On a crisp, cool, yet perfect opening night for the 2021 season, in which the jackets were on and the wings were off, 103 different entries across three different divisions descended upon the 1/8th-mile Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. All had the goal of capturing the first victories of the new year, and the bragging rights associated with winning the season-opening No Wing Spring Fling.
When all the action was said and done, it was Jason Swavely picking up the first win of the year in the Hyper Racing 600s. T. J. Greve followed with a wire-to-wire win in the 125/4 Stroke division. Toby Blumenshine finished off the night with a victory of his own, holding off Brandon Heist in the closing laps for the 270 division win.
An entertaining six-pack of Hyper Racing 600 heat races, featuring multiple last corner slide-job attempts, set the stage for what promised to be a competitive feature event. The redraw put Denver, PA’s Tyler Ulrich, winner of the third heat race, on pole for the 30-lap, 27-car main event. Swavely, winner of the second heat, joined him on the front row. Fellow heat race winners Brian Kramer and Holden Eckman would make up row 2, with eight-time and defending track champion Heath Hehnly joining fast hot-lap timer Steven Snyder, Jr. on the third row.
Ulrich was able to withstand the early challenges from Swavely and the rest of pack, having to endure several early restarts before the race got into a rhythm. The bottom line seemed to be the dominant line early in the race, with Swavely and seventh-place starter Jesse Maurer making quick time on the inside, leading most of the rest of the field behind them. Ulrich continued to ride the top side, though, until the eighth lap, when Swavely drew a bead on the No. 42u machine and completed the pass quickly on the bottom. Ulrich tucked back in line in second and moved to the bottom in the process, but it was too late. Swavely was able to manage the gap at ¾ of a second to a full second as the race continued to run green. Ulrich was able to close the gap to a few car lengths in lapped traffic, but ran out of laps to make a move.
When the dust settled, the Fleetwood, PA native crossed under the first twin checkers of 2021 0.474 seconds ahead of Ulrich, leading all of the final 23 circuits en route to the win. Jesse Maurer took advantage of some of the early race chaos to round out the podium in third. Richie Hartman raced his way from the consi and the 20th starting position to come home in fourth. Not to be outdone, though, was Eddie Strada, who made up 22 spots over the course of the 30-lap feature, going from shotgun on the grid to fifth. Strada also had the fastest lap of the race, clocking in with an 11.573-second circuit.
Preston Lattomus and Florida’s Easton Lebo joined Ulrich, Swavely, Kramer, and Eckman as heat race winners, but both failed to finish the main event.
The clear favorite entering Saturday night’s 125/4 Stroke feature seemed to be Manheim, PA’s Brent Shearer. Shearer was the fast timer in hot laps and took a commanding victory in the heat race over T. J. Greve. However, the redraw prior to feature meant that Shearer would have to come from seventh on the grid in order to sweep the evening. Greve started the feature from the pole position, with the other heat race winners Steve Simmons and Dominic Foster starting second and third, respectively. The 2019 4 Stroke champion Marty Brian rounded out the first two rows.
Despite several early cautions, it didn’t take long for Brian and Shearer to carve their way inside the top three, with Greve and Brian running the bottom and Shearer trying to close in up top. Brian peaked his nose to the inside of Greve a few different times on the restarts, but Greve was able to shut the door each time. The battle then began raging for second, as Shearer would try to get enough momentum off the top to dive low and complete the pass. Shearer made the pass on Brian not once, not twice, but three times, as the prior two had been negated by a caution falling on the same lap. Once Shearer got past Brian and the race began to run green, he set his sights on the Hartly, DE native. Shearer was able to start making inroads inside the final ten laps, cutting the gap from a second and a half to as little as six tenths. However, the fateful moment came with less than five laps to go, when Shearer got clipped in the right rear while trying to pass a lapped car on the backstretch. Shearer was able to hang on and keep the car pointed in the right direction, but had lost all of the ground that he had made up in the process. That wound up being all she wrote, as Greve had the cushion he needed to cruise to the twin checkers.
The final margin of victory wound up being 0.826 seconds for Greve, who led all 30 laps of the feature. Marty Brian brought his No. 16 home in third, about a second and a half in arrears of Shearer. Brian’s quick lap of 12.461 seconds was the fastest of the race. It was another four-plus seconds back to fourth-place finisher Brandon Shearer, who came from 13th on the grid to finish there, with Jarrett Imler coming from 16th to round out the top 5.
There would be no rest or time to soak in the victory for Greve, however, as he had to hop into his 270 and prepare to start that feature from the pole after winning his heat race in dominant fashion earlier in the evening. Greve would be joined on the front row by Brandon Heist, with the other previous winner Jason Swavely rolling off third and Bradley Brown completing the first two rows. Toby Blumenshine, who had won his heat race earlier in the evening as well, would roll off ninth, with the other heat winner Nick Skias slated to start one spot in front of him.
The first twinge of drama came before the green flag even flew, as T. J. Greve’s car came to a stop on the backstretch a lap before the start. The issue was able to be remedied, but the damage had been done. Greve would have to come from the rear of the field.
The misfortune for Greve allowed Brandon Heist to inherit the pole, and as the stop-start theme of the early laps of the night’s races continued, Heist had to withstand several restart challenges from Bradley Brown. Brown just about completed the pass on Heist following a restart on lap 5, but the pass was negated after the caution flew while the pass was being made. Heist was able to retain his lead and grow a bit of a gap on Brown and Blumenshine, who had moved up to third after a mechanical issue ended Jason Swavely’s night. However, the defining moment of the race came on lap 17, and started when Bradley Brown’s car careened out of control and slid to a stop in the infield at the entrance to turn 3, bringing out the caution. This put Blumenshine second to Heist for the ensuing restart, and the Reinholds, PA native put on a restart clinic as the racing resumed, diving to the inside of Heist off the exit of turn 4, before sliding up and fending off the crossover attempt by Heist with a good drive off of turn 2. The field got back to the start/finish line before another caution flew, solidifying Blumenshine as the man in charge.
Heist would not go quietly, however. After falling nearly a second back on a late restart, Heist began reeling Blumenshine back in, as both cars ripped the lip at the top of the corners. With three laps to go, Heist had closed right to the back bumper of Blumenshine, so much so that he gave the No. 21 a little love tap through the center of turns 1 and 2. Heist seemed poised to make his move, but a spin right in front of the leaders in the next set of corners brought out the caution and set up a three-lap dash to the finish. Blumenshine’s car once again fired off quickly, and gave him all the distance he needed to run to the checkered flag without contest.
Heist was left to battle for second with Greve, who had steadily worked his way up through the field and was in position to try and take the silver spot entering the final set of corners. Greve pulled the slider entering turn 3, but Heist crossed back under at the exit of turn 4, crossing the checkers 0.898 seconds behind Blumenshine with Greve, who had the race’s fastest lap at 12.025 seconds, in tow. Alex Reinsmith made a great rally from 15th to come home fourth, with Jarrett Imler collecting his second 5th-place finish in as many races, this time coming from 10th.
Next Saturday, April 10th, the wings make their return, and points racing makes its long-awaited return to the Clyde. New title sponsor Skeet Craft Collision and the Sportsman category make its 2021 debut, joining the other three weekly divisions on the opening points night of the season. In addition, there will be a pre-race pit party/picnic beginning at 3:30. Food will be pot-luck, so be sure to bring a food item to contribute. Gates open at 4:30, with warmups and racing set to go off at 6:00. All those factors add up to the simple fact that there is no better time than next Saturday to come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco.
Results:
Hyper Racing Wingless 600 A-Main (30 Laps):
1) 14-Jason Swavely
2) 42u-Tyler Ulrich
3) 3-Jesse Maurer
4) 39x-Richie Hartman
5) 1ex-Eddie Strada
6) R7-Brenden Bright
7) 41-Logan Rumsey
8) 2s-Mike Rutherford
9) 11h-Holden Eckman
10) 71-Brian Kramer
11) 1e-Aaron Espenshade
12) 17m-Christian Bruno
13) 75-Jarid Kunkle
14) 7w-Jayden Wolf
15) Z17-Michael Nolf
16) 00-Frank Holmes
17) Z71-Jasper Zeigafuse
18) 23-Bradley Brown
19) 25x-Dan Lane, Jr.
20) 2sx-Garyt Smith
21) 53-Ben Houtz (-1L)
22) 101E-Easton Lebo (DNF)
23) 10m-Preston Lattomus (DNF)
24) 20-Corey Sechrist (DNF)
25) 21s-Steven Snyder, Jr. (DNF)
26) 5-Heath Hehnly (DNF)
27) 1-William Urkuski (DNF)
Wingless 125/4 Stroke A-Main (30 Laps):
1) 55c-T. J. Greve
2) 76-Brent Shearer
3) 16-Marty Brian
4) 29-Brandon Shearer
5) 34-Jarrett Imler
6) 26-Tyler Martin
7) 16c-Cliff Brian, Sr.
8) 1z-Steve Simmons
9) 7L-Chase Layser
10) 7d-Chris Dolan
11) 11h-Holden Eckman
12) 17w-Tyler Armstrong
13) 30$-Dominic Foster
14) 28-Kyle Lindsey (-1L)
15) 04-Sam Borger (-1L)
16) 82-John Maurer (-2L)
17) 1st-Jared St. John (-3L)
18) 44x-Alex Lukacs (DNF)
19) 32-Michael Hoffmaster (DNF)
20) 112-Dylan Yeingst (DNF)
21) 3h-Corey Harting (DNF)
22) 53n-Ben Newmaster (DNF)
23) 07-Kyra Pierce (DNF)
24) 78c-Jarrid Hellinger (DNF)
25) 78-Sara Borror (DNF)
Wingless 270 A-Main (30 Laps):
1) 21-Toby Blumenshine
2) 55-Brandon Heist
3) 52T-T. J. Greve
4) 47-Alex Reinsmith
5) 17j-Jarrett Imler
6) 21h-Matt Hoffman
7) 7L-Chase Layser
8) 16t-Nick Walton
9) 71-Seth Carlson
10) 5a-Anthony Yerger
11) 0-Charles Chance
12) 2t-Rich Byron (-1L)
13) 96w-Chase Walker (DNF)
14) 5-Mike Rutherford (DNF)
15) 23-Bradley Brown (DNF)
16) 82-Heath Hehnly (DNF)
17) 59-Mark Kemp (DNF)
18) 13s-Charles Hellinger (DNF)
19) 14-Jason Swavely (DNF)
20) 54-Dakota Barlet (DNF)
21) 22x-Jaden Foster (DNF)
22) 39-Richie Hartman (DNF)
23) 49w-Johnny West (DNF)
24) 3s-Nick Skias (DNF)