Friday night at Big Diamond Speedway on Fayash Memorial Night – the fans were treated to a stellar performance by teenager and modified rookie Logan Watt, who drove his No. 4M to victory in the 25-lap Quandel Concrete modified feature event. Xavier Sprague continued the first time winner theme in the USS Achey, Inc 602 Crate Sportsman feature with his first ever win. By winning, Sprague became the fourth 602 Crate Sportsman driver in a row to have won their first win at Big Diamond. The Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners raced in the fan popular Crazy 8’s format with wins going to Chuck Fayash, Andrew Fayash III, Mike Reichert and Alex Schoffstall.
Scott Albert and Matt Yoder were on the front row for the start of the 25-lap Quandel Concrete feature and at the drop of the green flag Albert led the way. As the field was coming around to complete lap one chaos ensued as a multi-car tangle in turn four involving the likes of Jeff Strunk, Brett Kressley, Jack Butler, Louden Reimert and Mike Lisowski. Fortunately, all cars were able to continue after pit stops. A complete restart was in order and when racing resumed, it was Albert back out front followed by Matt Yoder and Doug Smith Jr. With five laps complete it was still Albert out front with Yoder, Smith Jr, Shawn Fitzpatrick and Brandon Edgar.
Logan Watt and Duane Howard started working their way towards the front and were now running sixth and seventh after starting ninth and eight respectively. Logan Watt, using the outside lane, worked past Edgar to move into fifth on lap eight and one lap later was by Shawn Fitzpatrick for fourth. Watt’s march to the front didn’t stop there as he was by Smith Jr for third on lap eleven. Lap 12 saw Watt try the outside on second place runner Yoder down the backstretch with the Boyertown, Pa driver drifting off the race surface as Yoder moved up the track. Not to be deterred on this night, Watt kept his foot in it and came back on the track still in third.
As the field took the halfway signal from starter Warren Alston, it was still Albert leading over Yoder, Logan Watt, Doug Smith Jr and Shawn Fitzpatrick. The race for second was very intense as Watt kept looking for a way to get past the strong running Yoder. Knowing Watt was using the outside, Yoder moved his line up to try and block Watt for second and one lap later Watt used that to his advantage as he dove to the inside coming off turn three to make the pass, now setting his sights on the leader Albert who had opened up a six-car lead over second place. Watt was using every inch of the Big Diamond track, needing only one lap to erase the deficit to Albert and pressure him for the lead.
Logan Watt was on a mission and using the line around the track that his father Ryan is known for, zipped around the outside of Albert through turns one and two to take command and lead lap 18. Once in front, Watt pulled away from Albert and the rest of the field to win his first ever career 358 modified feature. An impressive run for runner-up Scott Albert as well as third-place finisher Doug Smith Jr. Duane Howard finished fourth with Matt Yoder in fifth.
“I don’t know how to feel right now, I probably just ran the most intense 25 laps of my life,” said the happy young Watt in Red White and Blue victory lane. “This car was hooked up all night, I tried running the top in the heat race and I knew the top was going to be there for the feature in (turns) one and two, and I knew I had to get low in (turns) three and four. This is amazing, I am so happy right now; I don’t know what to say. Running the outside was the plan and I tried to let everyone get spaced out so then I could try and pick them off one at a time. 25 laps is a long time here and I knew I had 25 laps to make it work and we found the top there and we got the win.”
The 20-lap USS Achey, Inc 602 Crate Sportsman feature saw young Xavier Sprague jump out to the lead from his outside front row starting spot. A quick yellow on lap one slowed the race and, on the restart, Sprague continued to lead with Colin Cox quickly into second from his seventh starting spot. Yellows on laps two and three kept the field bunched up with Sprague once again out front when racing resumed over Cox and defending USS Achey, Inc 602 Crate Sportsman champion Jordan Henn. Sprague maintained a four to five car length lead over Cox when the caution was out again on lap ten giving Cox one more chance at the lead. It was all for naught as the night belonged to Sprague who pulled away to win the race and the $1,045 winners share over Cox, Henn, Jax Yohn and Kevin Olenick.
Peyton Leindecker dominated 14 out of the 15 laps in the Big Creek Concrete 602 Rookie Crate Sportsman feature only to bring out the yellow in turn three of the final lap. On the restart, Christopher Buffalino outgunned Steven Smith III to win his second rookie feature in a row with Chase Gular finishing in third.
It was Crazy 8’s time for the Red White and Blue Roadrunners division with Chuck Fayash taking the lead from Mike Reichert on lap six to win feature #1 over Reichert and TJ Fitzpatrick. Feature #2 saw another Fayash win as Andrew Fayash III grabbed the lead on lap two and took the win over Kris Ney and Jarod Bassininsky. Mike Reichert took the lead at the drop of the green flag to lead all the laps to take the checkered flag in feature #3. The fourth and final 8-lap feature saw the tracks all-time leader in Roadrunner wins Alex Schoffstall grab the lead on a lap six restart to win over Ney and Fayash III.