By Kasey Kreider
(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
After roughly a 45-minute delay due to inclement weather, Checkered Flag Fan Club Night ran all the way to its conclusion on Saturday at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, with thanks again being due to the track crew along with the drivers and cars who helped to pack the track surface after a heavy rain shower hit the racetrack.
Once the bad weather cleared out, the summer stretch of racing at the speedway continued in earnest, with a mixture of young rising stars and experienced champions finding their way into the winner’s circle by night’s end. In just his third-ever EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 start at the Clyde, Jax Wittmer pocketed the victory of Saturday night’s 25-lapper following an extremely impressive drive. Three times a bridesmaid in 2026, Dominic Schmidt finally broke through for his first Lanco win of the season in Kenny Groff’s No. 3. Nick Skias put forth a strong effort to secure his fifth win of the year in Border Magic 270 action. Billy Logeman got redemption for a lapped traffic snafu two weeks prior by dominating Saturday night’s Yeti Fence Sportsman A-Main. And weeks of trials and tribulations finally turned into a checkered flag for Mike Coen, as he collected the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke main event.
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
If you had watched Jax Wittmer pace the field during Saturday night’s EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 main event at the Clyde, you never would have guessed that he was only 11 years old and competing in his rookie season of 600 Micro Sprint competition.
But in another showing of Wittmer’s talent and ability level well beyond his years, the Fleetwood driver rocketed to the checkers aboard the Done Deal Racing No. 707 Hyper Chassis, besting Brent Ely and Bradley Brown to secure a well-earned victory.
Starting from pole position with several big stars of the speedway directly behind him, Wittmer set a strong pace during the early laps of the feature and held a lead of four car lengths when the first – and only – caution flag of the A-Main waved on lap 4.
The 2025 Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek champion and winner of the Junior Sprint Tulsa Shootout in January then ballooned the advantage back up to over one second shortly after the race resumed. Ely kept the runner-up spot in hand over Charlie Allaband and the eventual third-place driver Brown, and then slowly began reeling in Wittmer as the race wound down inside of 10 laps to go.
Although the race finished with a long green-flag run and Wittmer’s car began to skate up the banking in the closing laps, he never committed the dreaded “big mistake” that would have allowed Ely or Brown to pounce. Ely closed in to within about two car lengths on the final lap, but that was the closest that he could get. It was Wittmer who dashed across the finish line 0.389 seconds ahead to seal the win, making it back-to-back EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 races with a first-time winner.
Meanwhile, Ely once again had to settle for second, marking his sixth runner-up finish of the season in the eight points races that he has run. Then came Brown, who held onto a 60-point lead in the standings with his third-place result. Chris Gerhart finished in fourth, and Allaband scored his career-best result with a fifth.
Results:
1. 707-Jax Wittmer[1]; 2. 17-Brent Ely[2]; 3. 23-Bradley Brown[3]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[7]; 5. 28-Charlie Allaband[4]; 6. 11X-Logan Falini[5]; 7. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[8]; 8. 5A-Anthony Yerger[6]; 9. 11R-Tommy Rinck[13]; 10. 71-Brian Kramer[9]; 11. 32D-Donny Smith[10]; 12. 73-Andrew Rothermel[12]; 13. 14-Jason Swavely[11]
Points (Top 5) (After 9 of 16 Races):
1. 23-Bradley Brown[890]; 2. 17-Brent Ely[-60]; 3. 71-Brian Kramer[-130]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[-174]; 5. 14-Jason Swavely[-201]
In just his third EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 start at the Clyde, Jax Wittmer grabbed the feature win in Saturday night’s 25-lapper. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
After three second-place finishes this season and a third-place result in last Sunday’s East Coast Transponders Nationals, defending track champion and current points leader Dominic Schmidt finally kicked the door down for his first Lanco win of 2026, as he took the advantage on a lap 3 restart and held it through the duration of Saturday’s Hyper Racing Wingless 600 feature to park the Groff Motorsports No. 3 Hyper Chassis in the winner’s circle.
James Fries took the lead from Abel Engler on the opening circuit of the 25-lap main event, while Schmidt also bypassed the No. 34 and began to make a bid for the lead before the yellow flag waved on the third lap.
After grabbing the top spot on the initial start, Fries elected to take the outside lane for the restart that followed, slotting Schmidt on the inside of the front row. With a good restart, Schmidt used the low side to power past Fries and put his machine out into the wind. The Zionsville native then set sail and was unchallenged the rest of the race on his way to grabbing the victory.
For Schmidt, the win was his third total triumph of the season, adding onto two that he had secured at the McGrewBid Motoplex. The victory was also a shot in the arm for both driver and team, as Saturday night’s feature marked the first of eight straight races in eight days, culminating with next Saturday’s Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Finale at the Clyde. Additionally, Schmidt padded his championship lead to a margin of 116 points over Cole Gerber with just five points races left in the season.
Fries held on for a runner-up result, while Brody Snyder got an early start to his Speedweek and claimed the final podium position. Engler finished in the fourth spot, and Michigan’s Johnny Venezia – also in town for Speedweek – rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 3-Dominic Schmidt[3]; 2. 1F-James Fries[2]; 3. 41B-Brody Snyder[7]; 4. 34-Abel Engler[1]; 5. 24J-Johnny Venezia[9]; 6. 17-Cole Perez[6]; 7. 15N-Neal Allison[11]; 8. 98-Matthew Warner[17]; 9. 721-Steven Miller[15]; 10. 90X-PJ Reid[5]; 11. 4S-Kiptyn Stratton[13]; 12. 15J-Jase Murray[4]; 13. 03-Ryan Groff[10]; 14. 14-Cole Gerber[18]; 15. 99G-Gordon Greenlaw[14]; 16. 01M-Aden Myers[8]; 17. 28H-Jax Wittmer[16]; 18. (DQ) 2J-Jace Marshall[12]
Points (Top 5) (After 9 of 14 Races):
1. 3-Dominic Schmidt[772]; 2. 14-Cole Gerber[-116]; 3. 34-Abel Engler[-156]; 4. 10L-Lukas Kostic[-196]; 5. 98-Matthew Warner[-198]
Last year’s Hyper Racing Wingless 600 champion Dominic Schmidt scored his first win of the season at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Border Magic 270
After winning his first four races of the 2026 season, four-time defending Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway champion Nick Skias had come back down to earth a bit in recent weeks. But the Chuck Skias-owned Weinhold’s Poultry No. 3 Viper Chassis roared back to life on Saturday night at the Clyde with a dominant performance, as Skias led wire-to-wire to tally his fifth victory of the year.
Skias had a scare in his heat race when a wire came loose and forced him to come to a stop with just a few laps remaining. Luckily for Skias, he was able to reattach the wire, refire the car, and drive back up into a redraw position. As it turned out, that may have been the moment that saved Skias’ night, as he picked the pole for the 25-lap Border Magic 270 A-Main and led the entire feature from there.
Skias did face a challenge in the form of Josh Stoyer, who was competing in his first race of the season while piloting the No. 8s Viper Chassis usually occupied by Nick’s brother, Mike. Stoyer ran in the runner-up spot for much of the race, and had a peek to the inside of Skias on the run down into turn 1 following a restart with 10 laps to go. Skias kept Stoyer behind him, though, and pulled away over the final run to the flag to pick up the win with a margin of victory of 1.375 seconds. With the win, Skias also extended his points lead to 131 over Brandon Heist, who fell out of the race with a mechanical issue.
Behind Skias and Stoyer, Billy Logeman held off Jason Swavely over the closing laps to take the final place on the podium. Swavely still completed a great drive from 19th to fourth, and that earned him the Border Magic Hard Charger Bonus for the evening. Bret Cronrath finished off the top five.
Results:
1. 3-Nick Skias[1]; 2. 8S-Josh Stoyer[4]; 3. 27O-Billy Logeman[7]; 4. 92-Jason Swavely[19]; 5. 5-Bret Cronrath[3]; 6. 11R-Tommy Rinck[8]; 7. 5A-Anthony Yerger[9]; 8. 16-Dan Lane Jr[6]; 9. 1J-Toby Blumenshine[5]; 10. 28S-Brian Sholley[17]; 11. 81-Dylan Holmes[13]; 12. 34-Christi Sweigart[16]; 13. 16W-Brianne Cronrath Wittmer[15]; 14. 94-Dallas Sanders[12]; 15. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[10]; 16. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[14]; 17. 01-Daron Repperts[20]; 18. 29-Steve Simmons[18]; 19. 27T-Michael Rutherford[21]; 20. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[2]; 21. 11X-Josh Anderson[11]; 22. 30-Ryan Heckman[22]
Points (Top 5) (After 9 of 15 Races):
1. 3-Nick Skias[918]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[-131]; 3. 92-Jason Swavely[-153]; 4. 5-Bret Cronrath[-310]; 5. 11R-Tommy Rinck[-326]
Nick Skias made a return to the winner’s circle following Saturday night’s Border Magic 270 feature event at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Yeti Fence Sportsman
Two weeks ago, Billy Logeman seemed to be on his way to a sure-fire victory in the Yeti Fence Sportsman division until a collision with an ailing lapped car sent his machine tumbling upside down and out of the race. On this Saturday night at the Clyde, Logeman turned in another dominant performance, and this time survived a scare in lapped traffic with under 10 laps to go to park the Weinhold’s Poultry No. 97 RTS Chassis in victory lane for the second time this year.
Logeman grabbed the lead from last year’s track champion Corey Schmuck, Jr. right off the drop of the green flag and quickly set sail ahead of the pack. As the race settled into a long green-flag run, Logeman gapped the rest of the racers by a couple of seconds while most of the battling took place from the runner-up slot on back.
As Logeman began to catch the back of the pack within the final 10 laps of the race, it was hard not to think back to the lapped traffic incident that had most recently cost him the win. And those fears were almost realized, as a lapped car spun just in front of Logeman on the entrance to turn 1 with nine circuits remaining. But this time, Logeman safely steered his car high of the danger, and the 2007 Sportsman track champion held serve through the final laps of the race to chalk up the win.
Behind Logeman came Masen Stapleton, who had another great drive since his return from injury to take the silver spot. Bret Cronrath ran a methodical race to go from ninth to third, rounding out the podium. Meanwhile, Justin Harrington bounced back from a lap 3 incident and drove from the tail of the field up to fourth, while Schmuck, Jr. rounded out the top five. Points leader Brandon Heist fought his way up to second in the closing laps, but suffered a mechanical issue on his car with just three laps left and was scored with a 12th-place result. That misfortune cut Heist’s lead in the points standings down to 96 over Harrington.
Results:
1. 97-Billy Logeman[2]; 2. 17-Masen Stapleton[4]; 3. 5-Bret Cronrath[9]; 4. 75-Justin Harrington[13]; 5. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[1]; 6. 31M-Noah Merkey[6]; 7. 30-Ryan Heckman[5]; 8. 31-Tyler Martin[10]; 9. 77-Michael Kreiser[7]; 10. 9R-Mason Ruffner[15]; 11. 21D-Dave Williams[14]; 12. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[8]; 13. 11H-Chason Hauck[11]; 14. 94-Dallas Sanders[3]; 15. 23K-Matt Fernsler[12]
Points (Top 5) (After 9 of 16 Races):
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[879]; 2. 75-Justin Harrington[-96]; 3. 5-Bret Cronrath[-130]; 4. 77-Michael Kreiser[-174]; 5. 21V-David Ravel[-214]
Billy Logeman pocketed his second Yeti Fence Sportsman win of the year on Saturday night at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke
After suffering all kinds of motor issues and hard luck to start off the season, Danville’s Mike Coen wasn’t sure if a trip to victory lane was in the cards at all for the 2026 campaign. But in what Coen says is most likely to be his final season behind the wheel, the driver of the Wayne Hohler Photography No. 26c RTS Chassis finally shook the monkey off of his back to collect a hard-earned checkered flag.
Coen led the field to green for the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke 25-lapper while two and three-wide racing took place all throughout the pack on the opening laps. The A-Main saw its only caution flag on the third lap of the race, and after that, a long green-flag run through lapped traffic was what would decide the outcome.
While Coen had a comfortable lead in hand upon catching the back of the pack, there were a few hard chargers in the form of points leader Justin Harrington and most-recent winner Seth Gregory who were efforting to track him down.
After those two put on a great, criss-crossing battle for the second place, Harrington eventually cleared the way for Gregory as both drivers gained on Coen in the closing laps. Coming up on a battle for position, Coen had to carefully pick his way past racecars while Harrington and Gregory both chugged closer.
But those two drivers were just a few laps too late to the party, as the 2017 4 Stroke champion kept the nose of his car clean over the final laps and scored the win by two car lengths over Harrington. Gregory finished in third, while Trevor Waegel made his way to fourth at the final flag. Finishing fifth – from 17th – was Keegan Stratton. With the results of Saturday night, Harrington added 10 points to his lead in the standings over Waegel, putting the margin at 58 with seven races still scheduled to go.
Results:
1. 26C-Michael Coen[1]; 2. 76-Justin Harrington[6]; 3. 14-Seth Gregory[8]; 4. 44S-Trevor Waegel[4]; 5. 5-Keegan Stratton[17]; 6. 19-Matt Fernsler[5]; 7. X-Dave Schroeder[16]; 8. 23-Asher Kempton[11]; 9. 3H-Corey Harting[9]; 10. 68-Kevin Jones[3]; 11. 15-Alyssa Holmes[12]; 12. 3H2-Holly Harting[2]; 13. 74-Paige Rothermel[15]; 14. 112-Dylan Yeingst[10]; 15. 8-Michael Spadafora[14]; 16. 4W-Brandon Worthington[7]; 17. 17-Aspen Groff[13]
Points (Top 5) (After 9 of 16 Races):
1. 76-Justin Harrington[894]; 2. 44S-Trevor Waegel[-58]; 3. 3H-Corey Harting[-135]; 4. 14-Seth Gregory[-160]; 5. 15-Alyssa Holmes[-188]
Mike Coen won his first race of 2026 in Saturday night’s Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke A-Main. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
The Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway returns to action with another massive show on Saturday, July 18. For the seventh consecutive year, Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek will conclude at the Newmanstown bullring, as with a thank you to Hyper Racing and Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic, the Finale will once again pay $10,000 to the winner of the Wingless 600 A-Main. The Junior Sprints also return to Speedweek for the third year, and both the Wingless 600 and Junior Sprint Speedweek champions will be crowned at the end of the evening. Grandstand gates will open at 4 p.m., with hot laps and time trials beginning the on-track festivities at 6 p.m. General grandstand admission for the big event will be $20, and live streaming coverage will be provided by The Cushion for those who are unable to attend.