Racing in front of a packed grandstand, the Oley driver charged from the 10th starting position, took the lead on lap 18 and held off repeated challenges from Billy Pauch Jr. during a long stretch of uninterrupted green-flag racing.
The victory was Reimert’s fifth of the season and his second in the Coalcracker 72. It earned the Doug and Annie Flurer-owned No. 16 team $15,000, along with the largest share of the event’s lap money.
“This means a lot, especially winning the championship too and it just shows that we were consistent enough all year to win the championship and when it came down to racing and racing hard, we were fast enough to win heads up,” Reimert said.
A season-high field of 52 cars signed in, making qualifying critical for drivers hoping to secure one of the 24 starting positions. Five heat races and two B-mains set the field, with the top 15 finishers from the heats participating in a redraw.
Jimmy Leiby drew the pole, with Jack Butler starting alongside him. Reimert drew the 10th starting spot.
When starter Shawn Mulhall displayed the green flag, Leiby jumped to the early lead over Jeff Strunk, Butler, Mike Gular and Tim Buckwalter.
The first caution came on lap nine when Mike Lisowski stopped in Turn 2. By then, Buckwalter had advanced to third. On the restart, he raced side-by-side with Strunk before taking second on lap 11, when another caution flew after Butler and Duane Howard made contact.
That would be the final stoppage of the race, with the remaining 61 laps running caution-free.
Buckwalter restarted on the outside of Leiby and quickly powered into the lead. Pauch and Reimert had also moved into the top five, but Reimert wasted little time continuing his march forward. In a span of three laps, he passed Pauch, Strunk and Leiby to move into second behind Buckwalter.
It was a familiar matchup between two drivers who had battled throughout the season. Reimert stayed committed to the inside groove and made his move on lap 18, slipping underneath Buckwalter to take the lead.
“I was tired of running the last few races second to Timmy (Buckwalter), and I got under him and I thank him for not shoveling me when we went into (Turn) 3,” Reimert said of the winning pass.
Buckwalter remained within striking distance, while Pauch stayed close behind. The trio raced in tight formation for the next 18 laps before Pauch moved past Buckwalter for second on lap 36.
From there, lapped traffic became a major factor. Reimert encountered several close calls while trying to navigate slower cars and keep Pauch behind him. Pauch pulled alongside Reimert several times, reinforcing the leader’s decision to protect the bottom of the track.
“Billy got alongside of me a few times, and that reinforced my thought that I have to run the bottom,” Reimert said. “And you can’t blame them guys either that we came up on. They got their own race going on, but when you get the move-over flag, your night’s kind of over.”
Each time Reimert cleared traffic, Pauch stayed on his rear bumper and waited for an opening. Reimert never gave him one.
“I figured whoever was behind me, which was Billy, was pretty close,” Reimert said. “I thought that no matter what I’m doing, I’m not going to leave the bottom open. Just protect, protect, protect because when it comes down to the last lap in a big race like this, you’re going to do what you got to do to win, and I just tried to prevent anything like that from happening.”
Pauch settled for second, while Anthony Perrego advanced past Buckwalter late in the race to finish third. Buckwalter placed fourth, and Gular, who remained among the leaders throughout the event, completed the top five.
Logan Watt finished sixth, followed by Strunk, Rick Laubach, Danny Bouc and Brett Kressley to round out the top 10.
Bashore Breaks Through in Coalcracker 25
Bryce Bashore of Bethel ended a string of near-misses at Big Diamond Speedway by capturing the 602 Crate Sportsman Coalcracker 25.
Bashore had been a contender in each of his six previous appearances at the track this season, finishing second three times. This time, he would not be denied.
Starting third, Bashore moved into second at the drop of the green flag and remained close behind early leader Rick Wegner Jr. Bashore pulled alongside Wegner as they completed lap 15, then took the lead exiting Turn 2.
He stayed out front the rest of the way to earn his first Big Diamond victory since competing in the Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman division three years ago.
Wegner recorded a career-best second-place finish. Mike Schneck Jr. placed third, followed by Brayden Shelton in fourth and Dakota Kohler in fifth.
Long Leads Every Lap of Sport Compact Feature
The Infinite Solutions Keystone Sport Compact Series also joined the Coalcracker program, drawing 23 cars for its 20-lap feature.
Bruce Long of Dalmatia led from start to finish, holding off Chase Hartline to earn his second victory at Big Diamond Speedway.
Hartline closed quickly in the final laps, but Long maintained the top spot and reached the checkered flag before Hartline could mount a final challenge.
Information Submitted by By Dino Oberto