FORESTVILLE — It had been a long time since Oley’s Duane Howard had stood in victory lane at Big Diamond Speedway.
“I’ll tell you what, we really need to get on the stick here,” Howard said after winning Friday’s 25-lap 358 modified feature. “I really like this place.”
Howard’s victory was the 72nd of his Big Diamond career, trailing only Craig Von Dohren’s 79, but Howard’s last win had occurred on April 26, 2013.
According to the website www.coracingworld.com, that was his 200th career win overall. He has since won 21 more features at other speedways before taking another checkered flag at Big Diamond.
While Howard became the fourth different winner in five 358 modified features at Big Diamond this season, Lebanon’s Jasen Geesaman earned his track-best third street stock feature victory in that 20-lap main.
The other feature winners were Telford’s Jonathan Josko in the 600cc modified race and Branchdale’s T.J. Fitzpatrick in the 20-lap roadrunner feature.
According to www.coracingworld.com, the last time Howard put the No. 126 modified, owned by Glenn Hyneman, in victory lane at Big Diamond was Sept. 6, 2002.
Howard’s latest No. 126, which started fourth in the feature, was dominant Friday.
After easily earning his first heat win of the season, he had to hold off two-time feature winner Rick Laubach over the closing laps of the feature because caution flags bunched the field.
Howard credited a new shock absorber package developed by Red Horse Racing’s Chuck Schmick in North Carolina for the improved performance.
“From where we were last year to now, this car is a totally different race car,” he said.
Laubach, the defending track champion, placed second ahead of Von Dohren, who drove Steve Searock’s No. 26. Heat winner Billy Pauch Jr. was fourth ahead of Valley View’s Colt Harris.
In other action, Geesaman passed teammate Chris Derr for the lead on the 12th lap of the street stock feature and never looked back.
“I had to start behind some guys that don’t normally run here,” Geesaman, who started seventh in the feature, said about several newcomers in the division. “It took a few laps to figure out how to get around them because they weren’t so sure of themselves.”
A heat winner, Derr took second ahead of another heat winner, Rich Bossinger. Marc Berzowski and Jeremy Becker completed the top five.
Fitzpatrick, whose No. 102 was severely damaged the preceding week, stepped into the family-owned No. 357 driven last week by Jesse Krasnitsky.
Fitzpatrick then survived a demolition derby of sorts as only seven cars finished the race. Of those, four were involved in at least one of the eight caution periods.
“I started working the gas and the brake at the same time, which is something I never really do, but it seemed to work with this car,” Fitzpatrick said after the first 20-lap feature win of his career.
Heat winner Andrew Fayash III rallied from an early caution flag to place second ahead of Kris Ney, heat winner Jim Kost and Elvin Brennan.
In the 600cc modified feature, Josko became the third different feature winner in the division at Big Diamond this season.
Surging from the eighth starting spot, Josko grabbed the lead with two laps down and paced the remaining distance.
“We were supposed to get a new motor from Doug (Borger), but he didn’t have one for us, so he let us run his car,” Josko said of the winning No. 08. “Doug did all of the setup on it. I just hopped in and it worked good.
“It did exactly what I needed it to do.”
Korey Inglin took second place ahead of Josh Pepe, Nate Brinker and Richie Hitzler.
Josko, Mike Burrows, Jonathan Pepe and Aaron Bowes won heat races.
Big Diamond will host the Gone But Not Forgotten Memorial for 358 modifieds, sportsmen and roadrunners at 8:15 p.m. next Friday.
Big Diamond Speedway Friday’s results
358 modifieds (25 laps) —1. Duane Howard ($3,000), 2. Rick Laubach, 3. Craig Von Dohren, 4. Billy Pauch Jr., 5. Colt Harris, 6. Ray Swinehart, 7. Kevin Beach Jr., 8. Kyle Follweiler, 9. Mike Gular, 10. Joe Mooney, 11. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 12. Heath Metzger, 13. Scott Albert, 14. Neil Huber, 15. Mario Dinatale, 16. Justin Grim, 17. Dave Dissinger, 18. Jared Umbenhauer, 19. Kent Reinert, 20. Meme DeSantis, 21. John Willman, 22. Andy Burkhart, 23. Dale Hartz
Roadrunners (20 laps) —1. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 2. Andrew Fayash III, 3. Kris Ney, 4. Jim Kost, 5. Elvin Brennan, 6. Chris Holland, 7. Joe Kavanaugh, 8. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 9. Terry Kramer, 10. Jesse Krasnitsky, 11. Kyle Wingle, 12. Brian Buchinski, 13. Chris Natale, 14. Shon Elk, 15. Jon Schlauch. DNS — Devin Trexler, Bruce Ditzler
600cc modifieds (20 laps) — 1. Jonathan Josko, 2. Korey Inglin, 3. Josh Pepe, 4. Nate Brinker, 5. Richie Hitzler, 6. Josh Bewley, 7. Mike Burrows, 8. Billy Koch, 9. Andrew Ace, 10. Barry Breidegan, 11. Abbey Price, 12. Joe Osborne, 13. Chris Eckert, 14. Dennis Bartlett, 15. D.J. Hunt, 16. Barry Lee, 17. Charles Bowers, 18. Scott Washburn, 19. David McCrone, 20. Shawna Schibilia, 21. Wyatt Harrar, 22. Tim Van Horn Jr., 23. Kyle Inglin, 24. Jason Mills, 25. Brian Blankenbiller, 26. Brett Wanner, 27. Jonathan Pepe, 28. Aaron Bowes. DNS — Jason Dunkleberger
Street stocks (20 laps) —1. Jasen Geesaman, 2. Chris Derr, 3. Rich Bossinger, 4. Marc Berzowski, 5. Jeremy Becker, 6. Tyler Stump, 7. Noah Jensen, 8. Dave Kamp, 9. Tom Dawson, 10. Jon Jensen, 11. Mike Radocha