The Mike Mammana and Matt Stangle show in the U.S.S. Achey sportsman division was interrupted on Friday night as two-time track champion Dave Dissinger held off Doug Hendricks by .187 seconds at the line to score his first win of the year and his first win at the track since 2004.
Other divisional winners on Friday night were Devin Trexler (Savage 61 roadrunners) and Chris Deer (No Sweet Service Group street stocks).
This coming Friday, June 23, the Steel & Metal Service Center 358 modifieds return to action as part of an open-wheel doubleheader with the Capitol Renegade United Racing Company sprint cars. The sprint cars will race with their wings on, on Friday and it’s their final appearance of the season. Also on Friday night the roadrunners and and Enduro dash 50.
The gates will open at 5:30 on Friday with racing slated to get underway at 8:15.
Admission is $22 with kids 12-and-under and active military with a valid ID are free.
If it wasn’t for mechanical gremlins affecting Dissinger while leading several races this year, the overall points standings could be different.
On three separate occasions while leading the sportsman feature, Dissinger has had a steering arm, a pitman arm and power steering pump failure, but the veteran showed why he’s a two-time track champion as he used lapped cars as picks to hold off Hendricks’ who was no more than two car lengths behind the entire race.
The lead duo finished six seconds ahead of third-place finisher Mammana and fourth-place finisher Stangle. The aforementioned drivers have combined to win the first five sportsman features this season.
It would take two tries to get the 25-lap feature underway as Dissinger, who started fourth, took the lead on the opening night.
By lap two, Hendricks, who started seventh, was right on Dissinger’s rear bumper. The race settled into a rhythm following a couple of cautions over the opening circuit as Dissinger and Hendricks battled for the lead.
By the halfway mark, the lead duo had built nearly a straight away lead over Mammana and Stangle who started 11th and 12 respectively and who made their way through the field.
Hendricks kept applying pressure to Dissinger and with two to go, he had managed to get underneath him in Turn 4 but was not able to make the pass.
Hendricks made one more shot on the last lap, but Dissinger held him off at the line by .187 seconds with Mammana, third, Stangle fourth and Ray Woodall, Sr., fifth.
“Even the one night that I was leading and I ended up getting third, the motor was laying down so it was about time that we finished one,” Dissinger said. “We’ve been there every week, it was just a matter of closing the deal. Last week, I dove in on the bottom and the pitman arm stripped. I even checked it during the week. It’s just been one of those things. ”
Dissinger, the 2001 and 1998 track sportsman champion collected an extra $100 for his win from the track to anyone who could stop the Mammana/Stangle stranglehold on victory lane.
Sixth through 10th were Billy Moyer Jr., Mike Burrows, Ed Mrochko, Glenn Rowan and T.J. Fitzpatrick. Twin qualifying heats were won by Dissinger and Shawn Light.
In the 20-lap roadrunner feature, Trexler would take the lead on lap 6 as he passed early pacesetter Shawn Mulhall on the restart.
From there Sites, who started 12th, moved passed Mulhall for second and he began to work on Trexler for the lead.
By lap 10, the Trexler and Sites began to pull away with Sites making the first of several bids for the lead on lap 12 as they raced down the backstretch.
Three laps later, Sites again made a bid for the lead as he looked to go to the inside of Trexler on the frontstretch but Trexler held on to the lead.
Sites got a run on Trexler on the final lap entering Turn 1 as he went to the high side while Trexler protected the bottom. Sites maintained the highline through Turn 2 but could not make the pass down the backstretch.
At the line, Trexler went on to score his first win of the season by .315 seconds.
“That was a heck of a of a race and I knew that Kody was going to be there the whole time,” Trexler said. “Kody is really tough to beat and there was times that I saw a fender way up front. I gave him the outside last time, this time he was going to have to work for it.”
Shawn Mulhall finished third with Kris Ney and Mike Reichert rounding out the top five.
Sixth through 10th were Jon Schlauch, Jim Kost, Terry Kramer, Fred Eberly and Jeremy Rock. Twin qualifying heats were won by Sites and Kost.
There would be three different leaders of the No Sweat Service Group street stocks 20 lap feature over the first 11 laps before Deer would take the lead for good going into Turn 1 on the lap 11 restart.
Derr battled with Eric Trip following the lap 11 restart as Tripp tried to work his way around the high side of Turns 1 and 2 for the lead but Derr was able to pull away going down the backstretch.
Tripp tried to make the bottom work as the highline was the fast way around the track on Friday night, but Tripp proved there was a racing groove from top to bottom as he made several attempts to clear Derr on the low side of the final few laps of the race.
Derr pulled away with two laps to go to score the win over Tripp with Chris Heller, Jasen Geesaman and Elvin Brennan III, rounding out the top five.
“I saw Eric a few times put his car underneath me and it was a good, clean race and I am sure that it put on a good show for the fans,” Derr said. “I had a lot of fun. I was a little better on the top than the bottom tonight.”
Sixth through 10th were Jeff Haag, Leroy Long, Mike Rhoads, Robin Wagner and Jesse Krasnitsky. Twin qualifying heats were won by Krasnitsky and Geesaman.
In the Blast from the Past Vintage stock car club feature, Ronnie Peck won again in the modified division while Bobby Hull won the vintage division.
In the Kim’s Kreations mechanics race, Jim Schlauch won the roadrunner division race while Kevin Yiengst won the street stock race and division Krasnitsky won the sportsman race.
“Everything you know in a street stock you forget when you drive a sportsman, it’s a whole other animal” Krasnitsky said. “The sportsman, you have to trust the car is going to stick and I am not used to that. I am used to having to feather the throttle more whereas the sportsman you can just lay in the gas and they’ll turn themselves almost.”
In the Enduro Dash 50, Randy Getz Jr., picked up the win with Seth Reichert, Vinnie Wenrich,Chris Graver and Lee Allen rounding out the top five.
In just three weeks time on Friday, July 7,it’s the B&H Landscaping Night/Stevenson Memorial for the 358 modifieds. The 30-lap feature pays $4,000 to win. Also on the card that night is the sportsman, roadrunners, street stocks and Fireworks. The rain date, if needed, is July 14.
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Big Diamond Speedway
Friday, June 16, 2017
Feature Results
U.S.S. Achey sportsman (20 laps): 1. Dave Dissinger, 2. Doug Hendricks, 3. Mike Mammana, 4.Matt Stangle, 5. Ray Woodall Sr., 6. Billy Moyer Jr., 7. Mike Burrows, 8. Ed Mrochko, 9. Glenn Rowan, 10. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 11. Tyler Reber, 12. Brian Fucilli, 13. Chris Brennan. 14. Wayne Wimer, DNF, 15. Shawn Light, DNF, 16. Dylan Smith, DNF, 17. Matt Clay, DNF. DNS- Mike Lisowski, Daryl Dissinger. Heat winners: Dissinger, S. Light.
Savage 61 roadrunners (20 laps): 1. Devin Trexler, 2. Kody Sites, 3. Shawn Mulhall, 4. Kris Ney, 5. Mike Reichert, 6. Jon Schlauch, 7. Jim Kost, 8. Terry Kramer, 9. Fred Eberly. 10. Jeremy Rock, DNF, 11. Andrew Buchinski, DNF, 12. Chris Holland, DNF, 13. Nate Hill, DNF. Heat winners: Sites, Kost.
No Sweat Service Group street stocks (20 laps): 1. Chris Derr, 2. Eric Tripp, 3. Chris Heller, 4.Jasen Geesaman, 5. Elvin Brennan III, 6. Jeff Haag, 7. Leroy Long, 8. Mike Rhoads, 9. Robin Wagner, 10. Jesse Krasnitsky, 11. Butch Helsel, 12. Joey Brennan, DNF, 13. Dean Hine, DNF, 14. Tyler Stump, DNF. Heats winners: Krasnitsky, Geesaman.
Vintage Modifieds: Ronnie Peck (modifieds); Bobby Hall (vintage)
Enduro Dash 50: Randy Getz Jr., 2. Seth Reichert, 3. Vinnie Wenrich, 4. Chris Graver, 5. Lee Allen.
Kim’s Kreations Mechanics Race: Jesse Krasnitsky (sportsman); Kevin Yiengst (street stocks), Jim Schlauch (roadrunners).
Updated Big Diamond Schedule
Friday, June 23
Modifieds, URC Sprint Cars, Roadrunners, Enduro Dash 50
Friday, June 30
Jasen's Automotive Night
Street Stock Summer Shootout 30, $1,081 to win
Modifieds, Sportsman, Roadrunners. Rain date 7-28
Friday, July 7
B&H Landscaping Night/Stevenson Memorial
Modified 30, $4,000 to win, Sportsman, Roadrunners, Street Stocks, Fireworks
Rain date is 7-14.
