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Outcome of 602 Crate Sportsman feature pending following tech inspection of race winner engine
By Dino Oberto
(Minersville, PA 7-3-26) The annual Georgie Stevenson Memorial, held as part of B & H Landscaping Night, continued a long-standing Big Diamond Speedway tradition honoring the memory of Georgie Stevenson, a young racing enthusiast who passed away from cancer in 1979 at the age of 12.
And in keeping with the significance of what the event stands for, a sizable amount of money was raised and presented to the night’s guest of honor, 3-year old Cason Kimmel and his family which will help defray medical costs for an upcoming surgery that he must undergo for Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy.
The BQ Concrete 358 Modifieds contested in $2000-to-win each of the twin-20 lap features and for Stroudsburg’s Heath Metzger it will be a night he won’t soon forget as he picked up his initial Modified victory while current point leader Louden Reimert of Oley took home his fourth win of the season in garnering the verdict in the second main.
The first feature would be reeled off caution free and Metzger needed only six minutes, six seconds to get the job done, but any more time past that may not have been in his favor as Rick Laubach was on his rear bumper at the finish and at the rate he had closed up it could have easily been a different outcome had it gone any further.
Metzger wasted no time in taking command of the race from his pole starting spot while Jax Yohn trailed not far behind in second and Laubach third.
At the front, Metzger showed both poise and speed as he maintained a lead of several car lengths. Behind him, Yohn soon came under pressure from Laubach, and the two quickly settled into a thrilling battle for the runner-up spot.
It would take the first dozen laps before Laubach was able to finally get around Yohn and by that time Metzger had built a solid lead. But with the laps winding down it was evident that Laubach was on the move as he continually chipped away at the leader and with three laps to go had Metzger within his grasp.
When the white flag waved Laubach was all over Metzger who clung tightly to his lead. Exiting the final corner, Metzger was ahead by a slim margin and held on for his very first and well-earned Big Diamond Speedway win.
“This has been a long time coming, 10-plus years and I got some really good people who help me out and finally things are turning the right way,” said an elated Metzger.
“I heard someone tucking up underneath me coming into (turns) one and two and wasn’t sure who it was so I was trying to get to the bottom on the last two laps and just protect the line and hope that we could pull it off.”
For the second feature the top 12 had been inverted which put Alan Rudalavage and Mike Gular on the front row. Rudalavage was able to lead the opening lap but on the second tour he was pinched by Gular, which sent him spinning and put out a prevailing caution.
When the field was reset Reimert and Tim Buckwalter lined up first and second with Buckwalter able to get by but unfortunately that would be negated due to a spin by Corey Renninger.
On the ensuing restart Reimert wasn’t so quick to let Buckwalter do the same maneuver. He chose to take the outside line and in doing so had better momentum run through the first two corners, which was all he needed in order to grab hold of the lead.
The rest of the way Reimert was in total control and cruised to his fourth win and second straight victory.
“These races are always tough, and you never know what hand you’re going to get delt for the second feature when you have an invert, but it played in our favor after a couple of wild opening laps there and that was that” said Reimert who with the win padded his point lead over Buckwalter.
In the USS Achey Inc. Sportsman main Lehighton’s Ryan Graver came from ninth on the grid but swiftly moved to the lead by lap four. Just prior to that there was an intense three car battle amongst Aaron Weaver, Tajae Adams and Bryan Rhoades.
A lap two restart would see Graver power his way to second and two laps later worked the inside of Weaver for the lead. Soon afterwards Bryce Bashore propelled his way to second and then began looking for every way possible to get by Graver.
It almost happened too when late in the going Graver and Bayshore connected with one another in Turn 4 which slightly put the leader into a slide. Amazingly though Graver made a great save and was then able to stay planted at the front to the checkers.
However, following the race, a protest was filed against Graver’s car. The outcome now remains pending while his engine, which has been removed, undergoes inspection and evaluation.
The Red White and Blue Autos Inc. Roadrunner feature saw Alex Schoffstall of Llewellyn take the lead following a complete restart. Once out front, Schoffstall quickly showed the form he is known for, making it evident he was on his way to another victory.
Chuck Fayash rebounded from an early spin and came back to finish a strong second.
Bruce Long of Dalmatia claimed his career first victory with the Infinite Solutions Keystone Sport Compact Series.
The 20 lap affair was nonstop, and action packed from start to finish as Long and Larry Eck battled the entire time. Eck led from lap two and was kept in close line with Long.
From side-by-side and nose-to-tail they were going at it. The final lap would become the most thrilling. As Eck led the way into the last corner on the last lap he and Long made contact while attempting to get by a slower car right in their path. There was contact between the leaders which caused Eck to go sideways while Long held on and without any miscue and collected his very first win.
Brian Moyer had gotten by Eck who recovered enough to come home third.
1st Modified finish (20 laps): 1. Heath Metzger, 2. Rick Laubach, 3. Jax Yohn, 4. Kevin Beach Jr., 5. Mike Lisowski, 6. Kevin Olenick, 7. Brandon Edgar, 8. Duane Howard, 9. Louden Reimert, 10. Tim Buckwalter, 11. Mike Gular, 12. Alan Rudalavage, 13. Chris Espisito, 14. Corey Renninger, 15. Logan Watt, 16. Wayne Witmer, 17. McKenzi Smith, 18. Hunter Metzger DNS: Aliea Geisler
2nd Modified finish (20 laps): 1. Reimert, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Howard, 4. Edgar, 5. Lisowski, 6. Yohn, 7. Laubach, 8. Watt, 9. Esposito, 10. Smith, 11. Hu. Metzger, 12. Witmer, 13. Renninger, 14. Rudalavage, 15. Gular, 16. Beach Jr., 17. He. Metzger, 18. Olenick DNS: Geisler
Unofficial 602 Crate Sportsman finish (20 laps): 1. Ryan Graver, 2. Bryce Bashore, 3. Nate Brinker, 4. Bryan Rhoades, 5. Shawn Light, 6. Trevor Bixlor, 7. Aaron Weaver, 8. Tajae Adams, 9. Reice Widger, 10. Tyler Vidal, 11. Brayden Shelton, 12. Ed Mrochko, 13. Zach Steffey, 14. Mike Schneck Jr., 15. Payton Renninger, 16. Matt Martino, 17. Nick Hamm, 18. Mark Behm, 19. Ken Eckert Jr., 20. Kevin Smith, 21. Michael Samony, 22. Dakota Kohler, 23. Kevin Fritzpatrick
Roadrunners finish (20 laps): 1. Alex Schoffstall, 2. Chuck Fayash, 3. Joey Brennan, 4. Brian Johnson, 5. Jim Kost, 6. Terry Kramer, 7. Eric Buchinski, 8. Andrew Buchinski
4-Cylinder finish (20 laps): 1. Bruce Long, 2. Brian Moyer, 3. Larry Eck, 4. Ian Whitcomb, 5. Andrew Keefer, 6. Adam Kratzer, 7. Rick Jennings, 8. Kelly Flemming, 9. Kelly Frantz, 10. Nathan Keim, 11. Roger Kummerer, 12. Josh Bitner, 13. Eric Spangler, 14. Vincent Wullyung, 15. Clay Wolluyung, 16. Landon Pyle
