8.8.23 Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway Results
By Kasey Kreider
For the first time in two years, national midget racing returned to Pennsylvania and the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, as a special Tuesday night of racing served as the kickoff for the inaugural Appalachian Midget Week for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota. The ground-pounding midgets put on a spectacular show in their return voyage to the 1/8th-mile in Newmanstown, and it was Springfield, IL’s Chase McDermand who took advantage of early misfortune for Jade Avedisian and then held off Zach Daum to score the win.
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota
19 competitors from the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series as well as ARDC signed in to compete in the opener for the five-race Appalachian Midget Week. Hot laps and group time trials kicked off the night for the midgets and also saw the wildest ride of the evening. Daison Pursley – who swept the Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek races at the Clyde in 2021 and backed it up with a fifth-place finish in the USAC race a few weeks after – got up on the bike hard entering turn 3 and went for massive tumble, ripping the top part of catchfence down. Pursley was okay and his Reinbold/Underwood team went to work getting him repaired for heat race action, while fence repairs wrapped up after about 20 minutes and time trials resumed.
The Keystone State represented well early in the night, as Allentown, PA’s Briggs Danner turned in the fastest time-trial lap amongst all groups with a 10.758-second journey around the speedway.
Three heats then followed for the midgets. Chase McDermand grabbed the victory of the first one, with Ethan Mitchell winning the second heat and 2022 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series champion Zach Daum claiming the third heat race. Daum’s effort was enough to make him the high-point man in the passing points format, but he picked an inversion pill of 6 for the A-Main, putting current point leader Jade Avedisian on pole with Hayden Reinbold to her outside for the 30-lap main event.
In her first time ever in a midget at the Clyde, Avedisian looked to keep her hot streak going and capture what would be a league-leading fifth win of the year. The No. 71 Mobil 1 entry for Keith Kunz Motorsports paced the field through the opening laps as the Clovis, CA native pounded the cushion through the turns and gapped the rest of the field.
But it all went awry for Avedisian on lap 10, as she biked on the cushion entering turn 3 and went for tumble from the top spot. Avedisian’s crew thrashed in the work area to get her out and try to salvage valuable points, and as she rejoined at the back of the field for the restart, the field now was in the hands of Reinbold, as he led McDermand and Daum.
But it didn’t take long for the Mounce/Stout mount of McDermand to get to the front after the race’s resumption. McDermand got the grip to stick on the bottom of turn 4 after the restart and took away the advantage from the No. 19AZ, with Daum following suit.
Lap 14 saw Avedisian’s bad night turn into a disaster, as she made contact with Ayden Hare off of turn 2 and went flipping down the backstretch for her second tumble of the race. This one would knock Avedisian out of the race for good and also knock her out of the points lead.
McDermand led the field through the restart and kept the No. 7U of Daum at bay as the Pocahontas, IL driver ran in the lower groove of the racetrack while McDermand was up top. Both cars were pretty even running those lines, and a restart with six laps to go after Michael Markey’s spin looked as if it could determine the race.
McDermand’s restart was killer, as he pulled away to a five car-length gap over Daum’s machine and kept that lead in hand all the way to the checkers for his fourth-career series win and third of the season.
“It’s always great when you can win, but when you can win starting out a period that we’re gonna be going through here in the next few days, it’s really important,” McDermand said. “Glad we could get the monkey off our back, we’ve been struggling the last few weeks. But hopefully this rebounds us and puts us better going forward.”
Daum settled for a runner-up result, while Taylor Reimer carved from 10th to third to complete the podium and score hard-charger honors. Timmy Buckwalter was the highest-finishing Pennsylvania driver in fourth, and Reinbold rounded out the top five.
A seventh-place finish was good enough for Cannon McIntosh to retake the points lead over Avedisian by 35 markers entering Wednesday’s event at Action Track USA.
Results:
1. 40-Chase McDermand[4]; 2. 7U-Zach Daum[6]; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[10]; 4. 29-Tim Buckwalter[7]; 5. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[2]; 6. 97-Gavin Miller[11]; 7. 08-Cannon McIntosh[9]; 8. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[5]; 9. 23-Preston Lattomus[13]; 10. 17B-Austin Barnhill[15]; 11. 55-Trevor Cline[3]; 12. 4-Ayden Hare[16]; 13. 76-Michael Smith[17]; 14. 75-Michael Markey[18]; 15. 19-Daison Pursley[12]; 16. 25-Steve Buckwalter[14]; 17. 98-Briggs Danner[8]; 18. 71-Jade Avedisian[1]; 19. 00-Zach Curtis[19]
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
Marty Brian and Brian Kramer led the way for the 30-lap, $1,200-to-win A-Main event for the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 competitors. Brian pulled away to a sizable early advantage as the racing was three-wide and wild from about fifth on back.
That theme continued throughout much of the race, as the bottom was the preferred line for the leaders. But further back, Christian Bruno, Steven Snyder, Jr., and Zach Jurcik were all working in the top line. And that groove began to come to life as the event wound toward 10 laps remaining.
Grand Island, NY’s Geoff Federspiel had a peek to the inside of Brian for the lead on a restart with 11 to go, but couldn’t make a move stick and stayed in second. Marty’s older brother Cliff Brian, Jr. continued his march through the field on the bottom, as the 16th-place starter took the third spot. And Bruno began to gain more and more time on the high line. On the race’s final restart with seven laps to go, the Deptford, NJ driver would line up in fourth.
Contact between Federspiel and Cliff Brian, Jr. on the restart allowed Bruno to pass both drivers on the top, and he set his sights on the No. 16 Hammer Down Engines entry. As he caught the Ephrata, PA native, the approach seemed to change for driver No. 5, as he began driving deep into the turns on the bottom to try and get Brian off the inside groove.
The tactic worked, and after a side-by-side battle of almost two laps, Bruno fired his Hyper Chassis into turn 1 and slid up in front of Brian to grab the top spot on the penultimate lap. Keeping his Groff Motorsports ride firmly planted on the bottom, neither Brian brother could do anything to challenge him coming to the checkered flag.
“I was able to hook the bottom [in turns 3 and 4] and man, we raced side-by-side for like three laps,” Bruno said. “I saw the white so I just figured I’d protect and try to run the bottom. I’ll take it, this car was good all night.”
Marty Brian led Cliff Brian, Jr. home to complete the podium, while Steven Snyder, Jr. came from 14th to fourth and Federspiel completed the top five.
Results:
1. 5-Christian Bruno[9]; 2. 16-Marty Brian[1]; 3. 99-Cliff Brian Jr[16]; 4. 21S-Steven Snyder Jr[14]; 5. 21G-Geoff Federspiel[3]; 6. 96-Zach Jurcik[18]; 7. 21-Mason Beinhower[21]; 8. 15D-Matthew Donley[13]; 9. 71-Brian Kramer[2]; 10. 94-Hayden Wise[15]; 11. 99MT-Eric Bodine[22]; 12. 46-Tyler Lindsay[11]; 13. 647-Brent Shearer[7]; 14. 163-Jeremy Harshman[4]; 15. 10L-Lukas Kostic[5]; 16. 22H-Fred Heinly[20]; 17. 76-Jacob Bierman[8]; 18. 11Z-Kyle Lick[12]; 19. 2D-Cole Dewease[24]; 20. 3-Danny Buccafusca[6]; 21. 2-Zachery Bealer[10]; 22. 08-Dominic Schmidt[17]; 23. 15-Alex Ruppert[19]; 24. (DNS) 11H-Holden Eckman
Appalachian Midget Week continues Wednesday, August 9th at Action Track USA before heading to Linda’s, Path Valley, and Bridgeport on successive nights.
This Saturday, August 12th, the Clyde is back in action with Back to School Night. It will be a regular points-paying event for all five weekly classes as now just five points race remain in the 2023 season. There will be backpack and keychain tag giveaways for the kids in attendance. Gates will open at 4:30 with warmups and racing beginning at 6:00. As we enter the stretch run of the season, now is the time to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!