Manotti Gets 6th 125cc Victory; Patrick Kirn Earns 1st Career Win in Sportsman Class
Newmanstown, PA - Dan Souder has apparently solved the overheating problem that plagued his No. 11 for the past few months.
Souder, from Quakertown, Pa., and his car both "kept their cool" while scorching the competition on Saturday night at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. Souder notched his second triumph of the season in the 600cc Micro-Sprint main event in an extremely fast paced 25-lap feature race.
A couple of other drivers also registered their second victories of the 2016 campaign on Saturday. Tyler Ulrich won a very entertaining and competitive 270cc race, while Donna Geib returned to victory lane in the Sports n' Turf 250cc Four-Stroke feature. It was Geib's first win since the season opener in April.
Patrick Kirn recorded his first career Micro-Sprint feature win in the 25-lapper for the Sportsman Class, and William Manotti continued his dominance by claiming his fourth consecutive, and sixth overall, victory in the 25 lap main for the 125cc division.
Zach Light zipped to the early lead in the 600cc feature, outrunning polesitter Cameron Bellinger to the first turn. A restart with one lap complete saw Bellinger return the favor as he shot to the front of the pack. Another restart, with eight circuits scored, provided the opportunity for Light to throttle back into the top spot from the outside of row one.
Ninth-starting Dan Souder entered the picture at this point, running second to Light as the race neared its halfway mark. Point leader Heath Hehnly, involved in a multi-car mishap that included a flip by Austin Bishop on lap two, roared back from the rear of the field, taking over the fourth position as the halfway signal was displayed.
On the 14th trip around the ultra-fast clay oval, Souder executed a slide job on Light to grab the lead. Once in front, Souder motored away in his Precision Motor Cars/ Stallard No. 11. Light and Hehnly waged a crowd pleasing battle for the runner-up position over the final laps, as Hehnly wrestled his mount, with a badly bent up nose wing, for 24 of the race's 25 laps.
At the finish, it was Souder crossing the stripe by 1.264-seconds over Light, who held off Hehnly for second. Brent Ely finished fourth and Chris Gerhart, in a borrowed car, came from 23rd starting position to finish fifth. Gerhart's No. 51 suffered mechanical issues in warm-ups, missed his heat race, then drove Danny Braun's No. 36 to a qualifying spot in one of the two consolation races.
With a great field of 35 cars entering the 600cc portion of the event, qualifying heat victories went to Mike Koehler, Brent Ely, Kyle Spence, and Jered Hook. The twin consi's were claimed by Danny Stratton and Bradley Brown.
Tyler Ulrich and Nick Skias started on the front row of the 270cc main event, with Ulrich demonstrating the strength of his Hurst Exteriors No. 42u by blasting to the lead and immediately opening up a sizeable lead over Skias.
Richie Hartman, who started sixth, went to the top as the green flag waved and quickly stormed to third in the first few trips around the clay, bringing Toby Blumenshine with him.
With Ulrich firmly in command, some incredibly fierce and intense racing took place from second on back, as N. Skias, Hartman, Blumenshine, Kyle Spence, and Billy Logeman swapping positions and using every inch of the progressively banked speedway. They were joined by Mike Miller and Brian Sholley in a fantastic, seven-car tussle that lasted for most of the 25-lap main.
Ulrich, from Denver Pa., took the checkered flag by three-quarters of a second over N. Skias, who fended off Hartman's attacks to earn runner-up cash, with Hartman notching his best finish of the season with a third place effort. Logeman wound up fourth and Mike Rutherford, the 270cc point leader, advanced late in the race to finish fifth.
With 27 of the 270cc Micros in the pits on Saturday, heat race victories were scored by Ulrich, Rutherford, and Mike Miller. Heath Hehnly won the consolation race.
Patrick Kirn may have started on the pole of the Sportsman feature, but he had to repel the challenges of a rookie, then two really fast veteran drivers, to secure the first triumph of his career.
Kirn, from Reading, bolted to the early lead, but Kane Rogers, in his first year of Micro-Sprint competition, shoved the nose of his No. 88k under Kirn on a couple occasions in the opening laps. Kirn fought off the assaults and continued to set the pace as Angelo Mercado (started seventh) and Nick Skias (started eighth), navigated their way through traffic. Mercado passed Austin Graby for the runner-up spot just before the halfway point of the 25-lapper, and Skias slipped into third with ten to go.
As Kirn caught the back of the field and began the task of lapping cars, Mercado and Skias - while battling one another for second - closed in on the leader. Kirn was about to catch and attempt to put a lap on his dad, Louie, when the yellow lights came on with just two laps remaining.
Kirn pulled away on the restart to earn his first-ever feature win with Mercado holding off N. Skias for second place. Anthony Yerger and Graby rounded out the top five as the checkered flag waved over the field.
Dave Ravel, Kane Rogers, and Austin Graby won heat races for the 30-car Sportsman field on Saturday night. Kerry Lengle captured the consolation victory.
Following her opening night feature win, Manheim's Donna Geib suffered a couple of broken ribs in an early season incident at the Clyde. She was forced to sit out for several weeks as the ribs healed, finally getting back into her No. 82 at the end of June.
Saturday night, Geib shook off some bad luck that had plagued her return, steering her mount to the Sports n' Turf 250cc Four-Stroke victory.
Geib was on the outside of row three when the green waved to start the 25-lap affair, but she didn't stay there for long. Her Gold Rush Trailer Sales/ Tents for You No. 82 was in the runner-up slot within a few laps, and she accelerated past Ron Zimmerman to snatch the lead on the fifth revolution.
Jarrett Imler spun on the original start, then rocketed from the back of the pack to run second as lap nine was scored, but Geib was comfortably ahead by that time. Four-Stroke point leader Kassidy Michael was forced to take an excursion through the infield grass on the homestretch as cars got out of shape in front of her, causing Michael to lose numerous positions. Kassidy fought her way back, rumbling into fourth place by lap ten.
As Geib cruised out front, some terrific action took place behind the top four cars. Dave Ravel, Zak Vickers, Aidan Jones, and Dave Williams engaged in two and three-wide, close-quarters racing during the second half of the race. Positions changed constantly among the four wheel-twisters in the fun to watch battle royale.
Imler was able to close the gap as the race neared its conclusion, but Geib still had a half-second advantage as she flashed across the finish line. With his second place finish, Imler narrowed the margin between himself and Michael in the point chase to just 17 with just three point-paying events left on the schedule. Michael wound up third in Saturday's feature.
Aidan Jones emerged from that tremendous four-car fight to finish a strong fourth, holding off Ravel, who ended up fifth.
Four-Stroke heat races went to Mike Coen and Geib as 17 drivers signed in for competition on Saturday.
Lancaster's William Manotti is simply the class of the 125cc field right now. Saturday's feature win was his fourth in a row and sixth of the season, and it also propelled him into the division's point lead by a slim margin over Justin Harrington, who finished eighth in the 25-lap main event.
Manotti started 12th, threaded his way to second in the early going, then zipped past Kyler Heiney to take the lead as they gunned their mounts off turn four on the eighth tour of the oval.
Harrington took second from Heiney at the halfway mark of the race and, while he wasn't going to catch the high flying Manotti, he was settling for a good points night and a runner-up finish. Unfortunately for Harrington, his No. 29 gave up with just two circuits left to run, forcing him to the sidelines.
Corey Schmuck Jr. survived mechanical problems in his heat race and a couple of scrapes in the feature to finish second, as he passed Heiney for that spot in the final few laps. Heiney registered the third place finish, with Kyle Hehnly and Alexis Sheely completing the top five. Manotti was so good that only the top five cars were on the lead lap at the end of the race.
With 18 of the 125cc racers in the pit area on Saturday, Manotti and Austin Graby won the group's two heat races.
Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway swings back into action this Saturday, August 27, with another five division card of the best winged Micro-Sprint racing in the northeast. The 600cc, 270cc, Sportsman, 125cc, and the Sports n' Turf 250cc Four-Strokes will battle in qualifying heats, consolations, and 25-lap main events. Once again, gates will open at 4:30 p.m. and warm ups begin at 6:00. The first heat race goes green at 7:00.
Adult general admission is just $8.00, with discounts for Senior Citizens and Students. Tickets for youth between the ages of six and 12 are just $2.00, and children under the age of six are free.
Coming up on September 3rd and 4th is the annual Labor Day Shootout, as winged racing takes center stage on Saturday and wingless competition is the featured attraction on Sunday. Full details are available at www.clydemartinspeedway.com.
West Fabrications will sponsor Saturday's program and Hyper Racing is sponsoring Sunday's portion of the Labor Day Shootout.
Come on out and LIVE the excitement that is Lanco as the 2016 season enters its stretch run!
RESULTS:
600cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Dan Souder, 2.Zach Light, 3.Heath Hehnly, 4.Brent Ely, 5.Chris Gerhart, 6.Taylor Troxel, 7.Nash Ely, 8.Bradley Brown, 9.Shaun Brandel, 10.Garrett Bard, 11.Mike Koehler, 12.Ryan Hook, 13.Ryan Groff, 14.Will Urkuski, 15.Jered Hook, 16.Cameron Bellinger, 17.Chris Panczner, 18.Jarid Kunkle, 19.Jason Sechrist, 20.Danny Stratton, 21.Kyle Spence, 22.Austin Bishop, 23.Scotty Smith, 24.Brooklyn Gable. DNS: Kelby Stauffer.
DNQ: Chris Oraschin, Patrick Ely, Corey Brungard, Mike Rutherford, Kassidy Michael, Rebecca LaMothe, Amber Oraschin, Hunter James, Mark Berkenstock, Danny Braun.
270cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Tyler Ulrich, 2.Nick Skias, 3.Richie Hartman, 4.Billy Logeman, 5.Mike Rutherford, 6.Bradley Brown, 7.Kyle Spence, 8.Brian Sholley, 9.Heath Hehnly, 10.Dylan Adams, 11.Dan Lane Jr., 12.Christi Sweigart, 13.Andrew Dietrich, 14.Mike Skias, 15.Dustin Fox, 16.Mike Miller, 17.Toby Blumenshine, 18.Terry Ellex, 19.Ray Miller, 20.Todd Reusser, 21.Christopher Steigerwalt, 22.Melvin Bainbridge, 23.Nick Sweigart, 24.Brian Borawiec.
DNQ: Joe Kepple, Gary Ellex, Daryl Davis.
Sportsman Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Patrick Kirn, 2.Angelo Mercado, 3.Nick Skias, 4.Anthony Yerger, 5.Austin Graby, 6.Dave Ravel, 7.Tyler Ulrich, 8.Sheena Schaefer, 9.Ava Bellinger, 10.Michele Stratton, 11.Dave Schroeder, 12.Kane Rogers, 13.Mike Miller, 14.Sami Schenck, 15.Kerry Lengle, 16.Michael Kreiser, 17.Robert Shanaman, 18.Tyler Reinhardt, 19.Louie Kirn, 20.Ricky Sechrist, 21.Curtis R. Miller, 22.Devin Adams, 23.Dan Lane Jr., 24.Toby Blumenshine.
DNQ: Wesley Fasnacht, Cody Sechrist, Brian Kramer, Katelin Vragovich, Dustin Adams, Alan Durham.
Sports n' Turf 250cc Four-Stroke Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.Donna Geib, 2.Jarrett Imler, 3.Kassidy Michael, 4.Aidan Jones, 5.Dave Ravel, 6.Dave Williams, 7.Zak Vickers, 8.Lewis Kepple Jr., 9.Ron Wechter, 10.Ron Zimmerman, 11.Andrew Potts, 12.Mike Coen, 13.Eddie Nocera, 14.Cliff Brian Jr., 15.Brandon Yoder, 16.Dick Huzzard, 17.Zachary Young.
125cc Micro-Sprint Feature, 25 laps: 1.William Manotti, 2.Corey Schmuck Jr., 3.Kyler Heiney, 4.Kyle Hehnly, 5.Alexis Sheely,, 6.Walt Wampole, 7.Brandon Stuck, 8.Justin Harrington, 9.Jason Hehnly, 10.Tyler Hershey, 11.Jimmy Wampole, 12.Gary Ellex, 13.Austin Graby, 14.Jas Hehnly, 15.Noah Merkey, 16.Shane Davis, 17.Brandon Gibble, 18.Austin Bishop.
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