Brightbill Claims Sportsman Coalcracker 40 at Big Diamond Speedway

Big Diamond had beautiful conditions for Friday night racing but this wasn’t their normal Friday night racing program; it was the opening of the Coalcracker weekend with the Sportsman Coalcracker 40 on the card for a $1,600 to win and a 40 lap feature event.

The Sportsman 40 lap feature was led to green by Mike Schneck and Kyle Lillick.  A lap 1 tangle involved the top 3 leaders and resulted in Mike Schneck heading to the pits for repairs while Brandon Edgar had heavy front end damage which ended the hard charging Edgar’s night early.  Brad Brightbill took the lead over Kyle Lilick on lap 2 and stayed in command of the race despite 7 cautions in the first 17 laps.  The final caution # 7 turned to a red flag as a 4 car tangle blocked the track and ended the night for Ken Burrows and Marc Berzowski who were top 5 cars at the time of the incident.  After the red flag; the race ran green for 23 laps and Brad Brightbill checked out and into victory lane with over a straight away advantage at the checkered flag for his first Coalcracker win and 4^th Big Diamond win of the season.

In victory lane Brad Brightbill noted “The track was beautiful tonight and we never won one of these before (Coalcracker).  It was ashame Brandon (Edgar) got caught in a tangle and I was hoping to battle it out with him throughout the feature but it didn’t turn out that way.  Definitely a good time when you win a coalcracker.”

 Heats were won by Tim Fitzpatrick and Scott Kohler who both started on the pole.

The top 10 was rounded out by Tim Fitzpatrick in second, followed by Kyle Lillick, Chuck Eckert, Ray Woodhall Jr, Scott Kohler, Cole Stangle, Doug Hendricks, Mike Schneck and Daryl Dissinger in 10^th.

14 modifieds were on the grounds practicing for Sundays Modified Coalcracker 72 with $17,000 to the winner.  Jared Umbenhauer and Frank Cozze had fast times of the final two practice sessions.

Sportsman Coalcracker Pit Notes

Brad Brightbill continues his dominance at Big Diamond this year with his 4^th win of the season coupled with 3 second place finishes to Brandon Edgar.  The usual Brightbill vs Edgar duel didn’t develop as Edgar got involved in a lap 1 incident with no were to go which ended his night.  Brightbill led 39 of the 40 lap feature.

Tim Fitzpatrick had his best finish of the season with a 2^nd place finish from a 12^th starting position.  Tim started the night out with a heat race win but drew the 12^th and last position in the redraw.  With 3 prior 3^rd place finishes Fitzpatrick got his best finish of the season at Big Diamond’s biggest sportsman event of the season.

Chuck Eckert posted a 4^th place finish in his biggest race of the season from a 16^th place starting position.  Chuck has had a rash of recent top 10 finishes with a 3^rd & 8^th here at Big Diamond and a win at Grandview.  The 26 team of Eckert has hit their stride just in time for big money race season.

Scott Kohler has had nothing but trouble in his two prior visits to Big Diamond this season.  But he came back one more time hoping his luck would change on the big stage of the Coalcracker 40.  Kohler got a good start with a wire to wire heat race win from the pole.  In the feature he secured his best Big Diamond finish of the year with a 6^th place run in the 40 lap feature.

Cole Stangle has had some bad racing luck and mechanical failures in most recent weeks resulting in recent DNF and DNQ.   Stangle looked to be in another precarious position starting 20^th but tonight he was able to stay clear of the tangles and finished a strong 7^th from a 20^th starting position.

Mike Schneck was riding high on the outside pole only to get sandwiched between a Kyle Lilick and Brandon Edgar on lap 1.  Schneck had to go the pits for repairs but was able to return to racing and come back through the field for a 9^th place finish.

There were an unusual number for the contact incidents involved cars that were running in the top 5 and had their night end due to major damage.  Brandon Edgar, Gary Berzowski and Ken Burrows all saw top 5 runs end with contact incidents that ended their night.

The race had 7 cautions in 17 laps but then settled in for 23 green flag laps of racing.

Next up at Big Diamond is day 2 of Coalcracker weekend on Sunday September 6 for the Modified $17,000 to win Coalcracker 72 with racing starting at 7:45.