Greth Earns $10,000 Micromania Paycheck
NEWMANSTOWN, Pa. – Ryan Greth took home $10,000 for winning Sunday’s 50-lap Micromania 600cc micro sprint feature at Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
Greth suffered through a nasty flip in his first heat race in Saturday’s Prelude to the Mania, but returned with a vengance Sunday night.
Greth won both of his heat races, was fastest in time trials, won the dash and capped with off by winning the 50-lap feature.
“We actually made the car worse during the break,” admitted Greth as he referred to the adjustments permitted during a mid-race mandatory stoppage as specified in the Micromania rules. “The crew advised against it, but I made the call for a certain adjustment. And it almost worked against us. But I was able to make some additional adjustments inside the car during the cautions, and they helped to counteract the one we made at the break.”
Winning the Dash put Greth on the pole for the Micromania feature. A jam-up on the initial start brought out the yellow flag and knocked Jimmy Brookens out of the race with front end damage. As a result of his misfortune, Brookens received the 600Scene.com Hard Luck Award.
After the mix-up on the original start, the yellow would fly only three more times during the 50-lap affair, and one of those caution periods was for the halftime break, when 25 laps had been completed.
Greth jumped from the pole to lead the opening circuits over Mike Rutherford and last year’s Micromania winner, Shane Lewis.
The first half of the race was highlighted by an entertaining battle for the fourth position, as Brian Carber, Scott Sawyer, and Mike Dicely ran three-wide at times and swapped positions for several trips around the banked oval. Carber eventually claimed the fourth spot, but would later fall out with mechanical issues.
Laps seven through 25 went clean and green, with the leaders negotiating their way in and out of heavy lapped traffic. The mandatory caution at halfway had Greth in front, with Rutherford, Lewis, Tyler Walton, and Dicely making up the top five.
Rutherford kept the second half of the race interesting, sticking his nose under Greth at both ends of the speedway on several occasions as Greth regretted the adjustment he’d insisted on at the break.
The momentum he generated by running the high groove, though, allowed him to pull back in front of Rutherford each time they exited turns two and four.
The final anxious moment for Greth occurred with 11 laps remaining; he ran up on Mark Yoder and Tom Kohler, who were battling for position and racing side by side. Greth saw just enough daylight between the two cars as they blasted into the first corner, and he threaded the needle, splitting the two of them as the trio accelerated onto the backstretch.
One more restart with seven to go did not help Rutherford’s effort.
“I knew my only shot was to stay green and try to get him in lapped traffic. The last yellow ruined any chance I had, but Ryan ran a great race and deserved to win,” noted Rutherford.
Greth flew under the checkered flag, beating Rutherford to the stripe by 0.700-seconds. Walton, who became a father for the first time just a few days earlier, placed third for his best-ever finish at the Clyde.
Dicely and Lewis completed the top five.
Rutherford did pick up a $1,000 victory in the 270cc Clash at the Clyde, a 30-lap feature highlighted by his side-by-side duel for the lead with young charger Kyle Spence.
Posted by NSSN Staff
on Jul 2 2012 Filed under Latest Headlines, MID-ATLANTIC, Racing Nation.
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