Sticking it out through the day with an unsettling forecast, Big Diamond Speedway was able to complete the Georgie Stevenson Memorial program with Ron Haring Jr earning his first ever Quandel Concrete modified win the first 20-lap feature with Brett Kressley winning the wild nightcap. Glenn “Buckshot” Rowan was a first-time winner in the USS Achey, Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman feature with Chuck Fayash defending the home turf in the Full Fender Frenzy.
Ron Haring Jr and Wayne Witmer would lead the field to the start of the 1st twenty lap feature for the Quandel Concrete modifieds with Haring Jr charging to the lead from his pole starting spot, but starter Warren Alston called the start back. The next start was much better with Haring Jr again leading the way. A three-car tangle on the backstretch brought out the first yellow involving Rick Laubach, Corey Renninger and Cliff Quinn. Ryan Watt and Paulie Hartwig III headed to the pits while under yellow. On the restart, it was Haring Jr again out front with Witmer second, Scott Albert third and Aleia Geisler fourth. Louden Reimert moved into the top five as the field competed lap nine.
Haring Jr continued to break away from the field as they took the halfway flags. Haring Jr’s lead was wiped out after the yellow was out on lap 11 for Hartwig and Renninger getting together in turn two. Haring Jr once again asserted himself on the restart as Witmer drifted high through the turn allowing Geisler, Albert and Reimert to get past. Reimert’s charge to the front was not done as he raced past Albert for third and started to apply pressure to Geisler for second. A great battle for fifth was taking place as Duane Howard and Jeff Strunk were racing hard with Howard prevailing. Up front it was still Haring with a safe lead as the white flag was displayed signaling one lap to go while Geisler and Reimert were racing for second. This race belonged to Ron Haring Jr as he took the checkered flag for his first ever Big Diamond Speedway win. A career best second place finish for Geisler who hung on to best Reimert who finished third. Scott Albert and Duane Howard were fourth and fifth.
“Wednesday night, Bobby Strunk cut the floor out of it and put a brand-new floor in it. We were contemplating buying a new car because of how bad we were,” said the victorious Haring Jr in victory lane.
The first 20-lap feature was pretty calm in comparison to the nightcap 20-lap feature which saw Big Diamond titans Jeff Strunk and Duane Howard on the front row after Haring Jr drew the number six for the invert. Howard got the best of Strunk at the drop of the green to lead the opening lap with Strunk settling in at second with Reimert quickly to third. Howard started to put some distance between himself and the second place Strunk when the first caution of the race was out for Paulie Hartwig stopping in turn two on lap three. Howard again asserted himself on the restart with Reimert getting by Strunk for second. Howard quickly opened up a 6-7 car lead over Reimert. Brett Kressley was starting to move towards the front, getting by Scott Albert for fifth and by Mike Lisowski for fourth.
Reimert began to find another gear as he started catching the leader Howard working the inside groove as they started to catch the tail end of the field. Reimert made the pass for the lead going down the backstretch on lap 14 but then got stuck behind the lapped car of Corey Renninger which allowed Howard to regain the lead going through turns three and four. Side by side, they raced for the lead as they split the lapped car of Heath Metzger coming down the frontstretch to complete lap 16. The whole complexion of the race changed in turn three on the next lap as the No. 15G of Howard suddenly snapped around and spun with Reimert getting into the side of the Howard car. Behind Reimert with nowhere to go was Metzger who pounded the back end of Reimert’s No. 16 causing significant damage. Reimert and Metzger were able to get unhooked without stopping, with Reimert able to continue. Due to not stopping, Reimert was eligible to get his spot back in the running order which would’ve been the leader after Howard’s issues. Reimert stopped in turn two to allow the officials to check over his car, but the officials saw some hanging sheet metal and sent Reimert to the pits to have it checked over.
After all of that action, Strunk was the new leader with Kressley now in second place with Lisowski, Geisler and Logan Watt in the top five. Strunk was able to maintain his lead on the restart. Strunk looked like he had the win in sight with one lap to go and was coming out of turn four when the yellow was out for a spinning Coleby Frye setting up a one lap shootout. The first attempt was a no start that resulted in Jack Butler, Geisler, Albert and Wayne Witmer coming together in turn one. Geisler was forced to the pits after running a solid third due to heavy damage. Another attempt to get the final lap completed was thwarted as Mike Burrows and Ryan Watt spun coming off of turn four. Attempt number three was the charm as Strunk made the No. 20R wide coming to the start to hold off Kressley, but Strunk missed his entry into turn one and pushed high through center of the turn allowing Kressley to go by on the inside to take over the lead and then cruise to his second win of the year over Strunk, Lisowski, Logan Watt and invader Anthony Tramontana.
“On accident, I found the middle was better going into (turn) one,” said Kressley. “Then he (Strunk) kind of hopped the cushion or hit a rut there, so it all worked out. I want to thank all of my great sponsors, Jake (Smulley) for making the track racey and all of these amazing fans for coming out tonight.”
It was crowd favorite Glenn “Buckshot” Rowan finding victory for the first time ever in the USS Achey, Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman division. Rowan took the lead at the drop of the green flag only to have the caution come out right away as Logan Starr and Tyler Vidal locked bumpers coming to a stop. The red was put out as the track crews blocked the track trying to separate the two cars. The second start was slowed again with two cars getting together coming off turn two. Another start was aborted as multiple cars tangled in turn four. At this point, race control decided to start the field single file which proved to be the right call with Rowan out front and in charge over John McGeoy. Lap six saw Colin Cox clip the yuke tires going into turn on and spinning ending his race after being up to as far as fifth. Rowan again maintained the top spot as Brennan Chapman was pressuring McGeoy for second. Last week’s winner Jordan Henn was starting to make his presence known and was now up to fourth at the halfway flags. One lap later, Henn was in third and looking to rundown the leaders. It was now a three-car race as Henn joined the leader Rowan and McGeoy racing for the top spot. McGeoy was all over Rowan with five laps to go but just didn’t have enough to make the pass. Henn made a late race charge and took over second coming to the white flag but just didn’t have enough time to challenge Rowan who took home the crowd popular win. Henn was second followed by McGeoy, Chapman and Matt Martino.
The Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners combined with the Selinsgrove Speedway Roadrunners and BAPS Extreme Stocks to race in the first ever Full Fender Frenzy. Multiple yellows permeated the early portion of the race and when it was all said and done it was the hometown driver Chuck Fayash defending the Big Diamond home turf leading all 25 laps to take the win. Mike Goodwin was the first invader finishing second after pressuring Fayash lap after lap with Jarod Bassininsky, Ty Huntsberger and Kyle Saylor completing the top five finishers.