By Kasey Kreider
(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
With time quickly starting to run out on the 2026 season of racing at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, some drivers found themselves vying for a long-awaited triumph that they had spent all season working towards. Others looked to keep their momentum rolling, and further cement themselves as favorites for one of this season’s five championships at the speedway.
For the first time in four years, Jesse Maurer picked up a win at the Clyde, as “The Mount Joy Outlaw” triumphed in Saturday night’s EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 main event. Mason Beinhower collected both his second win of the season and his second win of the weekend at the conclusion of the Hyper Racing Wingless 600 feature. Bret Cronrath broke through for his first win in two years in the Border Magic 270s. Meanwhile, Brandon Heist scored his sixth win of the season and retook the points lead in the Yeti Fence Sportsman class. And Justin Harrington turned in a seventh-to-first performance to capture his fifth checkered flag of the year in the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Strokes.
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
After some time away from the driver’s seat, Jesse Maurer had run a majority of the 2026 season at the Clyde and scored his first podium finish of the season in last Saturday’s EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 feature. Seven days later, the Mount Joy native completed his comeback, taking his first win at the speedway since August of 2022 in the 25-lap main event.
The former Clyde Martin Memorial Race and Labor Day Shootout winner started from the pole position for the feature and quickly got to work setting the pace aboard the Hammer Down Engines-sponsored No. 72 Hyper Chassis. Maurer’s main challenger in the main event was West Virginia native Cayden Blair, who was looking to better a fourth-place result from earlier in the season and become another first-time winner at the speedway.
After the race’s only restart on lap 4, Blair kept Maurer honest through much of the long green-flag run that would end up running all the way to the conclusion of the race. The Carber Racing pilot never fell more than about a second off of Maurer’s rear bumper, and began to quickly close back in once Maurer hit lapped traffic in the closing circuits.
But the veteran driver in Maurer was able to keep things smooth and clean around the lappers, and despite Blair cutting the gap to three car lengths at the white flag, he wasn’t able to zero in close enough to make a legitimate challenge on Maurer’s machine.
Maurer sped off to collect the victory and become the eighth different winner in the last eight Winged 600 races at the speedway. Blair finished a career-best second, while the birthday boy Brent Ely rounded out the podium. Jason Swavely and Bradley Brown were the rest of the top five, with Brown keeping his points lead at a steady 104 over Ely with three races to go in the season.
Results:
1. 72-Jesse Maurer[1]; 2. 62-Cayden Blair[4]; 3. 17-Brent Ely[3]; 4. 14-Jason Swavely[10]; 5. 23-Bradley Brown[7]; 6. 707-Jax Wittmer[12]; 7. 11X-Logan Falini[6]; 8. 51-Chris Gerhart[5]; 9. 75R-Brevan Rothermel[14]; 10. 28-Charlie Allaband[9]; 11. 11-Connor Fetrow[15]; 12. 11R-Steven Drevicki[11]; 13. 29SR-Brayden Benjamin[16]; 14. 73-Andrew Rothermel[13]; 15. 15P-Christopher Panczner[8]; 16. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[2]
Points (Top 5) (After 13 of 16 Races):
1. 23-Bradley Brown[1245]; 2. 17-Brent Ely[-104]; 3. 51-Chris Gerhart[-281]; 4. 14-Jason Swavely[-343]; 5. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[-440]
Jesse Maurer returned to Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway victory lane on Saturday night after winning the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 feature. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
After tallying a Winged 600 victory at McGrewBid Motoplex on Friday night, Mason Beinhower took the wings off and made it twice as nice during Saturday night’s Hyper Racing Wingless 600 main event at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
The Dillsburg native set the early pace from the pole position as the entire field from second on back sliced and diced for positions behind him. James Fries, Dominic Schmidt, and Luke Hess all took turns occupying that runner-up position with Hess – the Wingless 600 winner at McGrewBid Motoplex on Friday night – seeming to be Beinhower’s strongest challenger.
While Hess stalked the tail tank of Beinhower’s machine during the closing laps, his No. 2L never got quite close enough to make a move for the lead, as Beinhower kept his car smooth and steady racing through the middle of the speedway. The driver of the E.K. Services No. 21B Hyper Chassis dashed under the checkered flag two car lengths ahead of Hess to prevail for the second time this season in Wingless 600 action at the Clyde.
Hess finished with a runner-up result, while third-place went to the points leader Schmidt. The defending champion opened his lead to 126 points over fourth-place finishing Cole Gerber, and Matt Warner made a late charge to round out the top five.
Results:
1. 21B-Mason Beinhower[1]; 2. 2L-Luke Hess[6]; 3. 3-Dominic Schmidt[4]; 4. 14-Cole Gerber[7]; 5. 98-Matthew Warner[9]; 6. 34-Abel Engler[8]; 7. 1F-James Fries[2]; 8. 23-Bradley Brown[15]; 9. 24-Cooper Fegely[5]; 10. 81G-GianCarlo Ramessar[16]; 11. 75-Brevan Rothermel[17]; 12. 11H-Holden Eckman[10]; 13. 2J-Jace Marshall[11]; 14. 707-Jax Wittmer[12]; 15. 73-Andrew Rothermel[14]; 16. 99G-Gordon Greenlaw[3]; 17. 10L-Lukas Kostic[13]
Points (Top 5) (After 11 of 14 Races):
1. 3-Dominic Schmidt[952]; 2. 14-Cole Gerber[-126]; 3. 34-Abel Engler[-165]; 4. 98-Matthew Warner[-222]; 5. 10L-Lukas Kostic[-275]
Mason Beinhower collected his second win of the season in Hyper Racing Wingless 600 action at the Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Border Magic 270
It had been two years since Blandon native Bret Cronrath had last scored a win at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. But that all changed on Saturday night, as the multi-time Sportsman champion got the job done in the 25-lapper for the Border Magic 270 division.
The early-race lead belonged to Mike Skias, who was looking to break through for his first win of the year after finishing on the podium in his last three races. Cronrath settled into the second position, and held down that place until Skias caught lapped traffic.
Once reaching the back of the field, Skias lost his advantage, and Cronrath quickly closed in. Carving low out of turn 4, Cronrath took over the top spot on lap 13, and held onto that position before a flurry of late-race cautions reset the field for a sprint to the finish.
Cronrath’s first big challenge from behind came in the form of Mike Rutherford, just seven days after those two had battled for the win of the Sportsman feature. Rutherford moved into second on one of the restarts, and then fought Cronrath for the lead on the next restart with six laps to go. As Rutherford attempted to circle around the outside of Cronrath at the exit of turn 2, the two drivers collided, putting Rutherford into the wall and breaking the front end of his No. 27T.
Despite the scare, Cronrath was able to escape damage and held onto the top spot. His final task was to keep Nick Skias at bay, as Skias searched for his fourth consecutive Border Magic 270 win. Nick cleared his brother Mike to take over the second slot with three laps to go, and put the bit between his teeth to hunt down Cronrath over the final couple of laps.
But Cronrath’s Heyco Metals No. 5 RTS Chassis was strong enough to keep the defending track champion behind him, as Skias was unable to make a move and Cronrath led him across the finish line for his first win at the Clyde since June of 2024.
Skias’ second-place finish still extended his points lead to 203 over Jason Swavely, putting the Wernersville native in position to potentially clinch his fifth track championship during next Saturday’s event. Brandon Heist rounded out the podium with a third, while Mike Skias finished in the fourth spot. Swavely came home fifth and was the recipient of the Border Magic Hard Charger Bonus, advancing 12 positions from 17th on the starting grid.
Results:
1. 5-Bret Cronrath[3]; 2. 3-Nick Skias[10]; 3. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[7]; 4. 8S-Mike Skias[1]; 5. 92-Jason Swavely[17]; 6. 11R-Tommy Rinck[4]; 7. 30-Ryan Heckman[2]; 8. 29-Steve Simmons[5]; 9. 28S-Brian Sholley[13]; 10. 1L-Luke Hess[16]; 11. 27O-Billy Logeman[8]; 12. 34-Christi Sweigart[9]; 13. 81-Dylan Holmes[12]; 14. 01-Daron Repperts[15]; 15. 2T-Doug Pearson[21]; 16. 16-Seth Gregory[11]; 17. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[20]; 18. 27T-Michael Rutherford[6]; 19. 5A-Anthony Yerger[14]; 20. 73-Luis Gonzalez Jr[18]; 21. 4-Dylan Pence[19]
Points (Top 5) (After 12 of 15 Races):
1. 3-Nick Skias[1213]; 2. 92-Jason Swavely[-203]; 3. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[-207]; 4 .5-Bret Cronrath[-403]; 5. 8S-Mike Skias[-427]
Bret Cronrath scored the win of Saturday night’s Border Magic 270 feature for his first win at the Clyde in two years. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Yeti Fence Sportsman
After a couple rough weeks of racing, Brandon Heist responded in a big way during Saturday night’s Yeti Fence Sportsman feature, as the Jonestown native stormed from eighth to the lead in less than eight laps to pick up his sixth Sportsman win of the season and reclaim the points lead.
Heist used the outside of the speedway to pick off a number of race cars on the opening revolution, and then shifted to the bottom groove to work his way past both Billy Logeman and Bret Cronrath by the time the first three laps of the race were scored.
Heist then quickly tracked down Ryan Heckman and race leader Tyler Martin, using the upper groove to build momentum before diving under each driver on the straightaway. Heist made his move inside of Martin down the backstretch on the eighth lap, and found himself in clean air before the first caution flag flew on lap 10.
Despite Logeman’s best efforts after he moved into the runner-up spot, the PWE Racing Engines No. 99 RTS Chassis was uncontested at the front for the remainder of the race, as Heist chalked up a statement-making victory.
Logeman finished in second, while Chason Hauck collected his career-best result with a third. Dave Ravel finished fourth, and Corey Schmuck, Jr. rebounded from a flip to capture the final place in the top five.
Meanwhile Cronrath – who entered the race as the points leader – was involved in a late-race incident in the feature and could only salvage a ninth-place finish. Despite entering the night with a 32-point deficit, Heist’s win allowed him to take over the championship lead by a mere four points over Cronrath with three races still left to settle the title.
Results:
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[8]; 2. 97-Billy Logeman[5]; 3. 11H-Chason Hauck[4]; 4. 21V-David Ravel[11]; 5. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[14]; 6. 17-Masen Stapleton[9]; 7. 30-Ryan Heckman[2]; 8. 2T-Doug Pearson[10]; 9. 5-Bret Cronrath[3]; 10. 31M-Noah Merkey[6]; 11. 21D-Dave Williams[7]; 12. 77-Michael Kreiser[13]; 13. 9R-Mason Ruffner[12]; 14. 31-Tyler Martin[1]
Points (Top 5) (After 13 of 16 Races):
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[1079]; 2. 5-Bret Cronrath[-4]; 3. 77-Michael Kreiser[-110]; 4. 21V-David Ravel[-164]; 5. 75-Justin Harrington[-176]
Brandon Heist racked up his sixth win of the season in the Yeti Fence Sportsman class on Saturday night at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke
After going from 11th to second one week prior, Justin Harrington turned in another great drive in Saturday night’s Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke feature, charging from seventh to collect his fifth win of the season in the division.
A couple of strong starts put Harrington quickly up into the third position, but he still found himself trailing Alyssa Holmes – the first of three leaders during the race – as she paced the first eight laps of the feature in search of her first win at the Clyde.
On the ninth lap, Dave Schroeder – also looking for win number one – threw his hat into the ring, as he dove to the inside of Holmes on the run down to turn three. The two cars banged wheels, but Schroeder came away with the lead, while the door opened for Harrington to slither into second.
Schroeder was in command for the next six laps and appeared as if he could’ve been on his way to that elusive first Lanco victory. But as Schroeder worked through lapped traffic, contact with another car out of turn 2 saw Schroeder’s mount nearly go for a spin, as he was pointed toward the infield and had to carefully tiptoe down the backstretch to safely re-enter the racing surface.
Schroeder’s mishap allowed Harrington to easily blow past the No. X machine and move into the race lead. From there, the Harrington Motorsports No. 76 RTS Chassis was tasked with holding off Seth Gregory and denying the Ephrata native of back-to-back wins. Harrington rose to that occasion as well, and drove off to score the win by five car lengths as the leaders crossed under the finish line.
Behind Harrington and Gregory came Trevor Waegel to round out the podium, while Schroeder was forced to rally for a fourth-place finish. Asher Kempton completed the top five. With his win, Harrington ballooned his lead in the championship standings to 131 points over Waegel entering next Saturday’s event.
Results:
1. 76-Justin Harrington[7]; 2. 14-Seth Gregory[6]; 3. 44S-Trevor Waegel[3]; 4. X-Dave Schroeder[2]; 5. 23-Asher Kempton[4]; 6. 4W-Brandon Worthington[5]; 7. 15-Alyssa Holmes[1]; 8. 3H-Corey Harting[13]; 9. 3H2-Holly Harting[11]; 10. 17-Aspen Groff[12]; 11. 5R-Brandon Heist Jr[9]; 12. 8-Michael Spadafora[15]; 13. 68-Kevin Jones[8]; 14. 112-Dylan Yeingst[14]; 15. 26C-Michael Coen[10]
Points (Top 5) (After 13 of 16 Races):
1. 76-Justin Harrington[1269]; 2. 44S-Trevor Waegel[-131]; 3. 14-Seth Gregory[-186]; 4. 3H-Corey Harting[-222]; 5. 15-Alyssa Holmes[-312]
Justin Harrington tallied win number five of the season in the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke class at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway returns to action next Saturday, Aug. 29 with a regular points show for all five divisions. Gates will open at 4:30 p.m., with hot laps beginning the on-track action at 6 p.m. Grandstand admission is just $10, while live streaming coverage will also be provided by The Cushion.