By Kasey Kreider

(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)

Despite being one of the most accomplished micro sprint drivers in the country for several years, Kyle Spence had filled the bridesmaid role more often than not during recent Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek events at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. After finishing third each of the last three years, the Bridgeton, NJ driver turned in perhaps his finest performance yet around the high banks of the Newmanstown oval during Sunday night’s Hyper Racing/Hoosier Tire Finale of Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek. After starting the A-Main 12th, Spence found himself in the lead by halfway, and then battled Alex Ruppert all the way to the checkered flag to record his sixth Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek victory – most of any driver in the 17-year history of the series – with four of those triumphs coming right here at the Clyde.

Meanwhile, 2025 Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway track champion Dominic Schmidt successfully defended his home turf, and wrapped up his week with a seventh-place finish to become the youngest Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek champion ever at 16 years, eight months, and 13 days old.

Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek also concluded on Sunday night with another exciting showcase of racing’s future stars. Barrett Bressler finally broke through his first Speedweek win – and his first win at the Clyde – in the 20-lap Finale. And it was Ashlyn Wittmer scoring the week-long championship, joining her brother Jax as Speedweek champions after she finished all seven races during the week inside the top six.

Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Presented By Performance Electronics

Originally scheduled for Saturday night, inclement weather forced the postponement of the Hyper Racing/Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Finale of Hyper Racing Speedweek to Sunday afternoon. Despite the nearly 24-hour delay, 72 600 Micro Sprint entries still filled the pit area to chase the $10,000 winner’s payday – with nine of those drivers still mathematically in contention for the $4,000-to-win Speedweek points championship.

Heading those drivers was last year’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway track champion Dominic Schmidt, who had used two runner-up finishes during the week to propel himself into the Beyea Headers Speedweek points lead. Right behind Schmidt were two drivers from North Carolina – Tylen Trammell and Trevor Cline – who sat just four and five points back, respectively.

Groff Motorsports Time Trials kicked off the afternoon’s festivities as all of the entries were split into two flights for the qualifying session. East Coast Transponders Nationals champion Connor Gross picked up the $100 bonus for setting the quickest time overall – a lap of 11.785 seconds. Meanwhile, J. T. Bierman was quickest of drivers in Flight B, stopping the watches at 12.142 seconds.

With what turned out to be an unfavorable time trial draw going late in Flight A, Kyle Spence was only able to muster the 19th-quickest time trial lap. That effort was good enough to put him in the invert, but placed Spence on the outside pole ahead of heat races in which passing points were the name of the game.

Spence did what he needed to do, putting his evening back on the right track with a 2-to-1 run to win the third heat. Gunnar Pio, Lukas Kostic, and Tommy Kunsman took the win in Flight A heat races, while Christian Bruno, Kayden Barker, Luke Hess, and Neal Allison captured the Flight B eight-lappers.

After time trials and heat races concluded, the top 48 drivers in passing points were placed into four qualifiers, giving those competitors one final shot to accumulate passing points before the top 18 competitors locked into the Sunday night 50-lap feature. After heats, Mason Beinhower sat as the high-point man – using a 6-to-2 run in his heat race to bolster him into that spot.

Meanwhile, Spence sat right on the bubble of transferring in, entering qualifiers 16th in passing points. Starting near the front once again, all Spence had to do was maintain his track position and potentially pick off a spot or two to put himself in the show.

Dylan Kontra – the most-recent Speedweek race winner at McGrewBid Motoplex on Friday night – took the checkers of the first qualifier, while Alex Ruppert used a 3-to-1 run to vault him right up toward the top of the passing point charts in qualifier number two. Billy Koch claimed the third qualifier. And in perhaps the best race of the day up to that point, James Roselli battled with Spence tooth-and-nail in the fourth and final qualifier. Following the race-long battle which featured several sliders, Roselli came out on top, with a 3-to-2 run from Spence still good enough to lock him into the 12th spot for the feature.

But the high-point honors after the qualifiers – and as a result the pole position for the feature – belonged to Matt Donley. The York Haven native timed fourth-quickest in his flight, elevated from sixth to third in his heat race, and then went 4-to-2 in his qualifier to put himself at the head of the heap for the 50-lap A-Main. Pio would start on his outside, with Ruppert and Kunsman completing the first two rows.

In his fight to claim the Speedweek points title, Schmidt cleared the first hurdle by qualifying for the A-Main, as the Zionsville driver locked himself in as the eighth starter. Crucially, Schmidt’s two closest championship rivals – Trammell and Cline – both had to run through the B-Mains in order to take one of the final eight spots in the 26-car field.

Two C-Mains were won by Aubree Bane and Tony Zajonczkoski, and then crunch-time arrived with the two 12-lap B-Mains. 24 cars would start those events, with only four qualifying to the feature.

In the first B-Main, Cline ensured that his bid for the Speedweek championship would go all the way to the final race of the week, as the Sherrills Ford, NC driver scored the win and slotted into the 19th starting spot for the feature. Trammell, unfortunately, wouldn’t be as lucky. The Concord, NC native got involved in a crash and could only rally to finish seventh, foiling his chances of becoming Speedweek champion. Trammell also entered the evening as the only driver to qualify for all six features during the week. With his “DNQ,” it was assured that not a single competitor would successfully qualify for all seven Speedweek A-Mains.

Bierman scored the win of the second B-Main, while Vincent Gueci outran Jasper Zeigafuse for the final qualifying spot. With that, the 26-car starting lineup was set. While seven of the nine championship-eligible drivers qualified for the A-Main, the inclusion of Schmidt and Cline in that group meant that the Speedweek title would most likely come down to those two drivers.

An A-Main that had become notorious for seeing long green-flag runs over the past few years instead saw two caution flags before the first lap could even be scored. The first incident occurred in turn 2 involving James Roselli and Billy Koch, while Trevor Cline was forced to stop as well with nowhere to go.

The second try at the start saw Matt Donley’s impressive night come to an unfortunate end, as the No. 15D got spun around in front of traffic on the entrance to turn 3 just after losing the lead. Zach Jurcik was involved in the jam up, and two-time Speedweek Finale winner Christian Bruno suffered a flat tire that forced his No. 5 into the work area and then to the back of the field.

When things were finally sorted out for the third try at the start, it was Gunnar Pio and Alex Ruppert who led the field through the Performance Electronics “Power Zone” to start what would end up being a 23-lap green-flag run.

Pio maintained command through the first few laps circling around the bottom groove, while Ruppert ran the top from the drop of the rag. Eventually, as Ruppert crept closer, Pio changed his line to the top shelf as well, and soon became the fastest car on the racetrack. Pio pulled out to an advantage of nearly two seconds over Ruppert, while there was plenty of moving and shaking going on further back in the pack.

Among the hard chargers was Kayden Barker, who had moved his No. 3NZ entry up to third from 10th at the drop of the initial green. Neal Allison held down fourth, and it was Spence who then ripped away the fifth spot from Tommy Kunsman as the race approached halfway.

As he was catching the back of the pack, disaster struck for Pio on the 24th lap. A three-car collision at the top of the banking clogged up the upper groove that Pio had already committed to on the entrance to the corner, leaving him nowhere to go as he collided with Jayden Wagner’s vehicle. The damage was severe enough to knock Pio out of the race, thwarting his efforts for victory and handing the lead to Ruppert.

Gunnar Pio (No. 25) led the first 23 laps of Sunday night’s Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Finale, but was caught up in a lapped traffic crash involving Jayden Wagner (No. 8W) and others, taking the Kunkletown native out of the race. (Photo Courtesy of Tom Iaeger)

Although there was only a two-lap green-flag run in between the restart and the next caution, it may have been the most pivotal moment of the race. Ruppert and Barker lined up on the front row at the race’s resumption, with Allison and Spence sharing row two.

Off the jump, Spence powered through the middle of the racetrack to clear Allison coming out of turn 4, and then rolled the bottom in the next set of turns while Ruppert led Barker around the top of the clay. With Spence already angling for the bottom of turn 3 and Barker close enough to throw a slider of his own, both pilots skated their machines up the banking while Ruppert cut low and took the lead back under the flagstand.

But Barker slid Ruppert again at the exit of turn 2, and that left the No. 37R boxed in behind Barker and Spence off the corner. It was then Spence who threw one more good slider on Barker into turn 3 to take the lead, and while the racing continued back to turn 1, it was eventually interrupted by a caution flag for J. T. Bierman’s spin. Another caution for a collision between Luke Hess and Zach Curtis – followed by a wicked pirouette through the air by Roselli – made the restart single-file. And since Spence had been in front of Barker by a nose at the last scored lap, he was all alone out in front when the race finally got back going.

Kyle Spence (No. 89), Kayden Barker (No. 3NZ), and Alex Ruppert (No. 37R) engaged in a hard-fought battle for the lead around the halfway mark of Sunday night’s 50-lap A-Main, with Spence eventually coming out on top. (Photo Courtesy of Tom Iaeger)

Most of the race’s second half was dominated by the M&M Housing No. 89 Hyper Chassis, as Spence paced Barker and Ruppert inches away from the guardrail for the entirety of what became a 20-lap green-flag run. Ruppert got close enough to challenge Barker in the middle of that stint, and those two drivers traded sliders back and forth for several laps before Ruppert finally broke free with the spot at 10 laps remaining. The 2024 Speedweek Finale winner began setting his sights on Spence, but his quest for the win was put on pause when Hess spun with five laps to go, setting up a single-file restart and a sprint to the finish.

Off the restart, Spence continued to set the pace, but Ruppert never fell more than two car lengths behind. While Barker and Allison waged war for third, it became a two-car joust for the victory. And coming into turn 3 approaching the white flag, Ruppert made his first bid for the top spot, throwing a big-time slider into the turn.

Spence was able to cross over easily and led at the start of the final lap, but Ruppert was far from finished throwing haymakers. With one more bomb down into turn 1, Ruppert cleared the front bumper of Spence’s car by mere inches as Spence steered down the hill. As Spence shot off the turn to a lead of two car lengths, Ruppert was simply too far away to clear one final slide-job attempt. Spence was on the fence – fittingly – through the final corner, and then flashed under the finish line, capping off the remarkable race with another illustrious achievement at the speedway.

Despite the best efforts of Alex Ruppert (No. 37R), Kyle Spence (No. 89) answered every challenge to hold on for the victory of the Hyper Racing/Hoosier Tire-Mid Atlantic Finale of Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Tom Iaeger)

Last Sunday at Bridgeport, Spence tied Mike Dicely for the most 600 Speedweek wins of all-time with five – a mark that was then equaled by Christian Bruno following his Tuesday night win at Greenwood Valley. But with his sixth-career 600 Speedweek triumph on Sunday night at the Clyde, Spence put himself standing alone as the all-time winningest driver in a series that dates back to 2007 and has featured a total of 86 races over that time frame.

Spence had previously won Speedweek races at the Clyde in 2018, 2019, and 2022. But none of those triumphs carried the $10,000 check that Spence’s Sunday night victory had attached to it. After finishing on the podium each of the last three years, it was finally Spence’s night to shine as he parked the Curt and Darlene Matherly-owned No. 89 in the winner’s circle.

A valiant effort from Ruppert came up one spot short, as the Lewisberry driver had to settle for silver in the big race for the second time. Barker outgunned Allison to hold onto the final podium place. Bruno rallied back to fifth after the early-race flat tire, but ran out of laps to advance any further.

Kyle Spence did a cage stand in victory lane after pocketing the $10,000 payday for winning the Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Finale at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)

Kyle Spence (middle), Alex Ruppert (left), and Kayden Barker (right) made up the podium for Sunday night’s Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Finale at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)

While chaos surrounded Dominic Schmidt all throughout the 50-lap feature, the pilot of the Groff Motorsports No. 3 Hyper Chassis narrowly missed some of the big incidents and kept his nose clean to record a seventh-place finish.

Cline spent all race trying to close the gap between himself and his championship rival. As it turned out, Cline crossed the finish line right on Schmidt’s tail tank, and perhaps needed just one more lap to make what could have been a championship-winning move. But instead, Cline had to settle for a ninth-place finish at the completion of 50 hard fought laps, and Schmidt took the title by a final margin of 13 points.

Dominic Schmidt (No. 3) edged out Connor Gross (No. 14c) for a seventh-place finish in Sunday night’s Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Finale, while Schmidt’s championship rival Trevor Cline (No. 55x) finished just behind those two drivers at the drop of the checkered flag. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)

The path to a Speedweek championship for Schmidt started with a statement-making second-place finish at Bridgeport, followed by 15th and ninth-place results at Airport and Greenwood Valley, respectively. But after being the first car not to qualify at Action Track USA and only finishing 16th at Pagoda, it seemed like Schmidt’s chances were dashed, as he entered Friday night’s race at McGrewBid Motoplex sixth in the standings, 70 points out of the lead.

But after a chaotic night that saw all of the top four drivers in the standings fail to qualify for the A-Main, Schmidt motored to his second runner-up result of the week, vaulting him all the way up into the points lead ahead of the Finale. Despite having to wait the extra day, Schmidt kept his nerves under control, and drove his Kenny Groff-owned entry to the checkers at the Clyde with the $4,000 payday and “The Big Belt” secured. Schmidt became the youngest 600 Speedweek champion ever at 16 years, eight months, and 13 days old, besting Christian Bruno’s previous mark from 2021 by just a few months.

Results:

1. 89-Kyle Spence[12]; 2. 37R-Alex Ruppert[3]; 3. 3NZ-Kayden Barker[10]; 4. 15N-Neal Allison[5]; 5. 5-Christian Bruno[7]; 6. 12-Dylan Kontra[9]; 7. 3-Dominic Schmidt[8]; 8. 14C-Connor Gross[17]; 9. 55X-Trevor Cline[19]; 10. 26-Aidan Turner[18]; 11. 21K-Thomas Kunsman Jr[4]; 12. 55G-Gavin Gardner[25]; 13. 10L-Lukas Kostic[21]; 14. 76-JT Bierman[20]; 15. 50-Jacob Severn[22]; 16. 09-Vincent Gueci[26]; 17. 2L-Luke Hess[14]; 18. 88J-JR McCutcheon[23]; 19. 21-Zach Curtis[15]; 20. 96-Zach Jurcik[16]; 21. 95-James Roselli[13]; 22. 25-Gunnar Pio[2]; 23. 8W-Jayden Wagner[24]; 24. 15D-Matthew Donley[1]; 25. 21B-Mason Beinhower[6]; 26. 66-Billy Koch[11]

DNQ: 24J-Johnny Venezia; 70-Jasper Zeigafuse; 00K-Peyton Knecht; 95F-Nicholas Fauci; 1-Tylen Trammell; 41B-Brody Snyder; 9S-Owen Steuernagle; 37-Aiden Purdue; 88Y-Justin Yohn; 5X-Chase Rodgers; 9D-Sawyer Davis; 33S-Owen Steigerwalt; 34-Abel Engler; 21G-Geoff Federspiel; 99W-Kaden Wenger; 32-Cody Rose; 570-Prestyn Brown; 95W-Amelia Westlake; 17-Aubree Bane; 12M-Brandon Martinez; 82-John Maurer; 23-Shane Trout; 16-Alex Slade; 9N-Leonardo Naveda; 57-Bryce Baxter; 15J-Jase Murray; 98W-Matthew Warner; 98-Mason Peters; 28H-Jax Wittmer; 14Z-Tony Zajonczkoski; 7D-Wyatt Davis; 42-RJ Deighton; 95AU-Flynn Roser; 14-Zachary Martinez; 44-Mike Catino Jr; 81G-Giancarlo Ramessar; 71-Brian Kramer; 22P-Brandon Pavel; 12S-Brianna Snyder; 28-Brent Shearer; 21X-Cole Robertson; 11K-Rich Kerstetter; 9G-Grady McGrew; 30F-Peyton Faust; 56-Tyler Henry; 11M-Mark Giusto

Dominic Schmidt lifted “The Big Belt” in victory lane after capturing the Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek Presented By Performance Electronics championship on Sunday night. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)

Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek Presented By Flying A Motorsports

After a second-place finish at the East Coast Transponders Nationals two weeks ago and four third-place finishes during Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek, Tremont’s Barrett Bressler finally broke down the door on Sunday evening at the Clyde, as he captured his first Speedweek win and his first victory at the speedway in the 20-lap A-Main.

Looking to recapture his magic from a couple of weeks before, East Coast Transponders Nationals winner Wyatt Parsley was fastest in Groff Motorsports Time Trials for the 18 Junior Sprints that signed in for competition. When heat races rolled around, it was Andrew Ferriola and Cole Surman who took the checkers first.

So Surman would start on pole for the feature, with Bressler – who had timed third and then gone 3-to-2 in his heat – starting second. Parsley and Ferriola made up row two.

After a few caution flags on the first lap, things finally got going for a couple of circuits as Surman – the Monday night winner at Airport – set the early pace. A scary tumble by last year’s Labor Day Shootout winner Gage Pio brought out the red flag on lap 3. Thankfully, Pio was okay, but his No. 5 was out of competition.

As the race eventually resumed and settled back into a rhythm, Bressler was pressuring Surman for the top spot, and eventually made his move coming to complete the fifth lap. Bressler dropped low on Surman down the frontstretch and motored around the inside of his No. 33s into turn 1.

Surman wasn’t going to give up that easily, though, as he used a good run off of turn 2 to slide back ahead on the entrance to the next corner. But Bressler made a good crossover out of turn 4 to take the top spot back for good, and opened the door for Parsley to follow him into the runner-up place.

Barrett Bressler (No. 64B), Wyatt Parsley (No. 93W), and Cole Surman (No. 33s) put on an exciting race for the lead in Sunday evening’s Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek Finale at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Tom Iaeger)

For the rest of the race, Parsley stalked the back bumper of Bressler’s Boyer’s Auto Detailing No. 64B Storm Chassis, looking to make the decisive pass for the win just as he had during the East Coast Transponders Nationals. Parsley’s best chance came with three laps left, when he got a good run off of turn 4 and had a look inside of Bressler into turn 1. But Bressler slammed the door shut, not allowing Parsley the chance to rip another win away from him.

With just one car length between them at the finish, it was Bressler who led Parsley across the finish line this time to capture that elusive first Speedweek win. Surman held on for a third-place finish, while Lucas Coulter and Andrew Ferriola completed the top five.

Barrett Bressler finally got to celebrate his first Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek win on Sunday evening at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)

Barrett Bressler (middle), Wyatt Parsley (left), and Cole Surman (right) capped off Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek by finishing on the podium in Sunday night’s Finale at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)

Meanwhile, in the Flying A Motorsports points chase for the Junior Sprints, it was all Fleetwood’s Ashlyn Wittmer. In spite of a dash of drama early on in the night, “Ricky Bobby” rallied for sixth-place finish in the feature, good enough to secure her as the third-ever Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek champion – following up the achievement that her brother Jax had accomplished one year ago.

Wittmer started the week on a torrid pace, picking up a win at Greenwood Valley and finishing runner-up in each of the other first four races to give herself a solid gap in the standings. Her results cooled off slightly after that, with a fifth-place run at Pagoda and a fourth-place effort at McGrewBid Motoplex. But even so, Wittmer entered Sunday’s Speedweek Finale with a 40-point lead on Andrew Ferriola, meaning that a ninth-place finish was all that was necessary for her to lock up the championship.

But Wittmer found a bump in the road in her heat race, as she went for a tip over following contact in the middle of turns 1 and 2. Despite a little bit of damage, a crisis was mostly averted, and Wittmer still chalked up a fourth-place finish in the heat, placing her in the seventh-starting spot for the feature.

Despite some hard racing throughout the middle of the pack, Wittmer eventually settled into a rhythm of her own as the race continued under green-flag conditions. Running a smart race despite some lingering damage, Wittmer brought her Vero Consult No. 7R Storm Chassis across the finish line directly behind her championship rival Ferriola, ensuring that “The Big Belt” and $1,000 prize would belong to her.

Results:

1. 64B-Barrett Bressler[2]; 2. 93W-Wyatt Parsley[3]; 3. 33S-Cole Surman[1]; 4. 11L-Lucas Coulter[6]; 5. 26X-Andrew Ferriola[4]; 6. 7R-Ashlyn Wittmer[7]; 7. 26C-Camden McGaha[8]; 8. 16-Joshua Penn Jr[5]; 9. 36J-Jaxson Payero[10]; 10. 7-Caleb Witmer[12]; 11. 45-Logan Schibilia[11]; 12. 24-Landon Sigel[15]; 13. 47-Elliott Murray[16]; 14. 52K-Dawson Kreutter[14]; 15. 25-Gavin Penn[18]; 16. 5-Gage Pio[9]; 17. 39W-Logan Wirt[13]; 18. 10-Easton Gardner[17]

Ashlyn Wittmer capped off an impressive week of competition by claiming the 2026 Hyper Racing Junior Sprint Speedweek Presented By Flying A Motorsports championship. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)

Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway is back in action on Saturday, July 25 with another exciting night of competition. Following their grueling Speedweek, the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 division will have the weekend off. However, the other four points divisions at the speedway will all be in action, continuing their battles for the championship. Slotting in place of the Wingless 600s will be the first-ever appearance of the PA Micro Midgets at the Clyde, as both the 500 and 300 divisions will take to the Newmanstown clay for their inaugural event. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m., with hot laps beginning the on-track festivities at 6 p.m. Grandstand admission will be $10, and live streaming coverage will be provided by The Cushion for those who are unable to attend.