|
By Gary Lileck
Forestville, PA – September 29, 2007 –Beautiful weather conditions graced the Big Diamond Raceway on Saturday evening for day one of the second annual Diamond Nationals.
Former six-time track champion Duane Howard of Oley simply dominated the evening’s Open Competition 358 Modified program from start to finish. Howard concluded his night with a $3000 triumph in the 40-lap main event. It was Howard’s third win of the season.
Duaine Smith of New Cumberland drove to a convincing victory in the 25-lap Super Sportsman main event. The popular traveling tour made their first competition start at BDR in over a year. It was Smith’s first career win at Diamond and worth $1200.
Troy Miller of Tower City returned to his old stomping grounds and powered to a $500 victory in the 20-lap Pro Stock feature. Tom Hablett of Schuylkill Haven crossed the line in second, however, earned the 20-lap Roadrunner/Xtreme Stock feature win after the apparent winner was disqualified.
The Diamond Nationals will conclude on Sunday September 29 at 5:30PM. The Big Block Modifieds make their first and only ’07 appearance along with Sportsman and Limited Late Models.
By luck of the draw, Howard started the 358 Modified feature from the first position. Steve Swinehart, driving the Dinatale Racing #11D, followed in the second position and former track champion Keith Hoffman settled in third. The red flag was thrown with two laps complete for a multi-car tangle in turn three. No injuries were reported in the crash, however, former feature winner Ryan Watt was towed from the scene with heavy damage.
Hoffman advanced into second behind Howard on the lap three restart. On the eleventh circuit, Coalcracker 100 winner Craig Von Dohren worked past Swinehart for the third position. With ten laps showing on the scoreboard, Howard remained in control followed by Hoffman, Von Dohren, Swinehart, and Doug Manmiller. The leaders caught lapped traffic in a few circuits as green racing continued.
Howard powered past the traffic while Von Dohren looked for passing room over Hoffman. On lap 26, Von Dohren dashed to the inside of Hoffman and took command of the runner-up position. After 26 laps had been completed, Swinehart’s machine spun while running fourth in turn one and brought out the caution flag. 2007 track champion Jeff Strunk (originally started twelfth) would follow suit behind Howard, Von Dohren, and Hoffman for the restart.
Howard and Von Dohren remained in control. Strunk raced to the inside of Hoffman in turn three and grabbed the third spot. With less than ten laps remaining, Von Dohren and Strunk raced closely for the second spot. The contest’s final caution flag was unfurled with just eight laps remaining.
Howard continued to dominate on the restart, and Strunk passed Von Dohren for possession of second. Howard led the remainder of the contest and put some distance between himself and Strunk. Howard, driving Chad Sinon’s #4 Troyer powered by a MAIN Racing Engine, stormed to his 56th career BDR feature win.
Strunk, a four-time feature winner, drove Glenn Hyneman’s #126 Teo to a runner-up finish. Von Dohren, the speedway’s all-time career winner, throttled Mike Harvey’s #1c to a third place result. Hoffman, driving the PPB #1, finished in the fourth position and Manmiller drove the Troy Wink owned #27x to a final finish of fifth.
A fantastic field of fifty 358 Modifieds packed the pit area. Six 10-lap heats were contested with wins going to Howard, Strunk, Hoffman, Von Dohren, Meme DeSantis, and Tom Umbenhauer. B-Main winners were invading New Jersey driver Wade Hendrickson, Brad Brightbill, and Ryan Grim.
Duaine Smith and Ken Carberry shared row one for the start of the Winged Super Sportsman feature. Smith wasted no time in grabbing the initial lead and Carberry watched from the second position. Multi-tour champion, Frankie Herr, started fifth and grabbed third on the eighth lap. Smith worked through lapped traffic while Carberry and Herr rounded out the top three.
At the half-way point, Smith, Carberry, and Herr raced rather closely through the traffic. The event’s first caution took place sixteen laps into the contest. On the next lap, the red flag was thrown for Ed Hughes, who made contact with the wall and flipped several times. Hughes was uninjured in the accident.
Smith remained in command when green racing continued. Carberry continued to race second, while Herr pressured Carberry for the spot. Smith would emerge victorious after leading the event from wire-to-wire. Smith drove to his first win of the season behind the wheel of the Mike Callahan Racing #318 winged machine.
Carberry, who races regularly in the Garden State of New Jersey, denied the late race challenges of Herr to finish second. Herr, who holds several career BDR wins from season’s past, nailed down a third place effort. Leroy Martin, the 1977 BDR VW Sprint track champion, finished in fourth and veteran racer Danny Hager rounded out the front five.
A pair of heats were presented for the 23 cars on hand. Smith and Herr shared heat race wins.
The Pro Stock division made their first appearance of the season. Troy Miller led the 10-car field to the opening green flag. While positions second on back changed feverishly, one spot remained in tact. Miller would lead the 20-lap feature from start to finish.
Miller’s victory was actually his second career at Big Diamond. Miller competed during the 90s in the old Street Stock division. Chad Davis, a first year Pro Stock driver, rebounded from a lap seven spin and finished second. Frank Reisser was racing second at one time during the contest, but settled into third for the finish. Rookie racer Devin Frey grabbed fourth and Sammy Troup rounded out the front five.
The Roadrunner/Xtreme Stock challenge race found 26 starters and Jeremy Becker grabbed the early race lead. 2007 track champion, Tom Hablett of Schuylkill Haven, started fifth and maneuvered into second on the fourth lap. Hablett blazed past Becker one lap later to grab the race lead.
Kevin Olenick passed Becker on the sixth circuit. Becker would spin after developing a right rear flat tire, relinquishing the third spot. Hablett and Olenick staged a good battle for the lead. Olenick stormed in front on lap nine, Hablett battled back for first a lap later, and Olenick regained command via the inside groove of lap eleven. Olenick withstood a restart with four laps remaining and powered to the apparent victory.
After crossing the scales, Olenick’s machine weighed in light. Hablett would win his sixth feature of the season (worth $300), his first win since June 22. Kevin Holland had to restart from the rear of the pack on lap six and fought back for a runner-up finish. Bud Vidal enjoyed his finest outing of the season in third. Rookie drivers Neil Bressler and Davey Nester rounded out the top five.
BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY – DIAMOND NATIONALS DAY ONE – FULL RESULTS - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2007
OPEN COMPETITION 358 MODIFIED FEATURE: 1) #4-Duane Howard, 2) #126-Jeff Strunk, 3) #1c-Craig Von Dohren, 4) #1-Keith Hoffman, 5) #27X-Doug Manmiller, 6) #16-Jason Hamilton, 7) #14D-Meme DeSantis, 8) #2-John Tschudy, 9) #19-Tom Umbenhauer, 10) #118-Sean Merkel, 11) #85-Wade Hendrickson, 12) #54x-John Keller, 13) #33-Ray Swinehart, 14) #318-Jeff Sechrist, 15) #12K-Eric Kormann, 16) #T102-Shawn Fitzpatrick, 17) #19BB-Brad Brightbill, 18) #44-Danny Erb, 19) #11D-Steve Swinehart, 20) #117-Kevin Hirthler, 21) #17-Ryan Grim, 22) #221-Ryan Beltz, 23) #24x-Jason Andrews, 24) #42-Jimmy Horton, 25) #W9-Colt Harris, 26) #6-Ryan Watt, 27) #114-Carroll Hine III. Did Not Qualify: Richie Pratt Jr., Kenny Hatt, Craig Whitmoyer, Stan Frankenfield, Sammy Schaeffer, Erik Renninger, Kenny Eckert Jr., Troy Wink, Ray Woodall Jr., Bobby Butler, Dennis Dietrich, Shawn Horning, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Norman Short Jr., Roy Wiest, Rich Scagliotta, Mark Kratz, Kurt Spotts, Dan Hineline, Justin Andrews, John Willman, Brian Kressley, Mike Gular.
WINGED SUPER SPORTSMAN FEATURE (25-LAPS): 1) #318-Duaine Smith, 2) #664-Ken Carberry, 3) #99-Frankie Herr, 4) #66-Leroy Martin, 5) #55-Danny Hager, 6) #07J-Rich Janney, 7) #11-Steve Fannasy, 8) #8-Rich Eichelberger, 9) #73K-Rocky Magaro, 10) #25-Gerry Strausser, 11) #202-Mark Bitner, 12) #1-John Stehman, 13) #32-Stan Wanner, 14) #18-David Martin, 15) #33-Ryan Rupp, 16) #4-Rob Liedl, 17) #175-John Romano, 18) #29-Gregg Foster, 19) #B13-Ed Hughes, 20) #44-Rick Cozze, 21) #27-Nicholas Bardsley, 22) #80-Doug Hendricks, 23) #20Art Liedl. DNS: #67-Allen Hunter.
PRO STOCK FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) #115-Troy Miller, 2) #91-Chad Davis, 3) #06-Frank Reisser, 4) #97-Devin Frey, 5) #54-Sammy Troup, 6) #12-Doug Minium Sr., 7) #5-Neil Langtry, 8) #27-Tim Krape, 9) #6-Dan Jenson, 10) #23-Jim Somers Jr.
ROADRUNNER/XTREME STOCK FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) #22-Tom Hablett, 2) #66-Kevin Holland, 3) #17-Bud Vidal, 4) #909-Neil Bressler, 5) #8-Davey Nester, 6) #1Z-Joey Zvorsky, 7) #11-Sammy Rial, 8) #X-Dan Mazy, 9) #327-Chris Reichert, 10) #93-Rob Pyle, 11) #51-Brad Krause, 12) #69H-Kevin Higgins, 13) #69-Les Scrivens Jr., 14) #6-Shawn Naftzinger, 15) #18-Raymond Repp, 16) #62B-Randy Blank, 17) #29B-Ricky Bender, 18) #21H-Travis Horan, 19) #11x-Joe Hendricks, 20) #72-Mark Paine, 21) #69c-Eric Campbell, 22) #97-Jeremy Becker, 23) #99-Chris Heller, 24) #33-Keith Owens, 25) #93x-Dal Herner. DQ: #450-Kevin Olenick. |
|
