7.24.21 Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway Results
By Kasey Kreider
If you had watched Daison Pursley compete on Friday and Saturday at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway without knowing any of his background, you would think that he was a seasoned veteran, with thousands upon thousands of laps around the progressively banked bullring. You never would have imagined that Pursley’s only experience at the Clyde was driving a USAC midget, and that that was the extent of his driving experience at any of the racetracks on the 2021 Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek calendar, if he had any experience at all. But after a week where the Locust Grove, OK native went to school competing at some of the best micro sprint tracks in the northeast, he took the field to school on Friday and Saturday at the Clyde, taking home victories in the $2,000-to-win Keizer Wheels Preliminary Night A-Main on Friday and in the $10,000-to-win Rodota Trucking and Excavating Finale on Saturday, giving him a grand total of $12,000 over both days.
But while the night would belong to Daison Pursley, the week would belong to Christian Bruno, as his second-place finish in Saturday’s 50-lap A-Main would be good enough to take the Speedweek title from both Pursley and Colin White. For the third night in a row, White’s evening was filled with turmoil and tremendous resiliency, but it would not be enough to overcome the Deptford, NJ driver’s excellent night, as Bruno would claim the big championship belt.
Warmups would see track points leader Jason Swavely set the quick time of 79 cars vying for the $10,000 grand prize. In time trials, however, it would be Tommy Kunsman giving himself an excellent birthday present by setting the overall quick time of 11.131 seconds. Tim Buckwalter would be quickest of those in the second flight, with a lap of 11.175 seconds. Meanwhile, Friday’s winner and championship contender Daison Pursley could only manage the 16th-quickest time in Flight A, while fellow championship contender Christian Bruno and points leader Colin White would time in sixth and 19th, respectively, in Flight B.
As they had the night prior, the eight heat races on the evening would provide plenty of action. The first heat saw Tommy Kunsman, Neal Allison, and Jarid Kunkle wage a spirited battle for the win, with Kunsman coming out on top. Steven Snyder, Jr., considered one of the favorites for the $10,000 prize, went for a wild ride after being involved in a crash at the start of heat 4, sending him directly into a B-Main. Daison Pursley would start third in that same heat and go on to win it, while Christian Bruno came home second in heat 6, and Colin White took the victory in the seventh heat. In addition to Kunsman, Pursley, and White, Brian Kramer, Preston Lattomus, Logan Rumsey, Brent Shearer, and Kyle Lick picked up victories in the 10-lap heats.
Next would come four 12-lap qualifiers for the top 48 drivers in passing points. The qualifiers would serve as the last opportunity to gain passing points in order to lock into the 50-lap feature. However, while Christian Bruno and Daison Pursley were already locked into the A-Main based off of their top-four finish from Friday, Colin White would have to race his way in. White found himself 16th, right around the cut line between advancing to the A-Main and having to go to a B-Main, prior to the qualifiers.
White would start the qualifier in third, but struggle to make ground during the race, driving a car that was down on power and as a result, needed to be able to make time on the bottom to keep pace. Mired around the fifth position on the final lap, White knew that it would be imperative to take any position he could to improve his odds of making the feature. As Marty Brian took the checkered flag to win the first qualifier, White tried to stick the nose of his car inside of Billy Koch entering turn 3, but the hole closed. White was forced into the tires, sending his car into a wild tumble in through the middle of the corner. The driver was okay, but the car was not. Instantly, work began to try to get the engine from the backup car that White had been piloting into the primary car, no easy task with only a short turnaround between the qualifiers and the B-Mains. While Colin, the crew, and any help they could find thrashed to make the change, Tyler Ulrich, P. J. Williams, and Brenden Bright took victories in the remaining three qualifiers. Good performances from both Pursley and Bruno meant that they would start near the front of the A-Main, while White would simply hope to make it out in time for the B-Main just to keep his title hopes alive.
It seemed very much a question as to whether White and his crew would be able to get out in time for the B-Main or not, as he was lined up in the second of four 15-lap events. But a lengthy delay following Brett Michalski’s incident in the first B-Main would buy White enough time to make it out onto the grid. After Bobby Butler took the checkered flag to win the first B-Main, it was moment of truth time for the No. 6 team. White would have to come from the rear of the 14-car field, and would need to finish in the top five to advance to the Last Chance Showdown. White would have what seemed to be a good start, as he would make passes on the bottom. Then, the caution would fly for two separate flips, one for Nathan Miller on the backstretch and another for Fred Heinly in turn 3. As the field was slowing for the caution, White pulled to the infield, signaling an issue and seemingly signaling the end of his night. However, when a brief open red period was called, White’s crew would have the opportunity to fix the issue on the car and get him back into the race. White was able to rejoin when the drivers re-entered the racetrack, and from there, he methodically worked his way from tenth to finish the B-Main in third, behind winner Austin Quick and runner-up Jarid Kunkle. White would stay alive, and after Gavin Miller and Gavan Boschele won the final two B-Mains, the stage would be set for the Last Chance Showdown.
The Last Chance Showdown would take the top eight finishers to fill in the final eight spots in the A-Main, and Colin White would roll off from tenth. White would once again roll the bottom throughout the course of the race, moving himself comfortably into a transfer spot to the A-Main, something that had seemed nearly impossible just 90 minutes earlier. However, misfortune would once again strike for Steven Snyder, Jr., as he made contact battling with Austin Quick inside of a transfer spot. The contact would cause Snyder, Jr. to fall outside of the top ten, and he would be unable to rally over the closing laps. Bobby Butler would win the showdown for the second straight night, while White would finish third, setting him up for a 21st-place start as he would look to bring home the Speedweek title in unbelievable fashion.
But if White were to take the title, he’d have to get within striking distance of Pursley and Bruno, who would start third and fifth, respectively. Meanwhile, Tommy Kunsman would start on pole, looking to bounce back from a few rough races and celebrate his birthday with $10,000. P. J. Williams would join him on the front row after winning his qualifier, with Logan Rumsey outside Pursley on row two, and Billy Koch outside Bruno on row three.
Kunsman would take the green-flag for the 50-lapper out in front, but it would only take until lap 3 for Friday’s winner to pick up where he left off, as Pursley made his way to the lead and began ripping the top once again. Williams would follow him through to second on the high side, while Bruno would get past Kunsman for third before the race’s first caution on lap 9. Over those eight laps, White had picked up ten spots after starting 21st, but would still have more work to do. With only a six-point lead entering the night, White would have to finish right behind Bruno to take the title, while both drivers would have to keep Pursley in their sights to keep him from leap-frogging them from 22 points back.
Pursley would continue to check out over the next green flag run until his closest challenger, Williams, jumped the cushion and slapped the wall, causing him to slow to a stop and out of the race on lap 24. The field would be re-racked with Pursley and Bruno at the front, Kunsman running third, and Eddie Strada, who had used his provisional to get in and start 15th, up to the fourth position. White, meanwhile, had moved up to eighth. That would make Kunsman’s pass of Bruno on the restart all the more important, as Pursley would check out to another massive lead on the next green flag run. In eleven laps, Pursley had built the gap to just over three-and-a-half seconds before an issue for Jason Swavely brought out the caution with 16 laps to go. A five-car crash in turn 1 would bring the caution back out on the same lap, but the restart that followed saw Strada jump his way into the picture, moving past Kunsman and Bruno and into the runner-up position.
As Reese Nowtarski and Gavin Miller got together and brought the caution back out with 13 laps to go, the championship battle would grow even tighter. Bruno found himself running in fourth, which was good enough to put him one point in front of Pursley for the title as they ran on track. Meanwhile, despite running eighth on track, Colin White would be only three points behind Bruno as they ran, since neither sixth-place runner Brenden Bright nor seventh-place runner Bobby Butler were eligible to compete for points. The only points-competing driver between Bruno and White was fifth-place runner Heath Hehnly, and White would have to get by him and keep Bruno right out in front to take the title.
But instead, White would begin to backslide, while Bruno would get past Kunsman and retake the third position. White lost positions to both Preston Lattomus and Rumsey prior to the race’s final caution with eight laps to go, and saw his title hopes begin to fade away. With that, it came down to Bruno. If he could finish in the top four, he would be the champion. If not, the title would go to Pursley, who seemed to be in cruise control on his way to the $10,000 prize. On the final restart, Bruno would leave no doubt. He would work his way under Strada to take over the second spot. From there, Bruno would hit his marks to close in on the championship.
Pursley had done all he could. He would lead the final 48 laps, set a commanding fastest lap of the race at 11.228 seconds, and stretch his margin of victory to 2.849 seconds over the final eight laps. He would flat out dominate on his way to taking home the $10,000 check. But Bruno would drive as he had all week, steady and consistent, on his way to bringing home his championship-clinching runner-up result. A crash on Tuesday at Bridgeport had been the only blip of an otherwise rock-solid week for Bruno, which featured a third-place finish at Greenwood Valley on Monday and runner-up results each of the final two nights, allowing him to clinch the title by 11 points over Pursley. Bruno had been no stranger to adversity as well, destroying his car in an accident at Action Track USA about a month before Speedweek. Bruno drove a borrowed car to victory on the 4th of July at the Clyde while a new chassis was being built. Just a few weeks into its existence, that new chassis would ride with Bruno all the way to a Speedweek championship.
Strada would come home third, making the podium finishers exactly the same as the night prior. Kunsman would finish in fourth with Butler rounding out the top five. Meanwhile, White’s unbelievable Speedweek would conclude with an eighth-place finish, but one that would leave him third in the championship standings after leading the points for most of the week. There would be no shame, but still disappointment in the loss. In a classy move, White was one of the first to congratulate Bruno in victory lane on his Speedweek title, while Bruno, along with Pursley, Strada, and Speedweek organizer Austin Quick would spray some champagne in celebration of an awesome Speedweek finale.
Next Saturday, July 31st will be the granddaddy of them all, the Clyde Martin Memorial and Throwback Night Presented by Gold Rush Trailer Sales. The event will feature 35-lap features for all four regular classes and serve as a double-points-paying event. Please note that this is a members-only race, and drivers eligible to compete must have attempted at least 50% of the points-paying events at the Clyde this season. The list of eligible drivers is available on the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway website. Gates will open at 4:30, with warmups and racing beginning at 6:00. Don’t miss out on one of the biggest races of the season. Come out for yourself to LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek A-Main (50 Laps):
1. 71k-Daison Pursley
2. 17m-Christian Bruno
3. 1e-Eddie Strada
4. 21k-Tommy Kunsman
5. 4b-Bobby Butler
6. 7gx-Brenden Bright
7. 66-Billy Koch
8. 6-Colin White
9. 72-Heath Hehnly
10. 71m-Gavin Miller
11. 41-Logan Rumsey
12. 93-Matt Carr
13. 10m-Preston Lattomus
14. 10x-Reese Nowtarski
15. 14g-Connor Gross
16. 20-James Morris
17. 51-Chris Gerhart
18. 15-Marty Brian (-1L)
19. 42u-Tyler Ulrich (-1L)
20. 28q-Austin Quick (-1L)
21. 71t-Tim Buckwalter (DNF)
22. 11z-Kyle Lick (DNF)
23. 14-Jason Swavely (DNF)
24. 29-P. J. Williams (DNF)
25. 15n-Neal Allison (DNF)
26. R7G-Gavan Boschele (DNF)