Laubach, Buckwalter, Ney and Becker Victorious at Big Diamond Speedway

Minersville, PA May 1, 2015 The Lias Tire 358 small block Modifieds feature was brought to the green by Rick Laubach and Jeff Strunk. Laubach would take over the top spot and would be followed by Ryan Godown. Ryan Watt and Billy Pauch Jr. would battle back and forth for the 3rd place spot while the leaders pulled away from the rest of the field. Laubach would begin to work his way through the tail end of the field and put some distance between himself and Godown, who lost his runner up spot on lap 20 when he had to pull off with mechanical issues. As the field would gather back up for a the restart, Laubach would be challenged by Pauch and Watt, with Duane Howard on their heels, but Laubach would hold them off in order to visit Victory Lane. Billy Pauch Jr was second followed by Duane Howard, Ryan Watt and Jeff Strunk. The GME Hard Charger Award was earned by John Willman for starting 16th and finishing 10th. The heats were won by Ray Swineherd and Billy Pauch Jr.

Tim Buckwalter celebrated in Victory Lane after winning the 20 lap ARDC feature event. Tom Kunsman would lead the race for the first 4 laps, but Buckwalter was busy working his way through the field and by lap three was up to 2nd place and on lap 5 he would assume the lead and pulled away from the field as the other drivers would swap positions behind him. Billy Pauch Jr. was waiting for Buckwalter to bobble, but that would not be the case and found himself in a battle to with the 3rd place car of Steven Drevicki coming to the checkers and Drevicki would prevail, taking home 2nd place, Pauch would finished 3rd followed by Nick Wean and Trevor Kobylarz. The heats were won by Tim Buckwalter and Ryan Garth.

The Savage 61 Roadrunners would field a front row of Kris Ney and Shon Elk, but on the first lap, Joey Brennan, the winner of the most recent Roadrunner event, would be sidelined after a mishap that started in turn 2 when Tim Fitzpatrick spun going into the turn. The field would return to green and it would take a few laps for the cars to settle, but when they did, the fans were treated to a battle between Kris Ney and Shon Elk the entire event. Elk tried everything he could but it would be Ney who would wind up in Victory Lane at the end of the 20 lap feature event. Elk would finish second followed by Chris Holland, Andy Fayash and Jim Kost. The Red White and Blue Autos Hard Luck award was awarded to Joey Brennan for his early race incident that ended his night of racing. The heats were won by Andy Fayash and Devin Trexler.

The Slifko Fabrication Street Stocks would round out the nights activities with their 20 lap main event that was led to the green by Rick Bixler and Michael Radocha. Bixler appeared to have the car to beat, but on lap 19 coming to the white flag, he would bobble and make room for Jeremy Becker to take over the top spot and from their, he never looked back and parked his ride in Victory Lane. Bixler would finish second followed by Jason Geesemain, Rick Bossinger and Chris Derr. The heats were won by Rick Bixler and Jason Geesemain.

The field for the Searock Fabrication & Speed Supplies modified challenge was chosen by a fan vote. Ryan Godown would start the event by challenging Kevin Beach. Beach would beat Godown and then was victorious over Shawn Fitzpatrick and Colt Harris. Duane Howard would be Beach’s next selection to race one lap all out with and Howard would be the winner of that round. Howard would challenge Rick Laubach and Jeff Strunk, easily taking the win, then called out Ryan Watt. Watt would be disqualified for starting to early, giving Howard the automatic win and he then challenged Meme Desantis, again taking him the win, which left him to battle Billy Pauch Jr. in the final round. Pauch would beat Howard and take home the overall prize of $750 thanks to Searock Fabrication and Speed Supplies. Each of the round winners earned $75 for their win.

Racing Action will resume this Tuesday evening, May 5th, for the Anthracite Assault Big Block/Small Block North/South Shootout. The Sportsman drivers as well as the Xcel 600 Modified divisions will also be in action that evening. For more information, please visit the tracks Facebook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/bigdiamondspeedway or on the web at www.bigdspeedway.com
Coming events:
Tuesday, MAY 5 7:00 p.m.
ANTHRACITE ASSAULT Modified 50, $5,000 to win. Sportsman. 600cc Modifieds.
Wednesday, MAY 6
ANTHRACITE ASSAULT RAIN DATE.
Friday, MAY 8
Super Sportsman. Sportsman. Roadrunners. Street Stocks. Enduro 60.
Friday, MAY 15
Slifko Fabrication Night. Modifieds. 600cc Modifieds. Roadrunners. Street Stocks.
Lias Tire 358 Modified Feature Results - 1. Rick Laubach 2. Billy Pauch JR. 3. Duane Howard 4. Ryan Watt 5. Jeff Strunk 6. Ray Swinehart 7. Meme Desantis 8. Colt Harris 9. Shawn Fitzpatrick 10. John Willman 11. Dave Dissinger 12. Heath Metzger 13. Justin Grim 14. Ryan Godown 15. Scott Albert 16. Kyle Follweiler 17. Mario Dinatale 18. Kevin Beach Jr. 19. Kent Reinhart
ARDC Feature Results - 1. Tim Buckwalter 2. Steven Drevicki 3. Billy Pauch Jr. 4. Nick Wean 5. Trevor Kobylarz 6. Bruce Buckwalter 7. Tom Kunsman 8. Ryan Watt 9. Brett Arndt 11. Tony Dimattia 12. PJ Gargiulo 13. Brett Wanner 14. Eric Heydenreich 15. Ryan Garth
Savage 61 Roadrunners Feature Results- 1. Kris Ney 2. Shon Elk 3. Chris Holland 4. Andy Fayash 5. Jim Kost 6. TJ Fitzpatrick 7. Jesse Krasnitsky 8. Kyle Wingle 9. Elvin Brennan 10. Terry Kramer 11. Kermit Jacoby 12. Chris Natale 13. Dan Schoener 14 . Jared Siegfried 15. Joe Kavanaugh 16. Jon Schlauch 17. Brian Buchinsky 18. Devin Trexler 19. Tim Fitzpatrick 20. Joey Brennan
Slifko Fabrication Street Stocks Feature Results - 1. Jeremy Becker 2. Rick Bixler 3. Jason Geesemain 4. Rick Bossinger 5. Chris Derr 6. Jimmy Combs 7. Michael Radocha 8. Butch Heisel 9. Bobby Kuppy 10. Jim Sommers 11. Tyler Stump
Searock Fabrication & Speed Supplies Modified Challenge - Kevin Beach - 3 wins, Duane Howard 5 wins, Billy Pauch Jr. Final round winner.