DUANE HOWARD AND CRAIG VON DOHREN SHARE OPENING NIGHT SPOTLIGHT AT BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY

DUANE HOWARD AND CRAIG VON DOHREN SHARE OPENING NIGHT SPOTLIGHT AT BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY...By Gary Lileck







Forestville, PA - April 2, 2010 - For nearly the past three decades, Duane Howard and Craig Von Dohren have shared the headlines at Big Diamond Raceway. On Friday, the official season opener, Howard and Von Dohren stole the spotlight once more.







Howard (Oley) collected the $4000 winner's check by virtue of his victory in the 40-lap rain rescheduled Big Block Modified feature. Von Dohren (Boyertown) held off the challenges of Howard, and won the 25-lap 358 Modified main event, the 66th BDR win of his illustrious career.







Tim Fitzpatrick (Branchdale) won the 20-lap Sportsman feature while Kody Sites (Hamburg) was victorious in the 20-lap Roadrunner main event.







After starting the Big Block Modified feature from the ninth position, Howard swiftly worked into the top five by the fifth lap. Howard patiently settled into fifth and avoided a collision (lap 18) which found several of the front runners invloved. Ryan Godown, Jimmy Horton, and Larry Wight were each in the top five, prior to being involved in the accident. Godown continued on but was actually penalized and sent to the rear of the pack.







Brett Hearn, an invading racer from Sussex NJ, had been leading since lap two. Howard traced him on the lap 19 restart. Later, on a 27th lap green flag, Howard immediately shot past Hearn and took possession of the top spot. Shortly, Hearn dropped from the pace and headed pitside. After the race's final caution with 32 laps on the scoreboard, Howard remained in control of the contest.







Howard strolled to his third straight BDR Big Block Modified feature win, as he was also victorious in 2008 and 2009. Godown (Ringoes NJ) charged back into the runner-up spot and remained there at the finish. Billy Pauch Jr. (Frenchtown NJ) nailed down a third place result while Horton (Neshanic Station NJ) and Bobby Varin (Sharon Springs NY) each rebounded from earlier tangles to collect top five finishes. Attrition placed a huge role as only seven cars remained at race's end.







Von Dohren screamed into the 358 Modified feature lead from his outside front rown starting spot. Although he lost the top spot to John Willman on a lap two restart, Von Dohren reclaimed the lead racing out of turn four (fourth lap). Howard started seventh and abruptly moved into third at the same moment in time.







With ten laps showing on the board, Howard advanced into the runner-up spot via the inside lane. Von Dohren kept a few lengths between himself and Howard on restarts, however, Howard closed the gap as laps continued green. The caution flag was displayed with one circuit remaining in the race.







Von Dohren led the field on that final restart, and Howard tossed his machine to the high side in the first two corners. Howard's move didn't pay off and Von Dohren powered to the season opener feature victory over Howard.







Willman (Birdsboro) enjoyed a successful third place effort. Doug Manmiller (Schoemakersville) worked from thirteenth to fourth and Larry Wight (Phoenix NY) charged from fifteenth to a final finish of fifth.







Fitzpatrick won his first career Sportsman main event in their 20-lap contest. It was his twlefth career Diamond triumph (1-Modified, 8-Roadrunner, and 1-Street Stock).







Fitzpatrick, who started twelfth, passed early race leader Greg Weiland on lap four, and later held off the division's all-time win leader Craig Whitmoyer (Hamburg) en route to the victory. Whitmoyer did make several passing attempts on Fitzpatrick but settled for the runner-up spot in the end.







Anthony Perrego (Middletown NY) made his first ever Big Diamond start a memorable one. Perrego ran up front after starting sixth and drove to a third place finish. Former three-time track champion Tom Brennan (Pottsville) began from 19th and moved into fourth on lap nine. Doug Hendricks (Orwigsburg) made his first Diamond start in a few years, and also charged from deep in the pack (twenty-second) to finish fifth.







Sites, a third generation racer, led all twenty laps of a fast paced Roadrunner feature, which only contained one caution flag. The victory was the seventh of Kody's young Big Diamond Raceway career.







Although sophomore racer Nate Klinger made a strong second half charge, Sites remained in control of the event. Klinger (Mahanoy City) pulled within a car length in the end, but finished second.







Marc Berzowski (Branchdale) started and finished in the third position. Inside pole sitter Ricky Bender (Joliett) ended up in the fourth spot. Toby Chase (Bernville) jumped from eleventh to a final finish of fifth.







This Friday, Yuengling Night,.the 40-lap 358 Modified main event carries a $3000 winner's check. Sportsman and Roadrunners complete the three division card. Gates open at 5:00PM and qualifying begins promptly at 7:45PM.







For more updates and information on Big Diamond Raceway, visit the official track website located at http://www.bigdiamondraceway.com/







Big Diamond Raceway Complete Results - Friday April 2, 2010







Big Block Modified Feature Heldover From March 28 (40-Laps): 1) 4-Duane Howard, 2) 357-Ryan Godown, 3) 88D-Billy Pauch Jr., 4) 14-Jimmy Horton, 5) 10-Bobby Varin, 6) 14M-Doug Manmiller, 7) 37x-Tommy Scheetz III, 8) 20-Brett Hearn, 9) 99L-Larry Wight, 10) 41-Jeff Strunk, 11) 3-Mike Nicholas, 12) 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 13) 44-Frank Cozze, 14) 91-Billy Decker, 15) 19-Brent Boyer, 16) 5-Rick Laubach, 17) J3-Dale Hartz, 18) 42P-Pat Ward, 19) 976-Don Norris Jr., 20) 78-Neil Huber, 21) 118-Sean Merkel, 22) 314-Ricky Yetter, 23) CR7-Colt Harris, 24) 1L-Billy Lowden Jr.







358 Modified Feature (25-Laps): 1) . 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 2) 4-Duane Howard, 3) 74W-John Willman, 4) 14M-Doug Manmiller, 5) 99L-Larry Wight, 6) 357-Ryan Godown, 7) 88D-Meme DeSantis, 8) 5JP-Richie Pratt Jr., 9) 33-Ray Swinehart, 10) 6-Troy Wink, 11) 42P-Pat Ward, 12) 71-David Van Horn Jr., 13) T102-Billy Pauch Jr., 14) 3A-Kevin Albert Jr., 15) R1-Rick Laubach, 16) 44-Gary Hager, 17) 17-Ryan Grim, 18) 41-Jeff Strunk, 19) CR7-Colt Harris, 20) 3-Mike Nicholas, 21) 1L-Billy Lowden Jr., 22) 5-Ricky Yetter, 23) 1-Billy Pauch Sr., 24) 42-Kyle Follweiler, 25) 91-Bill Decker, 26) 14D-AJ DeSantis. HEAT WINNERS: Strunk, Hager, Howard, Godown. CONSI WINNER: Grim. DNQ: 78-Neil Huber, J3-Dale Hartz, 36-Jonathan Kumernitsky, 44B-Jim Bobbitt Jr., 24-Scott Miller, 88-Kevin Hartnett, 118-Sean Merkel, 20-Brett Hearn, 15x-Dan Hineline, 39-Danny Nicholas.







Sportsman Feature (20-Laps): 1) T102-Tim Fitzpatrick, 2) 99-Craig Whitmoyer, 3) 18X-Anthony Perrego, 4) 26-Tom Brennan, 5) 8H-Doug Hendricks, 6) M5-Greg Weiland, 7) 19-Brent Boyer, 8) 17x-Kevin Beach, 9) 17D-Mike Loney, 10) 4B-Clay Butler, 11) 29-Sammy Piazza, 12) 17-Billy Moyer Jr., 13) 8-Brad Force, 14) 18-Michael Weinert, 15) 35-Ebby Ridge, 16) 31-Harry Landis, 17) 45x-John Quinn, 18) 04-Steven Hughes, 19) 15-Mike Lisowski Jr., 20) 19U-Jared Umbenhauer, 21) 72x-Nick Petrilak, 22) Rich Andrews, 23) 7-Kevin Smith, 24) 21L-Mike Lyons, 25) 71-Mike Mammana, 26) 14F-Joe Funk III. HEAT WINNERS: Whitmoyer, Umbenhauer, Petrilak, Smith. CONSI WINNERS: Hughes, Hendricks. DNQ: 520-Gary Rothermel, 73-Jason James, 00-John Kovatch IV, 8M-Shawn Horning, 32-Kevin Reese, 5-Jordan Dreher, 343-Jeremy Hertzog, 3H-Marc Herman, 110-Bill Finneran, 49-Troy Gibson, 93-Ryan Moyer, 66-David Wolfe, 83-Josh Hertzog.







Roadrunner Feature (20-Laps): 1) 95K-Kody Sites, 2) 4-Nate Klinger, 3) 66K-Marc Berzowski, 4) 29B-Ricky Bender, 5) 88-Toby Chase, 6) 22-Tommy Hablett, 7) K9-Kirby Schlappich, 8) 555-Elvin Brennan, 9) 11x-Joey Hendricks, 10) 450-Kevin Olenick, 11) 105-Joey Brennan, 12) 126-Jim Kost, 13) 550-Joe Kavanaugh, 14) 6-Dylan Quinn, 15) 98K-Chip Kennedy, 16) 00-Glenn Rowan, 17) 6D-Butch Helsel, 18) 22G-Steve Gromis, 19) 8-Davey Nester, 20) 666-Cory Baver, 21) CR7-Jordan Quinn, 22) 102-TJ Fitzpatrick, 23) 61s-Christian Donati. DNS: 45-Ryan Olenick, 23-Ed Kuperavage, 454-Mike Radocha, 17-Bud Vidal.