Kunsman and Rutherford Win Big At Lanco

Newmanstown, PA – Independence Day weekend kicked off in a big way at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway as the Newmanstown, PA facility hosted its first Thursday Night Thunder event. A night of fireworks was in store for the fans as the winged 270’s and wingless Hyper Racing 600’s took to the high-banked bullring.

The Hyper Racing 600’s were the first on the speedway for features, and the fireworks didn’t stop with the four-wide wave lap. In a modified preview of the format to be used during PA 600 Speedweek, time trials set the lineups for heat races; and the results of those heats set the lineup for the feature in a heads-up format. A lot of heavy iron was at the front of the field, with Billy Koch and Jason Swavely making up the front row. An intense first two laps saw slide job city take over the racetrack; before a multiple car crash took out several contenders. Bradley Brown and Jimmy Glenn both flipped, with Glenn emerging from his race car quickly. Brown was shaken, but ok. He would return for the 270 feature. Joey Jarowicz also was involved along with Shaun Brandel and Nash Ely. For the restart, the front row would remain the same, while Tommy Kunsman and Steven Snyder, Jr made up row two. Nick Skias and Billy Pauch, Jr started to charge towards the front, and brought Mike Rutherford with them. Caution number two flew with 19 laps remaining for the stopped cars of Billy Pauch, Jr. and Ryan Kunkle. Pauch would be done for the night. After a great outside restart the last time around, Koch elected to resume from the inside. Tommy Kunsman tried to go from third to first in turn one with a huge slider, but came up just short of the race lead. Two laps later, Brian Kramer spun in turn four bringing out another caution flag. The restart saw Tommy Kunsman take the lead off the bottom, while Koch was in a dogfight with Swavely and Eddie Strada. A multi-car pileup saw several cars crash in turn four. Nick Skias went for a series of tumbles, and Brandel, Koch, Kyle Spence, Mike Thompson, and Brian Kramer all were collected. Skias was uninjured, but his car was done for the night. Kramer and Spence would be out of the race as well. At the halfway point, only 14 of the 24 starters remained in the running. Kunsman would restart as the leader, but Jason Swavely threw a big slider to take the race lead. Strada was up to third and dueling with Ryan Groff when Mike Thompson spun in turn one. The highlight moment of the race occurred on the restart, as Swavely and Kunsman made heavy contact off of turn four and Kunsman put two tires on the catch fence and made heavy contact but never lifted. The chaos at the front allowed Strada to take the race lead, while Kunsman and Swavely made heavy side to side contact again on the back stretch. Kunsman continued forward, while Swavely fell back to mid-pack. As the field played bumper cars into turns three and four, Joey Amantea clipped an infield tire and spun. With that being caution number six, all restarts would be single file. Strada was the race leader as he was the only car to complete the lap before the caution flew. Swavely would return to second, Kunsman to third, Ryan Groff ran fourth, and Bobby Butler would complete the top five. Strada fended off a challenge from Swavely in turn one and set sail opening up a five car length lead with five laps to go. Zach Light had the hardest hit of the night when he hopped the cushion in turn three and went nose first into the catch fence. Multiple hard impacts with the ground followed before the car came to rest on its side. Light was sore, but uninjured. On the restart with four laps to go, Strada was the leader. Kunsman made a clean pass inside and went to hide from the duel between Strada and Swavely behind him. Kunsman claimed his second win of the season by more than a second. Strada and Swavely would finish second and third, while Ryan Groff and Jacob Severn would complete the top five. Severn started 20th, and methodically worked his way up through the field. Kunsman picked up $1,000 for the win; plus a $100 bonus from Groff Trucking as part of the Race Chasing Awards program.

The night was rounded out with the winged 270’s running for a $750 winners purse. Richie Hartman and Anthony Yerger started on the front row. From the inside of row two, Mason Peters made a fantastic getaway to take the lead into turn one, but the initial race start was called back for a false start on Ross Perchak in 17th. The second start was not nearly as kind to Peters who would up dueling with Hartman as Yerger checked out. Mike Rutherford charged from his starting spot deep in the top ten to battle for the runner-up spot as well. Three laps were in the books when Pete Skias spun off of turn two and brought out the second caution flag of the race. Skias would restart in the 23rd and final running position. Skias has shown tremendous speed all season long, and he would put it to good use in the remainder of this feature. The front row would remain the same from the initial start, with Peters and Billy Logeman in row two. Rutherford got around Peters and turned his attention to Logeman for third. That battle would run down Hartman as the leaders caught lapped traffic. Rutherford moved around Hartman to claim second, and one lap later the caution flew again. Jonah Meck spun in turn two, collecting TJ Greve and Chase Layser. Greve was done for the night. A solid run of green flag racing before the yellow allowed Skias to storm up to 12th. Nick Skias also was on the charge and restarted in fifth. Nick would go from fifth to third on the jump and began to chase down Rutherford. Four laps of green flag running saw Pete Skias pick up seven more positions to get back into the top five. As race leader Yerger ran the high line, Rutherford worked the bottom. Yerger had a mechanical problem going into turn one which would end his night with nine laps remaining. Rutherford and Nick Skias would restart on the front row, while Pete Skias and Richie Hartman made up row two. Pete quickly dispatched Nick, but was unable to make any ground on the leader. While Nick was ripping the lip at both ends of the race track, Pete catfished the bottom to perfection. A multiple car crash in turn two saw the field bunched back up with two laps remaining. Clinton Hauser, Chase Layser, Tajae Adams, and Nate Gibble were all involved. The Skias family would have one final shot at the eight-time defending track champion but it proved to be an exercise in futility. Rutherford stormed away on the restart to claim the win.

Next week, Lanco returns to action with the annual Kids Night festivities. All four regular classes will be in action, including the Hyper Racing 600’s, 270’s, Sportsman, and 125/4 Stroke division. Members of the Lanco Kid’s Club will present the colors prior to the National Anthem and wave green flags during hot laps. There will be a meet and greet with drivers before the races as well for all kids in attendance. As always, the Not Your Mamma’s Kitchen concession stand and Kim’s Kreations Photo and Novelty stand will be open. There will be an infield candy and photo scramble courtesy of Mike Knappenberger photos, where all kids in attendance will have a chance to get on the track and collect some free goodies. Coming up on July 23 will be the Clyde Martin Memorial races, which are a members-only event paying $750 to win in all four classes. On August 8, the cars and stars of the USAC NOS Energy National Midget Tour make their annual appearance at the Clyde, which will also serve as the finale to Hyper Racing 600 Speedweek. The 600’s will pay $5,000 to win, and the weeks points champion will pocket $2,000 that night. Now more than ever, it’s a perfect time to live the excitement that is Lanco!

Hyper Racing 600 Results:

1. 21k Tommy Kunsman Jr; 2. 1ex Eddie Strada; 3. 7x Jason Swavely; 4. 03 Ryan Groff; 5. 50 Jacob Severn; 6. 21s Steven Snyder; 7. 11t Mike Thompson; 8. 5b Bobby Butler; 9. 66 Billy Koch; 10. 2s Mike Rutherford; 11. 25 Shaun Brandel; 12. 21z Zach Curtis; 13. 99 Brandon Heist;  14. 11z Zach Light; 15. 88j Joey Amantea; 16. 88 Nick Skias; 17. 59 Kyle Spence; 18. 71 Brian Kramer; 19. 91s Billy Pauch Jr; 20. 61 Ryan Kunkle; 21. 22 Nash Ely; 22. 23 Bradley Brown; 23. 18 Joey Jarkiewicz; 24. 33 Jimmy Glenn

270 Results:

1. 5k Mike Rutherford; 2. 3s Nick Skias; 3. 55 Pete Skias; 4. 02 Alex Swift; 5. 53s Billy Logeman; 6. 92 Jason Swavely; 7. 19a Bradley Brown; 8. 14 Richie Hartman; 9. 20 Corey Schmuck Jr; 10. 4 Ross Perchak; 11. 19 Matt Fernsler; 12. 25 Tom Landwher; 13. 22 Clinton Hauser; 14. 4k Trent Eberhart; 15. 8z Nate Gibble; 16. 77s Ben Stolz; 17. 26 Tyler Martin; 18. 63 Tajae Adams; 19. 7L Chase Layser; 20. 5a Anthony Yerger; 21. 98 Mason Peters; 22. 3 TJ Greve; 23. 48 Jonah Meck; 24. 21 Toby Blumenshine; DNS 5r Bobby Butler

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Chris Graham

National Racing Network

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