The 358 late models started out the racing with three qualifying heats for their 27 car field with some good racing in each with Chase Billet, Steve Billet and Gene Knaub prevailing. The 410 sprints would run three heats also for their 24 car field with Fred Rahmer, Brent Marks and Jason Leffler looking good in winning their respective heat races. It was only 8:11 and only the late models would need a consie. When the consie race dwindled down to six and all would qualify the checkered was waved at 8:24 to complete qualifying.

After a short intermission to water the track some it was time for the 25 lap 410 sprint car feature. Danny Dietrich and Mark Smith would bring the field down to the green flag. Smith got the jump and took the lead which he would hold until Danny Dietrich made a nifty move in lap traffic on lap 11 to take the lead. Smith stayed right with Dietrich with Brent Marks reeling in the leaders as the laps spun off after starting fifth. It looked like this one was going to go the distance non-stop but with two laps to go Jacob Allen slowed in turn four and the only caution of the race appeared. This set up a two lap shootout and on the ensuing green Dietrich jumped back out front and was not to be denied his first career Susqehanna victory winning over Smith and Marks. Fred Rahmer and Jason Leffler rounded out the top five. It was Leffler’s best showing in Central Pennsylvania so far this season and it was good to see the USAC veteran notch a good finish with the air foil on the top. Logan Schuchart, Blaine Heimbach, Don Kreitz Jr., Greg Hodnett and Lance Dewease completed the top ten. The checkered waved just 11 minutes after the initial green.

There was still one feature to run with about half the people in attendence exiting after the sprint car feature. The 358 late model feature was a decent run but was hampered by six cautions in their 25 lap event. Randy Stoudt started first and took off at the drop of the green flag. Gene Knaub was on the move from his seventh starting spot and took second at the halfway mark and took up the chase of Stoudt. A lap 19 caution put Knaub on the rear bumper of Stoudt but Stoudt was up to the task and held off Knaub for his second consecutive win. Justin Ehrhart nailed down third with Chase Billet fourth and Larry Baer rounding out the top five. Good strong runs were turned in by Kyle Martin who came from 16th to 7th with J.R. Rodriguez up from 14th to 8th and Chris Knopp, a former sprint car driver, coming from 18th to 9th. The final checkered waved at 9:43.

Susquehanna management has produced two good Sunday night programs with finishes before 10 PM and this is what the race fan is looking for on a Sunday night with work to follow on Monday. Management has come to realize that the Central Pa. sprint car fan does not want to see any match races or other unnecessary delays but just want to see good, hard sprint car racing and get home at a decent hour. Good job to the Fishers’ on running an efficient program!!

Thursday, May 16 - Today was the nicest day we have had so far this year. Temperatures were in the 80’s with mostly sunny skies. It was the third race of the Little Diamond Thursday night series and I promised to take Pat to this one as she was not able to attend either of the other two. We arrived close to 7 PM and parked right in front of the ticket booth. Upon entering we found Dwight Bucks and Marshall Kern in the top row and we set aside some rocks holding down the Friday night regulars plastic to reserve their seats and sat in front of them. Racing got underway at 7:11 for the slim field of four slingshots and seven 270 micro sprints on hand. One heat was run for each class which were completed by 7:19. A twenty minute intermission was taken and I didn’t think they had a shot to beat the 51 minute show I had witnessed at the end of April.

The 20 lap slingshot feature was first up with Alex Schoffstall taking the lead on lap two and leading the remainder of the event. Young Schoffstall is now three for three on the Little Diamond season and looks like he will be tough to beat unless the field picks up in number. Matt Miller brought his car home second with newcomer Tess Horvath rounding out the top three in the non-stop race ending at 7:49. The 20 lap 270 micro sprint feature was green flagged at 7:52 with first night winner, Ed Kenderdine, taking the lead. He was not to be headed and came home the victor over Luke Kroboth with newcomer Quinn Roberts taking third. The final checker waved at 7:58 beating the first night time of 51 minutes by 4 minutes.

As I am writing this blog I received an unconfirmed report that Little Diamond will be switching to Sundays and in my opinion this probably is a good move as they should bring out more cars and fans on a Sunday. Hopefully Little Diamond will stick with it and try to make this operation a success. Good luck to them.

Racing started three minutes early at 7:27 with the late models taking to the track for their two heats for their 23 car starting field. The sportsman would run three heats for their 29 entrants on hand before the 358 modifieds took to the track with four heats for their 41 car field. In the sportsman heats Jordan Henn looked impressive in winning his heat race and veteran Dean Bachman, a former Nazareth regular, had his strongest run of the early season in his return to racing after many years away raising his family. In the 358 modifieds young Eric Biehn continues to impress winning heat one with last week’s winner, Duane Howard, coming from the rear to score a win in heat two. Ryan Grim held off the field in heat three and Tim Buckwalter, the 2012 ARDC midget champion, in his rookie year in the 358 modifieds won heat four after finishing sixth last Friday at Big Diamond.

The late models run their feature event first and the 25 lap affair took the green at 8:27. After two consecutive good runs by the late model guys tonight would end their streak. Six cautions ruined this race and was almost a replay of the 358 modified feature at Big Diamond last week which had a great race up front for the lead but knuckleheads trailing far behind disrupting the good racing up front. Tonight it was a battle royal between ninth starter, Mike Kellner, and sixth starting Danny Snyder. These two guys ran each other hard but clean and were very enjoyable to watch when the caution was not waving. At the end of 25 laps it was Kellner first across the line for his second win of 2013 at Grandview with Snyder second, Wayne Pfeil third after starting eighth, with Chuck Schutz fourth after starting tenth and Jason Miller collecting fifth after starting back in 13th.

The 358 modifieds needed two consies which ran next and the sportsman ran one. It was now 9:25 and time for intermission. Track maintenance was performed during the 25 minute intermission and then the 30 lap 358 modified feature was called to the post. When the green dropped at 9:56 it was Eric Biehn jumping out front with Tim Buckwalter charging from sixth to second in the opening laps. The first caution flew on lap three when Jeff Strunk pulled up lame with a flat tire. On the restart Buckwalter passed Biehn for the top spot and took the point. After flat was suffered by Strunk and the caution appeared again. Action continued until lap 14 when Craig VonDohren running in the top ten at the time dropped to the infield with mechanical woes. The caution waved at the halfway mark when Ryan Grim lost a tire and on the green Buckwalter went back out front with Biehn second and Kevin Hirthler third. By lap 22 Jeff Strunk after suffering two flat tires made his way back into the top ten. In the meantime last week’s winner, Duane Howard, had steadily worked his way to the front and appeared in the top five. He dispatched Manmiller for the third spot and took up the chase for Biehn for second. By lap 27 Howard had caught and passed Biehn and went after the high flying Buckwalter Coming for the white flag Howard performed a perfect slid job on Buckwalter to take the lead in turn three and Buckwalter switched lanes and dove low and the two raced side by side past the starter’s stand for the lead. Entering turn one Buckwalter tried to slid job Howard but hit the black slick section in turn one and looped his Gary Spots owned #91. It was a very disappointing turn of events for the first year 358 runner who went to the back of the pack for the restart. Doug Manmiller dispatched Biehn for second on the restart and tried to challenge Howard for the lead but ran out of the laps to do so. The checkered waved at 10:18 with Howard winning for the second week in a row over Manmiller with Biehn third, Hirthler fourth and Jon Kellner Sr. in a fine run to round out the top five. Howard gave a lot of credit to Buckwalter in victory lane on his fine run and predicted that he would be a multi-time winner in the near future.

We still had one more feature to go with the sportsman set to go 25 laps in distance in their main event. Jamie Undercoffler went to the front on the start but it was not long before Paul Kline (lap two) was the leader. Kline led until the halfway mark when his car began to smoke and he was passed for the lead by ninth starter, Kyle Borror. Borror paced the field the rest of the way but 14th starter, Craig Whitmoyer, was making up big chunks of real estate in the late going. Whitmoyer dove under Borror exiting turn four coming for the checker and almost pulled of the pass for the win but came up about a half car length short at the line. It was Borror’s first win at Grandview and second win in the sportsman overall and he was one happy fellow. Brad Brightbill came from deep in the field to finish third with Jordan Henn completing a good run in fourth with Kenny Gilmore rounding out the top five. Brian Hirthler ran a fine race and picked up the hard charger award after starting 20th and finishing 7th. It was 10:50 when the final checker waved on the evening.

Yes, it was once again a good night of racing on the hill in Bechtelsville.

Sunday, May 5 - Today was a perfect day with bright blue skies with puffy white clouds and temperatures in the high 60’s. The racing clan was invading the sleepy area located off Route 15 at the Latimore Valley Fairgrounds which would spring to life with the sound of engines. The first Sunday in May the racing faternity gathers at Latimore Valley for the annual Gary Wolford Fish Fry. Wolford was the all-time winning driver at the now closed Silver Spring Speedway in the super sportsman division and this event which started out as a small gathering of some friends at Wolford’s garage has now blossomed into a major get together with over 1000 + people in attendence this year. Over 400 pounds of fish was fried up along with french fries and other goodies and the line waiting to be served at 10 AM numbered over a hundred, We were near the front of the line as we had been warned to get their early and Pat’s dad, Junior, was skeptical when we drove into the infield around 8:45 with only a few other folks on hand. By 10 he realized that this was a big time event to be enjoyed with old cars on display, both race cars and spectator vehicles, and an auction of racing memorabilia taking place. After filling our stomachs with some good tasting fish and other items we took the shuttle up the hill to the Eastern Museum Of Motor Racing. Admission is free for the museum with donations gladly accepted. What laid beyond the walls of the building was a wonderful display of motor racing in the east. The majority of displays were open cockpit racing machines but there were some stock cars to be found also. For Junior who grew up in the Oley area there was one display which tickled his fancy as the reconstructed garage of Oley racer, Tommy Hinnershitz, with the original work benches and tools that Tommy used to work on his sprint cars. Junior relayed a story of when he was a kid and Tommy would drive his Miracle Power #1 down the backroads of the Oley area tuning it up and driving right by where Junior lived. The photos, posters and displays were numerous and this is one fine racing museum. They are open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 4 from April 5th through October 27th. Leave extra early for a Saturday race at one of the Central Pa. tracks and drop by the museum located off Route 15 south of Williams Grove. There is a big sign with an old sprint car on it so you can’t miss it.

Also on tap today starting at 1:30 would be the annual blindfold race which in the past has been run in many varieties of race cars. Today four team race would run in identical Ford mini-vans with father-son teams at the wheel. Van I was the Seigel team of Steve and Jim. Van II was the Pauch team of Billy Sr. and Billy Jr. Van III was the Rahmer van which consisted of Fred Rahmer and another gentleman who I did not catch the name of. The Rahmer boys were scheduled to be there but media day at the Kutztown Fairgrounds with their Tobias Speedstrs took priority. Van IV would be the Mackinson van of Johnny and Jordan. The rules were simple. One driver would drive the van blindfolded for three laps guided by his partner and then in the second three laps the other person would take the wheel blindfolded with the previous driver as guide. A pace vehicle, pick up truck, would pace the field to try to keep the speeds down somewhat as in previous years some damage was done to the fencing and such. If you bumped the pace truck it was $20 per hit. It was all in good fun!! After the end of the first three laps it was Team Rahmer leading Team Pauch and Team Seigel with Team Mackinson dropping from the event with mechanical woes. Jordan Mackinson jumped in the back seat of the Team Rahmer van for part two. Team Pauch with Billy Sr. driving took a big lead over the other two. The slowing pace truck bunched the field and coming off turn four it was close. Team Rahmer with Fred at the wheel spun the pace truck out of the way and it was a scramble to the finish with Team Rahmer edging Team Pauch by inches with Team Siegel third. We have never seen Billy Pauch Sr. and Fred Rahmer smile and laugh as much as they did on this afternoon. Everyone loved it!! After the finish the remaining three vans decided to have a “mini” demo derby which included a front end loader toward the end. After exiting the vans the entire group climbed on the sinking roof of the disabled van and had a group photo taken. They all made it back down safely and their interviews were classics!! It was a fun day of viewing, touring and watching a novelty race and the big crowd went home happy and full!!

Until next time get out there and support your local race track and enjoy some good short track racing.

It was a breezy cool night and when at Big Diamond the temperature is always a few degrees cooler simply because you are on top of a mountain. The car counts were low compared to years past but there were still enough cars to run three heats for the modifieds and sportsman with two heats for the road runners. The two roadrunner heats took the green at 8:08 and they were quite competitive. They were followed by three modifieds heats and three sportsman heats. As usual when one qualifying event pulled off the next one was pulling on to take the green. In 45 minutes they ran off the 8 events and immediately afterwards the roadrunners were pulling on for their 20 lap feature event. This was one exciting race. Even though there were 5 cautions, it came down to the final circuit before the winner emerged. Marc Berzowski took the lead on the final lap and went on to win his third in a row victory. It was 9:15 and a 25 minute intermission followed.

The main division, small block modifieds, ran their 30 lap feature next. I must admit I was a little disappointed that Duane Howard was a no show, since he is my favorite modified driver. The green dropped at 9:41 and while they were racing it was good but there were 6 cautions that really took away from the event. It seemed the cars at the back of the pack could not keep out of each other’s way. But on the other hand the high point drivers do not start up front at Big Diamond and it makes for some good dicing up through the pack. Jeff Strunk, who started 10th, took the lead on lap 6 with 9th place starter Craig Von Dohren hot on his rear bumper. It remained this way until a lap 16 restart when Von Dohren took the lead and never looked back. Von Dohren went on to win the event and this week he did not run out of gas. Von Dohren took the checkered flag at 10:12 and earned $3,000 for his win in the 30 lap event. Strunk finished second followed by MeMe DeSantis, 19th starter Frank Cozze and Doug Manmiller.

The 20 lap sportsman feature was last on the card and even though the night was still young the weather turned quite chilly by the 10:20 start. I was tired from a long hard week at work and when the caution came out for the third time on lap 4 I threw in the towel and headed for the car. Bruce decided to follow and we started the trip home.

The first late model heat for their 21 car field took the green flag at 7:19, still a bit late for such a cold night. These two heats were exciting with Kory Fleming and Kyle Merkel garnering the wins. They were followed in quick order by three heats for the 25 car sportsman field who also turned in credible performances with Kevin Beach, Ryan Lilick and Craig Whitmoyer prevailing. Four heats were needed for the 40 car 358 modified field with some of the up and comers, Tommy Sheetz III, Don Norris Jr. and Jordan Umbenhauer, winning and one veteran, Jeff Strunk, scoring a heat win. It took exactly an hour to spin off nine heat races and with good organization (having the next two heat races staged in the infield) a lot of racing can be accomplished in an hour.

By 8:23 the green flag was waving on the first feature event of the evening, the 25 lap late model feature. For the second week in a row these fellows ran a good, tight race with only two cautions and in between produced some good side by side racing. When it was all said and done at 8:43 second year driver, Steve Nederostek, held off Sean Merkel to score his first career win. The big guns were right there with Merkel, Jason Miller, Chuck Schutz and Mike Kellner (who started 20th) chasing him to the finish. The only division needing consies were the 358’s and they were spun off by 9:04 and it was time for intermission. Track maintenance was performed during the short 20 minute break and soon it was time for the 30 lap 358 modified feature.

It looked like it might be a night for the young guns as Tommy Sheetz III came out of the sixth hole to lead the race and looked awful strong going to the front. Oley’s other racer, Nate Christman, also came on strong from his eighth starting spot to put the pressure on Sheetz. They had a nice battle running each other clean. In the meantime 13th starter, Duane Howard also from Oley, was working his way forward with no help from the yellow flag. By lap 17 he had cracked the top five and the chase was on. The first caution appeared on lap 19 and this was just what Howard needed as he was now running third. On the restart entering turn two Howard split the leaders on a nifty move and challenged for the lead. Howard was able to wrestle the lead away coming to the flag for lap 21 and at that point it was all but decided. The two young guns gave it their best but Howard was not to be denied for his first victory of the year at Grandview aboard his new Bicknell chassis machine and number 201 in his career after scoring number 200 the night before at Big Diamond. It was indeed a productive weekend for the Oley resident! Sheetz III and Christman flashed across the line in second and third with John Willman driving a good race to finish fourth and Jeff Strunk advancing from 16th to round out the top five in a race that only had two caution flags. Frank Cozze, Craig VonDohren (from 22nd), Mike Gular (from 20th), Kyle Weiss and Brad Grim completed the top ten with the checkered waving at 9:45.

The only race left to run was the 25 lap sportsman feature and though it had four cautions it still was a good, competitive run. Kevin Beach Jr. after winning one of the heats looked strong this evening and indeed he was as he climbed from his 10th starting spot to take the lead in the later part of the feature go. Joe Funk advanced from 12th to take second with 13th starter, Craig Whitmoyer, taking third with Ron Krex fourth and Mike Lisowski claiming the fifth position. The final checker of the evening waved at 10:15 and everyone went home early and happy after seeing three good, competitive feature events. It doesn’t get much better than that.

There was a ½ hour break between the time trials and the time the first sprint heat took the green. They ran off the four heats prior to the ARDC midget heats, of which there were three. The midgets heats were over at 9:30 and 20 minutes later the sprint Dash was run. By this time the night air started to turn cool and it was getting quite chilly. Fred Rahmer won the 6 lap event which gave him the pole position for the main event. This was followed by a 12 lap sprint B main. All qualifying was complete by 10:15. Now if this was a normal Friday night two division show of 410 and 358 sprints, the 410 sprint feature would likely have already been complete. The Grove always starts promptly and rarely takes breaks other than a short intermission. Most complete shows are over by 10:30 – 10:45. This really is nice when you have a 2 hour ride home. But the All Stars were in town and we know they always mess around keeping you there until after 11:00.

The sprint feature took the green flag at 10:43 and it was a good one. Many times when the fast cars all start up front the race is not that exciting but tonight was different. There was a battle from the drop of the green. Fred Rahmer and Tim Shaffer immediately put on a show for the lead. Rahmer had the top spot. Shaffer took over on lap 4 and one lap later Rahmer reclaimed the lead. As the two battled for position it was easy to miss the forward motion of Don Kreitz Jr. in the blue number 69K. Kreitz started in 10th and by lap 10 moved into third. Two laps later he just drove by both Rahmer and Shaffer and that was the end of the story for the lead. In no time he built up a big lead over the rest of the field. There was only one caution in the 30 lap event and that came out on lap 14 for Mark Smith when he came to a halt on the homestretch. The final 16 laps were clean and green with Kreitz taking the checkered. The last time Kreitz won an All Star race at the Grove he came up light on the scales, but not tonight. Following Kreitz across the line were early race leaders Fred Rahmer and Tim Shaffer with Lance Dewease and Alan Krimes rounding out the top 5. The checkered fell at 10:58.

The final event of the night was for the ARDC midgets and they ran a 20 lap feature. I love midgets. So much so that Bruce and I are moving to Indiana so we can see wingless sprints and midgets every weekend. However, the Grove is just too big for the mighty fierce but small cars. Where they are perfectly suited for the bull rings of Indiana, the big ½ mile at the Grove is not ideal. It was 11:16 and cold when the green dropped and there were three cautions in the first 4 laps. With each caution more fans picked up their belongings and headed to the parking lot. However, after the lap 4 caution the race was run off nonstop. Probably less than a third of the original crowd was there to see Steve Buckwalter pull into victory lane shortly after 11:35. Once Buckwalter took the lead on lap 12 he was never challenged. Following Buckwalter across the line were Steve Drevicki, Tim Buckwalter, Ryan Greth and Brenden Bright.

As I exited my car at 6:40 I spotted Area Auto Racing News writer, Guy Smith, making his way toward the entrance. I yelled to him and he came over to my car while I assembled my winter gear in case it got any colder. We walked together to the front gate, paid our $8 admission and entered the grandstand area where we encountered a good mix of trackchasers and racechasers. I secured a seat between Marshall Kern and Dwight Bucks and then hurried over to the pit concession stand which was the only one open to buy dinner which consisted of two hot dogs, french fries and a diet Coke. Warmups were underway and by the time I sat back down they were ready to begin the racing program. At 7:08 the first green flag of the evening waved on the first of two 270 cc micro sprint heats for the 11 car field assembled. Mike Rutherford and Ross Perchak won their respective heat races in short order. Tonight was also one of the Mid-Atlantic Silver Tour events for the Tobias Slingshots and I was a little disappointed that they only drew 12 cars for this event. Larry Raifsnider and Alex Schoffstall looked strong in winning their respective heat races. The heat qualifying was completed by 7:37 and with no need for consies the first feature event of the evening was called to the track. The 270 cc micro sprints would go a distance of 20 laps with the first two in each heat redrawing to determine the top four positions. The two heat winners would start third and fourth in the inversion. The green waved at 7:42 and they were off and running. Ed Kenderdine took off from the first starting position and held sway the entire 20 lap non-stop distance fending off Ross Perchak who passed Mike Rutherford for second on the last lap. This race only took 5 minutes to spin off.

The 25 lap Slingshot tour race would be waved off at 7:50 with Alex Schoffstall taking command. It looked like this one was going to go flag to flag without a caution until Brett Bieber spun into the infield between turns two and three and sat for two laps until pulling his racer close to the racing surface to bring out the only caution of the evening. I thought it was going to be the first ever caution free show at Big/Little Diamond history but it was spoiled by the young gun from Oley. It didn’t make much difference to Schoffstall as when the green flag reappeared he bolted back into the lead. At 7:59 Alex Schoffstall flashed under the checkered flag winning over fellow front row starter, Larry Raifsnider. The entire racing program was in the record books in 51 minutes and they didn’t even have to turn on the track lights!! When was the last time you attended a race where it took longer to drive there than to complete the entire program??

I believe the small track has a future and hopefully as word gets out about the nice track surface and speed of running the program on a week night they will get more cars and fans to come out and watch the small car divisions battle it out at the Little Diamond Speedway.

Until next time as the weather starts to warm up get out there and support your local race track and enjoy some good short track racing.

I understand that it took a yeoman’s job to work the surface into shape but my only gripe of the night would be the manicuring of the track surface after warmups were over at 7 PM, the starting time and making the small crowd who came to support the program to sit an extra 20 minutes in the cold. Just leave the track as is and go straight into the heat racing. The late models would open the show at 7:22 with two heats for their 20 car field. The sportsman would need three heats for their good 32 car field and the small block modifieds would run four heats for their 38 car field, which is somewhat down from the normal 40’s to 50’s that is norm for the track. All heat qualifying was competitive except for one heat where one of the long time runners hit everything expect the Powerball Lottery!! It was slightly over an hour for the heat racing and at 8:46 the first feature of the evening featuring the late models over the distance of 25 laps was ready to go. Kyle Merkel would start second after looking strong in winning his heat race. He took off at the drop of the green and built up a comfortable lead on the field as the laps clicked off. Suddenly Kyle had a pursuer with the name of Merkel also. It was his older brother, Sean, and he was making up ground quickly. It looked like Sean was going to catch Kyle but time ran out before he was able to mount a serious challenge and it was the younger brother pulling into victory lane. Kory Fleming held off Danny Snyder for third with Chuck Schutz making a late race charge from 15th to round out the top five. This entertaining feature took just 15 minutes before it was entered into the record book.

Two modified consies were spun off and one sportsman consie was needed. All preliminaries were wrapped up at 9:24. A short 20 minute intermission was taken with some light maintenance performed on the racing surface. By 9:52 it was feature time for the small block modifieds who would race for the distance of 30 laps. Brad Grim went to the early lead as the racing throughout the field was hot and heavy. Grim was looking good at the top of the heap as the heavy hitters such as 16th starting Craig VonDohren was slicing his way to the front as was 12th starting Frank Cozze in the Norm Hansell # 357. Grim and VonDohren went at it for the top spot for several laps until contact was made between the two in turn three with VonDohren taking the lead on lap 20. Cozze caught and passed Grim several laps later and took up the chase of VonDohren. Cozze closed the gap as VonDohren was having fits passing some of the tail enders but finally got around and opened some distance between himself and Cozze. VonDohren was able to hold sway and flashed under the checker at 10:06 in a 14 minute race with only two cautions slowing the exciting race. It was VonDohren’s second straight week winning at Grandview taking one of the two 35 lap races last week. Brad Grim held on for third with former URC sprint car racer, Jason Clauss, getting his highest small block finish in fourth and nine time track champion, Jeff Strunk, advancing from 14th to take 5th at the finish. By the way young Harrison had switched his strategy from picking one car to picking one color of race car and if you guessed blue was his color then you are a winner as was he.

The sportsman would round out the card with a 25 lap feature which took the the green flag at 10:16. Ron Krex, a former later model driver, took off from the first starting position and held sway until 15th starter, Jared Umbenhauer, motored his way by for the lead on lap 19. Umbenhauer scored his second win of the year at Grandview with Krex in tow with 11th starting Joe Funk coming home third with John Kovatch IV in his #IV taking fourth and Brett Kressley coming from the rear after a early race tangle and spin to collect fifth. The final checkered waved at 10:30 which produced another 14 minute race.

This night of stock car racing we feel was the best overall racing we have seen so far this year. Kudos to the track crew for getting the track in running order, kudos to all the drivers in running good races with few cautions to slow things and kudos to management for keeping the racing moving along after the delay at the beginning of the show. After witnessing this fine night of racing we will surely return again to the track on the hill hopefully on a warmer night where we can sit in the wooden grandstands and enjoy the sounds of good stock car racing. Until next week lets hope the weather changes to the warmer side so we can leave the heavy coats and blankets in the trunk where they belong.

Racing got underway at 6:11 with the first of three heats for the 22 358 sprint cars who were sharing the bill on today’s program. Heat winners were Ryan Wilson, Chris Eash and Austin Hogue, the winner at Williams Grove on Friday. With a straight up start for the feature the heat winners looked to be the ones to beat in the feature. Three heats were next run for the 25 410 sprints in attendence with three of the young guns, Logan Schuchart, Ryan Smith and Brent Marks nailing down the victories. The top two finishers of each heat would be inverted and the pill drawn by Schuchart was six so he would start sixth in the main event. All heat qualifying was completed in less than an hour (7:06) with no consies needed and a half hour intermission followed before moving into the 25 lap 410 sprint car feature.

This is the type of program the Central Pennsylvania sprint car fans want to see especially on a Sunday evening and kudos go out to the Susquehanna management for presenting and keeping the program moving along quickly. It was 7:42 when the green flag waved on the front row of Fred Rahmer and Lance Dewease with Rahmer sliding high to try to block the outside lane on the start with Mark Smith using the inside hole to take the early lead. It is always fun watching the sprinters work their way through the lap traffic and many fine moves were engineered during this time. Only three cautions slowed this one but the last on lap 19 would lead to Mark Smith’s demise. Rahmer got a good run on the restart and took the lead on lap 20 and it was lights out for the field. Donnie Kreitz, who has been dubbed Mr. Susky for his fine runs, made a late charge from his 11th starting position to close on Rahmer but time ran out before he could make a serious challenge for the lead. The resurgent Rahmer won his third race of the year at three different tracks (Lincoln, Williams Grove and Susky) over Kreitz with Brent Marks third, Logan Schuchart fourth and Mark Smith fading to fifth at the end. Positons six through ten were filled by Ryan Smith, Alan Krimes, Lance Dewease, Blaine Heimbach and Gerard McIntyre Jr.. The checkered waved on this one at 8:01.

Much of the good sized crowd stayed for the 20 lap 358 sprint car feature but the track was worn and passing was difficult. Don’t tell that to Nikki Young though as he advanced from 21st to 8th at the end. Ryan Wilson started first and opened up a ten car length lead in the middle stages of the contest after being challenged early by fifth starting Kevin Nouse. Wilson went on for the easy win flashing under the checkered flag at 8:39 winning over Nouse with Chris Eash third, Rodney Westhafter fourth and Tyler Ross fifth after starting 14th.

It was good night of racing on this Sunday night and everyone was on the road home before 9 PM. This is the proper way to run a Sunday night race program. Other promoters please take note.

This coming weekend finds us staying close to home as we are camping in our new motorhome outside of the Lehigh Valley and the weather for Friday does not look good for racing in the area. Thursday’s debut for the inner oval at Big Diamond (dubbed Little Diamond) was postponed because of inclement weather. So it could be back to back rainouts after making it through the first 21 shows without any rain.