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By Dino Oberto
(Minersville, PA 5-22-26) Jax Yohn of Boyertown continues to make rapid strides in the BQ Concrete 358 Modifieds at Big Diamond Speedway. In just his second season with the headline class, the 18-year-old scored his first division victory on Friday evening, turning in a standout performance against a field of seasoned veterans and this coming a week after posting a motivating then personal best fourth.
His progression, though, should come as no surprise. When he first began running Modifieds at Big Diamond Speedway it was with the Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman and he showed his worth by winning four times. The next year he advanced into the regular Crate class and made an immediate statement scoring back-to-back wins to start the season.
In Friday’s memorable run, Yohn started seventh and quickly hustled his way in behind veterans Tim Fitzpatrick, who was leading the way, Mike Lisowski and Rick Laubach.
Following a lap-three restart, he slipped past Laubach and then went head-to-head with Lisowski. Yohn finally cleared him on lap nine, and with his momentum still building, he grabbed the lead one lap later.
Once out front, Yohn drove a precise race. Lisowski, who moved into second on lap 14, applied heavy pressure, but the young talent never wavered and raced on to a defining victory.
Not only did Yohn hold off the assault of Lisowski but that of Duane Howard too who was right within reach. Louden Reimert was fourth and Fitzpatrick rounded out the top five.
“I’ve always wanted to be at this level and tonight my crew gave me a great car, and it all just played to perfection,” said Yohn.
“It’s so awesome to be running against all those guys. I was about four years old when I first started going to the races and watching them and now here we are racing with them at their level, it’s pretty cool. The track was amazing and it had multiple lanes.”
The USAC East Coast Sprint Cars presented by Baer Den Farms saw Christian Bruno of Depford, NJ go on to win in the 25-lap main.
Bruno quickly climbed to second behind early leader Kyle Spence by lap two and immediately began plotting his next move and on the conclusion of lap six executed an inside pass off turn four to take the lead.
However, that would be negated when the caution waved for a slowed car to close to the race surface. There would be a rash of yellow and red flags on the ensuing restarts and on each of those Bruno was again making valid attempts to unseat Spence.
Lastly, when things settled Bruno flashed by Spence at the start of lap eight and finally took control of the lead. Stephen Drevicki did the same to Spence by lap 10 but there he would stay as Bruno clearly had the upper hand and went on to his first Big Diamond Speedway victory.
In the USS Achey Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman main, Virginville’s Dakota Kohler can finally rest easy as he collected a well-deserved victory.
In the past few seasons there was perhaps no driver who has worked harder to get a win than Kohler as he’d often been in a position to do so. He’s never been short of speed and clearly he’s got the talent, rather it was a matter of luck and on Friday all of those factors came together.
Pole sitter McKenzie Smith showed the way at the outset while the fifth starting Kohler was quick to get up to second within three laps. After getting by Aaron Weaver for second, one lap later he did the same to Smith for the lead.
Kohler was then building a commanding lead ahead of Smith, who was dueling closely with Ryan Graver.
On lap eight a caution would tighten up the field and on that restart Graver was able to get past Smith and tuck in behind Kohler. A few laps later would see Nate Brinker tag in with the front pair. But for both Graver and Brinker all they could do was follow Kohler who had no problems keeping them at bay.
Kohler did have a bit of luck too as a caution with four laps to go would end the race due to rain that hit the track and checkered it there.
In the Big Creek Concrete Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman Devin Whitmoyer of Hamburg cruised to his career first feature win.
From the pole Whitmoyer took immediate control and once he did there was no looking back as he hit all his marks perfectly and went on to a solid win ahead of Josh Metzger.
Whitmoyer is the son of veteran Craig Whitmoyer who is the all-time career wins leader and 4-time champion in Open Sportsman Modifieds.
358 Modified finish (25 laps): 1. Jax Yohn, 2. Mike Lisowski, 3. Duane Howard, 4. Louden Reimert, 5. Tim Fitzpatrick, 6. Rick Laubach, 7. Logan Watt, 8. Dom Buffalino, 9. Brandon Edgar, 10. Heath Metzger, 11. Matt Yoder, 12. Cody Manmiller, 13. Kevin Olenick, 14. Aleia Gesiler, 15. Mike Burrows, 16. Mike Laise, 17. Nate Mohr, 18. Hunter Metzger, 19. Corey Renninger, 20. Wayne Witmer, 21. Alan Rudalavage, 22. Tim Buckwalter, 23. Kevin Beach Jr., 24. Jimmy Leiby DNQ: Cliff Quinn, Bryan Kuhl, Bobby Trapper Sr., Joel Smith
USAC East Coast Sprint finish (25 Laps): 1. Christian Bruno, 2. Stehpen Drevicki, 3. Kyle Spence, 4. Olivia Thayer, 5. Stan Poloski II, 6. Joey Crilly, 7. Matt Swift, 8. Greg Shepsis, 9. Bruce Buckwalter Jr., 10. Jakob Stizel, 11. Scott Frack, 12. Kenny Miller III, 13. Blaine Emery, 14. Ronald Hemlick, 15. Ed Aikin, 16. Joe Kata, 17. Larry McVay, 18. Shane Braxton, 19. Brett Rose DNS: Dan Malley
602 Crate Sportsman finish (20 laps): 1. Dakota Kohler, 2. Ryan Graver, 3. Nate Brinker, 4. Aaron Weaver, 5. Brennan Chapman, 6. McKenzi Smith, 7. Tyler James, 8. Zach Steffey, 9. Mike Schneck Jr., 10. Jim O’Hara, 11. Trevor Bixler, 12. Reice Widger, 13. Glenn Rowan, 14. Tyler Vidal, 15. Nick Hamm, 16. Kevin Smith, 17. Ed Mrocko, 18. Kevin Brady DNS: Kevin Fitzpatrick, John McGoey
Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman finish (15 laps): 1. Devin Whitmoyer, 2. Josh Metzger, 3. Payton Renninger, 4. Mason Harakel, 5. Lucas We
COMING EVENTS:
May 29 @7:00 pm BQ Concrete Night 358 Modifieds, 602 Crate Sportsman, Roadrunners, Keystone Sport Compact Series
June 5 @7:00 pm Moyer’s Body Shop Night 358 Modifieds, 602 Crate Sportsman, Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman, Roadrunners, Big Car Enduro 50
Jax Yohn gets first 358 Modified win at Big Diamond Speedway
