By Dino Oberto
(Minersville, PA 6-26-26) Dukmen’s Enterprises Topless Night brought a distinctive twist to Big Diamond Speedway, with the Modifieds and Sportsman cars competing without their roof decks. The format challenged drivers to adjust their usual approach around the 3/8-mile dirt oval while giving fans a clearer view of the racers at work inside their cars.
That added perspective was especially evident in the BQ Concrete 358 Modified feature, where Oley’s Louden Reimert and Boyertown’s Logan Watt staged an intense, lead-swapping battle at the front of the field. When the checkered flag fell, Reimert had parked the Doug and Annie Flurer-owned No. 16 in Victory Lane for the third time this season.
Aside from the fact that a talent-laden field was on hand, for the most part all eyes stayed focused on Reimert and Watt, who captivated the crowd with their race-long close action.
When the race commenced Reimert quickly grabbed the lead with Watt in tow along with Billy Puach Jr., in third. Early on Reimert was holding steady while Watt was having to deal with Pauch.
Once Watt shook free of Pauch he was then able to zero in on Reimert. His persistence paid off when on lap 17 he had pulled alongside Reimert and in a thrilling side-by-side clash would complete the circuit as the new race leader.
Reimert, though, remained close to Watt as the pair dazzled fans with outstanding wheel twisting action between them. Working the inside lane, Reimert was able to take back the top spot with six laps to go but it was short lived as Watt shot right back to the front on the subsequent tour.
The duel continued into the closing laps, with Watt and Reimert keeping up their high flying momentum. Just as the white flag waved, the race was halted when Cliff Quinn spun, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart, Reimert seized the moment, powered past Watt, and held on to score the hard-fought victory.
“That restart pretty much gave me the race,” said Reimert who earned $7000 for the win. “The whole race I figured I had Logan (Watt) on me and the only bad thing about that is you don’t know how close behind you he is and obviously he was close enough that he picked my pocket and got the lead.”
“I don’t think I’d rather be racing against anyone for the win then him, he always runs me clean and he’s probably the best young racer that’s out there and hat’s off to him.”
Reimert and Watt weren’t the only ones providing the thrills. Mike Gular put on an amazing drive as he picked and clawed his way through the field from his 19th starting spot and garnered third place. Pauch Jr., had several side-by-side battles that he was faced with and settled for fourth including that with Duane Howard who ran as high as third and rounded out the top five.
With the removal of the roof Reimert reflected his viewpoint as the point leader with the second half of the season about to begin.
“It definitely changes things up and it makes the car a lot more unhooked and it makes it a little bit harder to get locked down come feature time but it’s a cool thing to do once a year and it’s a change of pace. It’s also a draw show here while we’re in the thick of the points and I enjoy it,” he related.
“I can’t thank my guys enough for working in the shop, giving me a good car week in and week out. Driving it is the easy part, working on it during the week, maintaining it and being able to compete at a level like this is the hardest part.”
In the USS Achey Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman main Zach Steffey of Sinking Spring used a lap nine restart to move into the lead over Bryan Rhoads and drive off to his second win of the year.
Pole sitter Rhoads would take charge from the get-go and was doing a solid job of fending off Kevin Smith.
For Steffey, restarts played nicely into his hands first doing so on lap four when he got by Smith and what would be the winning move after the re-go prior to the midway point.
As Steffey held the lead Rhoads was turning in a solid performance. He showed good poise while leading and then maintained second until late in the going when Bryce Bashore became a factor.
Bashore would hustle past Rhoads with four laps to go and then pulled up close to Steffey. But Steffey wasn’t about to let victory slip from his hands as he held back the unrelenting challenge and claimed the $1000 payday.
In only his third race to date Bashore has been a top player with finishes of fifth, third and now second. Rhoads also notched his best effort coming in third. Rounding out the top five where Reice Widger and Matt Martino.
Minersville’s Joey Brennan took the lead at the outset of the Red White and Blue Autos Inc., Roadrunner feature and would not relinquish it as he raced to his second victory of 2026.
When Terry Kramer moved into second on lap eight he stayed within reach of the leader and a few times made valid attempts to pass but there was no denying Brennan, who never wavered.
In the waning laps Jarod Bassininsky was all over Kramer as those two finished closely in second and third.
Joining the regular classes where the East Coast Legends. Jeremy Ott of Carlisle took the lead at the drop of the green and never looked back as he held off Scott Houdschell for what would be his first win at Big Diamond and seventh of the season. Points leader Logan Jones was third.
358 Modified finish (30 laps): 1. Louden Reimert, 2. Logan Watt, 3. Mike Gular, 4. Billy Pauch Jr., 5. Duane Howard, 6. Anthony Perrego, 7. Mike Lisowski, 8. Brett Kressley, 9. Tim Buckwalter, 10. Kevin Beach Jr., 11. Rick Laubach, 12. Heath Metzger, 13. Cliff Quinn, 14. Wayne Witmer, 15. Kevin Olenick, 16. McKenzi Smith, 17. Jax Yohn, 18. Ryan Watt, 19. Corey Renninger, 20. Doug Smith Jr., 21. Alan Rudalavage, 22. Aleia Geisler, 23. Brandon Edgar, 24. Ryan Godown DNS: WB James
602 Crate Sportsman finish (20 laps): 1. Zach Steffey, 2. Bryce Bashore, 3. Bryan Rhoads, 4. Reice Widger, 5. Matt Martino, 6. Ryan Conrad, 7. Tajae Adams, 8. Michael Samony, 9. Trevor Bixlor, 10. Jim O’Hara, 11. Rick Wegner, 12. Tyler James, 13. Mike Schneck Jr., 14. Steve Hughes, 15. Brayden Shelton, 16. Nick Hamm, 17. Kaitlyn Bailey, 18. Brennan Chapman, 19. Kevin Smith, 20. Ryan Graver, 21. Dakota Kohler, 22. Aaron Weaver, 23. Nate Brinker DNQ: Kevin Fitzpatrick, John McGoey, Dennis Graber, Tyler Vidal
Roadrunner finish (20 laps): 1. Joey Brennan, 2. Terry Kramer, 3. Jarod Bassininsky, 4. Chuck Fayash, 5. Brian Johnson, 6. Jim Kost, 7. Alex Schoffstall, 8. Jesse Krasnitsky, 9. Andrew Buchinski
Legends finish (20 laps): 1. Jeremy Ott, 2. Scott Houdeshell, 3. Logan Jones, 4. Kirk Matrin, 5. Owen Wagaman, 6. Justin Wagaman, 7. Bill Diehl, 8. Rick Hartwig, 9. Jayden Powell, 10. Moses Goetz. 11. Shjon Dove, 12. Dave Benner, 13. Scott Montgomer, 14. Ben Morrow, 15. Jimmy Eicher, 16. Donald Stoudt, 17. Kelby Friese DNS: KJ Massey, Hunter McElroy