FORESTVILLE — Though he drives a yellow car, John Willman knew his 358 modified was a dark horse entering Friday’s Triple Diamonds program at Big Diamond Speedway.
“I told them near the end of last year we were going to be good,” Willman said, referring to car owners Dave and Charlotte Eyrich. “‘Don’t spend a lot of money this year. Get the motor freshened up and we’ll get going good.’
“I told them the last three weeks we were faster, faster and faster.”
That translated into Friday’s 30-lap victory. It was the Birdsboro resident’s first of the season and the first-ever modified victory for the Eyrichs. They had previously owned late models which raced at Grandview Speedway, Bechtelsville.
The other feature winners Friday are Schuylkill County residents.
Orwigsburg’s Doug Hendricks repeated as sportsman feature winner while Pottsville’s Jim Kost earned his second straight win in the roadrunner main.
The winning move of Willman’s feature came almost immediately.
Starting third behind polesitter Colt Harris, Willman shot to the lead in the first lap and never looked back.
“I knew from the water last week that the top was going to be slimy,” Willman said. “So I saw when Colt went to the top. I knew what I had to do. I knew he was going to slide up the track. I went to the bottom, and that was the move.”
Three drivers — Ray Swinehart, Craig Von Dohren and Billy Pauch Jr. — tried to catch Willman after each was second during the 30 laps. None could.
Von Dohren was involved in contact with track points leader Duane Howard with 21 laps down that sent Von Dohren off the backstretch and into the tire wall. Track officials relegated both to the rear, but Howard salvaged 10th place.
Pauch took second ahead of Llewellyn’s Kevin Beach Jr., Swinehart and Meme DeSantis.
The program originally was slated to contain semi-features to set the Triple Diamonds field, but instead the program had three heats. They were won by Justin Grim, Willman and Pauch, who leads all divisions with four heat wins in 2015.
Starting from the outside pole, Hendricks passed race leader Paul Kline on the 11th lap and drove away, eventually beating runner-up Mike Mammana by 2.017 seconds.
“It was another night that we got lucky,” Hendricks said. “Last week, it was really lucky because we missed the wrecks and everything. This week, we started up front and stayed there, thank God.”
Mammana edged Kline for second place. Tim Fitzpatrick was fourth ahead of Wayne Witmer.
Mammana and Fitzpatrick won heat races.
Taking advantage of Big Diamond’s return of the roadrunner feature before intermission, Kost also led every lap from the outside pole in a closely-contested event that featured a one-lap dash to the checkered flag after a caution period.
“It’s better racing for us. A slick track is a little harder for guys like us to drive,” Kost said about the schedule change, which gives the roadrunners a wetter track.
Terry Kramer Jr., who inherited second place from Elvin Brennan after he was involved in a crash with Kris Ney, kept the runner-up spot. Shon Elk was third ahead of Tim Fitzpatrick and T.J. Fitzpatrick.
Brennan and Chris Holland, whose car broke after seven laps in the feature, took heat victories.
Big Diamond will host a program of 358 modifieds, sportsmen, roadrunners and street stocks at 8:15 p.m. next Friday. Children’s Big Wheel races also are scheduled for intermission.
Big Diamond Speedway Friday’s results
358 modifieds (Triple Diamonds, 30 laps) —1. John Willman ($3,000), 2. Billy Pauch Jr., 3. Kevin Beach Jr., 4. Ray Swinehart, 5. Meme DeSantis, 6. Jared Umbenhauer, 7. Colt Harris, 8. Scott Albert, 9. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 10. Duane Howard, 11. Rusty Smith, 12. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 13. Heath Metzger, 14. Andy Burkhart, 15. Paul Moyer, 16. Craig Von Dohren, 17. Rick Laubach, 18. Kyle Follweiler, 19. Justin Grim, 20. Shawn Ward, 21. Jim Bobbitt Jr., 22. Mario Dinatale, 23. Kent Reinert.
Sportsmen (20 laps) —1. Doug Hendricks ($1,000), 2. Mike Mammana, 3. Paul Kline, 4. Tim Fitzpatrick, 5. Wayne Witmer, 6. Daryl Dissinger, 7. Billy Moyer Jr., 8. Shawn Light, 9. Chad Putalavage, 10. Charles Webber, 11. Jack Butler, 12. Ed Mrochko, 13. Billy WIngle Jr., 14. Kris Lilick, 15. Charles Fayash, 16. Mike Lisowski, 17. Glenn Rowan, 18. Matt Clay, 19. Jeremy Hertzog. DNS — Josh Hertzog.
Roadrunners (20 laps) —1. Jim Kost ($300), 2. Terry Kramer Jr., 3. Shon Elk, 4. Tim Fitzpatrick, 5. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 6. Jeremy Becker, 7. Jesse Krasnitsky, 8. Chris Natale, 9. Elvin Brennan, 10. Dave Long Jr., 11. Jon Schlauch, 12. Joe Kavanaugh, 13. Kris Ney, 14. Andrew Fayash III, 15. Chris Holland.