The annual Big Diamond Speedway Fritz Roehrig Memorial Money in the Mountains, which was held Friday evening on Dukmen’s Enterprise’s Night, is a race run as a tribute to track founder Fritz Roehrig and will be one for the record books as the highest first place payday was awarded to winner Louden Reimert who eked out a career victory over Logan Watt and in the process took home a whopping $20,000.
The 50-lap feature had originally been billed as a $10,000-to-win show, however, track owners Jake and Jasmine Smulley decided to double that amount provided 45 or more cars signed in and made a heat race qualifying attempt. That number was reached and so too were the stakes that doubled on the spot.
And, although there was a star-studded field assembled, the race became a two-car battle between rising stars Reimert and Watt who engaged in a fierce duel that went right down to the wire.
“This is unbelievable. A right-side Panhard (bar) race paying 20-grand to win in 2025 is pretty crazy but the best drivers adapt and myself and Logan (Watt), we were all able to figure it out and it’s not rocket science and I’m just so proud of this whole team,” said a very elated Reimert from Victory Lane.
For the start of the 50-lap contest 24 cars would head to the post with Watt and Tyler Dippel on the front row and with the waving of the race commencing green flag it would be Dippel who dashed into the early lead over Watt, Brett Kressley, Reimert and Dylan Swinehart.
Dippel was holding his own nicely over the first 10 laps but as the 11th go-around was being completed Watt was able to squeeze to the inside of the leader and take control. His lead would be short lived though as a restart two laps later saw Dipple charge back to the front. Another two circuits later and Reimert had hustled his way up to second and had his sights clearly set on Dippel.
When Swinehart and Matt Yoder got together on lap 16 and initiated a caution, the ensuing restart would see both Reimert and Watt get by Dippel and for the next 43 non-stop laps the pair where locked in a torrid dogfight. And not only did they give fans a thrilling race between themselves, but the action also intensified even more so once lapped traffic came into play.
Over the final few laps Watt was trying every way possible to get by Reimert and it appeared his efforts would be successful too. Running side-by-side and right behind Paulie Hartwig III, who was trying to stay on the lead lap, Watt briefly had the nose of his No. 4M out ahead as they raced into turn three.
However, a caution for a spinning Jeff Strunk negated all that and a one-lap shootout would set-up the exhilarating outcome. With all eyes focused on the front pair, Reimert and Watt went toe-to-toe on the final tour. As they reached the finish line Watt was making an all-out effort to move inside of Reimert, but time had run out and no less than half a car length separated them when after was said and done.
“I saw him (Watt) and kudos to him, and he ran a great race. 50 laps is a long time around here and when I saw him there about 10 laps before the end of the race, I knew he was fast,” said Reimert.
“When you’re out front you kind of set the pace and I was trying to bide my time behind lap cars and not do anything crazy and hope that Logan doesn’t go around the outside of me and thankfully we got it done. I want to thank my car owner Doug Flurer and all my sponsors and anyone else who helps out with this car. It was a team effort, and we have a lot of great people behind us.”
Craig Von Dohren was within close reach of the top two much of the time and took home a solid third. Defending track champion Brett Kressley stayed strong in the top five all race long and garnered fourth while Timmy Buckwalter rounded out the top five.
Despite coming up just .091-seconds shy of the win, Watt took his runner-up finish in stride.
“I was happy to get a second place finish against all those guys, there was some heavy hitters in that field and I was just trying to keep pace with Louden,” said Watt.
“I feel as though I could have gotten him on that last lap but then the caution came out and it is what it is. Louden has a lot of experience and I’m just kind of getting into this (358 Modified) and for me to run second and almost win 20-grand, it was pretty amazing,” he continued.
“The track was really fast and so hooked up from the heat to the feature and there was really nothing I could have done differently and I’m sure that was pretty exciting for the fans.”
The 602 Crate Sportsman class got their first feature of the season in and parlaying his pole starting spot into his second career win was Colin Cox.
Cox had an early battle with Trevor Bixler who gave him all types of pressure in his attempts to snag away the lead. Cox, though, was vigilant in maintaining his lead as he not only withstood the ongoing pressure from Bixler, but also a rash of yellows that allowed several opportunities on restarts to be overtaken.
On one of those restarts it would be the unfortunate demise of Bixler who suddenly veered towards the turn four wall and regrettably dropped from contention. Cox would then have to deal with the likes of Matt Martino and Mike Schneck Jr., the rest of the way but there was no denying just how good hi car was on this night as he was able to leave them and the rest in his wake and go on to claim the victory.
Kevin Smith, who was making his return to racing after a number of years hiatus, did a great job of bringing home a fourth place run. Meanwhile defending class champ Jordon Henn put in an amazing run that saw him start 23rd and last and race all the way to fifth at the finish, giving him his 13th consecutive top-5 dating back to last season.
Also on the card was the Roadrunner Full Fender Frenzy, a $1000-to-win feature that pitted cars from Big Diamond going up against others from BAPS Motor Speedway and Selinsgrove Speedway and an impressive 25 cars checked in for the main event.
At the outset Opening Night winner TJ Fitzpatrick jumping into the early lead but on a lap five restart former track regular Kody Sites took over the reins and once in front there was no looking back as he kept a safe enough distance from the rest of the pack and would go on to collect his 28th career Big Diamond victory.
While Sites was comfortability out-front, second place was being hotly contested. Defending division titlist Andrew Fayash III raced his way up to second on lap nine and from there on he had his hands full in fending off Jarod Bassininsky, Alex Schoffstall and Fitzpatrick.
The Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman feature was a crowd-pleasing barnburner. The record will show that Hunter Bowers led all 15 laps, but it was really the scintillating finish that was the real storyline.
On the final lap Reice Wigder was coming on like gangbusters and not only reeled in Bowers but was able to pull alongside him. As the pair battled off the final corner it became a drag race for the checkers. Widger tried an all-out effort to get under Bowers and as they would cross the finish line, they were virtually dead even.
By the narrowest of margins, .018-seconds, Bowers held on for the victory, his very first, and coming in just his fourth ever race.