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HOWARD, PAULES, AND HABLETT EARN SPECIAL VICTORIES FRIDAY AT BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY…By Gary Lileck
Forestville, PA – July 4, 2008 – Big Diamond Raceway presented the 29th annual Georgie Stevenson Memorial on Friday evening. Earlier in the day rain showers threatened, however, management made the correct call in deciding to present the program as scheduled. Weather was not an issue during the entire night’s course.
Duane Howard of Oley PA won his fourth 358 Modified feature of the season in a 35-lap/$3000 to win contest. Earl Paules of Lehighton PA registered his fifth Sportsman main event triumph, worth $1000. Defending track champion Tom Hablett of Schuylkill Haven PA emerged victorious in the 20-lap/$300 to win Roadrunner feature contest.
The Georgie Stevenson Memorial race is held yearly at Big Diamond. It is named after a young man who was a faithful BDR racing fan. Young Georgie suffered from cancer and passed away at the age of twelve. Since that time, Big Diamond has presented this event. The Stevenson family continues to help the sick and terminally ill children, and once again the gracious fans, drivers, and teams, presented the Stevenson family with a generous donation for their Memorial Fund.
On a night sponsored by Moyer Electronics (Pottsville, Hazleton, Sunbury), former six-time track champion Howard cruised to his fourth 358 Modified win of the season. Howard strengthened his ’08 points lead by 50 markers. It was Howard’s first Stevenson Memorial victory since 1997, and the second of his BDR career and 60th on the all-time winner’s list.
Colt Harris led the 26-car starting field to the race’s initial green flag. After one lap had been completed, the second place car of Mark Forte Jr. went around in turn two which sent the field scattering. Howard, who originally started fifteenth, would align himself from the eighth position on the ensuing restart.
Early cautions took place on laps two, four, and five. Harris remained the leader followed by Craig Whitmoyer, Jeff Strunk (who started thirteenth), Howard, and Gary Hager. When green racing continued on lap six, Harris and Whitmoyer occupied the first two spots. Howard quickly drove to the outside of Strunk for possession of the third spot. A caution flag with seven laps on the counter would once again draw the field together.
Whitmoyer flexed a powerful muscle on the restart and dashed into the lead. Harris settled into second with Howard watching from third. Hager leaped ahead of Strunk to take fourth. The top three raced fairly close until the caution lights flashed once more with eleven laps completed. The restart found Harris drifted to the outside, and lost a few positions. Whitmoyer led Howard, and Strunk worked into third over Hager. A wild crash involving invader Stewart Friesen took place with twelve laps on the board.
When the green flag fell, Whitmoyer and Howard battled for the race lead. The pair glazed down the backstretch side-by-side and Howard, on the outside, managed to grab the lead in turns three and four. Whitmoyer, Strunk, Hager, and twentieth place starter Meme DeSantis followed as the contest neared the half-way mark. Strunk was able to slide underneath Whitmoyer for second on the seventeenth lap.
With fifteen laps remaining, Howard put some distance between himself and Strunk. Whitmoyer raced a distance behind in third. DeSantis worked past Hager for the fourth spot on lap twenty-three. Whitmoyer’s fine performance ended with twenty-six laps completed as his machine slowed to a stop, bringing out a caution flag. DeSantis had just worked past Hager and would move into third position for the restart.
Strunk briefly glanced to the inside of Howard as they raced into turn one, however, Howard remained in command. The event’s tenth and final caution period took place on lap 29. Billy Pauch Jr. had pitted twice previously, and worked his way back into the top ten. During this caution though, Pauch was forced pitside for a flat tire.
Howard remained in command of the field for the race’s final six laps. Howard, steering the BPG Racing #4 Troyer, drove to his fourth win of the season (fifth overall). Strunk (Mohnton), in the Glenn Hyneman #126, finished second ahead of DeSantis (Temple), driving his self-owned #88D. Hager (Stewartsville NJ) drove to a season’s best of fourth and Troy Wink (Mohrsville) continued his steady ’08 season with a fifth place finish.
Ryan Watt (Boyertown) was forced to enter a back-up car in the consolation and powered from last (twenty-sixth) to sixth in the feature. Doug Manmiller (Shoemakersville) rebounded from a lap seven pit stop and finished seventh. Rick Laubach (Hellertown) started twenty-second and ended up eighth. Craig Von Dohren (Oley) pitted along with Manmiller earlier and managed a ninth place finish. Mike Gular (Harleysville) driving the Bane's Roofing #8 also regrouped from a pit stop to finish tenth.
Heats for the 34 Modifieds in attendance were won by Howard, Whitmoyer, Wink, and Ray Swinehart. Kurt Spotts was the consolation winner. In the A-Main, Whitmoyer set the Shiley Fabrication Fast Lap with a quick time of 17.053.
Rich Stankiewicz led the early moments of the 25-lap Sportsman main event. While Stankiewicz paced the field, Earl Paules (from fourteenth) and Kyle Weiss (started twelfth) were quickly passing their way through the field. Paules worked into the second position on lap ten and Weiss grabbed the third spot with twelve laps showing on the board.
On a lap fifteen restart, Weiss shot to the outside and grabbed the lead, however, the caution lights flashed before the lap was completed. Therefore the running order remained Stankiewicz, Paules, and Weiss. On the next attempt, Paules stormed to the outside of Stankiewicz and took command of the field. A few late race yellow flags were displayed, and Paules remained the race leader.
With less than five laps to go, Paules built an advantage over his rivals. Stankiewicz, Weiss, and Brad Brightbill raced closely for the second position and battled feverishly until the checkered flag fell. Paules, driving the same #4 machine that was involved in a violent crash two weeks ago, held on to capture his sixth career BDR Sportsman feature win.
Stankiewicz (Reading) just held off a vastly closing Brightbill (Sinking Springs) to finish second. Weiss (Hamburg) finished just behind in the fourth spot. Mike Mammana (Nazareth) ran within the top five during the event’s entire course and finished fifth. Rounding out the top ten were rookie Pete Phillips Jr. (Lebanon), consistent top ten runner Josh Biever (Orwigsburg), two-time winner Tom Brennan (Pottsville), Mike Loney (Taylor), and Kevin Smith (Lehighton).
Heats for the 31 Sportsman present were won by Biever, Loney, Weiss, and Tim Fitzpatrick. Andy Fayash Jr., making only his second start of the season, won the consi. Paules set the Shiley Fabrication fast time in the A-main with a lap of 18.183. Sportsman racer Billy Moyer Jr. was the recipient of the Stevenson Memorial Sportsmanship Award.
Ricky Bender started fourth and immediately took charge of the Roadrunner feature. Tom Hablett followed into the runner-up position on lap two. Hablett passed Bender for the race lead on a lap three restart. Joe Hendricks briefly took the second spot on lap seven, however, was involved in a backstretch incident a lap later.
Hablett continued to lead, while ’06 track champion Kevin Holland raced second over two-time feature winner Kody Sites. With less the five laps to go, Hablett opened up a nice advantage. Positions second through sixth were literally running under a blanket. The event’s ninth and final caution flag was unfurled with seventeen laps completed.
Hablett throttled his #22 Nova bodied car to his third win of the season. This triumph was worth $300 courtesy of Becker’s VW Service in Newtown PA. Holland (Pine Grove) finished second just in front of a tremendous duel to the finish. Kevin Olenick (Forestville) grabbed third on the final lap followed by Sites (Hamburg) and Bender (Joliett).
23 Roadrunners were split into a pair of qualifying heat races. Wins were awarded to Mark Paine and Kody Sites.
Big Diamond Raceway will hold a pair of events next weekend. Friday July 11 showcases a three-division show of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, and Roadrunners. The Roadrunners will be competing in the first ever Kauffman’s BBQ Chicken Challenge. The top eight in points plus a wild card ninth will do battle in the unique event (which carries the same format as the 358 Modified’s Pepsi Challenge competed every year in August). Gates open at 5:00PM with racing at 7:45PM.
The Nutty Buddy Enduro Series (100-lap 6/8 cylinder enduro, 100-lap 4 cylinder enduro) will hold their third event of the season on Sunday July 13. Racing starts at 5:00PM. After the completion of Sunday’s racing, test and tune sessions will be held for any and all divisions. Admission to the pits is $15 per person.
BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY COMPLETE RESULTS – JULY 4, 2008
358 MODIFIED FEATURE (35-LAPS): 1) #4-Duane Howard, 2) #126-Jeff Strunk, 3) #88D-Meme DeSantis, 4) #44H-Gary Hager, 5) #27-Troy Wink, 6) #6P-Ryan Watt, 7) #00-Doug Manmiller, 8) #14-Rick Laubach, 9) #1c-Craig Von Dohren, 10) #8X-Mike Gular, 11) #CR7-Colt Harris, 12) #11-John Willman, 13) #81-Terry Meitzler, 14) #37x-Tommy Sheetz Jr., 15) #118-Sean Merkel, 16) #T102-Shawn Fitzpatrick, 17) #117-Kevin Hirthler, 18) #8-Billy Pauch Jr., 19) #99-Craig Whitmoyer, 20) #357-Stewart Friesen, 21) #70-Kurt Spotts, 22) #44-Danny Erb, 23) #178-Dale Hartz, 24) #33-Ray Swinehart, 25) #11D-Mark Forte Jr., 26) #R1-Ryan Godown. Did Not Qualify: Tom Umbenhauer, Kenny Eckert Jr., Neil Huber, Corey Sechrist, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Mike Nicholas, Dan Hineline, Ryan Grim.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE (25-LAPS): 1) #4-Earl Paules, 2) #2-Rich Stankiewicz, 3) #19B-Brad Brightbill, 4) #21K-Kyle Weiss, 5) #71-Mike Mammana, 6) #27-Pete Phillips Jr., 7) #46-Josh Biever, 8) #26-Tom Brennan, 9) #723-Mike Loney, 10) #7S-Kevin Smith, 11) #19-Jordan Umbenhauer, 12) #164-Andy Miller, 13) #T102-Tim Fitzpatrick, 14) #33JR-Gary Wagner, 15) #45X-Andy Fayash Jr., 16) #14D-AJ DeSantis, 17) #3-Corey Renninger, 18) #6JR-Kevin Beach, 19) #32s-Jared Umbenhauer, 20) #35-Ebby Ridge, 21) #6-John Stangle, 22) #ONE-Chris James Jr., 23) #33JY-Steve Yankowski Jr., 24) #8-Brad Force, 25) #15-Mike Lisowski, 26) #17-Billy Moyer Jr. Did Not Qualify: Patrick Cozze, Lenny Hoffert Jr., Jordan Dreher, Ryan Moyer, Kevin Brady.
ROADRUNNER FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) #22-Tom Hablett, 2) #66-Kevin Holland, 3) #450-Kevin Olenick, 4) #95K-Kody Sites, 5) #29B-Ricky Bender, 6) #97-Jeremy Becker, 7) #11x-Joe Hendricks, 8) #777-Brian Close, 9) #101-Gary Renninger, 10) #8c-Chris Holland, 11) #88-Toby Chase, 12) #8-Davey Nester, 13) #17-Bud Vidal, 14) #909-Neil Bressler, 15) #45-Ryan Olenick, 16) #2-Gary Willard Jr., 17) #TWO-Hunter James, 18) #105-Joe Brennan, 19) #72-Mark Paine, 20) #X-Danny Mazy, 21) #93-Rob Pyle, 22) #CR7-Butch Lesher, 23) #555-Elvin Brennan. |
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