CRAIG VON DOHREN AND CHRIS WINDOM SHARE THE SPOTLIGHT ON HISTORIC BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY NIGHT
(Track Press Release by Gary Lileck) Forestville, PA – For the first time in track history, Big Diamond Raceway hosted the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint-Cars and 358 Modifieds together on the same night. This past Friday evening, Seltzer Insurance presented the exciting double header card which also featured additional historic moments.
June 4, 2010 Video Highlights
Order the complete night of racing on DVD from the GSP Shop or get it at the track!
USAC National Sprint Car Series Feature Highlights
358 Modifieds Feature Highlights
Chris Windom, a 19-year old racer from Canton Ill, merely held off Levi Jones of Olney Ill to capture a hard fought feature win. The 40-lap main event (race number four of the “Eastern Storm” Series) brought the large crowd to their collective feet as Windom defeated Jones by a margin of .028 seconds, thus recording his first career USAC Sprint-Car victory.
Craig Von Dohren of Boyertown PA grabbed his 67th career 358 Modified win at the speedway, which is a standing track record. Von Dohren was in control after 18 completed laps, when rain became the eventual curtain closer.
California’s Ricky Williams dominated most of the USAC Sprint-Car contest. He started from the outside pole position and led the opening 35-laps with virtual ease. A heated battle began to take place between the second, third, and fourth place cars, while Williams methodically worked through lapped traffic. A caution with just five laps remaining would cause a major turning point in the event, however.
Jones, who was victorious in each of the three previous Eastern Storm Series races, started fourth and moved past Williams on lap 36. Windom, who originally started seventh, pulled even with Jones as the pair grabbed the two-to-go signal and Windom became the new race leader. . Jones made a last lap surge in the end and pulled alongside of Windom as they raced to the checkered flag.
Windom scored the $6000 victory aboard his Jeff Walker Racing #11 Maxim/Claxton with Jones settling for a very close runner-up finish. Tracy Hines of Indiana was the pole sitter for the 21-car field and finished third in the end. Williams fell back to fourth and Indiana’s Bryan Clauson advanced into the front five with less than five laps remaining.
Earlier in the evening, Clauson set a new track record during time trials with a lap of 15.312. A trio of 8-lap qualifying heats were contested with wins going to Windom, Mark Bitner, and Chase Stockton.
Yellow flag fever plagued the 358 Modified feature during its course. Ricky Yetter led the opening nine laps of the contest. Rick Laubach, who started eighth, and Von Dohren (began from 14th) chased down the leader. Laubach glanced to the inside but Von Dohren tossed his machine to the outside and nearly swept past both competitors. On lap 10, Von Dohren wrestled the lead away from Yetter while racing on the high groove.
Meme DeSantis, who started ninth, advanced into the runner-up spot on a lap 16 restart. After a caution flag period with 16 laps on the counter, rain began to become a factor. When the 18th lap had been scored, the race was stopped due to the intensified rain shower. Eventually cars were called to the pits and rain drew the event to a close. Von Dohren, driving Mike Harvey’s #1c Teo, seized his second win of the 2010 season and extended his points lead.
DeSantis (Temple), also a winner this season, finished second ahead of Laubach (Hellertown). Gary Hager (Stewartsville NJ) was up to second at one point and finished fourth. Third year racer Kevin Albert Jr. (Lebanon) passed Jeff Strunk on the 18th lap to take a hard earned fifth place finish.
Yetter, Von Dohren, and AJ DeSantis were the 10-lap heat race winners.
Big Diamond Raceway returns to action on Friday June 11 with a three division show of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, and Wooden Keg Tavern Roadrunners. Gates open at 5:00PM, with qualifying getting started at 7:45PM. The All Star Circuit of Champions 410 Sprint car race, which was postponed due to rain a few weeks ago, has been rescheduled for Sunday June 13 with a starting time of 6:00PM.
USAC SPRINT FEATURE (40-LAPS): 1) 11-Chris Windom, 2) 20-Levi Jones, 3) 4-Tracy Hines, 4) 11W-Ricky Williams, 5) 2B-Bryan Clauson, 6) 71-Damion Gardner, 7) 67-Henry Clark, 8) 69-Jerry Coons Jr., 9) 15-Mark Bitner, 10) 17R-Kyle Robbins, 11) 32-Chase Stockton, 12) 99M-Kyle Moody, 13) 74JR-Ed Berry Jr., 14) 98-JC Bland, 15) 39-Dave Darland, 16) 65-Johnny Mackison Jr., 17) 8-Steve Petry, 18) 24-Landon Simon, 19) Casey Shuman.
358 MODIFIED FEATURE (25-LAPS): 1) 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 2) 88D-Meme DeSantis, 3) R1-Rick Laubach, 4) 44-Gary Hager, 5) 3A-Kevin Albert Jr., 6) 41-Jeff Strunk, 7) 5-Ricky Yetter, 8) 74W-John Willman, 9) 18-Michael Weinert, 10) T102-Billy Pauch Jr., 11) 14W-Ryan Watt, 12) CR7-Colt Harris, 13) 21-Addison Meitzler, 14) 37x-Tommy Scheetz Jr., 15) 14M-Doug Manmiller, 16) 34-Mark Behm, 17) 78-Neil Huber, 18) 39-Danny Nicholas, 19) 88x-AJ DeSantis, 20) 44B-Jim Bobbitt Jr., 21) 23-Mike Stringer, 22) 33-Ray Swinehart, 23) J3-Dale Hartz, 24) 357-Ryan Godown, 25) 42-Kyle Follweiler, 26) 2A-Mike Mammana.
