HOWARD PROVES THAT PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE FRIDAY NIGHT AT BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY

(Track Press Release by Gary Lileck) Forestville, PA – During the early portion of Friday’s 358 Modified activities at Big Diamond Raceway, Duane Howard exited the speedway on the back of a wrecker. The resilient competitor from Oley PA later returned for the last chance qualifier, started 19th in the 35-lap A-Main, and eventually emerged victorious. His third triumph of the season was worth a crisp $3000 paycheck.

July 30, 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

Jordan Dreher, a 24-year old racer from Lake Wynonah PA, dialed his Sportsman machine in for the moment of truth. Dreher led all 20-laps of the main event and captured his first career feature win. Dreher continued the remarkable Sportsman statistic, as he became the 14th different victorious racer in 14 events.

Ryan Olenick of Forestville PA captured his third Wooden Keg Tavern Roadrunner feature win of the season, after starting from 12th. The feature was shortened from 20-laps to 15-circuits due to time constraints. The victory was Olenick’s fifth of his BDR career.

Weekly Friday night racing continues on August 6 for a three division program of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, and Roadrunners. The Sportsman will compete in the Shiley Fabrications One-On-One Challenge races in which the top 11 in points (in attendance) are locked in. The challenge events at Big Diamond Raceway have become very popular in each of the three divisions. The 358 Modifieds hold their Pepsi Challenge on August 13, and the Roadrunners will contest their rain rescheduled Kauffman’s BBQ Chicken Run Challenge on Friday August 20.

Third generation racer, AJ DeSantis, started inside front row and led the 26-car 358 Modified feature field to the opening green flag. DeSantis, who picked up his first career win on June 18, led the event’s opening 16 laps. Ray Swinehart, an 18-time career feature winner at the speedway, originally started from fifth. He tossed his self-owned machine to the high side of DeSantis on a lap 17 restart, becoming the new pace setter.

Meanwhile Howard, a seven-time track champion, was charging through the field and worked past the 21-year old DeSantis for the runner-up spot on lap 19. Howard’s Chad Sinon Motorsports #4 quickly gained on race leader Swinehart. While completing the 24thcircuit, Swinehart’s car developed a flat tire and his fine performance up front ended dramatically.

Four-time feature winner and current points leader Craig Von Dohren (started 15th) moved into the runner-up spot. Howard placed some breathing room between himself and Von Dohren on restarts, however, Craig was able to close the gap on longer green flag runs. Howard kept the hard charging Von Dohren at bay and held on to capture his fourth overall BDR win of the season (which includes an April 2 Big Block Modified victory).

Von Dohren (Boyertown) safely finished in the runner-up spot in Mike Harvey’s #1c while third generation competitor Billy Pauch Jr. (Frenchtown NJ) steered Shawn Fitzpatrick’s #T102 to a season’s best of third. Earlier leader, DeSantis (Temple) finished fourth while Slatington’s Kyle Follweiler, who shared the front row with DeSantis on the original start, rounded out the front finishing five.

Earlier in the evening, the 31-car field was split into three qualifying heats. Ryan Godown, AJ DeSantis, and Kyle Follweiler were the victorious 10-lap drivers. Howard started last in the consolation and emerged victorious in that 10-lap contest.

Dreher started inside pole for the Sportsman main event and performed flawlessly during the event’s duration. Dreher survived countless restarts and held off young talent Steven Hughes during the early moments. Third year racer Kevin Smith was next in line to challenge the leader. Former three-time champion Craig Whitmoyer, who started last, worked into the runner-up spot on lap 17 via the outside lane.

During the final moments, Dreher kept a trio of former champions in his rear view and guided his self-owned #5 to victory lane. Whitmoyer (Hamburg), who switched to another car for the A-Main after his #97 experienced a broken front-end, drove to a runner-up finish. Smith (Lehighton) originally started tenth and finished third ahead of current points leader Brad Brightbill (Sinking Springs), who began from 15th. After missing the past several weeks with engine issues, Tom Brennan (Pottsville) returned to the speedway and finished in fifth.

The Sportsman class of 28 cars competed in the three 8-lap heat qualifiers. Wins were awarded to: Mike Loney, Jordan Dreher, and Shawn Fitzpatrick.

Second year racer Joey Brennan led the opening lap of the Roadrunner feature. Veteran competitor Marc Berzowski showed the way from laps two through five. While racing into turn four, Berzowski spun after contact and relinquished the lead to R. Olenick. Earlier in the contest, three-time winner Elvin Brennan pitted and returned for action. He moved into the runner-up spot on lap 13.

With time running out, Brennan vastly closed on R. Olenick. Racing out of turn four, R. Olenick led Brennan (Pottsville) to the flag stand and became a three-time feature winner. J. Brennan (Minersville) was earlier set back on a contact call by officials and rallied back to finish third. Ed Kuperavage (Port Carbon), who was called on triggering the Berzowski spin, likewise regrouped and finished fourth. Defending champion Kevin Olenick (Forestville) also worked through the field after pitting with a flat tire, and finished fifth.

Qualifying heat races for the 24-Roadrunners in attendance were won by Kevin Olenick and Christian Donati.

BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY – COMPLETE RESULTS – FRIDAY JULY 30

358 MODIFIED FEATURE (35-LAPS): 1) 4-Duane Howard, 2) 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 3) T102-Billy Pauch Jr., 4) 14D-AJ DeSantis, 5) 42-Kyle Follweiler, 6) 107-Danny Hieber, 7) 41-Jeff Strunk, 8) 14W-Ryan Watt, 9) 74W-John Willman, 10) 31-Chris Esposito, 11) 14M-Doug Manmiller, 12) 37x-Tommy Scheetz Jr., 13) 27-Troy Wink, 14) 44B-Jim Bobbitt Jr., 15) 44-Gary Hager, 16) 3A-Kevin Albert Jr., 17) 33-Ray Swinehart, 18) 5-Ricky Yetter, 19) J3-Dale Hartz, 20) 78-Neil Huber, 21) 357-Ryan Godown, 22) CR7-Colt Harris, 23) R19-Ron Seltmann, 24) 88D-Meme DeSantis, 25) 87-Andy Burkhart, 26) 18-Michael Weinert. Did Not Qualify: 24-Scott Miller, 34-Mark Behm, R1-Rick Laubach, 112-Eric Kocher, 15x-Dan Hineline.

SPORTSMAN FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) 5-Jordan Dreher, 2) 99-Craig Whitmoyer, 3) 7-Kevin Smith, 4) 19-Brad Brightbill, 5) 26-Tom Brennan, 6) 71-Mike Mammana, 7) 520-Kenny Eckert Jr., 8) 14J-Joey Funk III, 9) x5-Daryl Dissinger, 10) 45x-Joe Biasi Jr., 11) J3-Corey Renninger, 12) 64-Wayne Witmer, 13) 49-Troy Gibson, 14) 04-Steve Hughes, 15) 88D-Nick DeSantis, 16) 17x-Kevin Beach, 17) 343-Jeremy Hertzog, 18) 17-Billy Moyer Jr., 19) 8H-Doug Hendricks, 20) 102-Shawn Fitzpatrick, 21) 15-Mike Lisowski Jr., 22) 31K-Jimmy Kleedorfer, 23) 17D-Mike Loney, 24) 00-John Kovatch IV, 25) 73-Jason James, 26) M5-Greg Weiland, 27) 19U-Jared Umbenhauer, 28) T102-Tim Fitzpatrick.

WOODEN KEG TAVERN ROADRUNNER FEATURE (15-LAPS): 1) 45-Ryan Olenick, 2) 555-Elvin Brennan, 3) 105-Joey Brennan, 4) 23-Ed Kuperavage, 5) 450-Kevin Olenick, 6) 102-TJ Fitzpatrick, 7) 101-Gary Renninger, 8) 126-Jim Kost, 9) CR7-Jordan Quinn, 10) 66K-Marc Berzowski, 11) 88-Toby Chase, 12) 16D-Dave Miller, 13) 4-Nate Klinger, 14) 11x-Joey Hendricks, 15) 550-Joe Kavanaugh, 16) 22G-Steve Gromis, 17) 00-Glenn Rowan, 18) 8-Ed Bartlett, 19) 98K-Chip Kennedy, 20) 17-Bud Vidal, 21) 6D-Butch Helsel, 22) 61s-Christian Donati, 23) 22-Tommy Hablett, 24) 29B-Ricky Bender.