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(Minersville, PA 5-8-26) There was certainly a question about racing Friday night at Big Diamond Speedway on JRL Emergency Services Night as rain clouds had crossed the area just as cars began to conduct the pre-race track packing.
But track owner/promoter Jake Smulley wasn’t so quick to throw in the towel. With just a minimal delay he stayed the course and the entire show went on without a hitch and it would turn out to be another action-filled night for all four divisions on hand.
In the BQ Concrete 358 Modifieds, veteran driver Duane Howard of Oley earned his first victory of the season in a nonstop 25-lap feature.
Howard started fourth and within three laps was showing the way after taking the lead from Alan Rudalavage and from there on the race was flat out.
Setting a blistering pace, Howard not only put himself well enough ahead of the pack he was also unfazed by lapped traffic and maintained an unmatchable run from start to finish.
“Thanks to the Butch Getz Race Team. We had struggled a little bit here in the first few races and tonight we brought a different car, and we never changed a thing on it all night,” said Howard.
“The rain earlier made the track a little bit tackier than we are used to, but you could move around the and get by lappers and it was just a darn good race car and thanks to Nick Gatto for tuning it a little better tonight. We are starting to get on a roll with some good finishes, and we just need to keep at it.”
Louden Reimert had charged into second on lap 11, but although he was turning laps nearly as fast as Howard, the leader had already built a comfortable advantage by then and would remain in the runner-up spot to the checkers.
Kevin Olenick put in a strong run and was third for his best run to date. Tim Buckwalter scored his fourth straight top five in the first five races and in doing so has taken command of the points lead. Dom Buffalino rounded out the top-5.
“Tonight, with the rain the track was maybe a little heavier than what most drivers like to see but the last couple weeks you can’t ask for better racing. With the rain tonight we had two grooves of racing and hats off to Jake (Smulley) for what he’s doing,” said Howard.
The win marked the 94th for the nine-time track champion who is second all-time in victories at Big Diamond Speedway.
“I have a lot of laps around Big Diamond and I cherish everyone,” shared Howard.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have so many good car owners and so many good rides and so many pit crew members that stuck with me and a lot of my guys have been here since day one. We’ve been fortunate to be able to adapt to all those good rides that came along.”
The Limited Late Models made a return to the track for the first time in four seasons and their 20-lap race was a thriller as George Dixon Jr., of Shirleysburg held off one very hard-charger in Andrew Yoder.
Dixon took the lead from Travis Horan on a lap-four restart and, despite a string of cautions, never faltered from the top spot.
He did, however, have to contend with Yoder who marched his way to second by mid-race and kept persistently pressuring Dixon. Despite Yoder’s the ongoing efforts Dixon was able to hold him off and go on to victory.
In an amazing display of swiftness, 15 cars went under the track record and the quickest of them all was new record holder Lane Snook who set the new mark at15.337-seconds.
The Red White and Blue Autos Inc. Roadrunner feature was a wild affair to say the least as each of the 20 laps was white-knuckle racing and when all was said and done Jesse Krasnisky of Minersville would end a 10-year dry spell.
The race opened with Tod Roth Jr. in front, but his lead lasted only until lap five, when points leader Alex Schoffstall took over and at the same time Joey Brennan moved to second. That began a very close battle amongst the front pair, but it would be limited to just the halfway mark.
On a lap-10 restart Schoffstall and Brennan got together, and the result was both cars were eliminated in the aftermath.
Jim Kost was now in control but was under immense pressure from TJ Fitzpatrick, CJ Ferguson, Jonathan Trumbo and Mike Reichert.
Then following a late race caution the outcome came down to a final lap shootout with Kost having to deal with teammates Fitzpatrick and Krasnitsky. As the trio sped down the back straight and all under a blanket close race conditions would send Kost spinning as they all worked through the final two corners. It was then a drag race to the checkers between the teammates with Fitzpatrick first by a few inches.
However, in Victory Lane, Fitzpatrick said Krasnitsky had the better car and deserved the win, so he handed over the victory to his teammate.
The Xcel 600 Modifieds had their lone appearance of the season and Tyler Bartik of Schnecksville parlayed his pole starting spot into a win.
Bartik had little if any trouble in leading every lap en route to his winning verdict. Dylan Cordier was second and in his heat also set a new track record for the Xcel cars at 16.925-seconds.
358 Modified finish (25 laps): 1. Duane Howard, 2. Louden Reimert, 3. Kevin Olenick, 4. Tim Buckwalter, 5. Dom Buffalino, 6. Mike Lisowski, 7. Alan Rudalavage, 8. Logan Watt, 9. Rick Laubach, 10. Heath Metzger, 11. Brandon Edgar, 12. Mike Burrows, 13. Cody Manmiller, 14. Jax Yohn, 15. Tim Fitzpatrick, 16. Wayne Witmer, 17. Aleia Geisler, 18. Corey Renninger, 19. Cliff Quinn, 20. Mark Gaugler, 21. Hunter Metzger, 22. Joel Smith
Limited Late Model finish (20 laps): 1. Goerge Dixon Jr., 2. Andrew Yoder, 3. Lane Snook, 4. Travis Horan, 5. Lucas Adams, 6. Zach Kauffman, 7. Travis Mease, 8. Colton Freise, 9. Jake Moser, 10. Tommy Slanker, 11. Jennifer Lesher, 12. Frankie Gordon, 13. Cody Lear, 14. Wayne Pfeil, 15. Trent Merkel, 16. TJ Bowman, 17. Cole Slanker, 18. JR Toner, 19. Jacob Burdette
Roadrunner finish (20 laps): 1. Jesse Krasnitsky, 2. TJ Fitzpatrick, 3. Mike Reichert, 4. Andrew Buchinski, 5. CJ Ferguson, 6. Tod Roth Jr., 7. Jim Kost, 8. Johnathan Trumbo, 9. Alex Schoffstall, 10. Joey Brennan, 11. Brian Johnson
Xcel 600 Modified finish (20 laps): 1. Tyler Bartik, 2. Dylan Cordier, 3. Doug Newbigging, 4. Griffin Hendershot, 5. Ed Hollenbach, 6. John Hall, 7. Brandon Shearer, 8. Mark Bressler, 9. Doug Fry Sr., 10. Vincent Wanrich, 11. Richie Hitzler, 12. Tyler Franina, 13. Gage Landis, 14. Tiffany Hitzler
COMING EVENTS:
May 15 @7:00 pm Red White and Blue Autos Inc. Night 358 Modifieds, 602 Crate Sportsman Classic $2000-to-win/$225-to-start, Roadrunners
May 22 @7:00 pm 358 Modifieds, USAC East Coast Sprint Cars, 602 Crate Sportsman, Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman
May 29 @7:00 pm BQ Concrete Night 358 Modifieds, 602 Crate Sportsman, Roadrunners, Keystone Sport Compact Series
Duane Howard grabs 94th Big Diamond Speedway Modified victory in nonstop feature action
