8.27.22 Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway Results
By Kasey Kreider
The final racing event of August at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway brought out a usual mixture of veterans and young drivers alike for the Back to School Night/Jerry Root Memorial Event. With school starting up for many kids, backpacks were given away to children in attendance at the speedway during intermission. And in tribute to Jerry Root, a former car owner and long-time supporter of the Clyde who passed away in January, the hard charger of each of the night’s five feature events would be given a $100 bonus. But additionally, five more checkered flags would be given to the evening’s feature event winners, with a healthy dosage of both first-time winners and former track champions finding the winner’s circle.
In the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s, Matt Donley fended off challenges from both Garyt Smith and Bradley Brown to become the third straight first-time winner in the division at the Clyde. The Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman division saw Toby Blumenshine take advantage of a bit of misfortune for Jason Swavely to find the winner’s circle once again. In the 270s, Mike Rutherford turned in a performance that brought back shades of years past, as he dominated the 25-lap feature. The 125/4 Stroke feature saw a similarly dominant performance from a first-time Lanco winner in John Maurer. And the Hyper Racing Winged 600s saw likely the night’s best battle, as Jesse Maurer passed Will Urkuski and held off Jason Swavely in the closing laps to score an exciting feature win.
Matt Donley won his heat race and drew the pole position for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 feature. As he led off the start, a chain reaction incident took place that eliminated three of the drivers starting near the front in Dominic Foster, Jesse Maurer, and last week’s winner Alex Ruppert, who exited with a cut left rear tire. A much cleaner second start saw Donley break away to the top spot again, with Garyt Smith quickly moving his way into second.
With the bottom being dominant around the speedway, Donley had to keep a steady line to fend off any challenge from behind. Smith dogged the tail tank of Donley’s machine for most of the first half of the race, before one slight error in turn 1 cost him some ground. Smith may have made a little contact with Donley while trying to have a peek to the bottom entering the corner, and that sent Smith’s car up over the infield tires and momentarily through the infield as he tried to rejoin safely onto the track. Smith did just that, but gave up second to Bradley Brown in the process, who then also began reeling in the No. 15D at the front.
Brown reached Donley’s back bumper through the closing laps, looking for anywhere possible to make a move. Brown’s best opportunity came as Donley got tangled up with a lapped car coming out of turn 4, giving Brown the opportunity to poke a nose inside. But Donley was able to fend off the attack, and held on to the lead. Over the final couple of laps, Brown tried all he could to build a good enough run off of corner exit to make a move happen, but Donley had no more bobbles, and would hold on to take the checkered flag.
The win was Donley’s first at Lanco, as he joined Ruppert and Mason Beinhower as fellow first-time winners in the division over the past few weeks. The champion-to-be Brown had to settle for second, with Smith completing the podium, and Brian Kramer leading Beinhower across the line to complete the top five.
Heat races were won by Donley and Brown.
Prior to the features for the evening, a “Cash Dash” was held for the Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman competitors courtesy of Mike Knappenberger and the Race Chasing Award Fund. The event included the top two finishers from each heat race, provided they had the Race Chasing stickers on their cars, and the six-lap event paid extra bonus money to all of its participants, with the winner receiving $100. Bret Cronrath drew the pole for the event and led all six circuits to win the event and affirm himself as one of the favorites for the evening’s feature.
In the main event, the Sportsmans were brought to green by Brett Sculley and Jason Swavely, with Swavely taking the lead on the opening lap in one of his rare Sportsman appearances. As Swavely led, the battles were on at mid-pack, and Cash Dash winner and points leader Cronrath stole the show in the excitement category, as his car biked up on two wheels through turns 3 and 4. Thankfully for Cronrath, his car settled down on all fours, but he had lost some of the track position he gained on the start, and he would have to go back to work.
For the majority of the race, things seemed to be well within Swavely’s control, while the usual suspects all tried to throw their hat into the ring by charging their way toward the front. Toby Blumenshine moved from ninth to second, Cronrath rallied back up to third following his near disaster, and Corey Schmuck, Jr. also moved into the top five coming from 12th on the grid.
The complexion of the race changed though on lap 19 as Swavely, who appeared to just miss an incident between two lapped cars in front of him, then came to a stop at the other end of the racetrack with an issue of his own. His problems allowed Blumenshine to inherit the lead, and set the stage for a whole new battle at the front of the field.
On the first restart, Cronrath appeared to be a little quicker than Blumenshine, and seemed as if he was setting up the Reinholds, PA driver for a move over the final few laps. But the caution flew again with five laps remaining, and on the ensuing restart, Blumenshine was able to put a few car lengths on the defending champ, and that would be all he needed to hang on for the win.
Blumenshine continued his string of good fortune by picking up another victory, while Cronrath came home second but extended his points lead over the third-place finisher Schmuck, Jr. Robert Shanaman ran a clean and solid race to bring the No. 15 home in fourth, while Anthony Yerger rounded out the top five.
The heat races were won by Swavely, Yerger, and Tyler Martin.
The front row for the 270 feature was shared by the drivers who had combined to win every 270 championship since 2011 at the Clyde, as Mike Rutherford started on pole with Nick Skias to his outside. It was Jonah Meck, however, who got past Skias on the start and stayed there, running in the second spot while Rutherford pulled away in the early laps. A quick caution was followed by a long green-flag run that lasted the majority of the race, and the domination of Mike Rutherford on this evening was clear from the word go, as he built up a multi-second lead before hitting lapped traffic, and kept that advantage while working through the lapped cars.
Meck was running comfortably in second and appeared on his way to a career-best result, but his luck would start to turn sour after an incident between himself and a lapped car brought out the caution with seven laps left. Although Meck was able to keep second, the wing on his car had suffered some damage. Meck then would get shuffled out on the next restart, falling out of a podium place.
Nick Skias took advantage of a wild restart to line up in second when the caution flew again just a lap later, but it would be his brother, Mike Skias, who got past him on the next restart. Needing every point he could get in the title fight, the pass of his younger brother was a crucial one for Mike. But nobody would be passing Mike Rutherford on this night, as a trying season gave way to a performance a little more fitting of the “Master of the Micros.”
Rutherford picked up his third win of the season, and his second in a points-paying event. Mike Skias came home in second to close the gap to Bradley Brown at the top of the point standings, with Nick Skias finishing third and Andrew Dietrich beating Noah Martin to the line to cap off the top five. Brown salvaged a seventh-place finish in the feature behind the wheel of Pete Skias’ No. 3, as the ride had been offered to Brown by the Skias family after Brown’s Gold Rush No. 82 had suffered a broken frame in a heat race incident. The act of sportsmanship kept the points battle close, with Brown now leading Mike Skias by 28 points with two races remaining.
Heat races were won by Dietrich and Christi Sweigart.
After a dominating heat race performance, John Maurer started on the pole for the 125/4 Stroke feature. In pursuit of his first win, Maurer pulled away off the start from second-place starter Dylan Yeingst, who settled into that position but had a fight on his hands for it throughout the entire 25-lap event.
Defending champion Justin Harrington, along with the two current championship contenders in Billy Logeman and Matt Fernsler, all took their turns trying to find a way past Yeingst for that runner-up position. Around halfway, Logeman ran into trouble, as his car began losing power and he fell back through the field. While Logeman was able to keep the car limping around the track, he seemed poised to lose a good chunk of the points lead that he had built up over Fernsler, who was in the mix of that three-car battle for second all the way until the final lap.
But then Fernsler had a problem of his own, as he came to a stop under the flagstand on the final lap of the race, bringing out the caution and setting up a one-lap shootout to settle things. Maurer had been that close to picking up a flawless first victory, but needed to endure one final restart to seal the deal. On the jump, Maurer was able to gap Yeingst by a few car lengths, and that was all he needed to hold on for the final eighth-mile and make that first win a reality.
Maurer came across the line first, while Harrington drag-raced Yeingst to the finish for second, beating him by just 0.009 seconds for the runner-up spot. Yeingst still came home with a great effort in third, and great runs were also had by the drivers in fourth and fifth, as Riley Simmons and Sam Borger completed the top five. Despite the chaos for both drivers, Logeman and Fernsler would finish nose-to-tail in the final rundown in 15th and 16th, allowing Logeman to keep his large lead intact at the top of the standings.
Heat races were won by Maurer and Toby Blumenshine.
John Maurer checked out to the lead on the start and then held off the rest of the 125/4 Stroke field on a one-lap shootout to take his first Lanco win. (Photo Courtesy of Keegan Simmons Photos)
Will Urkuski led the final feature of the night to green in the Hyper Racing Winged 600s. After a season filled with nothing but bad luck, the fortunes seemed to be changing for Urkuski, as he won his heat race, drew the pole position, and then showed the way through the beginning of the feature. As Urkuski, Jesse Maurer, and Brent Ely ran in the top three, the championship contenders Jason Swavely and Bradley Brown engaged themselves in an exciting battle for fourth, a battle that continued even after an early yellow flag.
Eventually, Swavely got past Brown, then Ely, and put himself into the three-car battle for the win between himself, Urkuski, and Maurer, a battle that lasted until the end of the race. Both Maurer and Swavely had gotten past Urkuski on the top side on a restart, but a caution that flew on the same lap negated those passes and forced them to do it the harder way from a single-file restart. Urkuski jumped away to a lead of a few car lengths on that restart, and held serve at the front as the laps wound down.
But Urkuski never got too far away from his two closest challengers, who each were running a higher groove, particularly through turns 1 and 2. As the bottom line began to slick off more and more with each passing lap, all three drivers fought to get the power down off of the corners, knowing that would be their best opportunity to pop out and make a move.
As Urkuski tried to work past a lapped car, Maurer was able to set up the Mohnton, PA driver and drag race him coming off turn 4, taking the lead away and quickly bringing Swavely with him with just four laps to go. The two drivers then renewed their battle that had already seen a couple chapters throughout the season, the most notable being when Swavely beat a sliding Maurer to the line in a drag race off of turn 4 in a prior feature event. This time, the roles were reversed, and it was Maurer’s task to try to keep Swavely at bay.
Swavely closed in ever so slightly over the final few circuits, trying desperately to get close enough to make a move while also keeping the points battle in the back of his mind. Ultimately, despite Swavely’s best efforts, Maurer was too strong this time, and never gave Swavely a true opportunity to make a move over the last laps.
Maurer finally grabbed his first win of the season at the Clyde, besting Swavely and Urkuski in the fascinating battle at the front. Ely held on to finish fourth while Brown came home in fifth, meaning that Swavely now would hold a 37-point lead atop the standings entering the final two points races.
Heat races were won by Urkuski and Zach Light.
Next weekend at the Clyde will be the biggest racing weekend of the 2022 season, the Labor Day Shootout. Festivities will begin on Friday, September 2nd with the Cornhole Tournament. Then, the on-track action begins on Saturday, September 3rd with the Winged Night of the Labor Day Shootout presented by Germania Band Club. The Saturday portion of the show will feature the Hyper Racing Winged 600s, 270s, Skeet Craft Collision Sportsmans, and 125/4 Strokes all in action. On Sunday, September 4th, the wings will come off for the Wingless Night of the Labor Day Shootout, featuring the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s, Wingless 270s, Wingless 125/4 Strokes, and the first-ever Labor Day appearance for the Stage 1 Modifieds. If necessary, a rain date for the event will be held on Monday, September 5th. Gates will open at 3:00, with warmups and racing beginning at 5:00 on both evenings. It’s the biggest racing weekend of the year, so you can’t miss this opportunity to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
Results:
Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 15D-Matthew Donley[1]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[8]; 3. 2SX-Garyt Smith[4]; 4. 71-Brian Kramer[3]; 5. 21-Mason Beinhower[2]; 6. 25-Kenneth Beinhower III[10]; 7. 08-Dominic Schmidt[12]; 8. 39X-Olivia Thayer[9]; 9. 2K-Nathan Miller[13]; 10. 22-Kyler Heiney[14]; 11. 1F-James Fries[11]; 12. $30-Dominic Foster[5]; 13. 5A-Alex Ruppert[6]; 14. 1-Jesse Maurer[7]
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 21-Toby Blumenshine[9]; 2. 5-Bret Cronrath[10]; 3. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[12]; 4. 15-Robert Shannaman[3]; 5. 5A-Anthony Yerger[11]; 6. 77-Michael Kreiser[6]; 7. 31-Tyler Martin[8]; 8. 21D-Dave Williams[17]; 9. 11-Dustin Geib[13]; 10. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[15]; 11. 22S-Bret Sculley[1]; 12. 11S-Drew Swinehart[4]; 13. 53-Jared St John[18]; 14. 19-Wes Fasnacht[20]; 15. 20-Max Fasnacht[21]; 16. 3S-Masen Stapleton[7]; 17. 30-Ryan Heckman[14]; 18. 23K-Courtney Kupp[16]; 19. 16P-Jason Swavely[2]; 20. 22-Clinton Hauser[5]; 21. 9W-Lisa Warren[22]; 22. 8-Michael Spadafora[19]; 23. 28-Kyle Lindsey[23]
270 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 27O-Mike Rutherford[1]; 2. 8S-Mike Skias[6]; 3. 3S-Nick Skias[2]; 4. 88D-Andrew Dietrich[9]; 5. 9M-Noah Martin[8]; 6. 16-Brianne Cronrath Wittmer[5]; 7. 82-Bradley Brown[17]; 8. 48-Jonah Meck[3]; 9. 34-Christi Sweigart[7]; 10. 21D-Dave Williams[12]; 11. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[15]; 12. 4-Dylan Pence[19]; 13. 5A-Anthony Yerger[18]; 14. 11R-Tommy Rinck[4]; 15. 74F-Cody West[11]; 16. 23K-Courtney Kupp[20]; 17. 21H-Matt Hoffman[14]; 18. 91-Jack Redcay[16]; 19. 96W-Chase Walker[13]; 20. (DNS) 3-Pete Skias
125/4 Stroke A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 82-John Maurer[1]; 2. 76-Justin Harrington[8]; 3. 112-Dylan Yeingst[2]; 4. 44-Riley Simmons[6]; 5. 04-Sam Borger[3]; 6. 7L-Chase Layser[16]; 7. 26C-Michael Coen[9]; 8. 7D-Chris Dolan[10]; 9. 14-Seth Gregory[14]; 10. 15H-Don Hess[17]; 11. 20J-Jarrid Hellinger[15]; 12. 81-Dylan Holmes[19]; 13. 15-Alyssa Holmes[5]; 14. 16-Steve Simmons[13]; 15. 76B-Billy Logeman[12]; 16. 19-Matt Fernsler[11]; 17. 17-Masen Stapleton[7]; 18. 78C-Toby Blumenshine[4]; 19. 67-Cooper Schoenly[18]
Hyper Racing Winged 600 A-Main (25 Laps):
1. 3-Jesse Maurer[3]; 2. 14-Jason Swavely[7]; 3. 1-Will Urkuski[1]; 4. 17-Brent Ely[2]; 5. 23-Bradley Brown[6]; 6. 51-Chris Gerhart[9]; 7. 11Z-Zachary Light[4]; 8. 60O-Michael Rutherford[12]; 9. 97-Billy Logeman[8]; 10. 11H-Holden Eckman[5]; 11. 71-Brian Kramer[11]; 12. 15P-Christopher Panczner[10]; 13. 41-Nicho Flammer[14]; 14. 117-Cody West[19]; 15. 7-Nick Skias[18]; 16. 23R-Rebecca LaMothe[13]; 17. 21-Jayson Conover[15]; 18. 2K-Nathan Miller[16]; 19. 0K-Pat Kelly[17]
Point Standings (2 Races Remaining):
Hyper Racing Wingless 600 Point Standings (Top 5):
1. 23-Bradley Brown[1,180]; 2. 1F-James Fries[-406]; 3. 16-Marty Brian[-533]; 4. 5-Christian Bruno[-539]; 5. 03-Ryan Groff[-650]
Skeet Craft Collision Sportsman Point Standings (Top 5):
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[1,301]; 2. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-58]; 3. 21-Toby Blumenshine[-205]; 4. 53S-Shannon Slaughter[-248]; 5. 20-Max Fasnacht[-263]
270 Point Standings (Top 5):
1. 82-Bradley Brown[1,015]; 2. 8S-Mike Skias[-28]; 3. 3S-Nick Skias[-60]; 4. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-122]; 5. 34-Christi Sweigart[-144]
125/4 Stroke Point Standings (Top 5):
1. 76B-Billy Logeman[1,378]; 2. 19-Matt Fernsler[-132]; 3. 7D-Chris Dolan[-170]; 4. 76-Justin Harrington[-212]; 5. 7L-Chase Layser[-245]
Hyper Racing Winged 600 Point Standings (Top 5):
1. 14-Jason Swavely[1,069]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-37]; 3. 11H-Holden Eckman[-102]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[-225]; 5. 3-Jesse Maurer[-228]