Rutherford, Swavely, Brian, Jr., and Maurer Dominant On Wild Night At Lanco

Race night number three for Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway saw a bit of everything on the Newmanstown high-banks, with repeat winners, fresh faces in Victory Lane, and several torn up cars following wild crashes. The batting order for the night saw the 270 class in the lead-off position.

Corey Schmuck Jr and Jason Swavely lead the field to the green, with last week’s winner TJ Greve a surprising DNQ after mechanical issues plagued the car all night. Lap two had the first yellow flag fly for the stopped car of Jarrett Imler in turn one. Imler was able to push off and rejoin the field. After a first lap bobble dropped Schmuck to fourth, Mike Miller went to work from second on the restart. An ill-timed slider by Miller bottled up Swavely, bringing Schmuck, Alex Swift, Nick Skias, and Graby into a tight battle for the lead. As Swavely caught traffic, the gaps began to grow throughout the top five. While Swavely was leading throughout, the challenges were frequent and intense from Graby and Schmuck. Caution number two flew with three laps to go, for contact between Trent Eberhart and Chase Walker. A single file-restart ensued which saw Swavely take the win convincingly over Schmuck, Skias, Swift, and Miller.

The 125 and 4 Stroke Division rolled out onto the Speedway next, with last week’s winner Cliff Brian, Jr. starting on the pole, while Shane Davis lined up outside of row one. Week one’s winner Austin Graby lined up in the fourth position. Davis fell back to sixth on the start, as Brian checked out from the drop of the green. Five laps in, the lead was already over one second back to second place running Justin Harrington. The race went clean and green to halfway, with the lead growing every lap. Tyler Martin suffered a mechanical issue bringing his car to a stop in turn two, and erased a nearly three second lead for Brian. Martin was unable to continue. The restart saw Brian and Graby on the front row, with Harrington and Marty Brian in row two. While the result mirrored the opening start, the lead for Brian didn’t grow nearly as quickly. A handful of green flag laps passed before the car of Zach Young spun in turn four, setting up a single file restart with five to go. A wild crash on the restart saw Zach Young, Mike Coen and Nate Weidman all make contact and Weidman flipped. All drivers were uninjured.  Shane Davis and Holden Eckman crashed on the restart, with both drivers uninjured and able to continue. Brian would be untouched on the succeeding restart and complete the flag-to-flag win over Graby, Harrington, Marty Brian, and Alex Lukacs.

The Hyper Racing 600’s were third on the bullring, with Bradley Brown and Mike Rutherford on the front row. Another stacked field saw a solid mix of Lanco regulars and outside invaders, with row two seeing Nash Ely and Tim Buckwalter lined up behind the local standouts. Last week’s winner Kyle Spence lined up in fifth. Rutherford was long gone by the first caution for the spinning Holden Eckman in turn three. While the multi-time class champion was checking out, the battles for the rest of the top five were intense. On the restart a huge crash took out several cars on the entry to corner number one. Heath Hehnly, Jeremy Harshman, Bret Cronrath, Brian Kramer, Ryan Groff, Jesse Maurer, Aaron Espenshade, and Will Urkuski all were collected. The night was over early for Urkuski, Groff, Harshman, and Espenshade. Hehnly retired two laps later. By the halfway point, all of the leaders were running the high line and The Clyde turned in to Slide Job City. Bret Cronrath spun in turn two at lap 12, bringing out the caution. Rutherford got away cleanly on the restart, while Spence threw slider after slider at Ely. That battle continued until there were eight laps to go when the caution flew for Jim Radney who suffered a mechanical issue in turn two. With four laps remaining, the night’s biggest crash saw three cars flip wildly in turn three. Tyler Ulrich, Bret Cronrath, and Phil Meisner all went over, and each required the flatbed to tow off the racecourse. Race Control displayed the red flag and sent all cars to the work area while the crash was cleaned up. Rutherford controlled the restart and became the second wire-to-wire winner on the night.

The evening’s festivities were rounded out by the Sportsman division, which had Anthony Yerger and Ryan Heckman on the front row. Jamie Flickinger and Toby Blumenshine made up row two, while David Ravel and Jesse Maurer were lined up in the third row. Maurer and Yerger both had won already this season and looked to establish their early season dominance. Heckman, meanwhile, is a team car to the winning 270 of Jason Swavely.  Blumenshine showed his experience as a prior track champion getting around Heckman for second early. Corey Schmuck, Jr was on the charge, benefitting from Flickinger getting loose off turn four and bottling up the field. Schmuck gained five spots down the front stretch but over-cooked the entry to turn one and spun bringing out the first caution flag of the race. On thee restart, Yerger skunked Blumenshine and allowed Maurer to battle for second; claiming the spot at the line as caution flew for the spinning Charles Hellinger. With only four laps in the books, it was still anyone’s race. Before one lap was completed, the car of Matt Yoh spun in turn two while Mike Kreiser had ignition trouble and came to a stop in the infield. As the race approached the halfway point, Yerger got caught behind lap traffic, and Maurer took full advantage. Blumenshine was all over Maurer for the lead as Robert Shannaman spun in turn four and brought out another caution. Chase Layser had mechanical trouble and pulled off under thee caution while running fourth. Throughout the short green flag runs, Patrick Kirn and Kane Rogers made strong moves toward the front and would restart inside the top five after staring mid-pack. Yerger and Rogers fought for third allowing thee leaders to get away. With two laps to go, Blumenshine rode the guardrail through turns one and two sealing the win for Maurer.

After three weeks of spectatorless shows, the gates will open next weekend for the first time in 2020. Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway will offer a special promotion for all Mom’s and Dad’s offering half price admission. It will also be a Dollar Dog Night presented by Not Your Momma’s Kitchen, the new food and beverage concessionaire. For the first time this season, all fans can come out and truly Live the Excitement that is LANCO!

Hyper Racing 600 Class Results

1. Mike Rutherford, 2. Kyle Spence, 3. Nash Ely, 4. Jarid Kunkle, 5. Bradley Brown, 6. Austin Quick, 7. BJ Antonio, 8. Jesse Maurer, 9. Tim Buckwalter, 10. Chris Gerhart, 11. Jesse Snyder, 12. Zack Light, 13. Brian Kramer, 14. Chris Panczner, 15. Phil Meisner, 16. Tyler Ulrich, 17. Bret Cronrath, 18. Jim Radney, 19. Holden Eckman, 20. Heath Hehnly, 21. William Urkuski, 22. Ryan Groff, 23. Jeremy Harshman, 24. Aaron Espenshade, DNQ Dan Lane Jr, DNQ Toby Blumenshine, DNQ Mark Yoder, DNQ Joe Kepple, DNQ Olivia Thayer, DNQ Brianne Witmer-Cronrath

270 Class Results

1. Jason Swavely, 2. Corey Schmuck Jr, 3. Nick Skias, 4. Alex Swift, 5. Mike Miller, 6. Mike Rutherford, 7. Bradley Brown, 8. Andrew Dietrich, 9. Heath Hehnly, 10. Austin Graby, 11. Dan Lane Jr, 12. Toby Blumenshine, 13. Mike Skias, 14. Pete Skias, 15. Trent Eberhart, 16. Jarrett Imler, 17. Jonah Meck, 18. Christi Sweigart, 19. Clinton Hauser, 20. Matt Fernsler, 21. Zack Hollinger, 22. Chase Walker, 23. Richie Hartman, 24. Anthony Yerger, DNQ Kayla Fetter, DNQ TJ Greve, DNQ Jesse Maurer, DNQ Tajae Adams, DNQ Jimmy Wampole, DNQ Josh Ohlinger

Sportsman Results

1. Jesse Maurer, 2. Toby Blumenshine, 3. Anthony Yerger, 4. Patrick Kirn, 5. Kane Rogers, 6. Corey Schmuck, 7. Jeremy Eisenhauer, 8. Noah Merkey, 9. Chad Kreiser, 10. Jamie Flickenger, 11. Ryan Heckman, 12. Brian Sholley, 13. Charles Hellinger, 14. Raymond Ohlinger, 15. Robert Shannaman, 16. Courtney Kupp, 17. Brett Sculley, 18. Matt Yoh II, 19. Michael Spadafora, 20. Chase Layser, 21. Dave Ravel, 22. Mike Kreiser, 23. Bret Conrath, 24. Shannon Slaughter, DNQ                Max Fasnacht, DNQ Mike Stoppard Jr, DNQ Steve Smith Sr

125/4 Stroke Class Results

1. Cliff Brian Jr, 2. Austin Graby, 3. Justin Harrington, 4. Marty Brian, 5. Alex Lukacs, 6. Ron Crossley, 7. Mike Glass, 8. Matt Fernsler, 9. Chase Layser, 10. Dylan Yeingst, 11. Holden Eckman, 12. Michael Coen, 13. Zachary Young, 14. Shane Davis, 15. Eddie Nocera, 16. Sam Borger, 17. Terry Ellex, 18. Nate Weidman, 19. Ron Young, 20. Kyle Lindsey, 21. Tyler Martin, 22. Mike Miller, 23. Ron Wechter, DNS AJ Gerhart, DNS Darren Miller, DNQ Riley Simmons, DNQ Dick Huzzard, DNQ Isaac Graby, DNQ Logan Rhoad, DNQ Sara Borror, DNQ Jared St John, DNQ Kenny Bushey, DNQ Drayson Layser

Speedy Night of Racing Sees Spence, Greve, Yerger, and Brian Claim Wins

Kyle Spence took his first Lanco win. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger

On an early summer day built for racing, the stars and cars of Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway put on a fantastic show for a growing live-stream audience. With fans still unable to attend due to COVID-19 restrictions, the audience numbers for the track’s free live stream was outstanding. Those fans were treated to an exciting night of racing, with duels throughout the field.

In the Sportsman division, Mike Rutherford lead early from the pole, but the big mover was Anthony Yerger. Trouble for Fran Hine saw the yellow fly early, but Rutherford also had a mechanical failure which ended his night on lap five. Jesse Maurer and Anthony Yerger traded the lead throughout the middle part of the race, especially once battling lap traffic. After a caution on lap 18, Yerger checked out on the field while Maurer fought Patrick Kirn for third. Maurer claimed the position, with Kirn finishing in the third position. Jeremy Eisenhouer and Chase Layser completed the top five.

The 270’s rolled off next, with Heath Hehnly and Billy Logeman. After a dominating performance was derailed one week ago, TJ Greve returned to avenge the defeat and was on the charge from the drop of the green flag. Tommy Kunsman battled Logeman for third, and Bradley Brown was right there in fourth as well. Brown made heavy contact with the outside retaining wall on lap 12, eventually flattening his right rear tire. Mechanical gremlins caught up with Hehnly on lap ten, forcing him out and giving the lead to Greve. Caution flew with five laps to go, meaning a single file restart. Jason Swavely and Tommy Kunsman benefitted from the issues facing the other front runners to line up second and third on the restart. With one to go, Anthony Yerger had a wild flip down the front stretch bringing out the final caution of the race. Yerger was uninjured. A one lap shootout decided the results, with Greve holding on for the win over Swavely, Alex Swift, Corey Schmuck, Jr., and Billy Logeman

TJ Greve in Victory Lane. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger

The Hyper Racing 600’s took to the speedway for the night’s third feature, with Ryan Groff and Austin Quick leading the field to the green. A lap two crash between Bobby Butler and Chris Panczner stunted Quick’s early efforts to run away from Groff. Will Urkuski showed early speed, continuing his upward trends. The field never completed a lap before caution flew again. On the ensuing single file restart, Groff and Quick were still out front followed by Urkuski, Toby Blumenshine, Jarid Kunkle and Kyle Spence. Quick checked out on the green, leading by over one second just a handful of laps in. Heath Hehnly showed again why he is the eight-time class champion, advancing to seventh before the caution flew again on lap 11 for several cars with mechanical issues, including Blumenshine. After leading every lap one week ago, TJ Greve started mid-pack and fought up to eighth before the yellow. The race had a bit of yellow fever as the five caution mark was surpassed at the halfway point. Urkuski and Tommy Kunsman made contact off of turn two bringing out that fifth caution on Lap 13. Kyle Spence was consistently moving forward, picking off one car at a time during each brief green flag sting until he was on the tail tank of race leader Austin Quick. The restart saw the leaders split the racetrack, Quick down low, Spence running his trademark high line. Two laps into the green flag run, Spence carried a ton of speed off turn two, passing Quick before the cars reached turn three. The handling on Quick’s car went away towards the finish, with Maurer coming around the Hyper Racing machine with five laps to go. The race would finish that way with Kyle Spence picking up his first Lanco win on the season, while Maurer, Quick, Kunkle, and Hehnly completing the top five.

Cliff Brian Jr wins in the 125/4 Stroke Division. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger

The 125 and Four Stroke division closed out the night, in a race that had Matt Fernsler and Mike Coen on the front row. Justin Harrington got around both cars from his third starting spot and was long gone early. Coen, Mike Glass, and Fernsler fought a spirited battle for second before caution flew on lap seven for Tyler Martin’s spin in turn four. The man on the move early was Cliff Brian Jr, making both racing lanes work and advancing all the way up to fifth by a caution period on lap 14. Alex Lukacs was on the short end of the stick as AJ Gerhart and Mike Coen made contact battling for ninth position, forcing Crossley to take evasive action and pushing Lukacs into the infield tires. The restart had Harrington alongside Mike Miller on the front row, Holden Eckman and Glass in row two, and Brian and Coen in row three. Brian made a big move to advance to second on the restart. With the leaders catching lap traffic with five to go. Brian used the lap car of Ron Wechter as a pick to perfection, cycling around Harrington and leading the rest of the way to claim his first win of the season.

Two, three, and sometimes four wide action was the norm all night. Photo Credit: Mike Knappenberger

Racing resumes on Saturday night, with four divisions of action coming up. With racing every weekend, there has never been a better time to come live the excitement that is Lanco!