Billy Pauch Jr Wins Battle & Takes Opening Night Honors At Big Diamond

Story By: KENNETH BRUCE / BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY – MINERSVILLE, PA – It was unbelievably warm spring night up in God’s Country as Big Diamond presented their 47th season opener. Standing tall in victory lane on “Schaeffers Motorsports Night” and taking top honors were Billy Pauch Jr after a terrific battle with rival Ryan Godown in the Mattera’s Electrical and General Contracting 358 Modfieds feature race.

Youngster Alex Yankowski was the USS Achey Sportsman winner with Kris Ney taking the Savage 61 Roadrunners main event and Elvis Brennan III winning the No Sweat Service Group Street Stock feature.

A great crowd was on hand as the cars took the track for the evening. Despite all of the harsh weather we’ve had over the past few weeks the track was in pretty good condition for a season opener with both an inside and outside groove available for the racers to choose from.

The first feature of the 2018 season to hit the track was for the Savage 61 Roadrunners and it didn’t disappoint as Kris Ney, Mike Reichert and Shawn Mulhall put on a terrific three car battle for the win. Inside, outside Richert and Mulhall tried to get by Ney but with no avail as Kris Ney stood tall in the seat win his first feature of the year. Reichert held on for second with Mulhall in third. Steve Gromis and Matt Ney rounded out the top five.

Next feature up on the docket was the 30-lap, $4000 to win season opener for the mighty Mattera’s Electrical and General Contracting 358 Modifieds. The race did not disappoint as Billy Pauch Jr battled arch-rival Ryan Godown tooth and nail for the last portion of the race to grab the win. For Pauch it was a well-earned victory and the New Jersey driver was happy to get the season started off in a big way at the speedway.

“It was a good way to start the season, this is a good car and it was fast right out of the box. My guys put in a lot of hours and dedication to get this car ready and it all worked out tonight. I couldn’t do this without them. This is a new car right, it was never on the track until tonight and it ran great. I have to thank Bicknell Racing, Morgantini Engines, Bilstein Shocks and all my sponsors for making this all happen.”

The feature started with Frank Yankowski on the pole with Ryan Godown right alongside of him. Yankowski jumped out to lead lap one with Godown putting on the pressure immediately. Just as Godown thought he had Yankowski cleared for the lead on the backstretch the two made contact forcing Godown up over the cushion dropping him back to eighth in the running order.

This put Pauch Jr in second as he started to put pressure on the leader. Just as Pauch Jr took the lead a yellow came out negating the pass thus handing the lead back to Yankowski. It didn’t take long for Pauch to get the lead again as he made the pass on lap 10 and started to pull away. Meanwhile Godown was very fast in his new Searock Fabrications Troyer car and was steadily making his way back to the front passing the likes of Duane Howard, Jeff Strunk and Craig Von Dohren on his way. Godown had worked his way back up into the runner-up spot at the halfway point and now the stage was set for another anticipated Pauch/Godown battle and they did not disappoint.

A lap 21 yellow put the two rivals alongside each other and on the restart Godown made the pass for the lead going into turn one and made it stick. But Pauch was not giving up and one lap later made a bold move coming into turn one to regain the lead. Godown was not giving up either and some contact was made but it was all in the form of hard racing. Pauch was able to hang on and keep the lead but Godown was right there just waiting for Pauch to make a mistake but the former Big Diamond never made that mistake and was able to speed under the checkered flag for the well-earned victory.

“Ryan made nice clean pass on me for the lead there, but we were able to come back and slide back by him to get the lead back. We race each other hard but overall, I think we ran each other clean tonight. Sure, there was some contact but that’s the way it goes sometimes, and we’ll move forward.”

Billy Pauch was your winner with Godown a close second. Craig Von Dohren, Jeff Strunk and Duane Howard rounded out the top five. Finishing sixth thru tenth were Ryan Watt, Rick Laubach, Kevin Beach Jr, Erick Rudolph and Gary Hager.

The USS Achey Sportsman feature was won by thirteen-year-old Alex Yankowski who started on the pole and led all 20 laps enroute to his first ever feature win at the speedway. Yankowski was in total control of the race as the drivers battled hard behind him. A hard crash on lap 18 eliminated some of the top runners as they were trying to catch the leader. On the restart Yankowski was able to stay in front and take the victory. Ken Eckert Jr was second followed by veterans Craig Whitmoyer, Dave Dissinger and Wayne Witmer completing the top five. Doug Hendricks put on quite a show for the fans after starting 20th, Hendricks was making moves on the outside and was up to sixth when something broke forcing him to call it a night.

The No Sweat Service Group Street Stocks were the last feature of the night and Elvis Brennan III took home the top honors after a hard battle with Chris Heller. Brennan III was finally able to get by Heller on lap 16 and take the checkered flag. Following Brennan III and Heller across the line were Mark Berzowski, Dean Hine and Robin Wagner.

Don’t forget next week April 20th is the annual “Money in the Mountains” big block / small block challenge race paying $6000 to the winner of the 40-lap feature event. The Sportsman, Roadrunners and Street Stocks will also be on the bill for night’s action.

April 13th Results:

The Matteras Electrical Modified Division $4,000 – 1. Billy Pauch Jr. 2. Ryan Godown 3. Craig VonDohren 4. Jeff Strunk 5. Duane Howard 6. Ryan Watt 7. Rick Laubach 8. Kevin Beach 9. Erick Rudolph 10. Gary Hager 11. Doug Manmiller 12. Ryan Krachun 13. Jimmy Reppert 14. Grant Hilfiger 15. Andy Burkhart 16. Meme Desantis 17. Frank Yankowski 18. Kris Graver. Did not finish were Mike Lisowski, Brett Kressley, Frank Cozze, Frank Porreca, Bobby Trapper and Ray Swinehart. Did not qualify were John Willman, Billy Lasko, Jim Bobbitt, Heath Metzger, Scott Albert, Skyler Sheriff, Cliff Quinn and Shawn Fitzpatrick.

Modified heats were won by Pauch, Beach and VonDohren. The modified consolation was won by Reppert.

The USS Achey Sportsman division was won by Alex Yankowski followed by Ken Eckert Jr., Craig Whitmoyer, Dave Dissinger, Wayne Witmer, Nathan Mohr, Matt Clay, Glenn Rowan, Mike Schneck, Nate Klinger, Mike Loney and Dylan Smith. Did not finish were Dean Bachman, Harry Landis, Kris Lilick, TJ Fitzpatrick, Dakota Kohler, Chris Brennan, Doug Hendricks, Daryl Dissinger, Shawn Light, Michael Burrows, Kevin Brady and Ed Mrchko. Did not qualify were Kyle and Blake Reber and Gary Grim.

Sportsman heats were won by Whitmoyer, Yankowski and Dissinger. The consolation was won by Burrows.

The Savage 61 Road Runner division was won by Kris Ney followed by Mike Reichert, Shawn Mulhall, Steve Gromis, Matt Ney, Shon Elk and Cory Lindenmuth. Did not finish were Terry Kramer Jr., Devin Trexler, Jim Kost, Chris Holland, Jon Schlauch, Cory Baver and Fred Everly.

Road Runner heats were won by Gromis and Kramer Jr.

The No Sweat Service Group Street Stock division was won by Elvin Brennan III followed by Chris Heller, Mark Berzowski, Dean Hine, Robin Wagner, Mike Radocha and Joey Brennan. Did not finish were Eric Tripp and Jesse Krasnitsky.

The single Street Stock heat was won by Heller.