A NIGHT OF FIRSTS FOR ALBERT AND MANMILLER AT BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY
(Track Press Release by Gary Lileck) Forestville, PA – Kevin Albert Jr. of Lebanon captured his first career 358 Modified feature victory this past Friday evening at Big Diamond Raceway. Meanwhile, Doug Manmiller of Shoemakersville finished sixth and clinched his initial BDR point championship.
August 27, 2010 Video Highlights
Order the complete race night DVD at the GSP Shop or get it at the track!
358 Modifieds Feature Highlights
Sportsman Feature Highlights
Roadrunners Feature Highlights
Michael Weinert/Danny Hieber 358 Modified Consi Incident
On Big Diamond Fan Page Awards Night, Tim Fitzpatrick of nearby Branchdale won his second 20-lap Sportsman main event of the season while Craig Whitmoyer captured the point title. The Wooden Keg Tavern Roadrunners also had a pair of first timers in victory lane. Joey Brennan of Minersville won the 20-lap main event, and Elvin Brennan of Pottsville grabbed the track championship.
Pioneer Pole Buildings Coalcracker Weekend is just around the corner at Big Diamond Raceway. The Sportsman are competing in a 50-lap/$2000 to win feature on Friday September 3 along with the Penske Shocks Non-Winners Race for 358 Modifieds and an extra distance 25-lap main event for the Wooden Keg Tavern Roadrunners. On Sunday September 5, the 358 Modifieds battle in the 30thpresentation of the Coalcracker 100. The winning driver receives $10,000. Check the track’s official websitewww.bigdiamondraceway.com for complete details on the huge weekend ahead.
After three separate accidents on the opening lap, Dan Hineline took command of the 358 Modified main event from his inside pole starting spot. Hineline led until his machine went around in turn two after a pair of laps had been completed, relinquishing the top spot to Addison Meitzler. On a lap four restart, Albert executed a two-car sweep into the runner-up position behind Meitzler.
Good caution-free racing took place from laps four through 18. Meitzler and Albert distanced themselves from the field while Ryan Godown, who originally started 13th, made some impressive maneuvers through the front five. The event’s final caution took place with 18 laps complete and Albert made the winning pass on the ensuing restart over Meitzler.
Albert, a graduate of the Tobias Slingshot class a few years ago, made no mistakes during the final seven laps and became the 13thdifferent winner of the season. Godown (Ringoes NJ) passed Meitzler (Kutztown) via the inside lane to grab the second position on lap 20. Meitzler’s third place effort was his finest of the season. Sophomore racer Kyle Follweiler (Slatington) ran within the top five during the event’s entire 25-laps and finished fourth. Ricky Yetter (Easton), a winner back on June 11, rounded out the top five.
After starting 17th, Manmiller stayed out of trouble and powered Josh Biever’s #14M to a sixth place finish, but most importantly, the 2010 track championship. Manmiller enjoyed 16 top ten finishes out of 19 events held this season. Ironically, Manmiller didn’t win a main event during the year’s course, but a consistent effort earned a championship for the 42 year old racer.
Rick Laubach (Hellertown) drove from 19th to seventh, while runner-up in points Craig Von Dohren (Boyertown) finished in the eighth spot. John Willman (Birdsboro) ended up in ninth followed by Meme DeSantis (Temple).
Qualifying heat winners for the 33 cars on hand were: Follweiler, AJ DeSantis, and Yetter. Laubach won the consolation.
Joey Funk III led the opening lap of the Sportsman main event until he was involved in a turn four accident. Tim Fitzpatrick, who started eighth, advanced into the top spot on lap two. T. Fitzpatrick enjoyed a full straightaway advantage over the competition just before the caution flag waved with 16 laps showing on the scoreboard.
T. Fitzpatrick simply drove away on the green flag and withstood one more restart on the event’s final lap. T. Fitzpatrick captured his 12th career BDR win (1-358 Modified, 2-Sportsman, 1-Street Stock, 8-Roadrunner). Jordan Dreher (Lake Wynonah), who seized his first career victory back on July 30, finished second ahead of Doug Hendricks (Orwigsburg), who rebounded from a couple weeks of bad luck. 2009 champion Kevin Beach (Llewellyn) raced from 16th to fourth.
Whitmoyer, driving his self owned #99, powered to the fifth position, after starting 17th. Whitmoyer entered the night just three points out of the standings lead. His fifth place finish gave him a fourth career Sportsman track championship.
Brad Brightbill (Sinking Springs) regrouped from an earlier incident to finish sixth. Mike Loney (Taylor) settled for seventh ahead of Kevin Brady (Millersburg), Nick DeSantis (Temple), and Andy Fayash Jr. (Mary D).
Qualifying heat winners for the 27 cars in attendance were: R. Moyer, Fayash, and Mike Lisowski Jr.
Third year racer Chip Kennedy led the opening three laps of the Roadrunner feature until Joey Brennan took command. Toby Chase moved ahead of J. Brennan during the earlier portion of the event’s second half. J. Brennan charged back in front on the 18th lap as the pair raced through turns three and four.
J. Brennan, who has fought through an up and down season, held on to claim the ultimate prize, his very first Roadrunner feature win. Chase (Bernville) throttled to a hard earned runner-up finish.
E. Brennan started 12th and raced within a tremendous battle during the event’s entire course. E. Brennan moved into third during the closing stages and captured the 2010 track championship. Elvin was a three-time feature winner this season.
Marc Berzowski (Branchdale) raced closely with E. Brennan for countless laps, and finished a close fourth. Former track regular Dave Miller (Pine Grove) made a rare BDR start and finished a season’s best of fifth. Second year racer Christian Donati (Schuylkill Haven) finished sixth ahead of former track champion Tom Hablett (Schuylkill Haven). Kennedy (Donaldson) ended up in eighth over Jim Kost (Pottsville) and Kevin Olenick (Forestville).
23 Roadrunners were split into a pair of qualifying heats with wins going to Berzowski and Hablett.
The Big Diamond Fan Page Awards gave money to three random finishers in each of the main events along with donations to the Wounded Warrior Project and former racer Butch Cerullo, who is currently battling cancer. Lucky race fans also received prizes courtesy of the BDFP Awards during the night’s course. Drivers who received a money bonus were: Ryan Watt, Craig Von Dohren, Troy Wink, Shawn Fitzpatrick, Kevin Smith, Ryan Moyer, Ed Kuperavage, Jon Schlauch, and Joe Kavanaugh.
358 MODIFIED FEATURE (25-LAPS): 1) 3A-Kevin Albert Jr., 2) 357-Ryan Godown, 3) 21-Addison Meitzler, 4) 42-Kyle Follweiler, 5) 5-Ricky Yetter, 6) 14M-Doug Manmiller, 7) R1-Rick Laubach, 8) 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 9) 74W-John Willman, 10) 88D-Meme DeSantis, 11) T102-Billy Pauch Jr., 12) CR7-Colt Harris, 13) 118-Sean Merkel, 14) 37-Nate Christman, 15) J3-Dale Hartz, 16) 36-Keith Hoffman, 17) 44-Gary Hager, 18) 14-Jimmy Horton, 19) 15x-Dan Hineline, 20) 33-Ray Swinehart, 21) 14W-Ryan Watt, 22) 27-Troy Wink, 23) 87-Andy Burkhart, 24) 41-Jeff Strunk, 25) 66K-Jarod Schultz, 26) 88DX-AJ DeSantis. DNQ: 78-Neil Huber, 18-Michael Weinert, 107-Danny Hieber, 78X-Dave Gerhart, 44B-Jim Bobbitt Jr., 2-Jeff Paulson, 1L-Billy Lowden Jr.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) T102-Tim Fitzpatrick, 2) 5-Jordan Dreher, 3) 8H-Doug Hendricks, 4) 17x-Kevin Beach, 5) 99-Craig Whitmoyer, 6) 19-Brad Brightbill, 7) 17D-Mike Loney, 8) 0-Kevin Brady, 9) 88D-Nick DeSantis, 10) 45x-Andy Fayash Jr., 11) 97-Dave Dissinger, 12) 520-Kenny Eckert Jr., 13) 73-Jason James, 14) 14J-Joey Funk III, 15) 7-Kevin Smith, 16) 93-Ryan Moyer, 17) 64-Wayne Witmer, 18) 8JR-Warren Floyd Jr., 19) 15-Mike Lisowski Jr., 20) 15H-Chris Hertzog, 21) 04-Steven Hughes, 22) 17-Billy Moyer Jr., 23) 71-Mike Mammana, 24) 102-Shawn Fitzpatrick, 25) 19U-Jordan Umbenhauer. DNS: 31K-Jim Kleedorfer, 32-Kevin Reese.
WOODEN KEG TAVERN ROADRUNNER FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) 105-Joey Brennan, 2) 88-Toby Chase, 3) 555-Elvin Brennan, 4) 66K-Marc Berzowski, 5) 16D-Dave Miller, 6) 61s-Christian Donati, 7) 22-Tom Hablett, 8) 98K-Chip Kennedy, 9) 126-Jim Kost, 10) 450-Kevin Olenick, 11) 550-Joe Kavanaugh, 12) 101-Jeremy Slifko, 13) 45-Ryan Olenick, 14) 4-Nate Klinger, 15) 40-Jon Schlauch, 16) TWO-Hunter James, 17) CR7-Jordan Quinn, 18) 6-Bob Quinn, 19) 22G-Steve Gromis, 20) 23-Ed Kuperavage, 21) 23K-Mike Kuperavage, 22) 17-Tyler Vidal, 23) 29B-Ricky Bender.
FINAL 358 MODIFIED POINTS: 1) Doug Manmiller-1949, 2) Craig Von Dohren-1910, 3) John Willman-1691, 4) Rick Laubach-1638, 5) Kevin Albert Jr.-1554.
FINAL SPORTSMAN POINTS: 1) Craig Whitmoyer-1735, 2) Brad Brightbill-1699, 3) Kevin Beach-1681, 4) Mike Loney-1669, 5) Mike Mammana-1648.
FINAL ROADRUNNER POINTS: 1) Elvin Brennan-1992, 2) Ryan Olenick-1909, 3) Kevin Olenick-1886, 4) Tom Hablett-1765, 5) Ed Kuperavage-1691.
