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By Dino Oberto
Photo: Big Diamond
(Minersville, Pa. 4-3-26) Big Diamond Speedway opened up its 54th season of “Racing in God’s Country” as the action officially got underway Friday evening with the “Thaw Brawl” which saw a nicely filled pit area and a packed grandstand of race hungry fans in attendance.
And, for those ardent fans of the popular Schuylkill County dirt oval the anticipation was worth the off-season wait as all classes displayed some intense and blazing competition.
Heading up the list of winners was local favorite Mike Lisowski of Minersville who took home the $4054 winner’s check in the 25-lap BQ Concrete 358 Modified feature. For the second straight year Colin Cox of Perkasie scored the victory in the USS Achey Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman. In the Red White and Blue Autos Inc. Roadrunners defending champion Alex Schoffstall of Llewelyn snagged a close verdict and scoring a career first win in the Big Creek Concrete Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman was Branch Dale’s Kevin Fitzpatrick.
By luck of the draw the starting grid for the Modified feature placed Ryan Watt and Lisowski on the front row and at the drop of Shawn Maulhall’s race commencing green it would be Watt blasting into the early lead with Lisowski in tow.
It didn’t take long to get into a quick rhythm either as the first 13 laps were reeled off caution free and during that span Watt was setting a torrid pace but all the while he was having to fend off a hard charging Lisowski who repeatedly tried to find an opening to get by.
Watt, though, stayed vigilant in keeping his lead despite the ongoing effort of Lisowski.
For Lisowski, the moment of opportunity finally arrived in the form of a caution. With 13 laps in the books the yellow waved for Dom Buffalino who stopped in Turn 2 with a right rear flat.
On the ensuing restart Lisowski was able to out-maneuver Watt and thrust his way to the top spot. And once in front there would be no looking back as he continued to keep steady and would have no worries either as he kept a safe enough distance from the pack en route to the very popular win.
“Without a restart I wasn’t sure I could have gotten around him (Watt). The track was so fast, and Ryan was so savvy and so good and he’s always hard to get around in clean air like that,” said Lisowski.
“Drawing good certainly helped and we weren’t very good after the heat race and we went to work on the car, and it made a big difference. We put a new shock package on this car, and it was really good tonight.”
As Lisowski was preserving the lead, behind him was plenty of moving and shaking. Not long after Watt surrendered the lead he was soon facing off against the likes of Jared Umbenauer and reigning division champ Louden Reimert. That trio battled close for several laps before Umbenhauer and Reimert both got by Watt.
Umbenhauer took control of second and although he was within reach of Lisowski, he could not get close enough to challenge and settled for a solid runner-up. For Reimert it was much of the same while tagging closely behind Umbenhauer. Watt took fourth while Alex Yankoski rounded out the top five.
In the 602 Crate Sportsman feature Christopher Buffalino drew the pole position and with that wasted little time in taking charge of the field once the action got underway.
Buffalino continued to look solid too, until a caution with seven laps to go would see Cox line up alongside him and on the restart he vaulted past him and into the lead where he would stay for the remainder of the race. The win netted him $1054.
Ryan Graver did a great job of steering through traffic and after an intense battle with Brennan Chapman he slotted his way into second place over the waning laps but would not be able to advance from there as Cox had him and everyone else covered.
By taking the win in the Roadrunner feature, Alex Schoffstall continues to define his career as one of the premier chauffeurs of Big Diamond Speedway and not only with the popular full-fender division but overall, among all drivers. His victory upped his all-time class leading wins to 38.
Taking the lead on lap two of the 20-lap contest Schoffstall was up on the wheel lap after lap as he had relentless opposition bearing down on him from Mike Reichert, Terry Kramer and Joe Bassinisky. Regardless of the onslaught Schoffstall never wavered.
Then in a thrilling last lap fight to the finish Bassininsky stepped up and made a valiant effort to squeeze inside of Schoffstall but his hard fought effort came up a half car length short.
In the Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman main there’s no doubt that April 3, 2026, will forever be etched in the mind of Kevin Fitzpatririck as he not only earned his career first win but added also to the family legacy of winners at the speedway.
Fitzpatrick zipped by early leader Payton Renninger at the completion of lap two and remained steadfast the remaining distance. Keeping close tabs was second place finisher Devin Whitmoyer, who, like Fitzpatrick, is part of a strong racing heritage and displayed outstanding skills for his first time out.
358 Modified finish (25 laps): 1. Mike Lisowski, 2. Jared Umbenhauer, 3. Louden Reimert, 4. Ryan Watt, 5. Alex Yankowski, 6. Alex Payne, 7. Tim Buckwalter, 8. Anthony Perrego, 9. Brett Kressley, 10. Duane Howard, 11. Brandon Edgar, 12. Jax Yohn, 13. Kevin Beach Jr., 14. Heath Metzger, 15. Kevin Olenick, 16. Alex Tonklin, 17. Billy Osmon, 18. Matt Stangle, 19. Dom Buffalino, 20. Wayne Witmer, 21. Ron Haring Jr., 22. Rick Laubach, 23. Jack Butler, 24. Mike Burrows DNQ: Cody Manmiller, WB James, Alan Rudalavage, Cliff Quinn, Logan Watt
602 Crate Modified finish (20 laps): 1. Colin Cox, 2. Ryan Graver, 3. Brennan Chapman, 4. Teague Miller, 5. Christopher Buffalino, 6. Mikey Schneck Jr., 7. Logan Starr, 8. Dakota Kohler, 9. Mike Stofflet, 10. Michael Samony, 11. Gavin Gardner, 12. Kevin Brady, 13. Reice Widger, 14. Trevor Bixlor, 15. Matt Martino, 16. Ralph Melee, 17. Zach Steffey, 18. Tyler Vidal, 19. John Redner, 20. Aaron Weaver, 21. Tajae Adams, 22. Ryan Conrad, 23. McKenzi Smith, 25. Stev Hughes DNQ: Nick Hamm, Mrk Behm, Dylan Cappel, Jimmy Leiby, Dennis Graber
Roadrunners finish (20 laps): 1. Alex Schoffstall, 2. Joe Bassininsky, 3. Terry Kramer, 4. TJ Fitzpatrick, 5. Johnathan Trumbo, 6. Jim Kost, 7. Tod Roth Jr., 8. Mike Reichert, 9. Matt Ney, 10. Blaine Fritz, 11. Bryan Johnson, 12. Jarod Bassininsky
Rookie 602 Crate Modified finish (15 laps): 1. Kevin Fitzpatrick, 2. Devin Whitmoyer, 3. Mason Harakel, 4. Payton Renninger, 5. Lucas Weil, 6. Josh Metzler, 7. Zach Moyer, 8. Marcello Caminiti
