2020 Season Concludes At Lanco With Gerhart, Rutherford, Layser and Shearer In Victory Lane
Newmanstown, PA – Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway celebrated their Halloween Spectacular on a night fit for the spooky holiday. With lingering mist and rain showers, along with a light fog, the action was delayed twice due to weather. Exceptional work by the track crew got the track surface back in racing condition for the final four features of the season.
The Sportsman division would take to the speedway first, with David Ravel and Jamie Flickinger on the front row. After the handicap, four very fast cars in Corey Schmuck, Anthony Yerger, Bret Cronrath, and Toby Blumenshine would start in positions 10-13. Brent Shearer made a quick charge to the front, storming from sixth to first in the opening two circuits. Pole sitter Ravel spun out of second place on lap three bringing out the first caution. Jamie Flickinger and Jeremy Eisenhauer made contact just after the yellow, ending the night for Eisenhauer. Shearer and Robert Shannaman would restart up front, with Schmuck and Steve Smith Sr on row two. Smith had trouble coming up to speed on the restart, leading to a series of cars pinballing off each other and Shane Showers spinning in turn three. Chase Layser also made a good charge, restarting seventh. Blumenshine got around Layser quickly once action resumed. Racing with lapped traffic was intense, as most of the field struggled to keep a good handle on their machines on the slick surface. Shearer made it look easy, opening up a lead over three seconds over Bret Cronrath. Brianne Witmer got bottled up in traffic, and spun after contact with Blumenshine while battling for fifth. The single file restart with five to go saw Shearer get away easily from Cronrath, and claimed the win over Cronrath and Schmuck.
The 125’s and Four Strokes would be next on the Speedway, with Chase Layser and Riley Simmons on the front row. Alex Lukacs and Kyle Lindsay would occupy the second row. The story was much the same in this feature, with several very quick cars lining up in the midfield, including Kenny Bushey, Marty Brian, and Justin Harrington. Simmons had a very solid run at the front of the field, keeping pace with early race leader Layser. The race ran clean and green until there were only 11 laps remaining, before Lindsay cam to a stop in turn two. Mechanical issues would end his night just past the halfway point. The lead was under one second between Layser and Simmons; with both drivers looking for their first career win at the Clyde. Alex Lukacs, who has had a very up and down 2020 season also was putting in a solid effort to hold third at the restart. Harrington had advanced to fifth. A wild restart saw Harrington look three wide inside of Lukacs and Simmons. Several cars piled in as the field slowed due to the contact, and it was several cars back in the field who eventually came to a stop bringing out the caution once again. Without a lap completed, the succeeding restart would be single file. Holden Eckman would get around Lukacs on the restart, and Harrington followed one set of corners later. With seven to go, Harrington cleared Eckman and got around Simmons three laps later. As Layser encountered lapped traffic, Harrington began to quickly close on the leader. With the white flag in the air, the lead was nearly one second. At the twin checkered flags, Layser claimed the win by just under two car lengths over Harrington. Two of the top three finishers got their career best finishes, with Layser claiming his first career win; and Simmons taking her first podium finish.
The 270’s would be the third division on the race track, with Chase Walker and Heath Hehnly leading the field to the green. A bit of history was made in this one, as Ken and Tony Kaylor’s team would be making their final start at the Speedway. Piloted by eight-time defending track champion Mike Rutherford, the 5k would start in the ninth position. Brent Shearer would claim second from Hehnly in turn one. The first caution flag of the race came on lap two as the side panel of Jimmy Wampole’s top wing detached itself from the car in turn four. Walker would have to attempt to hold off Shearer on the restart, with Hehnly and Tajae Adams lining up just behind. Mike Skias would retire under the caution, with exhaust trouble for the second week in a row. Entering turn three on the first green flag lap, Shearer cleared Walker for the race lead on the high side. Toby Blumeshine and Bradley Brown made contact in turn three, with Brown spinning to a stop. Blumenshine would be sent to the rear for the contact; in a development which would have major ramifications later in the event. The restart would see Shearer and Walker on the front row again, followed by Hehnly, Alex Swift, Nick Skias and Rutherford. Rutherford went two for one off turn four moving up to the third position as Skias would take second from Walker. Skias began to chase down Shearer as Jared Hellinger and Jason Swavely crashed off of turn four. Swavely was running in sixth, and trying to lap Hellinger who was getting bounced around by the cars further toward the top end of the leaderboard. Just shy of halfway, the heavy iron was all at the front of the field, with Shearer and Skias up front. Rutherford would get inside of Skias and complete the pass at the halfway point. The top three would break away, with Shearer looking to claim his second win of the night. Rutherford would close in to within a half car-length, than back off to a full car length. With two laps to go, Blumenshine was battling Kristi Sweigart for the 12th position when contact was made. Blumenshine checked up, and got turned by the race leader off of turn two. Shearer would be penalized for the contact and sent to the rear of the field. The single file restart with two laps remaining saw Rutherford easily clearing Nick Skias and claiming the win by nearly one second. Skias and Hehnly would claim the other two podium spots.
The final feature of the 2020 season saw the Hyper Racing 600’s take to the Newmanstown high banks. Mike Rutherford and Chris Panczner would lead the field to green, followed by Chris Gerhart and Bradley Brown. Rutherford got out to a very quick start, opening up a sizable gap over Panczner. Three laps in, the motor would expire on the race leading vehicle, handing the top spot to Panczner. After an eight lap green flag run, Kassidy Michael spun in turn two. Gerhart made a big drive off of turn four and claimed the lead by the start-finish line. The top five would hold station approaching half way point, with the middle groove starting to develop just a bit. All night the inside line had been the place to be, and Gerhart used it to perfection, leading by more than a second at the halfway point. With nine to, Will Urkuski spun in turn three bringing out the caution. The spin allowed the leaders to avoid a run through lapped traffic. Gerhart and Panczner would lead the field to the green once again. Jarid Kunkle went up high to claim second from fourth on the restart and got to the bumper of race leader Gerhart. With seven to go was about the closest anyone would come to the leader in the final feature of the season. Gerhart claimed his second win of the season over Kunkle and Panczner.
The 2020 season came to a close with several popular race winners, and a bit of history. During the heat races, longtime board member Roger Martin acted as chief starter for one race, marking the eighth consecutive decade of flagging races at The Clyde. Very few people can claim such longevity, especially with one race track. The 2021 season will kick off in April, with a full schedule announcement to come. The Board of Directors and Officers of the Lanco Micro-Midget Club would like to thank all of the teams, drivers, crews and fans who helped make this 2020 season a success despite all of the challenges. We can’t wait for April and to getting the opportunity to Live the Excitement that is Lanco!
125/4 Stroke Results
1. 7L Chase Layser; 2. 76 Justin Harrington; 3. 44 Riley Simmons; 4. 11h Holden Eckman; 5. 25w Nate Weidman; 6. 76h Kyler Heiney; 7. 29 Brandon Shearer; 8. 44x Alex Lukacs; 9. 16 Marty Brian; 10. 3x Kenny Bushey; 11. 24 Ethan Rhoad; 12. 17 Tyler Armstrong; 13. 6 Mike Glass; 14. 22 Jared St. John; 15. LR62 Dray Layser; 16. 18 Ron Young; 17. 04 Sam Borger; 18. 26 Tyler Martin; 19. 62 Eddie Nocera; 20. 112 Dylan Yeingst; 21. 28 Kyle Lindsey; 22. 78 Sara Borror; DNS 647 Brent Shearer
Sportsman Results
1. 12 Brent Shearer; 2. 5 Bret Conrath; 3. 26 Corey Schmuck; 4. 21 Toby Blumenshine; 5. 15 Bobby Shannaman; 6. 30 Ryan Heckman; 7. 9g Jamie Flickenger; 8. 5a Anthony Yerger; 9. 44 Brianne Witmer; 10. 7L Chase Layser; 11. 36s Steve Smith Sr; 12. 53s Shannon Slaughter; 13. 13b Matt Yoh II; 14. 19m Max Fasnacht; 15. 4x Brock Emory; 16. 26b Shane Showers; 17. 23k Courtney Kupp; 18. 3s Jeremy Eisenhauer; 19. 21v Dave Ravel; 20. 8 Michael Spadafora; DNS 22s Brett Sculley
270 Results
1. 5k Mike Rutherford; 2. 3s Nick Skias; 3. 82 Heath Hehnly; 4. 15 Alex Swift; 5. 20 Corey Schmuck Jr; 6. 4k Trent Eberhart; 7. 96w Chase Walker; 8. 10z Brian Sholley; 9. 12 Brent Shearer; 10. 34 Christi Sweigart; 11. 19a Bradley Brown; 12. 14 Jason Swavely; 13. 21 Toby Blumenshine; 14. 63 Tajae Adams; 15. 13s Jarrid Hellinger; 16. 4L Ben Layser; 17. 5a Anthony Yerger; 18. 59j Jimmy Wampole; 19. 8s Mike Skias; 20. 38 Melvin Bainbridge; 21. 3 Pete Skias; DNS 59j Walt Wampole
Hyper Racing 600 Results
1. 51 Chris Gerhart; 2. 75k Jarid Kunkle; 3. 15p Chris Panczner; 4. 1e Aaron Espenshade; 5. 71 Brian Kramer; 6. 17 Brent Ely; 7. 11h Holden Eckman; 8. 42u Tyler Ulrich; 9. 5 Heath Hehnly; 10. 23 Bradley Brown; 11. 11z Zach Light; 12. 22k Kyler Heiney; 13. 46 BJ Antonio; 14. 98 Keith Blumenstein; 15. 3k Kassidy Michael; 16. 96 Jesse Snyder; 17. 8 Brian Hughes; 18. 98x Mason Peters; 19. 75 Mark Yoder; 20. 16s Brianne Witmer-Conrath; 21. 1 William Urkuski; 22. 2s Mike Rutherford; DNS 39 Olivia Thayer
