FORESTVILLE - When Quakertown's Rick Laubach earned his previous two 358 modified triumphs in the Georgie Stevenson Memorial at Big Diamond Raceway, he shared the checkered flags with other drivers in a twin-feature format.
When Laubach claimed Friday's 34th edition of the annual race all for himself, he had to endure a race that seemed like two features at once.
"One-hundred lappers are faster than that sometimes," Laubach said after his 34-lap, 48-minute ordeal. "I don't know. It doesn't really bother me. I'm starting to mature as a driver. I'm pretty calm, I'd say, when I race. Years ago, I'd get pretty excited, but anymore, I've been there and done it."
Laubach, who shared his Stevenson Memorial wins with Ray Swinehart in 2005 and with Dan Hineline in 2010, earned $3,400 for his first victory with car owners Gary Spotts and Earl Fellin.
"It's always nice to win," Laubach said. "I think they know we could do it. Now we've shown them that we can do it. They can't say we didn't."
Two other drivers also notched feature wins in the Stevenson Memorial program. Branchdale's Tim Fitzpatrick claimed his second sportsman victory of the season while Pine Grove's Chris Holland captured his third roadrunner triumph of 2014.
Their victories seemed like sprints
compared to Laubach's win. The 358 modified feature had 10 caution flags, including three for false starts, and one red flag, waved for a nine-car melee on the sixth lap that blocked the speedway.
Laubach used one of the many restarts to finally overtake race leader Frank Cozze with an outside move off the second turn. That line would serve Laubach well over the rest of the event as he chose the outside on restarts.
"The car was getting better and better," he said. "The bottom here, with the motor combination I have right now, really isn't working for me. I'm going to be committed to that (top groove), I feel."
Hamburg's Dale Hartz led the first three laps before Birdsboro's John Willman took the lead for two laps. After the nine-car accident, Cozze won a frontstretch drag race with Willman on the restart to take the lead.
However, after eight non-stop laps, Willman spun in the second turn on the 19th lap and was hit by the cars of Swinehart and defending Stevenson Memorial winner Meme DeSantis. Laubach then grabbed the lead and held it for the final 15 tours.
Duane Howard took second place from Cozze with five laps remaining, but trailed Laubach by 0.418 seconds in a two-lap dash to the finish. Jared Umbenhauer placed fourth while Doug Manmiller, driving Tom Umbenhauer's No. 19 in a one-night deal, placed fifth.
Laubach added to his track points lead with his sixth heat win of the season. Kevin Albert Jr. and Brett Kressley, who won $300 in a dash of heat winners, also won qualifiers.
Fitzpatrick joined Kevin Beach Jr. as two-time feature winners among the sportsmen this season at Big Diamond. Fitzpatrick, the polesitter, paced each of the 20 laps to hold off Craig Whitmoyer.
"I really had to be on the ball on restarts and really hold my line good, hit all of my marks and make good laps," Fitzpatrick said after beating Whitmoyer to the finish. J.R. Fulper, Doug Hendricks and Wayne Witmer completed the top five.
Track points leader Clay Butler, who spun in the feature while running third, joined Beach as heat winners.
Holland overtook Gordon's Kris Ney for the lead on the 13th lap of the 20-lap roadrunner event and scored his third feature triumph since June 20. Shon Elk claimed second place ahead of Jim Kost, Devin Trexler and Andrew Fayash III.
"Just figuring out these tire pressures and driving a clean, smooth race," Holland said of his recent streak. "I like it when it (the track) is dry and fast."
Ney and Tom Hablett won heat races.
Big Diamond will host a program of 358 modifieds, 358 late models and roadrunners next Friday night.
Big Diamond Speedway
Friday's feature results
358 modifieds (Georgie Stevenson Memorial, 34 laps) - 1. Rick Laubach ($3,400), 2. Duane Howard, 3. Frank Cozze, 4. Jared Umbenhauer, 5. Doug Manmiller, 6. Tim Buckwalter, 7. Ray Swinehart, 8. Kevin Smith, 9. Scott Albert, 10. Mike Mammana, 11. Jason Rivers, 12. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 13. Jim Bobbitt Jr., 14. Heath Metzger, 15. Billy Pauch Jr., 16. Kyle Follweiler, 17. Meme DeSantis, 18. Dale Hartz, 19. Colt Harris, 20. John Willman, 21. Lou Cicconi, 22. Dan Hineline, 23. Brett Kressley, 24. Joe Mooney, 25. Kevin Albert Jr., 26. Ron Haring Jr.
Sportsmen (20 laps) - 1. Tim Fitzpatrick ($1,000), 2. Craig Whitmoyer, 3. J.R. Fulper, 4. Doug Hendricks, 5. Wayne Witmer, 6. Mike Lisowski, 7. Shawn Light, 8. Billy Moyer Jr., 9. Charles Webber, 10. Ray Woodall Jr., 11. Harry Landis, 12. Clay Butler, 13. Jeff Bubori, 14. Chad Putalavage, 15. Josh Hertzog, 16. Mike Glass, 17. A.J. Gerhart, 18. Todd Huffman, 19. Rob Riegel, 20. Charles Fayash III, 21. Kevin Beach Jr.
Roadrunners (20 laps) - 1. Chris Holland ($225), 2. Shon Elk, 3. Jim Kost, 4. Devin Trexler, 5. Andrew Fayash III, 6. Jared Seigfried, 7. Kris Ney, 8. Tom Hablett, 9. Jeremy Becker, 10. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 11. Joe Kavanaugh, 12. Terry Kramer Jr., 13. Jesse Krasnitsky, 14. Kyle Wingle, 15. John Whyne, 16. Joey Brennan, 17. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 18. Billy Wingle Jr., 19. Jon Schlauch, 20. Bill Wingle Sr., 21. Chuck Eckert, 22. Tony Hilliard.