Kunkle Is 1st Time 600cc Winner; Ken Miller Sweeps Clyde Martin 270’s On Hickory Run Campground Night
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Newmanstown, PA – Seven feature races highlighted the July 11 program at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, and all seven had their own special storyliines.
Kutztown’s Jarid Kunkle captured the 600cc Micro-Sprint main, while Ken Miller swept the two features for the 270cc division. David Ravel notched the Sportsman Class victory while Dave Grube and Jason Hehnly recorded the 125cc triumphs. Eddie Nocera was victorious in the main event for the 250cc Four-Stroke Micros.
The entire program was sponsored by Hickory Run Campground of Denver, PA.
The 270cc and 125cc divisions, in addition to running their regularly scheduled mains, also made up features that were postponed by rain on June 20.
Kunkle started sixth in the 25-lapper for the 600cc Micro-Sprints and quickly roared to the runner-up position in the first two trips around the banked oval. On a lap three restart, Kunkle zipped past Chris Gerhart to take the lead. The Kutztown University student then held on through a number of caution periods and subsequent restarts to register his first Lanco win in a 600.
“Yeah, all the restarts were making me kind of nervous, but my dad and I came up with a strategy for the starts and restarts and it worked. This is great, “noted Kunkle, “because a bunch of my family from Texas are here to see me tonight.”
Gerhart held off repeated challenges from Heath Hehnly to finish second. Dan Souder and Mike Rutherford made up the rest of the top five.
Heat race winners for the 29 car field of 600’s included Kenny Miller III, Shaun Brandel, and Brittany Brown. Kyle Spence won the consolation race.
Cameron Bellinger darted out to a huge lead in the 270cc make up feature (held over from June 20). Bellinger appeared to have this one locked up, but disaster struck with only six circuits remaining, as a lapped car hit the outside guardrail and turned over in corners one and two. Bellinger had nowhere to go and collided with the overturned car, bending up his front end and ending his race.
That unfortunate turn of events (for Bellinger) turned out to be a stroke of good fortune for Ken Miller, as he inherited the top spot. Nick Skias was primed for an assault on Miller’s No. 74f, however, and the battle for the lead over the final five tours was a dandy.
With three to go, Miller went a bit too high on the banking of turns one and two, sliding into the loose stuff at the top of the race track. Skias took advantage and scooted by to grab the lead, but it was short-lived as Miller gathered in his mount and blasted down the inside lane of the backstretch, recapturing the lead as they charged into turn three.
Miller then pulled away to win by almost a full second. A late race charge carried Tyler Ulrich to second place, as he just nipped Skias at the line. Toby Blumenshine and Dan Lane Jr. rounded out the top five.
In the regularly scheduled main event for the 270’s, Miller again proved who had the best 270 on this night, winning his second feature of the evening against some very stout competition.
With Mike Rutherford leading, Miller, who started 11th, threw a giant slide job on both Richie Hartman and Bellinger (at the same time) to move into second place. He then ran down Rutherford and began to challenge the Kaylor Petro No. 5k for the lead. On lap 18, another slider put Miller on top, and he immediately pulled away from his pursuers. One final yellow flag, with two to go, did not deter the Birdsboro, PA driver from sweeping the 270cc mains on Saturday.
Rutherford maintained second to the finish, while Nick Skias, Billy Logeman, and Dan Lane Jr. settled for third, fourth, and fifth.
Bradley Brown, Skias, and Logeman were heat race winners for the 27 entries in the 270cc division. Dave Grube won the consolation race.
In the 25-lap feature for the Sportsman Class, Curtis R. Miller was the early leader until Devin Adams got by him with seven to go. Miller stuck the nose of his No. 7c under Adams as they raced into the first corner, but the two made contact and Miller spun. Adams’ exhaust pipe was knocked loose from the contact, causing his motor to lose much needed power as they got set to restart.
As the green reappeared, Adams car did not come up to speed. David Ravel, from Reading, snatched the lead, bringing Mike Rutherford with him. On the final lap, with Rutherford flying down the inside lane of the backchute, Ravel cut left to get by the slowing car of Adams, effectively blocking Rutherford’s charge.
At the finish it was Ravel scoring his first Sportsman victory of the campaign, with Patrick Kirn ending up second because Rutherford clobbered an infield tire marker on the last lap, executing a big wheelstand that cost him a runner-up finish.
Toby Blumenshine was fourth and John Davis wound up fifth.
The three Sportsman heat races were won by Ken Miller, Blumenshine, and Rutherford. Kerry Lengle was the consolation victor. There were 31 Sportsman Micros in action on Saturday.
The 125cc main that was postponed on June 20 – with six laps in the books – resumed on Saturday with Dave Grube scored as the race leader. Grube went on to post his fifth triumph of the season in the 125cc division. A caution flag with two laps remaining did not alter the outcome, as Grube cruised to the win by 1.318-seconds over William Manotti, Jason Hehnly, Corey Schmuck Jr., and Justin Harrington.
“My kids bought me this car for Christmas, and we’re just getting it figured out now,” explained Jason Hehnly after his first victory of the campaign in the regularly scheduled feature for the 125cc racers.
Hehnly made a three-wide move on the start to grab the top spot and was never headed, leading all the way to record the win. William Manotti earned another second place finish on the night, with Justin Harrington, Grube, and Jas Hehnly completing the top five.
Grube and Corey Schmuck Jr. won the two heat races run for the 125cc Class. There were 22 entries in this division on Saturday.
Eddie Nocera’s second victory in the 250cc Four-Stroke Micros was almost a carbon copy of his first triumph…on the final lap, when the leader hesitated momentarily behind a lapped car, Nocera pounced and took the top spot (and the win) from one of the division’s talented young wheel-twisters.
On Saturday night, he worked his way past Devin Adams as Adams slowed for a split second behind a lapped car. Jarrett Imler finished third, Kassidy Michael wound up fourth, and Zak Vickers picked up the fifth place pay envelope.
Michael and Donna Geib won heat races for the 15-cars who signed in for Four-Stroke competition.
Mongoose Chassis will sponsor this Saturday’s program of qualifying heats, consolations, and 25-lap features for the five weekly divisions. In addition, Blue Ridge Cable Channel 11 will be on hand to record all five main events. The races will be broadcast on Cable 11 on Sunday afternoon, with a repeat performance on Monday evening.
Gates open at 3:30, with warm-ups at 5 p.m. The first heat race goes green at 6:00. With adult general admission set at just $8.00, it’s one of the best values for your entertainment dollar, so you’ve gotta come out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco!
RESULTS:
600cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Jarid Kunkle, 2.Chris Gerhart, 3.Heath Hehnly, 4.Dan Souder, 5.Mike Rutherford, 6.Zach Light, 7.Jason Swavely, 8.Mike Dicely, 9.Kyle Spence, 10.Shaun Brandel, 11.Rebecca LaMothe, 12.Ryan Groff, 13.Jered Hook, 14.Justin Whittall, 15.Kenny Miller III, 16.Bret Cronrath, 17.Brittany Brown, 18.Jared Esh, 19.Josh Conover, 20.Hank Stellar, 21.Austin Bishop, 22.Will Urkuski, 23.Chris Oraschin, 24.Amber Oraschin.
DNQ: Patrick Ely, Jenna Heagy, Brooklyn Gable, Taylor Troxel, Brent Ely.
270cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps (postponed by rain on June 20): 1.Ken Miller, 2.Tyler Ulrich, 3.Nick Skias, 4.Toby Blumenshine, 5.Dan Lane Jr., 6.Heath Hehnly, 7.Richie Hartman, 8.Billy Logeman, 9.Corey Schmuck Jr., 10.Nate Weidman, 11.Brian Sholley, 12.Nick Sweigart, 13.Christi Sweigart, 14.Dylan Adams, 15.Nicole Whisler, 16.Cameron Bellinger, 17.Dave Grube, 18.Dustin Fox, 19.Kyle Spence, 20.Kenny Miller III, 21.Mike Rutherford, 22.Mike Uhrich, 23.Brock Whisler.
DNS: Mike Binkley. DQ: Bradley Brown.
DNQ: Mark Yoder.
270cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Ken Miller, 2.Mike Rutherford, 3.Nick Skias, 4.Billy Logeman, 5.Dan Lane Jr., 6.Tyler Ulrich, 7.Toby Blumenshine, 8.Kenny Miller III, 9.Nick Sweigart, 10.Christi Sweigart, 11.Mike Uhrich, 12.Nate Weidman, 13.Dustin Fox, 14.Sean Zechman, 15.Elizabeth Helmick, 16.Richie Hartman, 17.Dave Grube, 18.Heath Hehnly, 19.Cameron Bellinger, 20.Corey Schmuck Jr., 21.Kyle Spence, 22.Bradley Brown, 23.Dylan Adams, 24.Derek Ecenrode.
DNQ: Brock Whisler, Nicole Whisler, Brian Sholley.
Sportsman Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.David Ravel, 2.Patrick Kirn, 3.Mike Rutherford, 4.Toby Blumenshine, 5.John Davis, 6.Angelo Mercado, 7.Bret Habecker, 8.Jamie Fetterolf, 9.Jas Hehnly, 10.Ava Bellinger, 11.Kerry Lengle, 12.Sheena Schaefer, 13.Curtis R. Miller, 14.Jeff Harnish, 15.Brandon Mundis, 16.Joe Ilg, 17.Ricky Sechrist, 18.Sami Schenck, 19.Devin Adams, 20.Michael Kreiser, 21.Steve Smith Sr., 22.Robert Shanaman, 23.Anthony Yerger, 24.Ken Miller.
DNQ: Dennis Fenstermacher, Megan Mercado, Adam Minzer, Katelin Vragovich, Brian Kramer, Brian Becker, Jeff Boyer.
125cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps (postponed by rain on June 20): 1.Dave Grube, 2.William Manotti, 3.Jason Hehnly, 4.Corey Schmuck Jr., 5.Justin Harrington, 6.Tajae Adams, 7.Brie Weiler, 8.Kelsey Heiney, 9.Kyler Heiney, 10.Walt Wampole, 11.Jimmy Wampole, 12.Austin Graby, 13.Jarrett Imler, 14.Chase Gutshall, 15.Alexis Sheeley, 16.Jas Hehnly, 17.Brandon Gibble, 18.Kody Hibshman.
125cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Jason Hehnly, 2.William Manotti, 3.Justin Harrington, 4.Dave Grube, 5.Jas Hehnly, 6.Brandon Gibble, 7.Chase Gutshall, 8.Tajae Adams, 9.Corey Schmuck Jr., 10.Brie Weiler, 11.Brianna Gerhart, 12.Kelsey Heiney, 13.Kyler Heiney, 14.Matthew Donley, 15.Austin Graby, 16.Jimmy Wampole, 17.Dustin Adams, 18.Walt Wampole, 19.Dylan Adams, 20.Cody Boyer, 21.Jarrett Imler, 22.Kody Hibshman.
250cc Four-Stroke Feature, 25 laps: 1.Eddie Nocera, 2.Devin Adams, 3.Jarrett Imler, 4.Kassidy Michael, 5.Zak Vickers, 6.Brian Kramer, 7.Lewis Kepple Jr., 8.Mike Coen, 9.Scott Renninger, 10.Donna Geib, 11.Brandon Yoder, 12.Zach Hollinger, 13.Dick Huzzard, 14.Ronald Wechter, 15.Lester Dice.
