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…By Gary Lileck
Forestville, PA-August 10, 2007- Chad Miller was a young man who was very popular in the local racing community. Chad worked on the pit crew of an area 358 Modified racing team. Sadly, Chad Miller lost his life in an automobile accident last month at the age of seventeen. This past Friday evening, racing drivers, teams, and fans gathered to pay tribute to Chad at Big Diamond Raceway.
The friends of Chad Miller added to Friday’s purse, laps, and events as part of the special evening. Numerous sponsors jumped on board and a collection, a fund which will benefit students in the Boyertown area to attend a technical school, was taken in the grandstands during intermission.
The 358 Modified main event went a distance of 30-laps and paid $4000 to win. Taking the victory, his second of the season, was Duane Howard of Oley PA. Howard, the 2006 Big Diamond track champion, found huge success on the outside groove and powered to the hard fought triumph.
A cash dash was held for the Modifieds. The top ten timed cars in the A-Main took part in the $1200 to win 10-lap affair. Jeff Strunk of Mohnton PA emerged victorious after leading every lap. Chad Miller was a crew member on the Strunk driven/Glenn Hyneman owned #126 which made the victory extremely important to the race team.
Current points leader, Craig Whitmoyer of Hamburg PA, powered to his sixth victory of the season in the $1000 to win 20-lap Sportsman A-Main. Whitmoyer, the all-time leading feature winner in Sportsman, executed a late race pass over local favorite Tom Brennan of Pottsville PA.
Teenager Kevin Olenick has certainly been enjoying a strong sophomore season aboard his Roadrunner #450 machine. Olenick stormed to his fourth win of the season in the 18-lap feature contest.
Thirty cars started the 30-lap 358 Modified feature. Several cars tangled on the frontstretch under the opening green flag. Receiving the most damage was the machine of Ryan Watt, as it was towed from the speedway on a pair of wreckers. When green racing prevailed, radio talk show host Bobby Gunther-Walsh took the early race lead.
Tom Umbenhauer, who originally started seventh, moved into the runner-up position with Mike Nicholas, Keith Hoffman, and Ryan Grim in pursuit. On a lap four restart, Umbenhauer darted to the inside of Walsh and grabbed the spot in turn three. A trio of caution flags took place after lap four had been completed. Walsh and Hoffman were involved in the third yellow flag which would reshuffled to starting order.
Umbenhauer continued to set the pace followed by Nicholas. Fifteenth place starter Strunk raced third followed by Howard (began from sixteenth) and Grim. While Umbenhauer built a lead, Nicholas and Strunk battled for the second spot. Strunk, on the inside, passed Nicholas on lap seven. Howard went to the outside ahead of Nicholas for third on the twelfth circuit. The event’s final caution flag was thrown with seventeen laps on the counter.
Umbenhauer continued to lead followed by Strunk, Howard, and Nicholas. Jimmy Reppert raced past Grim on lap nineteen. With ten laps remaining, the top three cars raced in close formation. Strunk looked for room to pass Umbenhauer on the inside, while Howard was getting good bite on the outside. Howard inched ahead of Strunk for second on lap twenty-two. One lap later, Howard continued his outside passing assault as he worked ahead of Umbenhauer for the top spot. Strunk followed into second on lap twenty-four.
Throughout the remainder of the contest, Howard drove Chad Sinon’s #4 Troyer flawless at the front of the field. He reached lapped traffic in the closing moments, and held on to capture the victory. It was Howard’s 55th career victory at BDR. Strunk, the current points leader, settled for second followed by Umbenhauer, Nicholas, and Reppert.
Jeff Sechrist continued his strong ’07 season aboard his self-owned equipment by finishing sixth. Grim held on for seventh followed by Keith Brightbill (in the family owned #19), Gary Wagner Jr., and Terry Meitzler.
A good field of 40 cars battled in four heat races with wins going to Walsh, Hoffman, Grim, and Umbenhauer. Split B-main wins went to John Tschudy (making his first start of the season), and Richie Tobias (former track regular making his ’07 debut) was aboard the 11D.
By luck of the draw, Strunk started inside pole in the dash. He led all 10-laps in convincing style and vanished from the field. Strunk, a four-time feature winner this season, was victorious over Howard (started fifth), Sechrist, Nicholas, and Umbenhauer. Rounding out the top ten were Doug Manmiller, Reppert, Grim, Brightbill, and Walsh.
Patrick Cozze led the 24-car Sportsman feature starting field to the opening green flag. Ninth place starter Tom Brennan occupied second on a lap three restart. Brennan passed Cozze via the inside lane of lap six. Craig Whitmoyer, from thirteenth, was dashing through the field. Whitmoyer moved past Cozze for the runner-up spot on lap fifteen.
During the closing moments, Whitmoyer chased down race leader Brennan. Whitmoyer jumped to the inside and worked ahead of the former track champion as they crossed the line to complete lap eighteen. Whitmoyer, driving his #99 Bicknell, powered to his 22nd career Sportsman triumph followed by Brennan, Cozze, Kyle Weiss (making his first start of the season), and New Jersey’s Mike Taylor.
Brian Johnson led the opening Roadrunner feature lap. Dan Strenkoski grabbed the lead on lap two. Jermey Becker took control of the event on the race’s sixth circuit. Olenick had started from thirteenth and moved into the runner-up position on the eighth lap. Olenick quickly caught Becker during the next few laps.
On lap thirteen, Olenick raced past Becker on the outside groove. Olenick gained command of the lead and never looked back. Earlier this season, Olenick captured his first career victory. The Pottsville PA racer now holds down four victories.
Elvin Brennan powered into second on lap fifteen and remained there at the finish. Tom Hablett moved to third on the sixteenth lap, and ended up third. Becker held on for fourth while Ricky Bender just nipped Dave Miller at the line for fifth.
This Friday evening August 17, the Central PA Legends return to the BDR clay. Joining the Legends are 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, and Roadrunners. McCann School of Business presents the Pepsi Challenge. Racing begins at 7:30PM. Then on Sunday August 19, the rescheduled Mark’s Mechanical Night will take place. On the card are Winged Super Sportsman, Limited Late Models, and Pro Stocks. Racing starts at 6:00PM.
For all of the latest news and results check out the official website of Big Diamond Raceway at www.bigdiamondraceway.com
Friday August 10, 2007 – Complete Big Diamond Raceway Results
358 MODIFIED FEATURE (30-laps): 1) #4-Duane Howard, 2) #126-Jeff Strunk, 3) #19-Tom Umbenhauer, 4) #3-Mike Nicholas, 5) #97-Jimmy Reppert, 6) #318-Jeff Sechrist, 7) #17-Ryan Grim, 8) #19K-Keith Brightbill, 9) #47-Gary Wagner Jr., 10) #81-Terry Meitzler, 11) #1c-Craig Von Dohren, 12) #00-Doug Manmiller, 13) #T102-Shawn Fitzpatrick, 14) #2-John Tschudy, 15) #27-Troy Wink, 16) #F15-Dale Hartz, 17) #33-Ray Swinehart, 18) #118-Sean Merkel, 19) #R6-Dale Roth, 20) #11-Meme DeSantis, 21) #S1-Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 22) #1-Keith Hoffman, 23) #11D-Richie Tobias, 24) #91-John Willman, 25) #41-Shawn Reimert, 26) #9-Bruce Hirthler, 27) #901-Jamie Schwartz, 28) #6-Ryan Watt, 29) #44-Danny Erb, 30) #14-Rick Laubach. DNQ: #66-Vince Gagliardo Jr., #51-Erik Renninger, #w9-Colt Harris, #27J-Jeremy Banos, #70-Kurt Spotts, #1450-Greg Weiland, #42-Corey Sechrist, #29-Kenny Eckert Jr., #88-Mike Bent.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE (20-laps): 1) #99-Craig Whitmoyer, 2) #26-Tom Brennan, 3) #61-Patrick Cozze, 4) #16K-Kyle Weiss, 5) #2T-Mike Taylor, 6) #19B-Brad Brightbill, 7) #46-Josh Biever, 8) #19-Jordan Umbenhauer, 9) #16x-Danny Creeden, 10) #84-Leroy Long, 11) #33E-Earl Paules, 12) #88x-Andy Fayash Jr., 13) #44-Frank Cozze Jr., 14) #17-Billy Moyer Jr., 15) #71J-Codie Berk, 16) #88-Ray Woodall Jr., 17) #KT3-Corey Renninger, 18) #123-Roy Wiest, 19) #6JR-Kevin Beach, 20) #2-Richard Stankiewicz, 21) #71-Mike Mammana, 22) #7-Dave Mace, 23) #64-Andy Miller, 24) #35-Ebby Ridge. DNQ: #8-Brad Force, #39-Tom Cremer, #32-Conrad Fitch, #01-Jim Rossell, #113-Jeff Sterner, #M7-Shane Moser, #0-Kevin Brady, #74-Pete Marburger.
ROADRUNNER FEATURE (18-laps): 1) #450-Kevin Olenick, 2) #555-Elvin Brennan, 3) #22-Tom Hablett, 4) #97-Jeremy Becker, 5) #29B-Ricky Bender, 6) #1-Dave Miller, 7) #66-Chris Holland, 8) #11-Dan Strenkoski, 9) #37-Eric Pinkerton, 10) #Z71-Andy Zvorsky, 11) #17-Bud Vidal, 12) #101-Gary Renninger, 13) #201-Brian Johnson, 14) #8-Davey Nester, 15) #93-Rob Pyle, 16) #14D-AJ DeSantis, 17) #29W-Derek Bender, 18) #11x-Joe Hendricks. |
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