By Kasey Kreider
After sitting dormant for the past six and a half months, high-speed excitement and intensity returned to the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway on Saturday night, as the 69th season of racing under the Lanco Micro Midget Club banner kicked off with the annual running of the non-points “Spring Fling.” Perhaps thanks to the late Roger Martin and the other angels of the racing community watching on from above, the weather was nothing short of beautiful for the season’s first event. And even as temperatures began to cool off throughout the night, the on-track action remained red hot for the 30-lap A-Main events across each division.
Hyper Racing Wingless 600 competition saw Christian Bruno outduel Kyle Spence in a thrilling race to kick off the 2026 season. In the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 class, Bradley Brown blasted away from the rest of the field to pick up a dominant win. The Border Magic Wingless 270 race featured a first-time winner, as Jacob Neff rode the ragged edge to score a hard-earned victory. And the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke A-Main featured another clinic from John Maurer, as the defending track champion started off his year back in the winner’s circle.
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
The first Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway race night of the season was probably a little more hectic than either driver Christian Bruno or car owner Chris Snyder had bargained for. During the speedway’s annual members-only practice session on Saturday afternoon, the No. 5 Snyder Racing Enterprises entry – Bruno’s regular ride – suffered a series of mechanical gremlins, which Snyder feared could not be rectified in time for Saturday night’s racing action.
So the team pivoted to plan B, which was the Mark Yoder-owned No. 75 Hyper Chassis – a car that Bruno and Snyder had actually won several races with together back in 2022 and 2023. With a return to “old faithful,” the car picked up like it had never missed a lap of competition, and Bruno guided it to victory lane and a $1,000 payday in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 season-opener.
Despite officially leading all 30 laps from an outside front row starting spot, the win was anything but easy for the Deptford, NJ native. The first challenge came in the form of Maine’s Chase Rodgers, who had an awesome, multi-lap slider battle with Bruno during the middle stages of the feature.
Bruno weathered that storm, but eventually had a new combatant to face in the form of Kyle Spence, who had carved through the pack from the 14th starting spot.
With Bruno struggling to run the top of turns 1 and 2 over the long green-flag runs during the race’s second half, Spence was able to reel him in and make his first slide job attempt for the lead with five laps to go. The two drivers continued to slide and cross each other for the next few laps, with Bruno keeping his No. 75 car ahead before the caution waved with two circuits remaining.
Bruno admitted post-race that he was physically worn out by the tricky track surface, but the late caution flag gave the two-time Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek champion the opportunity to reset before a green-white-checkered finish. Bruno dug deep and fully committed to the top groove over the final couple of laps, and that effort was good enough to ensure that Spence wouldn’t have an opportunity to pounce. Bruno flashed across the finish line three car lengths ahead of Spence’s No. 89 at the final flag, claiming a win in the Clyde’s first Wingless 600 race of the season for the third consecutive year.
Rodgers made the long trip from southern Maine well worth it, as he rounded out the podium. James Roselli rebounded from a heat race flip to finish the feature in fourth, and Matt Warner charged from 15th to complete the top five.
Results:
1. 75-Christian Bruno[2]; 2. 89-Kyle Spence[14]; 3. 5X-Chase Rodgers[4]; 4. 95B-James Roselli[5]; 5. 98-Matthew Warner[15]; 6. 44-Aiden Purdue[12]; 7. 3-Dominic Schmidt[10]; 8. 03-Ryan Groff[11]; 9. 25-Brent Shearer[22]; 10. 09-Vincent Gueci[24]; 11. 10L-Lukas Kostic[19]; 12. 7-Shelby McLaughlin[13]; 13. 32-Justin Burr[17]; 14. 11H-Holden Eckman[1]; 15. 15D-Matthew Donley[6]; 16. 12-Dylan Kontra[20]; 17. 14-Cole Gerber[18]; 18. 11Z-Kyle Lick[8]; 19. 21B-Mason Beinhower[3]; 20. 2J-Jace Marshall[7]; 21. 70-Jasper Zeigafuse[16]; 22. 2L-Luke Hess[9]; 23. 75X-James Hendricks[23]; 24. 17-Cole Perez[21]
DNQ: 14Z-Tony Zajonczkoski; 65Z-Jake Fisher; 31C-Maverick Coffey; 5J-Mason Peters; 30$-Dominic Foster; 1F-James Fries; 56S-Tom Alloco; 721-Steven Miller; 3L-Nolen Layser; 90X-PJ Reid; 90-Trent Warner; 99G-Gordon Greenlaw; 41-Eddie Mort; 55S-Hank Stellar; 15H-Don Hess; 34-Abel Engler; 2S-Garyt Smith; 76-JT Bierman
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
Saturday night’s EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 feature saw a masterclass put on by “The Highsider” Bradley Brown, as the Ephrata native lived up to his nickname and pounded the curb to perfection to open up the season with a wire-to-wire win aboard a brand-new RTS Chassis.
Brown had a bit of a rough heat race, but still kept himself in a redraw position and got the lucky pill pull to start on the pole for the feature. Brown never lost control of the race from that point forward, as he sprinted away to multiple big leads over each green-flag run.
The race’s last caution flew with six laps remaining, but even in spite of that, Brown still took the checkers over two seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Spence – who once again had to settle for a second-place result in Curt Matherly’s No. 89.
Brent Shearer put on a show aboard Tim West’s No. 28, rebounding from a heat race flip and a 20th-place start in the feature to round out the podium. Brent Ely was in the midst of battles all race long and brought home a fourth. And Jason Swavely was forced to bounce back from a first-lap excursion with the infield tires. After restarting at the tail of the field, Swavely drove his No. 14 back up to a fifth-place finish.
Results:
1. 23-Bradley Brown[1]; 2. 89-Kyle Spence[7]; 3. 28-Brent Shearer[20]; 4. 17-Brent Ely[10]; 5. 14-Jason Swavely[5]; 6. 11H-Holden Eckman[12]; 7. 12S-Brianna Snyder[18]; 8. 56-James Gropp[4]; 9. 51B-Amanda Onimus[14]; 10. 51-Chris Gerhart[9]; 11. 15P-Christopher Panczner[3]; 12. 5J-Jason Sechrist[11]; 13. 3-Ryan Groff[2]; 14. 71-Brian Kramer[6]; 15. 117-Cody West[15]; 16. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[13]; 17. 73-Andrew Rothermel[16]; 18. 11R-Tommy Rinck[17]; 19. 75R-Brevan Rothermel[8]; 20. 19C-Michael Ciccone[19]
Border Magic Wingless 270
When faced with an opportunity to win your first race at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, sometimes you have to “go big or go home.” The phrase seemed fitting on Saturday night for Allentown native Jacob Neff, who left it all on the table in the Border Magic Wingless 270 A-Main and was rewarded with career win number one at the speedway.
The race saw its fair share of twists and turns over the course of 30 laps, as it appeared early that the race was going to be a battle between a couple of wingless standouts in Brandon Heist and T. J. Greve. Heist took the lead on the opening lap from the bottom groove and paced the race’s first few circuits, but Greve began reeling him in on the top side of the speedway, and a line change from Heist wasn’t enough to keep the No. 16 at bay as Greve claimed the lead following a lap 9 restart.
Greve kept the Kevin St. John and Joe Sanders-owned machine at the head of the pack for the next six laps and looked pretty dominant in doing so. Unfortunately for Greve, his race came to an end under a lap 15 caution period when his machine’s carb fell off. Heist re-inherited the lead, but only momentarily before he too was forced to pull in with a mechanical issue. The top spot then belonged to Neff, who had soldiered his way to the front from eighth on the grid.
What followed throughout the race’s second half could almost be described as a high-speed game of chess, as Neff committed to running the faster – but rougher – upper groove of the speedway, while second-place Billy Logeman stayed smooth and steady around the bottom waiting for a mistake and a chance to pounce.
But the big mistake never came, as despite having many Lanco race wins and championships behind him, Neff drove away from the rest of the field over the closing laps – literally banging the boards all the way to his first 270 win.
Logeman held on for second, while polesitter Toby Blumenshine finished third. Wingless aces Jarrett Imler and Dustin Roberts came from 10th and 16th, respectively, to round out the top five.
Results:
1. 29J-Jacob Neff[8]; 2. 45O-Billy Logeman[11]; 3. 1J-Toby Blumenshine[1]; 4. 04-Jarrett Imler[10]; 5. 24-Dustin Roberts[16]; 6. 39M-Austin Mieczkowski[15]; 7. 30-Ryan Heckman[6]; 8. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[9]; 9. 8B-Braeden Locascio[17]; 10. 1L-Logan Hess[5]; 11. 11X-Chase Roberts[4]; 12. 46R-James Miller[14]; 13. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[3]; 14. 16-Thomas Greve Jr[2]; 15. 11H-Chason Hauck[20]; 16. 1A-Brent Shearer[12]; 17. 5A-Anthony Yerger[7]; 18. 94-Dallas Sanders[19]; 19. 12Q-Dominic Pomponi[13]; 20. 78-Cole Williams[18]; 21. 29-Steve Simmons[21]
Gretna Graphics Wingless 125/4 Stroke
After winning nine races and the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway championship in 2025, Fleetwood’s John Maurer kicked off the 2026 season the only way he knew how, scoring a commanding win in the Gretna Graphics Wingless 125/4 Stroke feature event on Saturday night.
The former champion of the Shellhammer Dirt Track put his wingless racing prowess on full display, running smooth, consistent, and fast laps around the bottom of the speedway. Despite the race having a fair amount of attrition and plenty of restarts, Maurer was unfazed through it all and cruised to the win by just over a second in front of Billy Logeman – who scored his second runner-up finish of the night.
Despite a late-race spin, Corey Harting fought back for his first Lanco podium with a third-place finish. Michael Spadafora finished in fourth, and Asher Kempton survived an early-race tipover to complete the top five.
Results:
1. 82-John Maurer[1]; 2. 97-Billy Logeman[3]; 3. 3H-Corey Harting[4]; 4. 8-Michael Spadafora[6]; 5. 23-Asher Kempton[8]; 6. 74-Paige Rothermel[9]; 7. 14X-David Gibson[11]; 8. 76-Justin Harrington[2]; 9. 22L-Kevin Locascio[7]; 10. 15-Mitchell Gibson[12]; 11. 112-Dylan Yeingst[5]; 12. 3H2-Holly Harting[10]
Next Saturday, April 11, the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway points-paying season begins for the first time ever with the annual running of the Clyde Martin Memorial Race. Despite a new date, “ the granddaddy of them all” still features 35-lap A-Mains that will pay double points in each of the speedway’s five weekly divisions: the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s, the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600s, the Border Magic 270s, the Sportsmans, and the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Strokes. This event is a members-only race, which means that all drivers must be members and registered drivers in the class that they are competing in, and all membership obligations must be completed. Additionally, the car must have either been presented for inspection on April 4, or the inspection waiver must be paid. Gates will open at 4 p.m. for the event, while warmups kick off the on-track action at 5:30 p.m. General grandstand admission is just $10, but for those unable to attend, live streaming coverage will be provided courtesy of The Cushion.