FORESTVILLE - Slatington's Kyle Follweiler had victory in his sights Friday night at Big Diamond Speedway.
He not only held the lead of the 25-lap 358 modified feature from the green flag, but he got the benefit of two caution flags to negate passes for the lead by Billy Pauch Jr.
However, Follweiler would not get his second career victory at the Forestville oval. After finally losing the lead to Pauch, Follweiler's car flipped in a rollover crash with two laps remaining.
Meanwhile, Pauch padded his 358 modified track points lead by taking his fourth feature triumph of the season.
It was a reversal from the preceding week, when Pauch's car ran out of fuel while he was racing among the top three in the 34th Georgie Stevenson Memorial, a race which lasted 48 minutes and much longer than the 34 green-flag laps.
"Last week, I think, was the worst weekend of my year," said Pauch, who took 15th place in the Stevenson Memorial. "We turned it around with a win Wednesday (in a SpeedSTR at Action Track USA in Kutztown) and a win here."
Pauch shared Victory Lane on Friday with two roadrunner drivers. Pottsville's Jeremy Becker won the 20-lap feature after Pine Grove's Chris Holland took the Pro Shine Auto Detailing Challenge Races title. Hamburg's Scott Haus won the 20-lap 358 late model feature, which consisted of seven of the eight cars that dotted the pit area.
Just as Haus also won his class' heat race, Pauch demonstrated his car's strength early by taking his second 358 modified heat win of the season.
However, Follweiler, who was third in his heat, found the outside lane to his liking from the start of the feature.
After the first 17 laps went non-stop, things then got more interesting.
The smoking car of Stevenson Memorial winner Rick Laubach brought out the first caution flag, and Pauch beat Follweiler off the second turn on the restart. Before the lap was completed, however, Bobby Gunther Walsh's car spun in the third corner to bring out another caution.
Again, Pauch powered past Follweiler in the second corner when the green flag fell.
But there was yet another spin, this time by several cars. Follweiler kept Pauch behind him on this restart and led three more laps before the car of Lehighton's Kevin Smith suffered a right rear flat tire, forcing another caution flag.
It took almost a complete lap after the green flag, but Pauch finally drove past Follweiler at the flagstand. As the cars entered the first turn, Follweiler's car barrel-rolled, landing on its roof and ending his night.
"It's a shame for him," Pauch said. "He's a great driver and a good friend, but I've got a really great car and it rolls so well through the center (of the turns) that's it's unbelievable."
Pauch then held off Duane Howard for the victory. Meme DeSantis took third ahead of Jared Umbenhauer and Dale Hartz.
Smith and Umbenhauer each took their second heat wins of the season. Colt Harris won his second consolation race in 2014.
In other action, Haus overtook Ben Whitaker in the second corner on the eighth lap and led the rest of the 358 late model feature for his third win of the season.
"I don't know if we had the wrong tires on, but it threw us a curve when we went out early tonight before the other guys ran," Haus said about the first feature of the program. "The track was a little wetter, but we got lucky tonight."
Whitaker held off Bryan Bernheisel for second place.
Becker, who was eliminated by inches in the second-to-last race in the Challenge Races, came back to lead every lap of the roadrunner feature for his fifth win. Joey Brennan took second ahead of Andrew Fayash III, Holland and Jim Kost.
However, Holland earned nearly as much money with his single lap to win the Challenge Races.
After Forestville's Joe Kavanaugh, who began the series of one-lap dashes by picking Jared Seigfried as his first rival, won three times, Terry Kramer Jr. eliminated Kavanaugh and then lost to Tremont's T.J. Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick then won five more times - beating brother Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., Kost, Brennan, Shon Elk and Becker - before Holland edged him by one-half car-length.
"Everybody he went up against, he picked the outside," Holland said of T.J. Fitzpatrick's streak. "I just beat him on the start, got him on the bottom and got clear of him in turns one and two."
Big Diamond will host the Big-Block Brawl, a program featuring the SuperDIRT Series big-block modifieds in a 75-lap feature paying $6,000 to the winner, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The card includes a match race between the top four in SuperDIRT Series points and the top four in Big Diamond points. Representing the SuperDIRT Series will be Matt Sheppard, Brett Hearn, Billy Decker and Billy Dunn. Big Diamond's representatives will be Pauch, Howard, Laubach and Frank Cozze
Tuesday's program includes the roadrunners and fireworks.
Big Diamond Speedway
Friday's results
358 modifieds (25 laps) -1. Billy Pauch Jr. ($2,750), 2. Duane Howard, 3. Meme DeSantis, 4. Jared Umbenhauer, 5. Dale Hartz, 6. Kevin Albert Jr.., 7. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 8. Frank Cozze, 9. Scott Albert, 10. Jimmy Bobbitt Jr., 11. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 12. Colt Harris, 13. Ron Haring Jr., 14. Neil Huber, 15. Heath Metzger, 16. Jamie Spears, 17. Kyle Follweiler, 18. Kevin Smith, 19. John Willman, 20. Lou Cicconi, 21. Rick Laubach, 22. Mike Mammana, 23. Ray Swinehart, 24. Dan Hineline, 25. Tim Fitzpatrick, 26. Paul Moyer.
358 late models (20 laps) - 1. Scott Haus ($1,000), 2. Ben Whitaker, 3. Bryan Bernheisel, 4. Danny Snyder, 5. Jim O'Hara, 6. Devin Frey, 7. Steve Nederostek. DNS - Andrew Stotler.
Roadrunners (20 laps) - 1. Jeremy Becker ($225), 2. Joey Brennan, 3. Andrew Fayash III, 4. Chris Holland, 5. Jim Kost, 6. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 7. Devin Trexler, 8. Kris Ney, 9. Shon Elk, 10. Tom Hablett, 11. Terry Kramer, Jr., 12. Joe Kavanaugh, 13. Jesse Krasnitsky, 14. Billy Wingle Jr., 15. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 16. John Whyne, 17. Jared Seigfried, 18. Kyle Wingle, 19. Bruce Ditzler.
Pro Shine Auto Detailing Challenge Races (roadrunners)
1. Joe Kavanaugh def. Jared Seigfried; 2. Kavanaugh def. Jesse Krasnitsky; 3. Kavanaugh def. Terry Kramer Jr.; 4. T.J. Fitzpatrick def. Kramer; 5. Fitzpatrick def. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr.; 6. Fitzpatrick def. Jim Kost; 7. Fitzpatrick def. Joey Brennan; 8. Fitzpatrick def. Shon Elk; 9. Fitzpatrick def. Jeremy Becker; 10. Chris Holland ($200) def. Fitzpatrick.