In Friday night’s Quandel Concrete 358 Modified feature at Big Diamond Speedway it was classic Craig Von Dohren of Oley who wheeled his Bruce Brueche Jr., owned No. 30 to a decisive victory that not only ended a dry spell of over two years, but it came on the anniversary of his very first track win 45 years to the day.
Throughout the 2025 season, this experienced veteran has had more uncharacteristic results than usual, not due to his equipment and certainly not his skill but simply a run of bad luck which was foiled his usual front-running performances. However, all that quickly went by the wayside no sooner did the action get underway as he was in top form from start to finish.
Von Dohren started on the outside of the front row and at the drop of Warren Alston’s race commencing green shot past pole sitter Wayne Witmer and then firmly asserted his authority as the leader from there to the checkers as he never backed down, easily holding off any and all contenders en route to his unprecedented 105th career Big Diamond Speedway victory.
“We’ve been struggling, and I just have the thank Bruce Brueche for sticking it out with me and giving us a good car and to everyone, there’s so many companies involved and I’m so thankful to them. We have good stuff but have just been struggling to this point,” said Von Dohren.
“We started up-front, and we didn’t have many cautions, had a good 25 laps and win, lose or draw we got to finish a race for once.”
Although Von Dohren was clearly in command, that’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of fancy footing going on behind him, most notably within the top five.
In what has become a commonplace this season, point leader Louden Reimert propelled his way through the field and was running second by lap five. He was also under heavy pressure from Mike Gular while Brett Kressley, Duane Howard and Jeff Strunk were likewise making their presence known.
Notwithstanding, Von Dohren had no problems keeping them all at bay.
Towards the closing laps as Von Dohren was on his way to winning, Gular and Reimert were putting on a stirring battle for second which Gular would secure at the end. Likewise, Strunk was able to hold off Howard for fourth.
No doubt though this was all about Von Dohren and the fact that after 45 years and on the very same night he captured his first win, he’s still going as strong as ever.
“It’s crazy actually and there’s been a lot of hard work and there’s been so many good people along the way. It started with my parents giving us what we needed and then all the great car owners and just so many people and I’m very grateful for it all,” said Von Dohren.
Friday night was also the annual Dave Camp Memorial which saw extra money added to the USS Achey Inc., 602 Crate Sportsman and Red White and Blue Autos Inc., Roadrunner features and heats.
And in what continues to be a memorable season with the Sportsman class, Mike Schneck Jr., of Womelsford not only scored his first win of the year, marking the eighth different winner to date but it also enabled him to close in on point leader Jorden Henn to within 11 markers and with only two point races remaining.
Earlier race leader McKenzi Smith was putting in another stout performance as she once again was showing solid speed and the handling capabilities to hold back a very strong running Brennan Chapman. Unfortunately, her night ended with eight laps to go after a right rear shock broke, forcing her to relinquish the lead to Chapman.
Chapman’s stay at the helm would be short lived, one lap matter of fact as Schneck used a lap 13 restart, taking the top line to power into the lead and along with him came Dakota Kohler.
Even though it was a tight pack with Kohler and Chapman close behind the leader and with Henn and Matt Martino in hunt as well, Schneck never faltered as he drove to a pivotal victory.
“It feels really great and we’ve had some close calls that got away on me but tonight the car was hooked up perfectly and I want to thank all my crew for always making sure this thing is really fast and it was up to me to get the job done,” said Schneck.
Schneck then touched on his race winning move which was the restart with seven laps to go.
“Usually on the outside I’m not really that good but you could see on the bottom it was a little slick and I had to go a little higher and as soon as he (Chapman) went I went too and right around we got him,” he noted.
“It’s always tough to get a win here because of how equal everyone is in this class, and you have to make sure you’re on your game. I know this was a heartbreaker for McKenzi (Smith), she had an issue when she was leading and had a shot to win this, but we’ll take it.”
Kohler and Chapman both equaled their best finishes to date with second and third respectively and showing that a win is very near. Rounding out the top five were Henn and Martino.
Andrew Fayash III of Mary D picked up his class leading third Roadrunner win of the year and 27th overall but make no mistake this was as hard fought as could be.
Joey Brennan would lead the opening circuit before Jim Kost took control and by the third time around Fayash was going toe-to-toe for the top spot with Kost.
And if that wasn’t exciting enough, point leader Alex Schoffstall was getting in on the action until having to pit for a flat on lap eight, although that wasn’t the last of his company.
Not only did A. Fayash have more than he could handle from Kost, by mid-race he was enduring his uncle, Chuck Fayash, who did all he could to get by and adding to the mounting pressure was Schoffstall, who climbed up to third near the waning laps. But it was to no avail as A. Fayash held his ground and took home another victory.
The River Valley Builders PA 305 Sprint Series were on hand and Kenny Heffner of Watsontown pulled off a thrilling last lap pass over Mike Alleman and scored second win of 2025.
358 Modified feature finish (25 laps): 1. Craig Von Dohren, 2. Mike Gular, 3. Louden Reimert, 4. Jeff Strunk, 5. Duane Howard, 6. Ryan Watt, 7. Brett Kressley, 8. Jack Butler, 9. Jax Yohn, 10. Logan Watt, 11. Wayne Witmer, 12. Heath Metzger, 13. Kevin Olenick, 14. Cliff Quinn, 15. Kevin Beach Jr., 16. Ken Eckert Jr., 17. Corey Renninger, 18. Dan Hineline, 19. Mike Lisowski, 20. Kevin Fitzpatrick, 21. Brandon Edgar, 22. Rick Laubach, 23. Tyler Dippel, 24. Michael Burrows DNS: Kenny Hildebrant
602 Crate Sportsman feature finish (20 laps): 1. Mike Schneck Jr., 2. Dakota Kohler, 3. Brennan Chapman, 4. Jordan Henn, 5. Matt Martino, 6. Nate Horn, 7. Reice Widger, 8. Nick Hamm, 9. Kevin Brady, 10. John Deatrich, 11. Daryl Dissinger, 12. Ed Mrochko, 13. Hunter Bowers, 14. Jim O’Hara, 15. Dylan Cappel, 16. Mark Behm, 17. Logan Starr, 18. Zach Steffey, 19. McKenzi Smith, 20. Kevin Smith, 21. Ralph Mele, 22. Tyler Vidal, 23. George Hildebrant
Roadrunner feature finish (20 laps): 1. Andrew Fayash III, 2. Chuck Fayash, 3. Alex Schoffstall, 4. Jim Kost, 5. Mike Reichert, 6. Andrew Buchinski, 7. TJ Fitzpatrick, 8. Eric Buchinski, 9. Joey Brennan, 10. Johnathan Trumbo, 11. Jesse Krasnitsky
PASS 305 Sprint Cars feature finish (20 laps): 1. Kenny Hefner, 2. Mike Alleman, 3. Jeff Paulson, 4. Jonathan Swift, 5. Landon Price, 6. Mike Koehler, 7. Paul Moyer, 8. Jeff Weaver Jr., 9. Dylan Shatzer, 10. Chris Dolan, 11. Dylan Smith, 12. Drew Young, 13. Kruz Kepner, 14. Erin Statler
BY: DINO OBERTO