DeSantis, Lilick, Fitpatrick, Gordon Sites and Reichert earn victories Friday Evening at Big Diamond Speedway.

DeSantis, Lilick, Fitpatrick, Gordon Sites and Reichert earn victories Friday Evening at Big Diamond Speedway.

Minersville, PA July 24, 2015

The youth were treated to a special coloring contest Friday evening at Big Diamond Speedway courtesy of Kevin Beach and the Beach racing teams.  The children were given coloring sheets and crayons when they entered the track as well as a treat bag and they quickly went to work making beautiful creations to try to win a brand new bicycle.  The Beach Racing Team had a tough decision to make from all of the wonderful entires, but in the Boys division, Ricky Chapman and Ryker Patalavge were the winners and in the Girls Division it was Myah Rumpf and Choeli Dullard.

The  Lias Tire 358 Modified division were ready for action after having a week off.  Meme DeSantis came ready to race and after winning his heat, he redrew the third starting spot behind Colt Harris and Scott Albert.  Harris would bring the field to the green and lead the first lap, but after that it was all DeSantis at the front.  He began to pull away from the field and left Shawn Fitzpatrick with his hands full holding off the challenges of Jared Umbenhauer and Rick Laubach.  As those three battled it out for the runner up spot, Billy Pauch Jr and Duane Howard were working their way up to the front runners and soon were in the mix for a top spot.  Pauch would find himself in the runner up spot by lap 13 and he had his hands full towhee Fitzpatrick and Howard  Fitzpatrick would have issues and have to drop out of the event on lap 16 and when the field regrouped it was DeSantis, Pauch, Howard, Laubach and Umbenhauer in the top 5.  The front runners would battle it out to the end and it would be DeSantis first across the line for his first win of the season, followed by Billy Pauch Jr., Duane Howard, Jared Umbenhauer and Rick Laubach.   The heats were won by Scott Albert and Meme DeSantis.  The GME Hard Charger for this event would be Duane Howard for going from 14th to 3rd for a gain of 11 spots.

The Savage 61 Roadrunners would be brought to the green flag by Tim Fitzpatrick Jr and Jim Kost.  Fitzpatrick would jump out in front of the field, but Devin Trexler was doing all he could to real in the leader.  Trexler and Fitpatrick would battle it out and then add Chris Holland into the mix.  Lap 7 saw Trexler at the top of the leader board with Fitzpatrick, Shon Elk and Holland all waiting for their chance to try to be the one to beat.  Fitzpatrick would regain the lead on lap 12 but Trexler tried as hard as he could, but ending up bringing out the caution at lap 16 and would have to restart at the rear of the field.  That pitted Fitpatrick against Holland on the restart, but at the checkers it was Tim Fitzpatrick Jr. followed by Chris Holland.  Rounding out the top 5 were Chris Reichert, Jim Kost and Bruce Ditzler.  The heats were won by Andy Fayash III and Chris Holland.  The Red White and Blue Autos Hard Luck award went to Andy Fayash III after he had mechanical issues that left him unable to finish the night.

The USS Achey Sportsman were ready for action on USS Achey Night and after their redraw it would be Kris Lilick and Craig Whitmoyer bringing the field to the green for the start of their 20 lap feature event.  Lilick would take over the top spot followed by Doug Hendricks and Mike Lisowski.  Shawn Light was in fourth holding off the challenges of Blly Moyer and JR Fulper.  Meanwhile, last week’s feature winner, Brett Kressley, was quickly working his way through the pack and was able to work his way up to fourth by the halfway point.  At the front it was all Lilick  as Hendricks and Lisowski battled behind him for the runner up spot. When the checker flag flew, it was Kris Lilick going to victory lane for his first time at Big Diamond, followed by Doug Hendricks, Mike Lisowski, Brett Kressley and Billy Moyer.   The heat events were won by  JR Fulper, Mike Lisowski and Brett Kressley.  The GME Hard Charger award would go to Brett Kressley for going from 12th place to 4th for a gain of 8 positions.  The Kim’s Kreations Hard Luck award would go to Richard Emel after he had issues and was only able to complete 2 laps in the feature event.

The Mini Stock Series came for a visit to Big Diamond and put on a great show for the fans.  Gary Newell and Brandon Seibert would lead the field to the green flag for their 20 lap feature event.  Newell would take the early lead, with Frankie Gordon knocking at the door for the top spot.  Gordon would be able to pass Newell on the 5 lap and would begin to pull away from the field.  The caution would fly for the first time on lap 12 after Ryan Laye would have some issues and be unable to finish the race.  Gordon would bring the field back for the restart followed by Shaine Sixeas.  The two drivers would battle it out until the end of the race, and it would be Gordon crossing the finish line first, followed by Sixeas, Jason Stoner, Gary Newell and Erick Seibert.  Frankie Gordon was all the division’s heat winner.

The mechanics tried their luck at working their way around the track to end the night, thanks to the race sponsor, Kim;s Kreations.  First up was the Modified and Sportsman Mechanics for their 20 lap feature event.  These guys are used to turning wrenches on the car and telling the driver what he or she should have done better, but tonight it was their time to put their own advice into action.  Mike Whitmoyer and Kody Sites would bring the field to the green flag and the guys put on an exciting show for everyone.  Sites was in the Daryl Dissinger machine would pull way from the rest of the field but Mike Whitmoyer in the Craig Whitmoyer Sportsman was able to maintain the runner up spot.  The red flag would fly on lap 4 when Nick Lengle in the Billy Wingle JR machine would flip in turn 2.  The driver was ok, and will be busy in the garage this week, helping repair the car for his driver.  The field would restart and it would be Sites and Whitmoyer showing the way.  The red came out again when Jeff Hertzog in the Josh Hertzog ride, burst into flames from a broken brake line in the front.  The fire was quickly extinguished and the driver was ok, but unable to continue.  In the end, it would be Kody Sites winning followed by Mike Whitmoyer and Justin Riegel finished 3rd.

The Roadrunner mechanics then took to the track for their turn for fun.  Mike Reichert in Chris Reichert’s ride would lead the race  at the start.  He was followed by Kevin Holland who was running in Chris Natale’s regular Roadrunner.  Steven Smulley was cruising around in third place during the feature event in Joe Kavanaugh’s race machine.  The race would see only one caution on lap 6.  The mechanics put on a great show and Mike Reichert would park the 1C in victory lane followed by Kevin Holland, Steven Smulley,  Chuck Fayash, who was in Andy’s 157, Shawn Mulhall finished fifth in the 97 ride of Jeremy Becker.

July 31 – Lias Tire 358 Modifieds, Savage 61 Roadrunners, Slifko Fabrication Street Stocks, TSRS Sprint Cars, 60 Lap Enduro

 General Admission for regular Friday evening events is $15, Senior Citizens are $12 and children 12 and under and active military with ID are admitted for free.

ACTIVE military members receive FREE admission into every race, but all Veterans of our military who have military ID, will receive a FREE meal ticket at each race.  Veterans will need an official military ID to receive their meal ticket, which is good for one hot dog, one slice of pizza AND one drink. The Veteran Meal Ticket will be given to them when they purchase their admission tickets as long as proper ID is provided.

Gates Open at 5:45 PM with Warm ups starting at 7:45 and racing getting underway at 8:15.

For more information, please visit the tracks Facebook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/bigdiamondspeedway or on the web at www.bigdspeedway.com.  Live time scoring is now available on Fridayevenings through the Race Monitor application that is available for both the IOS and Android operating systems.

Lias Tire 358 Modified Feature Results – 1. Meme DeSantis 2. Billy Pauch Jr. 3. Duane Howard 4. Jared Umbenhauer 5. Rick Laubach 6. John Willman 7. Ray Swinehart 8. Andy Burkhart 9. Bobby Gunther Walsh 10. Joe Mooney 11. Heath Metzger 12. Kevin Beach Jr. 13. Colt Harris 14. Neil Huber15. Kent Reinhart 16. Paul Moyer 17. Shawn Fitzpatrick 18. Justin Grim 19. Kyle Follweiler 20. Jimmy Bobbit Jr. 21. Scott Albert

Savage 61 Roadrunners Feature Results – 1. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr 2. Chris Holland 3. Chris Reichert 4. Jim Kost 5. Bruce Ditzler 6. Elvin Brennan 7. Terry Kramer Jr. 8. Shon Elk 9. Devin Trexler 10. Jim Schlauch 11. Joe Kavanaugh 12. Dave Long Jr. 13. Jesse Krasnitsky 14. Chris Natale 15. Kyle Wingle 16. Jeremy Becker 17. Andy Fayash III

USS Achey Sportsman Feature Results  – 1. Kris Lilick 2. Doug Hendricks 3. Mike Lisowski 4. Brett Kressley 5. Billy Moyer Jr. 6. JR Fulper 7. Shawn Light 8. Mike Mammana 9. Mike Glass 10. Craig Whitmoyer 11. Tim Fitzpatrick 12. Wayne Witmer 13. Daryl Dissinger 14. Glenn Rowan 15. Billy Wingle Jr. 16. Todd Huffman 17. Chad Putlavage 18. Matt Clay 19. Brian Bernheisel 20. Jeremy Hertzog 21. Rob Light 22. Josh Hertzog 23. Richard Emel

Mini Stock Feature Results – 1. Frankee Gordon 2. Shaine Sixeas 3. Jason Stoner 4. Gary Newell 5. Eric Seihert 6. Dan Smith 7. Brandon Seibert 8. Ryan Laye DNS – Jason Lamon, Jeremy Ott, Kurt Knepper, Tony Hampton

Modified and Sportsman Mechanics Race Feature Results – 1. Kody Sites 2. Mike Whitmoyer 3. Justin Reigel  DNF – Nick Lengle, Jay Alen, Jeff Hertzog DNS – Kevin Putalavage and George Spracklin

Roadrunner Mechanics Race Feature Event – 1. Mike Reichert 2. Kevin Holland 3. Steven Smulley 4. Chuck Fayash 5. Shawn Mulhall 6. Jeff Tobin 7. Bill Zeth 8. Mike Freese DNF – Cody Ditzler, Jim Schlauch, Jarrod Kost, Mark Antonelli and Dan Nagle