By Dino Oberto
(5-15-26) If you’re going to get a first win may as well make it a good one and for Lehighton’s Ryan Graver that’s just what he did in nailing down his first Big Diamond Speedway victory in the Crate Classic on Red White and Blue Autos Inc. Night.
Graver rocketed to a $2000 win in the 30-lap main for the USS Achey Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman division which took center stage Friday evening. With a season high of 41 cars signed in none demonstrated better speed than Graver who turned the fasted laps throughout the night. That quickness helped him win his heat and he then carried that momentum into a big feature win.
“I just can’t thank Monte (Pool/car owner) enough for letting me run this car and it’s just been on rails, and it seems that we haven’t had that little bit at the end and tonight we did,” said Graver.
A “Revenge Draw” saw Christopher Buffalino and Shawn Light share the front row while Graver began from eighth. Buffalino would take control once the action commenced with Light following in second. Graver wasted little time in his advancement, moving to third by lap six.
The race’s first 16 laps went without a hitch as Buffalino set a steady pace in leading the way. A trio of cautions, however, on that circuit set-up for Graver’s good fortune most notably the third yellow when Light had stopped and handed over the runner-up spot to Graver.
It would be on that restart that Graver’s race winning move would take place when he out-hustled his No. 21P past Buffalino and grabbed the reign as the new leader. At the same time Joe Toth motored into second.
From that point on, Toth did everything he could to stay with Graver, especially on several restarts when the two ran side by side. But there was no denying the fast-handed Graver who was able to shake free of the Toth after only a few laps.
“Early on we had such a good run off the initial start and were up to fourth in just a couple of laps. From there I was just trying to watch everyone in front of me and figure out where to go then that caution helped me out and got me to third,” relayed Graver.
“Joe (Toth) then got to my inside door, but he raced me so clean and racing tight like that with someone you on so well, it’s so much fun.”
For a while Mike Toth was running close with the leaders but dropped out with five laps to go. Steady running Steven Kemery would then secure third spot after some very close racing with Kevin Smith. Bryce Bashore rounded out the top five, coming from 22nd.
For Graver, he had a car in contention all season, and on this night everything came together for his long-awaited victory.
“As the track progressed it felt really good and as the race went on to me it felt like it was better on the top although all the way around it was a very good race track, you could move were you had to and work every lane and that’s just what you want in a track,” added Graver
“My first few years running Crates here we were so close so many times and to come back here this year and right off the bat we came out swinging at every single race then to come off the last race when we broke our power steering and we felt we could have won that race, then to come here tonight and win makes up for everything.”
In the BQ Concrete 358 Modifieds Kevin Beach Jr., of Minersville made a big turnround to some early season woes in capturing the win in the 25-lapper. Beach’s results to date were not indicative of what he knew he and his team was capable of, with only a pair of sixth place runs as his best showing.
And even before the feature there was some uncertainty as the car was not firing right following his heat, but he and the crew kept working, and from his outside front-row starting spot he turned that opportunity into a hard-fought victory.
“In the heat race it missed terribly, and we changed the carburetor after that. We struggled a lot this year and I have a lot of good guys who help me out and it’s been a valiant effort to get this car to turn and handle and not bounce around and it worked great tonight,” said Beach.
The record will show that Beach led every lap but make no mistake he was immersed in constant pressure throughout the race.
At first an impressive Jax Yohn kept Beach on his toes. Yohn stayed on the leader through the first 10 laps before Tim Buckwalter along with Louden Reimert moved in behind Beach.
Buckwalter stayed glued to Beach’s rear bumper, repeatedly searching for a way past, but Beach answered every challenge and never gave up the lead.
The determined Buckwalter made it very thrilling on the final lap when he tried to get underneath Beach as they sprinted to the finish line but came up just short with Reimert tailing closely in their tire tracks.
“I almost gave it away a couple times on the cushion, but I wasn’t getting off of there, you were going to have to go underneath me and try the slick, I wasn’t about to move down,” said Beach.
“Tim (Buckwalter) has been really fast here, and Louden (Reimert) is fast everywhere he goes and I couldn’t imagine there was a much better line, and Tim is very good on the bottom so I just kept running it in as hard as I could and bouncing around and just let it ease.”
Yohn held on for a career best fourth with the Modified while the previous week’s winner Duane Howard rounded out the top five.
In the Red White and Blue Autos Inc. Roadrunners Jarod Bassininsky of Schuylkill Haven snagged the lead from CJ Ferguson with seven laps to go and then held off Joey Brennan in scoring his first win of the season.
Brian Johnson held down the front spot from the outset before Ferguson took command on a lap six restart. Bassininsky had worked his tail off under some very tight racing in getting to second by mid-race and once there he then set his sights on Ferguson.
After taking the lead, he still had to hold off Brennan, and he did just that to earn a well-deserved victory.
358 Modified finish (25 laps): 1. Kevin Beach Jr., 2. Tim Buckwalter, 3. Louden Reimert, 4. Jax Yohn, 5. Duane Howard, 6. Kevin Olenick, 7. Jared Umbenhauer, 8. Logan Watt, 9. Mike Lisowski, 10. Cody Manmiller, 11. Tim Fitzpatrick, 12. Aleia Geisler, 13. Wayne Witmer, 14. Jimmy Leiby, 15. Corey Renninger, 16. Heath Metzger, 17. Jim Bobbitt, 18. Cliff Quinn, 19. Rick Laubach, 20. Chris Espisito, 21. Alan Rudalavage, 22. Mark Guagler, 23. Hunter Metzger
602 Crate Sportsman (30 laps): 1. Ryan Graver, 2. Joe Toth, 3. Steven Kemery, 4. Kevin Smith, 5. Bryce Bashore, 6. Dakota Kohler, 7. Brett Gilmore, 8. Shawn Light, 9. Rick Wegner, 10. Brennan Chapman, 11. Ryan Conrad, 12. Reice Widger, 13. Tyler Vidal, 14. Shannon Slaughter, 15. Colin Cox, 16. Matt Martino, 17. Teague Miller, 18. Ralph Melee, 19. Christopher Buffalino, 20. Mike Toth, 21. Mike Schneck Jr., 22. Zach Steffey, 23. Tyler James, 24. Aaron Weaver DNQ: Logan Starr, Tajae Adams, Nate Brinker, Nick Hamm, Mason Harakel, Scotty Hielman, McKenzi Smith, Mike Stofflet, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Kaitlyn Bailey, Devin Whitmoyer, Brad Brighbill, Dennis Graber, Ed Mrochko, Johnny McGoey, Alan Kellogg, Adrianna Delliponti
Roadrunner finish (20 laps): 1. Jarod Bassinsky, 2. Joey Brennan, 3. CJ Ferguson, 4. Mike Reichert, 5. Joe Bassinisky, 6. Brian Johnson, 7. TJ Fitzpatrick, 8. Andrew Buchinski, 9. Jonathan Trumbo, 10. Jim Kost