Big Diamond Speedway Results, Saturday, April 7th

ARDC OPENER CELEBRATES HISTORICAL DAY FOR BIG DIAMOND

On Saturday evening, April 7, 2012 marks another date which will be remembered in the glorious 40 year history of Big Diamond Speedway as 86 cars raced for the first time ever on a Saturday Night.

Following qualifying heats for the Xcel 600cc modifieds, ARDC Midgets, SpeedSTRs ProFours and Thundercars, the Big Diamond Speedway faithful were treated to some spectacular racing.

Kicking off the four feature evening were the exciting Xcel 600cc Modifieds and the 9 car of Richie Hitzler quickly jumped into the lead and proved to be the dominant car of the evening as by lap 10 of their twenty lap main, Hitzler had caught the back of the pack and started lapping cars. Lap 15 saw this group of competitors fall victim to a flurry of caution flags including Joe Fanelli rolling his 22 car in turn two but the race to the finish was more of the same with Hitzler stealing the show.

The ARDC Midgets were the next to take to the 3/8^th mile as 24 cars started their season opening 20 lap feature. At the drop of the green fans were treated to a 5 wide dash to the front of the field. Taking the point, a four car battle between Mark Gilmore, Dusty Hiestand, Steve Drevicki and Steve Buckwalter but by lap 6 Buckwalter came to a hault to bring out the first yellow. On the restart Drew Heistand entered the thick of things battling with Gilmore until Gilmore gave way allowing Tim Buckwalter to power his #52 car into battle with Heistand. Coming for the checkers Heistand lost grip between turns three and four creating a green white checker finish as per ARDC rules allowing the 52 car of Tim Buckwalter to power into the lead and take the victory over Nick Wean, Gilmore, Dave Ely and Trevor Kobylarz.

Out next was the thunderous Speedway Entertainment SpeedSTRs for their 7 and a half mile journey around the speedway. Richie Hartman of Shoemakersville, PA jumped out front into the early lead but by lap three 2011 American Region Champion Kyle Hieber captured the lead for the remaining 17 laps. Hartman along with Mario Page of Hillsborough, NJ provided exciting racing as they battled for the number two spot throughout the feature. Hieber scored the victory, followed by Page, Hartman, Justin Thompson and Gary Hieber.

The final event of the evening combined the ProFours, as they are being commonly known, along with the Thundercars. After a rather rough start seeing Dave Hughes try to drive through the front stretch wall, the drivers sorted things out and in the end it was the m1 of Mike Potts parking his ProFour into victory lane for the inaugural race of the season with the top Thundercar being former Big Diamond Roadrunner campaigner Chris Holland of Pine Grove, PA.

Next up for Big Diamond Speedway is our Easter Sunday Extravaganza with open rule 358 modifieds running ROC Style rules 40 laps around the oval for a chance to capture $4000 and a starting spot in the SuperNationals. Along with the modifieds include the Sportsman and Roadrunners. Outside of the racing activity there will be plenty of activities for the younger race fans including big wheel races, an Easter egg hunt and coloring contests. Gates open at 1pm, racing at 4pm. General Admission $17, Seniors/Military (with ID) $15, 6 to 12 year olds get in for $5 and under 6 are FREE.

ARDC Midget Feature Finish: Tim Buckwalter #52 2. Rick Wean #78 3. Mark Gilmore #10 4. Dave Ely #56 5. Trevor Kobylarz #49 6. Bruce Buckwalter Jr. #83 7. Steven Drevicki #19 8. Parker Evans #61 9. Andrew Hannula #9 10. PJ Gargiulo #5 11. Alex Bright #77 12. Eric Heydenreich #11 13. Ryan Greth #26 14. Randy Reid #53 15. Carey Becker #14 16. Drew Heistand #1 17. Steve Craig #55 18. Joe Butera #3 19. Dave Shirk #16 20. Ryan Smith #33 21. Steve Buckwalter #0 22. Jimmy Glenn #07 23. Brett Wanner #44 24. Dusty Heistand #6

SpeedSTR Feature Finish: 1. 6 Kyle Hieber, 2. 30 Mario Page, 3. 3 Richie Hartman, 4. 2 Justin Thompson, 5. 56 Gary Hieber, 6. 4x Paul Lotier Jr., 7. 88 Brandon Rahmer, 8. 79, 9. 97, 10. 54 Daniel Nadeau, 11. 15 Brittany Wixon, 12. 99 Big Al Allisher, 13. 14 Scott Munroe, 14. 53 Jean-Nicholas Gareau, 15. 7, 16. 51 Freddie Rahmer. DNS: 22 Michael Vermeulen, 114.

ProStock/Thunder Car Feature Finish: 1. m1 Mike Potts, 2. 12 Eric Hollenbach, 3. 84 Leroy Long, 4. 13 Ed Hollenbach, 5. 83 Steve Hastings, 6. 71 Henry Lesher, 7. 32 Dennis Christ Jr., 8. 14 Tyler Stump, 9. 8c Chris Holland, 10. G6 Matt Zalinsky, 11. 9 Justin Riegel, 12. 00 Charles Kimmel, 13. 127 Gary Grim, 14. 2m Josh Michael, 15. 11 Dave Hughes.