By KEN BRUCE
The 2023 season didn’t start out the way that Brett Kressley had it drawn up at Big Diamond Speedway. Kressley was pushing Craig Von Dohren for the lead on opening night when his No. 19K went up in smoke with only three laps remaining. Fast forward one week later and Kressley was battling for a top five spot with two laps to go in the Money in the Mountain 50-lap race when once again the motor started to smoke ending his night with another DNF.
The Kressley team rebounded with a hard fought second the following week and backed that up with a third place finish the week after. The No. 19K had the speed to win and it was only a matter of time before Kressley parked it in victory lane. Last Friday night, Kressley showed that speed as he worked his way towards the front passing a strong Rick Laubach five laps from the end to finally get his first win of the year at Big Diamond. For Kressley, it was his ninth career Big Diamond Speedway Modified win.
“You know, we have put ourselves in position every week to win but we just haven’t been able to capitalize on it,” said Kressley post-race. “We had things happen that we weren’t able to control, especially with the engines. It made us mad, but we couldn’t be too mad because we weren’t running in the back and breaking. We were always in contention. Hopefully our engines keep staying together and if I can keep doing what I do we should be able to get a few more wins here.”
Kressley seemed to pace himself early on but around the halfway mark (lap 15), the No. 19K started to come to life.
“Early on the track seemed a little bottom dominant and there wasn’t much on the top,” explained Kressley. “It was just a little too wet and greasy up there yet, but once we got beyond halfway and I got up to third I started to search around and was able to get past Watty (Ryan Watt) and start working on Rick (Laubach). By then the car just started to get better and better just like it did at the Coalcracker last year when the car just got faster and faster as the race went on. It’s a good sign for the future but we still are about equal with everyone else in the beginning of the race, so I have to drive extra hard but once the track blackens up, we seem to really have a good set-up.”
“I want to thank Jake (track promoter Jake Smulley) for giving us a good track to race on tonight. You could race side by side. It was a smooth enjoyable track to drive tonight. I also want to thank Troy who puts in the hours to get the car running fast and all of my sponsors.”
Laubach Comes Home in Second
Rick Laubach would be the first to tell you that it hasn’t been easy the past couple of seasons. With him and wife Tara starting their self-owned Shaker Motorsports No. 20 team, the team has struggled at times due to a variety of issues but now their hard work is starting to pay off. Laubach has shown so far in 2023 at Big Diamond some of the speed he has had in the past. Friday night the “Quaker Shaker” led a good portion of the race until getting passed by eventual winner Brett Kressley with five laps to go. It was a good outing for the Shaker Motorsports team.
“I really do not know what to say except we are not perfect yet,” cited Laubach while catching his breath after the race in the tech shed. “This is only the second week with this car here, I ran our other car the first three weeks here. It ran good, we just need to figure it out a little more. Last week we were horrible, this week we were good and next week we hope to be better. I am pushing it as fast as I can and if I try to go any faster, I will be slower if you know what I mean.”
Ryan Watt Gets Best Finish
Friday nights are always a bit busy for Ryan Watt. Jumping between driving his own Ron Roberts owned No. 14W and the Shaun Fitzpatrick No. T102 depending on the night and wrenching on his son’s (Logan Watt) No. 4M. It keeps the driver and crew jumping. Friday night Watt was back in his own No. 14W and ran a strong race to pick up a podium spot by finishing in third for his best run of the season here.
“Yeah, the car was pretty good tonight,” said a happy Watt after watching his son Logan finish sixth in the Crate 602 Sportsman feature. “The heat race was a little tough because the track was one lane around the bottom, and I didn’t really push it too hard because we were in a transfer spot. We made a couple of changes for the feature and the car responded and was pretty good.”
Known for his exciting style of outside groove racing, Watt went where his car worked best on this night and that was on the bottom.
“The track seemed to widen out a little bit for the feature and I couldn’t see what was going on behind me,” mentioned Watt. “But my car worked good on the bottom and that is where I pretty much stayed all race except for on that restart when I was alongside Rick (Laubach). I went into turn one on the outside and tried it out and on the next lap I sort of hung up there too much and that is when Kressley went by me. Maybe I should’ve tried to work the top a little more, it might have worked, or it might not have but we’ll take a top three and build off of that and see how tomorrow goes at Grandview.”
Big Diamond Nuggets:
28 Quandel Concrete Modifieds signed in for action on Friday night with heat wins going to Wayne Witmer, Kevin Beach Jr and Mike Lisowski…
We had a strange phenomenon happen in the Modified feature as pointed out to me by Ryan Watt. In a dirt Modified world dominated by Bicknell chassis. The top three finishers in the Modified feature on Friday drove three different makes. Winner Brett Kressley was driving a Bicknell chassis, second-place finisher Rick Laubach was driving a TEO chassis and Watt who finished in third was in a Troyer chassis…
Frank Cozze, who drove to a strong fourth place finish the previous Friday was missing in action this week. I hope the “Wizard of Wind Gap” returns to Big Diamond soon…
Craig Von Dohren spun in turn one early in the feature to bring out a caution. Von Dohren rebounded with a seventh-place finish and was coming on strong at the end…
Wayne Witmer drove a strong race leading the first part of the race and finishing in eleventh. A good run for his small self-owned team…
Heartbreak for Mike Lisowski who looked strong leading the race only to fade and bring out a yellow late in the race. Lisowski pulled off the track with reported brake problems…
Timmy Buckwalter was back driving the Breitenstein No. 14 and was running in the top ten in the feature when he clipped a yuke tire in turn four ending his night…
Congratulations to Crate 602 Sportsman feature winner Kevin Olenick. Olenick was not feeling well and contemplated leaving the track before the races started. Bet you he was glad he stayed…
Louden Reimert still leads the way in the race for the Quandel Concrete Modified point title over Brett Kressley, Jeff Strunk, Craig Von Dohren and Mike Gular…
USS Achey Crate 602 Sportsman points are led by Brandon Edgar over Logan Watt, Jordan Henn, Kevin Olenick and Talan Carter…
This week, the URC Sprints make their only visit to Big Diamond in 2023 joining the Quandel Concrete Modifieds, the USS Achey Crate 602 Sportsman, the Big Creek Concrete Crate Rookies and the Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners…
I can be reached for any comments or questions via email at dirtracefan25@hotmail.com or on Twitter @dirtracefan25
