gross (-120)
7. 21k-Tommy Kunsman (-133)
8. 14-Jason Swavely (-148)
9. 23q-Alec Quiggle (-161)
10. z17-Michael Nolf (-162)