Brenden Bright Wins ARDC Feature, Steve Gromis, Ricky Weaver also winners on Friday night
Story By: SHAWN WOOD / BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY MEDIA Photos By: GEORGE STEIGERWALT / RACERSGUIDE.COM
MINERSVILLE, PA. –July 31, 2016- A packed house was treated to a night of outstanding racing on Friday at Big Diamond Speedway on Red White and Blue Autos night with the return of the Twin 20s for the CJ’s Tire & Automotive Services 358 modifieds.
Craig VonDohren won the opening 20-lap feature with a last-lap pass for the win while point leader Ryan Godown led all 20-laps in the nightcap feature which went non-stop.
Other winners on Friday included Steve Gromis (Savage 61 roadrunners) and Ricky Weaver (Enduro Dash).
This coming Friday, Aug., 5, the speedway will present a four-division show of 358 modifieds, U.S.S. Achey sportsman, roadrunners and the No Sweat Service Group street stocks on the No Sweat Service Group night.
The gates open at 5:30 with warm-ups at 7:45 and racing at 8:15. General admission is $15 while kids 12-and-under and active military with a valid ID are free.
In the opening 20-lap feature, VonDohren would move into a three-car battle for third on lap eight as Brett Kressely took the lead from John Willman on lap four.
Just past the halfway mark, VonDohren moved into second and then began to encounter lapped traffic as he chased down the leader Kressely.
On the final lap, VonDohren throw the slider again on Kressely and Kressely was able to maintain the lead momentarily as VonDohren raced back to be side-by-side with Kressely for the lead heading into Turn 3. VonDohren was able to wrestle the lead away for good as the two drivers raced through the final two corners.
“I thought I saw the white flag but I guess it was the move-over flag with about four to go and I pulled a slider on Brett and I thought that I blew it and then I realized that it wasn’t the last lap,” VonDohren said. “We got caught back up it was nip-and-tuck tonight. You just hope to be in the right lane at the right time.”
Willman would come home third followed by Kevin Beach, Jr., and Rick Laubach to round out the top five.
Sixth through 10th were Godown, Jeff Strunk, Duane Howard, Gary Hager and Ryan Watt.
Heats for the 358 modifieds were won by Willman, Laubach and Beach, Jr. The consolation event was won by Mike Lisowski.
In the second Twin 20-lap feature, Godown took the lead from the drop of the green flag and then held off a hard-charging Laubach at the line for the win.
The non-stop 20-lap feature took just six minutes, 29 seconds to run.
Laubach would close in on Godown on lap 15 and then the two touched momentarily at the start-finish line on lap 18.
“The last seven or eight laps the car really got freed up on me and so I went to the bottom and I really didn’t feel good there and that’s the problem with being the leader,” Godown said. “You know Laubach is good here so I did feel him coming off Turn 4 but I didn’t know he was on the outside of me.”
Laubach held on for second with Howard, third, followed by VonDohren and Willman to complete the top five in the second feature.
Sixth through 10th were Kressely, Strunk, Watt, Ryan Grim and Beach, Jr.
Back on May 20, the ARDC midgets treated the fans to a fantastic show with a last-lap pass for the win.
On Friday night, they duplicated the feat as Brenden Bright pulled a slide job on Ryan Greth in the final corner of the 20-lap feature to take home the win.
Nick Wean led the opening circuits before the red came out on lap 12 when Chris Dyson flipped out of the speedway in Turn 3.
On the restart, Greth, who had moved into second on lap three and was applying pressure to Wean took the lead and then began to pull away from the field.
On lap 16, B. Bright pulled a slide job on his brother Alex Bright for the runner-up spot in Turn 2 and then began to run down Greth.
On the final lap, Greth appeared to slow dramatically after pushing up the track in Turn 2. That allowed B. Bright to pull along side of him as they raced down the backstretch to the checkers.
Once they got into Turn 4, B. Bright slid through the middle lane as he powered under Greth to take the win.
A. Bright got by Greth for second with May winner Brett Arndt and Trevor Kobylarz rounding out the top five.
Sixth through 10th were Jim Radney, Wean, Tony Dimattia, Brett Wanner and Jamie Spears.
Heats for the midgets were won by Wean and Radney.
“In the middle of the race I didn’t think that I was going to pull it off and I saw my brother was running a lot harder than me, so I knew that I had to step it up if I had a chance at it,” B. Bright said.
It has been a long-time coming but Steve Gromis finally made it back to victory lane at Big Diamond in the roadrunner division. The last time he did, his wife had to work and she missed the win. She also had to work on Friday night as well.
It was his first win of the year.
“Finally, things are coming together,” Gromis said. “Chris (Holland) is a good friend of mine and I was glad to race him for the win.”
Gromis took the lead on lap 8 of the 20-lap feature as five cars battled for the lead through the opening circuits of the event which Holland led.
Once in front, Gromis pulled away leaving Holland and Kris Ney to battle for second with Holland getting the runner up spot at the checkers.
Ney and points leader Andy Fayash II would pulled off the track on lap 14 of the event.
Shon Elk came home third with Kyle Wingle and Nate Hill rounding out the top five.
Sixth through 10th were Bruce Ditzler, Andew Buchinski, Ney, Fayash III and Jon Schlauch.
Holland won the roadrunner heat race.
Ricky Weaver led all but one lap to score his first win of the season in the Enduro Dash 60.
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Results
Big Diamond Speedway
July 29
CJ’s Tire & Automotive Services 358 modified 1st feature (20 laps): 1. Craig VonDohren, 2. Brett Kressley, 3. John Willman, 4. Kevin Beach, 5. Rick Laubach, 6. Ryan Godown, 7. Jeff Strunk, 8. Duane Howard, 9. Gary Hager, 10. Ryan Watt, 11. Justin Grim, 12. Jim Bobbitt, 13. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 14. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 15. Ray Swinehart, 16. Ryan Grim, 17. Andy Burkhart, 18. Gary Wagner, 19. Dale Hartz, 20. Jay Aten, 21. Scott Albert. DNF: Mike Lisowski, Jimmy Reppert, Heath Metzger, Jason Rivers, Ron Haring Jr. DNS: Billy Pauch Jr. Heat winners: Willman, Laubach, Beach Jr. Consolation winner: Lisowski.
CJ’s Tire & Automotive 358 modified 2nd feature (20 laps): 1. Godown, 2. Laubach, 3. Howard, 4. VonDohren, 5. Willman, 6. Kressley, 7. Strunk, 8. Watt, 9. Grim, 10. Beach Jr, 11. Hager, 12. Bobbitt, 13. Albert, 14. Fitzpatrick, 15. Burkhart, 16. Hartz, 17. Gunther-Walsh, 18. Wagner, 19. Metzger, 20. Jason Rivers. DNF: Lisowski, Aten, Reppert, Swinehart, Grim, Haring Jr.
Savage 61 roadrunner feature (20 laps): 1. Steve Gromis, 2. Chris Holland, 3. Shon Elk, 4. Kyle Wingle, 5. Nate Hill, 6. Bruce Ditzler, 7. Andrew Buchinski. DNF: Kris Ney, Andrew Fayash III, Jon Schlauch, Shawn Mulhall, Jim Kost. DNS: Chris Eckert. Heat winner: Holland.
ARDC Midgets feature (20 laps): 1. Brenden Bright, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Ryan Greth, 4. Brett Arndt, 5. Trevor Kobylarz, 6. Jim Radney, 7. Nick Wean, 8. Tony Dimattia, 9. Brett Wanner, 10. Jamie Spears, 11. Josh Heckman, 12. Rohan Beasley. DNF: Chris Dyson, Danny Stratton. Heat winners: Wean, Radney.
Enduro Dash (60 laps): 1. Ricky Weaver, 2. Shawn Naftzinger, 3. Jim Neiman, 4. Lee Allen, 5. Chris Graver.
