By Kasey Kreider
(Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
A season’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears culminated in glory for the five track champions of 2026 who were crowned on Saturday night at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. A long and grueling year of points racing wrapped up with one last dash of excitement, and when the dust settled and the engines finally went quiet, Bradley Brown, Dominic Schmidt, Nick Skias, Brandon Heist, and Justin Harrington all experienced the championship prestige that comes with being the best of the best.
In the midst of the points battles, there were still races to be run on Saturday, too. Dominic Schmidt put the wings on his family-owned No. 08 and won his first EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 race, while Owen Steigerwalt triumphed for the first time in just his fifth Hyper Racing Wingless 600 start ever at the speedway. Jason Swavely continued his strong September with a Border Magic 270 win, while Matt Fernsler finally broke through to take the checkers in the Yeti Fence Sportsmans. Seth Gregory won for the fourth time in the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Strokes, and Ashlyn Wittmer tallied her first win at the Clyde in an appearance from the visiting Junior Sprints.
EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600
Already having wrapped up back-to-back Hyper Racing Wingless 600 championships, Dominic Schmidt came into Saturday night with the pressure off and only checkered flags on his mind. What resulted from that was a rare night doing double duty between the Winged 600 and Wingless 600 divisions. And after a flawless 25 laps in the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 main event, the driver of the Specialty Rigging No. 08 Hyper Chassis took the twin checkers and checked a new accomplishment off the bucket list.
Schmidt started from pole position and made a statement right off the drop of the green flag, opening up a gap of five car lengths by the time the first lap was completed. That was a sign of things to come, as Schmidt ripped the lip around the speedway and never faced a substantial threat for the win, even when 2026 Winged 600 champion Bradley Brown moved into the fray and into the runner-up spot.
A caution with four laps to go pitted the two 600 Micro Sprint champions of the speedway against each other in a nose-to-tail battle, but the final outcome didn’t change, as Schmidt danced off for the first Winged 600 win of his career.
Brown came home with second, while Holden Eckman finished in third. Ashen Glazier and Mason Peters rounded out the top five.
Off the strength of a six-win season during points races – including the season-opening Clyde Martin Memorial – Bradley Brown drove his Reanimated Art Tattoo Studio No. 23 RTS Chassis to his second EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 championship in the last three seasons.
Despite battling motor issues during the middle portion of the season, Brown was still a weekly force and extremely consistent all year long. In a division that often had close to full fields, Brown never recorded a finish worse than ninth, and that was his only result outside of the top six all year long. The championship is Brown’s fourth at the Clyde, with his two Winged 600 titles joining a Wingless 600 and a 270 championship from 2022.
Results:
1. 08-Dominic Schmidt[1]; 2. 23-Bradley Brown[6]; 3. 11H-Holden Eckman[4]; 4. 15G-Ashen Glazier[10]; 5. 10G-Mason Peters[5]; 6. 81G-Giancarlo Ramessar[12]; 7. 72-Jesse Maurer[11]; 8. 28-Charlie Allaband[8]; 9. 75-Heath Hehnly[7]; 10. 9E-Easton Loomis[23]; 11. 08X-Josh Ball[20]; 12. 71-Brian Kramer[2]; 13. 5A-Anthony Yerger[22]; 14. 11R-Tommy Rinck[14]; 15. 62-Cayden Blair[17]; 16. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[3]; 17. 29SR-Brayden Benjamin[16]; 18. 51B-Amanda Onimus[21]; 19. L13-Bob Potter[15]; 20. 75R-Brevan Rothermel[19]; 21. 73-Andrew Rothermel[9]; 22. 707-Jax Wittmer[24]; 23. 15P-Christopher Panczner[13]; 24. 597-John Shrewsbury[18]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 23-Bradley Brown[1540]; 2. 17-Brent Ely[-335]; 3. 14-Jason Swavely[-500]; 4. 51-Chris Gerhart[-543]; 5. 71-Brian Kramer[-598]
Dominic Schmidt scored his first EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 win on Saturday night at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
After winning six points races in 2026, Bradley Brown captured his second EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600 championship in the last three seasons at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Hyper Racing Wingless 600
As one of the drivers in a deep and talented pool of youngsters in the local 600 Micro Sprint scene, you may have been forgiven for not recognizing Palmerton’s Owen Steigerwalt ahead of the final Hyper Racing Wingless 600 main event of the season. After all, Saturday night’s 25-lapper was just Steigerwalt’s fifth-career start at the Clyde. But after showing flashes of brilliance en route to a runner-up finish seven days prior, Steigerwalt drove up from ninth at the start of the race to capture a remarkable first win at the speedway, etching his name firmly alongside the division’s future stars.
Luke Hess – searching for his second win of the year at the track – held the lead from pole position at the drop of the initial green. Behind him, the battling for spots was hot and heavy. Points champion Dominic Schmidt and Abel Engler raced tightly for second place, looking to put themselves in position to challenge Hess at the front of the pack. But when those drivers made contact in turn 4 and lost their momentum, the door opened for Matt Warner and Steigerwalt to elevate into the top three.
On a restart just prior to halfway, Steigerwalt snatched the runner-up place from Warner, and then began working to track down Hess around the top groove of the speedway. While Steigerwalt seemed to be a bit faster, Hess was keeping a steady lead of about two car lengths in hand with the laps ticking down inside of 10 to go.
Unfortunately, that was when Hess’ car began to suffer a mechanical problem and started to lose power. As he slowed in turn 1, Steigerwalt inherited the top spot, and the driver of the Steigerwalt’s Plumbing and Heating No. 33 Hyper Chassis would be tasked with holding off Warner and a rebounding Schmidt over the final six laps of the race.
Schmidt took second from Warner on that restart, and another caution with just three laps left put the champion right on Steigerwalt’s rear bumper for what turned out to be the final sprint to the finish. Steigerwalt nearly lost control coming to the white flag, as he bounced the back of the car off of the guardrail in turn 3. But despite that scare, Steigerwalt kept Schmidt just far away enough over the final circuit to bring home a hard-earned first win.
Schmidt’s bid for a sweep of the night fell just one spot short, as he settled for second. Warner completed the podium, while Cole Gerber and Kyle Lick made up the rest of the top five.
A second consecutive championship season for Dominic Schmidt in the Hyper Racing Wingless 600s may have only ended with one feature victory, but there were still plenty of other highlights along the way.
After winning the Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek championship earlier in the year, Schmidt gave car owner Kenny Groff another title with a remarkable run of consistency. Schmidt finished on the podium in every points race from the beginning of July until the end of the season, and the pilot of the Groff Motorsports No. 3 Hyper Chassis also ran top three in both the East Coast Transponders Nationals and the Labor Day Shootout, proving his mettle against some of the toughest competition around.
Results:
1. 33-Owen Steigerwalt[9]; 2. 3-Dominic Schmidt[3]; 3. 98-Matthew Warner[2]; 4. 14-Cole Gerber[7]; 5. 11Z-Kyle Lick[11]; 6. 10L-Lukas Kostic[10]; 7. 17-Cole Perez[13]; 8. 81G-GianCarlo Ramessar[12]; 9. 34-Abel Engler[5]; 10. 15Q-Quinn Llewellyn[16]; 11. 5X-Chase Rodgers[6]; 12. 721-Steven Miller[19]; 13. 30S-Dominic Slesinski[17]; 14. 14K-RJ Kingdollar[8]; 15. 17X-Aubree Bane[23]; 16. 99G-Gordon Greenlaw[22]; 17. 2L-Luke Hess[1]; 18. 707-Jax Wittmer[4]; 19. 82-Rayce Martin[15]; 20. 30F-Peyton Faust[18]; 21. 29SR-Brayden Benjamin[21]; 22. 99-Kaden Wenger[14]; 23. 597-John Shrewsbury[20]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 3-Dominic Schmidt[1232]; 2. 14-Cole Gerber[-156]; 3. 34-Abel Engler[-243]; 4. 98-Matthew Warner[-260]; 5. 10L-Lukas Kostic[-436]
Owen Steigerwalt sliced through the field to claim his first-career Hyper Racing Wingless 600 win on Saturday night at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Dominic Schmidt became the first back-to-back Hyper Racing Wingless 600 champion in Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway history on Saturday night. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Border Magic 270
Taking plenty of momentum into the massive month of October for 270 Micro Sprint competitors in the area, Fleetwood’s Jason Swavely pocketed his second win in the last three weeks of Border Magic 270 competition, claiming the final points race of the season aboard the Schenck Racing No. 92 RTS Chassis.
Isaac Graby led at the drop of the green, looking to avenge the loss that his brother, Austin, had suffered in the same car after it had broken from the lead one week ago. However, Graby had a number of challengers throughout the evening, starting with Toby Blumenshine, a driver who was still looking for his first win of the year at the speedway.
The race’s first big moment happened on a lap 15 restart, as Blumenshine cleared Graby from the outside of the front row. However, when Blumenshine’s car got out of shape coming out of turn 2, he went for a tumble and collected points champion Nick Skias along with several other drivers.
That put Graby back into the lead, with Swavely occupying the second spot. For the next several laps, Swavely worked high and low to build up enough momentum to make a lunge down to the inside of Graby’s No. 77G. The opportunity came on the run down into turn 3 with five laps to go, as Swavely shot to the bottom and Graby attempted to protect the line. Contact resulted, with Graby’s car spinning around and backing up toward the guardrail, while Swavely wrestled to keep his car under power and took over the lead.
From there, Swavely paced the final five laps to grab the checkered flag, with Brandon Heist coming home second to secure the runner-up spot in the point standings. Billy Logeman rounded out the podium, with Mike Boyer and Kyle Lindsey completing the top five. The Border Magic Hard Charger Bonus went to Dan Lane, Jr., as he advanced 16 positions from 23rd to seventh.
Despite being involved in a crash in the final points race and finishing 17th, Nick Skias had already locked up his fifth Border Magic 270 championship and third in a row before the month of September even rolled around.
Driving the Chuck Skias-owned Weinhold’s Poultry No. 3 Viper Chassis, Skias won each of the first four points races of the season, beginning with a long-awaited first triumph in the Clyde Martin Memorial Race. Later in the summer, Skias rattled off three more straight wins to put the title fight out of reach for the rest of the competition. Additionally, Skias also won the Border Magic Hard Charger Championship, pocketing an extra $270 for advancing the most places in feature events over the course of the season.
Results:
1. 92-Jason Swavely[3]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[4]; 3. 27O-Billy Logeman[9]; 4. 41-Mike Boyer[7]; 5. 28-Kyle Lindsey[5]; 6. 6-Danial Boyer[19]; 7. 16-Dan Lane Jr[23]; 8. 30-Ryan Heckman[11]; 9. 5-Bret Cronrath[17]; 10. 32-Michael Hoffmaster[14]; 11. 34-Christi Sweigart[18]; 12. 77G-Isaac Graby[1]; 13. 29-Steve Simmons[10]; 14. 96W-Chase Walker[13]; 15. 47X-Ernie Newmaster III[22]; 16. 01-Daron Reppert[20]; 17. 3-Nick Skias[8]; 18. 1J-Toby Blumenshine[2]; 19. 11R-Tommy Rinck[6]; 20. 17-Masen Stapleton[15]; 21. 81-Dylan Holmes[21]; 22. 27T-Michael Rutherford[12]; 23. 11H-Chason Hauck[16]; 24. 20S-Greg Stevens[24]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 3-Nick Skias[1443]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[-257]; 3. 92-Jason Swavely[-269]; 4. 5-Bret Cronrath[-471]; 5. 27O-Billy Logeman[-483]
Jason Swavely came out on top in the final points race of the season for the Border Magic 270s at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Nick Skias made it a three-peat in the Border Magic 270 class, scoring seven wins throughout the season en route to another Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway championship. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Yeti Fence Sportsman
The Yeti Fence Sportsman division was the only championship that was still left to be determined by the time features rolled around on Saturday night. While Matt Fernsler put together an outstanding drive to score his first Sportsman win aboard the Jeff and Courtney Kupp-owned Allegheny Towing & Salvage No. 23K RTS Chassis, it was Brandon Heist who bested Bret Cronrath to clinch his second Sportsman championship at the speedway.
Fernsler started on the pole for the feature, while the championship combatants were separated by six positions at the drop of the green. Heist – entering with a 24-point lead and needing only a top five result to clinch the title – started fourth, while Cronrath had missed the redraw in his heat race and was forced to try and climb his way up from 10th.
In the span of five minutes, the Sportsman season wrote its final chapter, as the race ran 25 laps without a single caution flag. Fernsler held onto the point, while Heist settled into the second position. Even though Cronrath would eventually work his way into the top five, the lack of any caution flags soiled any opportunity for the three-time champion to control his own destiny in the points fight.
Heist was still trying to track down Fernsler for the win, and didn’t seem to be protecting points as he flirted with and occasionally made contact with the infield tires. Fernsler’s car was ultimately too strong for Heist to challenge, though, and the Annville driver finally recorded his first win in the Sportsman class after racing in the division for most of the year.
But Heist trailed Fernsler all the way to the finish and came home second, allowing him to clinch the championship with a final margin of 39 points over Cronrath. Despite only scoring points in 14 of the scheduled 16 races, Heist’s dominant season that featured seven wins and five runner-up finishes made up for the lost points from those events. Piloting the Mt. Gretna Roller Rink No. 99 RTS Chassis, Heist made it two championships in the last three seasons in the Yeti Fence Sportsman division.
Brianne Cronrath Wittmer hopped back behind the wheel on Saturday night and finished third, while Billy Logeman drove up to fourth and Cronrath rounded out the top five.
Results:
1. 23K-Matt Fernsler[1]; 2. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[4]; 3. 16-Brianne Cronrath Wittmer[2]; 4. 97-Billy Logeman[8]; 5. 5-Bret Cronrath[10]; 6. 77-Michael Kreiser[3]; 7. 21V-David Ravel[6]; 8. 17-Masen Stapleton[5]; 9. 11H-Chason Hauck[7]; 10. 26-Corey Schmuck Jr[13]; 11. 21D-Dave Williams[9]; 12. 31-Tyler Martin[11]; 13. 31M-Noah Merkey[12]; 14. 77J-Jade Smith[14]
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 99-Brandon Heist Sr[1369]; 2. 5-Bret Cronrath[-39]; 3. 77-Michael Kreiser[-192]; 4. 21V-David Ravel[-234]; 5. 97-Billy Logeman[-268]
Matt Fernsler broke through for the first time in the Yeti Fence Sportsman division on Saturday night at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Brandon Heist brought home championship number two in the Yeti Fence Sportsman class on Saturday night at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke
After clinching his second consecutive championship at Shellhammer Dirt Track earlier in the week, Ephrata’s Seth Gregory capped off his strong second half of the year racing at the Clyde with his fourth win of the season in the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Stroke class.
Subbing for an injured Justin Harrington, Brandon Heist started on pole for the 25-lapper, with his son Brandon Heist, Jr. on the outside of the front row in a cool family moment. The elder Heist took command of the race, but Gregory elevated from fifth at the start up into second, and put himself in the catbird seat when trouble eventually struck for the No. 76.
Heist’s car began to fall off the pace with 10 laps to go, and as he was forced to drop by the wayside, Gregory powered past to take away the top spot. The driver of the Stitzer Auto Body No. 14 Mongoose Chassis remained in control for the rest of the race, and cruised away from the rest of the pack over a final three-lap dash to capture the win.
Trevor Waegel came home as the runner-up, while Dave Schoreder recorded another podium by finishing third. Bradley Brown finished fourth in the second Harrington-owned car, and last week’s winner Brandon Worthington rounded out the top five.
Due to an injury, Justin Harrington only attempted hot laps on Saturday night before withdrawing from competition for the rest of the evening. But thanks to a season that saw the Manheim driver pilot the Harrington Motorsports No. 76 RTS Chassis to a class-leading five victories, Harrington still had enough of a cushion over second-place Trevor Waegel to secure his third track championship at the speedway. Harrington added this title to ones that he had secured as a driver in 2021 and 2023, while also joining with championships that Billy Logeman and Chris Dolan had achieved while driving his cars in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Results:
1. 14-Seth Gregory[5]; 2. 44S-Trevor Waegel[3]; 3. X-Dave Schroeder[6]; 4. 75-Bradley Brown[4]; 5. 4W-Brandon Worthington[7]; 6. 112-Dylan Yeingst[11]; 7. 3H-Corey Harting[13]; 8. 17-Aspen Groff[10]; 9. 15-Alyssa Holmes[14]; 10. 68-Kevin Jones[8]; 11. 26C-Michael Coen[9]; 12. 69-Aaron Scalen[12]; 13. 76-Brandon Heist Sr[1]; 14. 5R-Brandon Heist Jr[2]; 15. 44X-Gary Waegel[15]; 16. 23-Asher Kempton[16]; 17. (DNS) 76H-Justin Harrington
Points (Top 5) (FINAL):
1. 76H-Justin Harrington[1460]; 2. 44S-Trevor Waegel[-42]; 3. 14-Seth Gregory[-82]; 4. 3H-Corey Harting[-201]; 5. X-Dave Schroeder[-331]
Charging from fifth, Seth Gregory captured the flag for the fourth time in 2026 in the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Strokes at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of Wayne Hohler Photography)
Justin Harrington won his third Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway championship in the last six years, taking home the hardware in the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Strokes. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Junior Sprints
The Junior Sprints competed for the final time in 2026 at the Clyde, and saw their fifth different winner in as many races. This time, it was 2026 Hyper Racing Speedweek champion Ashlyn Wittmer who finally checked the box to score her first-career win at the track.
The move for the win was a daring, three-wide pass on the opening lap, as Wittmer shot her Vero Consult No. 7R Storm Chassis to the bottom of the racetrack and squeezed inside of Labor Day Shootout winner Logan Schibilia and Ryker Martin. Wittmer made the pass cleanly, and cleared Schibilia for good down the backstretch to put her car into clean air.
Wittmer controlled the rest of the race from there, navigating safely past a lapped car and keeping Martin a few car lengths behind to grab the twin checkers at the end of a nonstop 20-lap feature.
Martin came home with a second-place finish in his first-ever race at the Clyde, while Speedweek Finale winner Barrett Bressler capped off the podium. Schibilia finished fourth, and Jaxson Payero brought home the final spot in the top five.
Results:
1. 7R-Ashlyn Wittmer[3]; 2. 82-Ryker Martin[2]; 3. 64B-Barrett Bressler[4]; 4. 45-Logan Schibilia[1]; 5. 36J-Jaxson Payero[6]; 6. 14-Brycen Austin[5]; 7. 95-Landen Edsall[8]; 8. 12-Brady Ayres[9]; 9. 9E-Connor Edsall[7]
Ashlyn Wittmer finally added Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway to the list of tracks that she has won at, as she triumphed in Saturday night’s 20-lapper for the Junior Sprints. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Knappenberger Photos)
Throughout the night, several tributes took place in memory of longtime track worker Scott Fry, who passed away earlier in the week following a brief health battle. Scott’s four-wheeler was parked in the middle of the infield for most of the night until his son, Mike, hopped aboard it to pace the field for the 270 feature. Several drivers came out into the infield during those pace laps to pay their respects as well.
A helmet drive also took place during intermission. With an extreme amount of gratitude to the fans, drivers, and crew members who donated, a total of $1,070 was raised, with all proceeds going directly back to the Fry family.
Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway’s next event will be the track’s “Tour De Clyde” – an approximately one-mile “fun run” and tour of the track grounds and facility – taking place on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 8 a.m. Following that, a postseason test and tune and flea market will be held at the track from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
The final competitive on-track event of the season will be the rescheduled “Pistol Pete Duels” in honor of the late Pete Skias on Saturday, Oct. 10. The race will pay $3,008 to the winner in the Border Magic 270 division, while the EVO Fuel Injection Winged 600s and the Gretna Graphics 125/4 Strokes will also be competing as well. Gates will open at 3 p.m. for the event, with on-track action beginning at 5 p.m. Grandstand admission will be just $10, and live streaming coverage will also be provided by The Cushion for those who cannot attend.