Watty Wins the Coalcracker at Big Diamond

The Modified Coalcracker 72 had spectacular weather, a spectacular crowd and a spectacular pit area filled with over 125 cars across the 4 classes on the grounds.  52 modifieds were on the grounds looking for one of the 24 starting positions paying $500 to start.  The cool evening coal mining mountain air provided excellent track conditions for the 72 lap modified $17,000 to win plus lap money feature event.

The 72 lap Coalcracker feature was led to green by Big Diamond’s own Shawn Fitzpatrick & New Yorker Tyler Dipple.  But on lap 2 it was the 14W of Ryan Watt moving into the lead from his 3^rd starting position.  For 50 laps Tyler Dipple gave pursuit of Watt from the 2^nd position only to withdraw to the pits on lap 56 with apparent suspension breakage.  Mike Gular moved past Von Dohren into second on lap 62 but by that time Watt was nearly ¾ of a straightway in front of the field and drove into victory lane for his biggest payday of his racing career.

In victory lane Watt noted “We been trying to win one of these Coalcrackers for years.  Just like every year a couple of fans Mark and Barney bought us two tires and they said all they want is to see up in victory lane.  I’m glad we were able to do it for them.  We were talking last night on the way home from Delaware and decided to switch this car over from coils from bars this morning.  Really got to thank the crew for their efforts every week.  This is awesome.”

The top ten was rounded out by Mike Gular, Craig Von Dohren, Duane Howard, Matt Shepard, Matt Stangle, Dillon Steuer, Billy Decker, Craig Whitmoyer and Alex Yankowski.

The 6 heat race winners were Anthony Perrego, Andy Bachetti, Shawn Fitzpatrick, Matt Shepard, Craig Von Dohren and Ryan Watt.

The 3 consolation winners were Dillion Steuer, Frank Cozze and Lance Willix.

Big Diamond Modified Coalcracker 72 Results – 9/06/20

1. RYAN WATT, 2. Mike Gular, 3. Craig Von Dohren, 4. Duane Howard, 5. Matt Sheppard, 6. Matt Stangle, 7. Dillon Steuer, 8. Billy Decker, 9. Craig Whitmoyer, 10. Alex Yankowski, 11. Anthony Perrego, 12. Lance Willix II, 13. Frank Cozze, 14. Jeff Strunk, 15. Frank Yankowski, 16. Tyler Dippel, 17. Brett Kressley, 18. Scott Albert, 19. Cory Merkel, 20. Louden Reimert, 21. Kris Graver, 22. Kevin Graver Jr, 23. Andy Bachetti, 24. Doug Hendricks, 25 Shawn Fitzpatrick, 26. Billy Pauch Jr, and 27. Rick Laubach.

Did Not Qualify – Max McLaughlin, Jack Lehner, Briggs Danner, Larry Wight, Doug Manmiller, Billy Osmun, Bobby Trapper Jr, Jim Bobbitt, Andy Burkhart, Richie Pratt Jr, Mike Lisowski, Kyle Weiss, Corey Cormier, Ray Swinehart, Nate Brinker, Gary Hager, Bobby Trapper Sr, Neal Williams, Danny Creeden, Cale Ross, Shawn Light, Jordan Henn, Dan Hineline, and Rob Woleshok.

Disqualified – Jared Umbenhauer

The 30 lap $1,500 Fritz Roehrig Memorial crate race was dominated by outside pole sitter Matt Peck who lead from green to checkered and was checked out on the field and into victory lane for his first win at Big Diamond on his second visit.

In victory lane Matt commented “We have been struggling at Bridgeport all year.  We got tore up last night at Bridgeport and almost didn’t come here but threw a front axle in this morning and here we are.  I’m glad we decided to come.  The track was dominate on the bottom and I was good at holding the bottom so it didn’t give Joe (Toth) much of a shot at getting around me on the bottom.”

602 Crate Sportsman – Fritz Roehrig Memorial 30

1. Matt Peck, 2. Joe Toth, 3. Ryan Conrad, 4. Steve Davis, 5. Jesse Leiby, 6. Sammy Martz Jr, 7. Dylan Swinehart, 8. Shon Elk, 9. Daniel Morgiewicz, 10. Jonathan Swift, 11. Dakota Kohler, 12 Tyler Peet, 13. Danny Buccafusca, 14. Rick Wegner Jr, 15. Jimmy Leiby, 16. Eric Kocher, 17. Joel Smith, 18. Cody Manmiller, 19. Gene Beadle, 20. Ryan Graver, 21. Troy Conrad, 22. BJ Joly, 23 Corey Edelman, 24. Tommy Collins.

The 602 Crate Heat Races were won by Steve Davis, Tommy Collins, Rick Wegner Jr, and Ryan Graver.

The 602 Crate Consi Races were won by Daniel Morgiewicz and Eric Kocher.

Did Not Qualify – Bob Lineman Jr, Kevin Brady, Doug Snyder, Joey Vaccaro, Moose Gulley, Justin Eason, Louie Horvath, Billy Lasko III, David Banko, Beau Drobot, Chad Sandt, Steve Lyle, Pete Phillips, Craig Cuneo, Billy Eggers, Darren Cox, and Alex Konopka III.

Modified Pit Notes

A few years ago I remember Ryan Watt saying “we are working on improving our small block program.”  It appears the improvements have been implemented as the small block program just outkicked their coverage with Watt’s biggest career win against a stellar field of competitors.  Watt adds his biggest small block modified win to his first sprint car win at Georgetown this season.

Mike Gular much like Watt just produces quality results without much noise.  A solid second place finish with passes on Shepard and Von Dohren on the way.  Gular continues to lead the Big Diamond season points with Von Dohren and Strunk close behind.

Matt Stangle’s luck has finally turned.  Stangle ran a strong second in his heat race and redrew 8^th starting position in the feature.   Stangle was able to run the entire 72 laps without any issues and secured a solid 6^th place finish.  In the past 5 or 6 races Stangle has fallen out of the top 10 due to mechanical issues or flats.  Stangle has been on strong runs every time out just falling to gremlins in the past 2 weeks.  Matt Stangle is a car to watch as we go into the fall special event season.

Dillon Steuer migrated to PA racing about a month ago when the NY governor shut down his home track of OCFG.  Steuer has been impressive on both Friday and Saturday night at his two new tracks Big Diamond and Grandview.  On the big stage of the Coalcracker Steuer posted his best Big Diamond outing with a 7^th place finish from a 19^th starting position on grid.  In addition Dillon also posted a 2^nd place finish at Grandview on the night before.  Dillon Steuer appears to be another young driver primed and ready to take on the veterans as we go into fall special event season.

Craig Whitmoyer grabbed a top ten with a 9^th place finish on the big stage of the Coalcracker.  Whitmoyer also had a 5^th place finish on Saturday night at Grandview which was his best finish of the season.  It also happened after Whitmoyer hit the outside wall hard in hot laps which his crew repair with plenty of time to spare before his heat race was even called.  Whitmoyer was in the same car at the Coalcracker that he was running on Saturday night at Grandview.  Rather than switch cars they just do maintenance in the morning in between races on the one car and they are getting quality results with this routine.

Scott Albert has had a limited and rough season just returning in the past couple of weeks after some down time due to a hard multi car tangle on his first outing of the season.  Qualifying in the top 3 of one of the 6 heats was quite an accomplishment for the 10$ team with limited track time this season.

52 modifieds were on the grounds divided nearly even between Big Diamond regulars and drivers from other tracks.  The feature was made up of 15 Big Diamond regulars, 9 drivers visiting from other tracks and 3 Big Diamond provisionals.

The heat racing was outstanding as only the top 3 in each of the 6 heats qualified for the feature and sending 6 cars in each heat to the consolations.

Alex Yankowski broke on the last lap of his heat race while leading and fell from 1^st to 9th  sending him to the consolation.  The consolation appeared to be a daunting task starting from 10^th with only 2 cars qualifying for the feature.  Yankowski got in the field with a 2^nd place finish taking the last available qualifying position from his 10^th starting position.  In the feature; Alex to move forward with the 84Y entry and finished 10^th from a 23^rd starting position.  Never say never for the 16 year old 84Y driver.

602 Crate Pit Notes

Matt Peck the defending Bridgeport 2019 crate champion has been having a tough season at his home track with bad racing luck.  Saturday night he got in a tangle again and had another disappointing finish which almost keep him from traveling from South Jersey to PA coal country.   But the 39 PS Motorsports team replaced the damage to the front axle and headed to coal country.  With only his second visit to Big Diamond and a 2 spot in the redraw; Peck lead all 30 laps and was standing in victory lane around 1:00 AM and very happy with his Labor Day Trip.

Ryan Conrad had about 2 outing in his new X5 entry that he just purchased.  So much for test and tune and shaking her down.  Ryan quickly adjusted to his new crate ride and qualified from the heat with a 2^nd place finish from the 7^th starting position on the grid.  A good redraw put the young driver in the 5^th starting position in the 30 lap feature and on a challenging track he got his best finish of the season with a 3^rd place finish.

The Swinehart brothers were doing a bit of testing on their new car they recently put in service.  Instead of making changes to the cars they changed the driver and put the older brother Dylan back in the car.  Dylan got the 126 entry qualified in the heat race.  The two brothers and the 126 made some setup changes and in the feature Dylan and the 126 grabbed a 7^th place finish from a 14^th place staring spot.