FORESTVILLE — At this rate, Rick Laubach may soon be among the top 10 all-time 358 modified feature winners at Big Diamond Speedway.
Notching his fifth victory at Big Diamond this season, Laubach passed race leader Justin Grim in the second turn of Lap 18 and beat Duane Howard to the finish off Friday’s 25-lap feature.
The win was Laubach’s 18th at Big Diamond, ranking 12th on the all-time list. He needs two to tie Butch Kreiser and Jack Follweiler for 10th place.
Laubach was joined in victory lane Friday by six other drivers in a big program.
Orwigsburg’s Doug Hendricks won the rained-out June 12 sportsman feature, but was unable to finish the regularly-scheduled feature, won by Orefield’s Brett Kressley.
The roadrunners held their annual Crazy 8s program, a quartet of eight-lap features won by Phoenix Park’s Terry Kramer Jr., Branchdale’s Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., Tremont’s T.J. Fitzpatrick and Noxen’s Andrew Fayash III.
Laubach credited his shocks that he constructs for the ability to pass Grim, who started on the pole after his fourth heat win of the season.
“This is a new kind of shock that I have on my car that other people don’t have yet,” said Laubach, who started 12th. “So there is a little advantage there. It is what it is. It’s my advantage for now.”
Points leader Duane Howard took the second spot. Craig Von Dohren, driving a car owned by Hamburg’s Dave Dissinger, took third ahead of Billy Pauch Jr. and Grim.
Shawn Fitzpatrick and Ray Swinehart also won heats.
Hendricks won his third straight feature in the make-up race despite losing the lead twice during the event.
That included a pass on a restart by points leader Tim Fitzpatrick that was wiped out by the lone caution flag. Hendricks changed his position from the outside to the inside lane for the next restart and drove off.
“Just the way he was ... pushing me up the track on the restarts over in (turns) three and four,” Hendricks said of the change. “I thought, ‘Either I pay him back or I’ll get a good start, get out front and hope for the best to get a good finish. Fortunately it worked out for us.”
Tim Fitzpatrick took second ahead of Craig Whitmoyer, Kris Lilick and Chad Putalavage.
In the regularly-scheduled 20-lap feature, Kressley grabbed the lead from Whitmoyer on a Lap 16 restart and led the remaining laps.
“It was fun coming up to coal country here and racing on a Friday night,” said Kressley, who did not race in the make-up feature.
Whitmoyer was second ahead of Mike Mammana, Tim Fitzpatrick and Shawn Light.
Mammana, Fitzpatrick and Whitmoyer each won heats.
Only one of the Crazy 8s roadrunner features went nonstop as Kramer started the first race from the pole and held off Jim Kost for his second feature win of the season.
T.J. Fitzpatrick and Fayash, who had won the preceding week, notched their second feature wins of the season. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr. earned his first feature victory since he won a Crazy 8s race in 2014.
Kramer and the Fitzpatricks all gained their wins from the pole position.
But Fayash, who started from the outside pole, lost the lead to Chris Holland in the night’s final Crazy 8s race. Holland’s car then spun in the second turn of the final lap, allowing Fayash to win.
Elvin Brennan began a string of three straight third-place finishes in the first feature before taking fifth in the final race.
Big Diamond will host the George and Georgie Stevenson Memorial Presented by B&H Landscaping next Friday. The 358 modifieds will race a 35-lap feature and a cash dash.
The 8:15 p.m. program includes sportsmen, roadrunners and 600cc modifieds and will feature fireworks.
Big Diamond Speedway Friday’s results
Roadrunners (Crazy 8s, first feature) —1. Terry Kramer Jr., 2. Jim Kost, 3. Elvin Brennan, 4. Jeremy Becker, 5. Shon Elk, 6. Jesse Krasnitsky, 7. Andrew Fayash III, 8. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 9. Chris Holland, 10. Joe Kavanaugh, 11. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 12. Devin Trexler, 13. Bruce Ditzler, 14. Dave Long Jr., 15. Chris Natale, 16. Bill Killian, 17. Jon Schlauch, 18. Kris Ney.
Sportsmen (20 laps, make-up from June 12 rainout) —1. Doug Hendricks, 2. Tim Fitzpatrick, 3. Craig Whitmoyer, 4. Kris Lilick, 5. Chad Putalavage, 6. Wayne Witmer, 7. Mike Lisowski, 8. Billy Moyer Jr., 9. Shawn Light, 10. Mike Glass, 11. Charles Webber, 12. Charles Fayash, 13. A.J. Gerhart, 14. Daryl Dissinger, 15. Glenn Rowan, 16. Todd Huffman, 17. Matt Clay, 18. Jack Butler, 19. Kevin Brady, 20. Mike Mammana, 21. Billy Wingle Jr., 22. Josh Hertzog, 23. Ed Mrochko, 24. Jeremy Hertzog.
Roadrunners (Crazy 8s, second feature) —1. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 2. Fayash, 3. Brennan, 4. Becker, 5. Elk, 6. Kramer, 7. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 8. Trexler, 9. Holland, 10. Ditzler, 11. Schlauch, 12. Kavanaugh, 13. Ney, 14. Kost, 15. Krasnitsky, 16. Long, 17. Natale.
358 modifieds (25 laps) —1. Rick Laubach, 2. Duane Howard, 3. Craig Von Dohren, 4. Billy Pauch Jr., 5. Justin Grim, 6. Ryan Watt, 7. Jared Umbenhauer, 8. Colt Harris, 9. John Willman, 10. Ray Swinehart, 11. Kyle Follweiler, 12. Kevin Beach Jr., 13. Mike Gular, 14. Scott Albert, 15. Andrew Krause, 16. Andy Burkhart, 17. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 18. Eric Biehn, 19. Mario Dinatale, 20. Patrick Gold, 21. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 22. Meme DeSantis, 23. Dan Hineline, 24. Heath Metzger, 25. Jim Bobbitt Jr., 26. Paul Moyer.
Roadrunners (Crazy 8s, third feature) —1. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 2. Elk, 3. Brennan, 4. Holland, 5. Fayash, 6. Becker, 7. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr., 8. Kramer, 9. Kost, 10. Trexler, 11. Natale, 12. Kavanaugh, 13. Schlauch, 14. Ney, 15. Krasnitsky.
Sportsmen (20 laps, June 26 feature) —1. Brett Kressley, 2. Whitmoyer, 3. Mammana, 4. Fitzpatrick, 5. S. Light, 6. Lisowski, 7. Lilick, 8. Webber, 9. Rowan, 10. Gerhart, 11. Rob Light, 12. Witmer, 13. Putalavage, 14. Mrochko, 15. Clay, 16. Hendricks, 17. Glass, 18. Fayash, 19. Moyer, 20. Huffman, 21. Brady, 22. Dissinger, 23. Jo. Hertzog, 24. Je. Hertzog.
Roadrunners (Crazy 8s, fourth feature) —1. Fayash, 2. Becker, 3. Trexler, 4. Kost, 5. Brennan, 6. T.J. Fitzpatrick, 7. Kramer, 8. Elk, 9. Kavanaugh, 10. Natale, 11. Schlauch, 12. Holland, 13. Tim Fitzpatrick Jr.