By Kasey Kreider
(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
The buildup to a big month of July at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway continued on Saturday night, as the stars of all five weekly classes contested their second of three consecutive points shows on the final official day of spring.
Among the highlights of the night was Brandon Heist finally accomplishing his goal of sweeping the Border Magic 270 and Yeti Fence Sportsman A-Mains on the same night – and with the same car. Aside from Heist’s remarkable feat, three other drivers visited victory lane on Saturday night as well. After a few weeks of heartbreak, Matt Warner finally made it to the finish line and collected his first-career win at the speedway in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s. In EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 action, Chris Panczner went wire-to-wire to score his first victory in almost two years at the Clyde. And for the third time this year, it was Justin Harrington standing atop the podium at the end of the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke A-Main.
Border Magic 270
After showing plenty of speed all year long in his Mt. Gretna Roller Rink No. 99 RTS Chassis, Jonestown’s Brandon Heist came into Saturday night’s racing at the Clyde looking to finally capture two checkered flags on the same night while driving the same Sportsman-powered machine.
The first task on his plate was Saturday night’s 25-lapper for the Border Magic 270s, which Heist came out on top of following an intense battle with Mike Boyer in lapped traffic.
Boyer – who was making his first appearance at the speedway driving the Kevin St. John/Joe Sanders-owned No. 16 – set the pace for most of the race over points leader Nick Skias and Heist. Skias – a four-time winner already in 2026 – spent most of the first half of the feature searching the track for a way to gain an advantage on Boyer, but in the process of doing that, eventually lost the runner-up spot to Heist.
Boyer still remained in control of the race until the leaders hit lapped traffic with just a few laps left. As Heist quickly closed in, the deciding moment of the race came with just three circuits remaining. After Boyer and Heist had split past a lapped car in turns 3 and 4, the two drivers ran side-by-side down the frontstretch, with Boyer trying to defend the bottom groove. As both drivers charged wheel-to-wheel into the turn, Boyer made contact with another lapped car and went for a spin, knocking him out of contention for the win in heartbreaking fashion and allowing Heist to take the lead for good.
Heist held on for the final three laps after the runner-up Skias had an issue on the restart and was forced to pull off of the track. That allowed Heist to take a big chunk of Skias’ points lead away, as the margin now sits at just 46 points near the halfway mark of the season. While Nick suffered misfortune, older brother Mike Skias completed a great run to finish second, and Bret Cronrath turned in an excellent drive to climb from 17th up to third – garnering him the Border Magic Hard Charger Bonus. Jason Swavely and Logan Hess completed the top five.
Results:
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[2]; 2. 8S-Mike Skias[8]; 3. 5-Bret Cronrath[17]; 4. 92-Jason Swavely[5]; 5. 1L-Logan Hess[9]; 6. 81-Dylan Holmes[11]; 7. 34-Christi Sweigart[4]; 8. 28-Kyle Lindsey[7]; 9. 16-Mike Boyer[1]; 10. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[12]; 11. 11H-Chason Hauck[14]; 12. 01-Daron Repperts[16]; 13. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[18]; 14. 3-Nick Skias[3]; 15. 5A-Anthony Yerger[10]; 16. 11R-Tommy Rinck[6]; 17. 82-John Maurer[15]; 18. 29-Steve Simmons[13]; 19. 94-Dallas Sanders[19]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 15 Races):
1. 3-Nick Skias[723]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[-46]; 3. 92-Jason Swavely[-128]; 4. 8S-Mike Skias[-207]; 5. 11R-Tommy Rinck[-252]
Yeti Fence Sportsman
After accomplishing goal number one of winning the 270 feature, Brandon Heist entered the Yeti Fence Sportsman A-Main needing to drive up from the handicap position of sixth as the previous week’s winner. While Heist had to work hard to drive through the field, the 2024 Sportsman track champion was a man on a mission, and made the race-winning pass on a restart with 11 laps to go.
It only took the opening lap of the race for Heist to do half of the work, as he motored from sixth up to third by the time the first rapid revolution of the speedway was completed. A big slide off of turn 4, however, dropped Heist back into the fifth spot, and forced him to methodically go to work passing back through the pack.
While Masen Stapleton continued to show the way in his return to the driver’s seat, Heist spent virtually no time rocketing his way back up the order, as he was into the runner-up spot by the end of lap 10. A caution that came four laps later erased Stapleton’s advantage and set up a restart, and it seemed almost inevitable that the No. 99 was going to find the lead. Heist powered through the upper lane of the speedway at the drop of the green, and cleared Stapleton off of turn 2 to take the lead for good.
After finding clean air, Heist waltzed to the checkered flag by a margin of victory of nearly three seconds, completing his perfect night in fine style. Dave Ravel would finish in the second spot, with Bret Cronrath collecting another podium in third. Stapleton returned from his hand injury suffered earlier in the year and claimed a fourth-place finish, and Justin Harrington rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[6]; 2. 21V-David Ravel[2]; 3. 5-Bret Cronrath[9]; 4. 17-Masen Stapleton[1]; 5. 75-Justin Harrington[7]; 6. 77-Michael Kreiser[4]; 7. 21D-Dave Williams[5]; 8. 11H-Chason Hauck[10]; 9. 31-Tyler Martin[3]; 10. 31M-Noah Merkey[11]; 11. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[8]; 12. 94-Dallas Sanders[12]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 16 Races):
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[730]; 2. 75-Justin Harrington[-132]; 3. 21V-David Ravel[-137]; 4. 77-Michael Kreiser[-157]; 5. 5-Bret Cronrath[-161]
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
It had been “heartbreak city” for Matt Warner in recent weeks at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. But on Saturday night, both man and machine held everything together for all 25 laps, and Warner earned his first-career triumph at the speedway, holding off Abel Engler in an exciting duel for the win.
Although the race suffered a rash of caution flags at the beginning, Engler utilized a couple of short spurts and some excellent restarts to quickly slot his way into the runner-up spot from seventh on the grid. That put him directly behind Warner as the race finally shook out into a long green-flag run, and those two drivers would be the ones to fight it out, with each looking for their first victory at the Clyde.
Over the span of a 19-lap run to the checkered flag, Warner kept his lead anywhere from about three to five car lengths over Engler. Near the end of the race, the leaders approached some traffic and Engler got on the horse, cutting the lead down to about one car length as the leaders came to the white flag.
But Warner – who had led at the final lap three weeks ago only to see contact with a lapped car foil his chance at victory – wouldn’t let this one slip away. As Engler opted to wrap the bottom groove on the final lap, Warner put together one more smooth and steady circuit on the top, and powered his M2 Bearings No. 98 Hyper Chassis off the final corner to see the twin checkers first.
The Pine Grove native became the third first-time winner in Wingless 600 competition this year at the Clyde, while Engler set a new career-best in second but fell one place short of his first win. Lukas Kostic completed the podium and cut Dominic Schmidt’s points lead down to 20 with his finish. Justin Burr and Cole Gerber rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 98-Matthew Warner[1]; 2. 34-Abel Engler[7]; 3. 10L-Lukas Kostic[5]; 4. 32-Justin Burr[8]; 5. 14-Cole Gerber[14]; 6. 3-Dominic Schmidt[6]; 7. 09-Vincent Gueci[12]; 8. 24-Cooper Fegely[2]; 9. 21B-Mason Beinhower[4]; 10. 7-Shelby McLaughlin[13]; 11. 15Q-Quinn Llewellyn[11]; 12. 16L-Logan Dontonville[3]; 13. 99G-Gordon Greenlaw[20]; 14. 17N-Adam Norton[18]; 15. 3B-Mike Berglund[17]; 16. 11H-Holden Eckman[9]; 17. 89S-Brett Greenlee[19]; 18. 33-Owen Steigerwalt[16]; 19. 2L-Luke Hess[10]; 20. 99-Kaden Wenger[15]; 21. 29J-Jacob Neff[21]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 14 Races):
1. 3-Dominic Schmidt[596]; 2. 10L-Lukas Kostic[-20]; 3. 14-Cole Gerber[-42]; 4. 34-Abel Engler[-100]; 5. 24-Cooper Fegely[-133]
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
In a great race between several veteran drivers of the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, Chris Panczner came out on top of Saturday night’s EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 A-Main, parking his Paramount Signs No. 15P RTS Chassis in the winner’s circle for the first time since July 4, 2024.
Panczner set a torrid pace around the top groove of the speedway as that was the predominant groove for most of the drivers in the A-Main. Panczner’s lead was as large as a second and a half during the first extended green-flag run of the race, but the Elverson driver soon began to face some pressure from behind in the form of Chris Gerhart, who was looking to turn a rotten couple of weeks into his first win of the year.
Around the halfway mark, the leaders caught lapped traffic, and that was where Gerhart began his assault on Panczner for the race lead. As the two leaders navigated high and low behind the lappers, they were briefly side-by-side before a caution waved and put the frontrunners back in clean racetrack.
The battle that seemed to be brewing never developed beyond the restart, as Gerhart’s car suffered a fuel pump failure and the No. 51 was forced to drop out of the race. Panczner sped off from the rest of his competition from that point forward, and ultimately led every single lap en route to a nearly two-second victory.
For the fifth time this season, Brent Ely came home with a second-place result, once again battling with Bradley Brown after Brown had started the race back in 15th. Ely grew his points lead – albeit slightly – to 15 markers over the 2024 champion. Behind Ely and Brown, Brian Kramer came home with a fourth-place finish, and Jesse Maurer completed the top five.
Results:
1. 15P-Christopher Panczner[1]; 2. 17-Brent Ely[2]; 3. 23-Bradley Brown[15]; 4. 71-Brian Kramer[10]; 5. 72-Jesse Maurer[7]; 6. 21B-Mason Beinhower[13]; 7. 08X-Josh Ball[3]; 8. 73-Andrew Rothermel[8]; 9. 11X-Logan Falini[11]; 10. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[19]; 11. 11R-Tommy Rinck[18]; 12. 75R-Brevan Rothermel[6]; 13. 11-Connor Fetrow[14]; 14. 28-Charlie Allaband[5]; 15. 32D-Donny Smith[16]; 16. 51-Chris Gerhart[4]; 17. 14-Jason Swavely[9]; 18. 90-Trent Warner[12]; 19. 25-Pat Kelly[17]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 16 Races):
1. 17-Brent Ely[735]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[-15]; 3. 71-Brian Kramer[-99]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[-164]; 5. 14-Jason Swavely[-173]
Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke
Manheim’s Justin Harrington continued his pursuit of a third track championship at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway by picking up his third win of the season in Saturday night’s Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke main event.
The biggest fireworks of the race took place on the opening lap, as Harrington raced tightly with polesitter Dave Schroeder to gain control of the race. Harrington carved from high to low and grabbed the inside line away from Schroeder in the run down to turn 1. As Schroeder attempted to battle back into turn 3, he made contact with the left rear of Harrington’s No. 76, but made a nice save and continued in second while Harrington held the advantage.
Once getting to the front, Harrington kept himself in the lead through the duration of the 25-lap A-Main. As Schroeder dropped out early with a mechanical problem, young drivers Keegan Stratton, Seth Gregory, and Trevor Waegel all battled in a good race for the second spot.
But all of that jostling came well behind Harrington, who put the Harrington Motorsports No. 76 RTS Chassis back to the top of the heap and extended his points lead to 79 in the process. Stratton held on to score his best finish at the Clyde with second, while Gregory and Waegel each came home with third and fourth, respectively. Alyssa Holmes was the final driver in the top five.
Results:
1. 76-Justin Harrington[2]; 2. 5-Keegan Stratton[3]; 3. 14-Seth Gregory[5]; 4. 44S-Trevor Waegel[6]; 5. 15-Alyssa Holmes[4]; 6. 3H-Corey Harting[7]; 7. 112-Dylan Yeingst[10]; 8. 4W-Brandon Worthington[9]; 9. 26C-Michael Coen[12]; 10. 3H2-Holly Harting[13]; 11. 82-Andrew Maurer[11]; 12. 68-Kevin Jones[14]; 13. 23-Asher Kempton[8]; 14. X-Dave Schroeder[1]; 15. 8-Michael Spadafora[15]
Points (Top 5) (After 7 of 16 Races):
1. 76-Justin Harrington[735]; 2. 44S-Trevor Waegel[-79]; 3. 3H-Corey Harting[-108]; 4. 15-Alyssa Holmes[-171]; 5. 14-Seth Gregory[-191]
The Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway is back in action next Saturday, June 27, with a points show for all five classes. For Hyper Racing Wingless 600 teams, it will be their final tune-up ahead of the East Coast Transponders Nationals on July 3-4. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m., with warmups and racing starting at 6 p.m. Grandstand admission is just $10 for the event, but live streaming coverage will be provided by The Cushion for those unable to attend.