The cars and stars of USAC were the main attraction Friday night at the Big Diamond Speedway on Slifko Service Center night as the “Wingless” East Coast Sprints and the Midgets took to the Schuylkill County dirt oval.
In the Wingless Sprint feature event it was Joey Biasi who raced under the checkered flag first to take the big win. The race got underway with Steven Drevicki jumping to the lead from his pole starting spot to take the early command. Eddie Strada coming from the sixth spot was on the move early on making his towards the front as lapped traffic was starting to come into play early.
Lap ten proved to be the undoing of Strada’s strong run as he got out of shape running closely with the leader Drevicki and Biasi. Strada was somehow able to save himself from spinning but his bid for win would come to an end in the next turn as he looped his car to bring out the yellow.
On the restart Biasi powers by Drevicki to take the lead and starts to pull away from the field. The red flag was brought out when Ryan Quakenbush got out of shape in turn two and did a roll. Quakenbush was okay. When the field returned to racing it was all Biasi who leaves the field behind. While Biasi was pulling away from the field a great three car battle was underway for second through fourth between Drevicki and new players Ryan Godown and Trevor Kobylarz. Those three drivers battled it out for the runnerup spot as Biasi went to take the win. Drevicki won the battle for second with Kobylarz besting Godown for the third spot. Chandler Leiby would come home in fifth.
The USAC Eastern Midget feature was dominated by Adam Pierson who came from his eighth starting to take the lead on lap four. Pierson made his way to the front running up high on the track and just driving around his competition.
A yellow on lap seven allowed seventh place starter Alex Bright to lineup on the leader’s bumper. The strong running Bright was giving it all he had down low to get by the leader every lap, but Pierson seemed to have the preferred line and was able to power off the corners with the lead. Bright had one more shot at the leader after the yellow came out on lap 19 setting up a one lap shootout for the win.
Bright gave it his best effort as he made a bid for the lead coming out of turn for coming to the checkered flag, but it was quite good enough as Pierson held Bright off by less than a car length to take the exciting win. After Pierson and Bright, it was Johnny Smith, Ryan Wilson and Brendan Bright completing the top five.
It was caution flag fever early on in the Central PA Legend feature race and when it all played out it was Travis McClelland who dominated the race to take the win. Jeremy Ott and Scott Houdeshell would put on a battle for second but were no match on this night for McClelland who took the win. Ott would hold off Houdeshell for second with Bob Stough and Greg Burd rounding out the top five.
The Savage 61 Road Runners feature event was won by Terry Kramer. Kramer took the lead from his seventh starting spot on lap ten when he raced past early leader Shawn Mulhall. Chris Holland was also on the move and at the halfway mark it was Kramer leading Mulhall and Holland. The last ten laps saw Kramer stay out in front as Mulhall and Holland kept the leader close but never able to mount a hard challenge for the win. Kramer was your winner with Mulhall, Holland, Jim Kost and Mike Reichert the top five.
Just a reminder, that next Friday night is the huge Leindecker Racing Engines $5000 to win Sportsman race which should bring in some outsider all looking to steal the money away from the Big Diamond regulars.
Short results Slifko Service Center Night 7/20/2018
USAC East Coast Sprints feature was won by Joe Biasi followed by Steven Drevicki, Trevor Kobylarz, Ryan Godown, Chandler Leiby, Kyle Lick, Carmen Perigo, Eddie Strada, Bill Unglert, Christopher Allen Jr., Coleman Gulick, Eric Jennings, Chris Dyson, Trey Hivner, Heidi Hedin, Brian Riccio, and Jason Cherry. Did not finish were Ryan Quackenbush, Bobby Sandt Jr. and Kyle Purks.
The sprint heats were won by Trevor Kobylarz and Eddie Strada.
USAC East Coast Midgets feature was won by Adam Pierson followed by Alex Bright, Johnny Smith, Ryan Wilson, Brendan Bright, Andrew Layser, Shawn Jackson and Steven Drevicki. Did not finish were John Andericka, Brett Conkling, Jason Rice, Reed Salony and Kenny Miller. The midget heats were won by Adam Pierson and Johnny Smith.
Central PA Legends feature was won by Travis McClelland followed by Jeremy Ott, Scott Houdeshell, Bob Stough, Greg Burd, Bill Diehl, Lucas Montgomery, Travis Perry, Scott Smith, Rick Hartwig, Chandler Pagnotta, Brent Marquis, Nathan Renfro, Ed Trump, Scott Spidle, Jorjie Sweger, Trent Yoder, Stephen Wurtzer, Alex Schmiedel, Robert Shaw and Eric Hurst. Did not finish were Chris McKinney, Ron Dick Jr. and Mason Cheney. Did not qualify were Bob Rife, Alex Robinson and Zachary Settle. Legend car heats were won by Scott Smith, Greg Burd and Jeremy Ott. The consolation was won by Scott Spidle.
The Savage 61 Road Runner division feature was won by Terry Kramer followed by Shawn Mulhall, Chris Holland, Jim Kost, Mike Reichert, Kris Ney, Matt Ney, Kerry Fritz and Shon Elk. Did not start was Fred Everly.
The road runner heats were won by Terry Kramer and Jim Kost