Duane Howard Gives Car Owner Butch Getz The 2022 Big Diamond Modified Championship With Win Friday

Story By: BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY – MINERSVILLE, PA – The regular season is now complete at the Big Diamond Speedway with Duane Howard winning the Insigner Performance Modified feature, Brandon Edgar taking the USS Achey Crate 602 Sportsman feature and Alex Schoffstall once again exerted his dominance in the Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner feature. Ironically, all the nightly winners were also crowned champions in their respective divisions.

Most of the championship intrigue was centered on the Insigner Performance Modified division as Brett Kressley came into the night with a 30-point lead over Duane Howard. Kressley added to his points lead by winning his heat compared to Howard who finished second in his heat. Going into the feature event, Kressley had upped his lead to 35 points making Howard’s job just a little harder.

Corey Renninger and Ken Eckert Jr led the 24-car Insigner Performance Modified field to the green flag with Renninger beating Eckert to the line to lead lap one. A lap one caution slowed the race as Tom Solderich slowed to a stop in turn four. During this caution, Louden Reimert headed to the pits ending his night. Back to racing and Kevin Beach Jr takes over the top spot to lead lap two. Outside front row starter Eckert slowed in turn four to bring out the second caution of the race.

A tangle on the restart led to the yellow flag being put out once again. The running order at this point was Beach, Mike Lisowski, Nick Rochinski, ninth place starting Duane Howard and 10th place starting Brett Kressley. Beach was able to stay in front with the cars of Rochinski and Kressley making big moves to take over second and third with Howard losing two spots now running in sixth. The top three were now running nose to tail with Kressley making a bold move on the outside going into turn three on lap nine to try and get past Rochinski for second, then staying up top to pull off a pass of Beach for the lead. Unfortunately for Kressley it was all for naught as Craig Von Dohren found himself turned around in turn four to bring out the yellow.

The following restart saw Rochinski use the outside lane to move past Beach for the lead as Howard moved past Lisowski and into fourth. One lap later Howard moved by Kressley for third. Lap thirteen and Howard was now past Beach and into second with Rochinski leading by almost a straightaway. Howard using the extreme inside groove started to run down Rochinski and with five to go was on the bumper of the leader.

Rochinski and Howard ran side by side for a lap with Howard emerging as the leader as they completed lap 21. Rochinski never left Howard get out of his sight as now Howard had to deal with lapped traffic. The veteran Howard was not fazed and worked his way past the lapped cars to take the win over Nick Rochinski, Brett Kressley, Kevin Beach Jr and Eddie Strada. Howard by virtue of winning and finishing two spots ahead of Kressley was crowned the 2022 Big Diamond Speedway Champion by a mere five points. For Howard it was his 89th career win and his ninth championship at Big Diamond Speedway.

“You know last year we missed out on one by the extended season, so we had something to prove coming into tonight,” said a jubilant Howard in victory lane after his big win. “With the short season due to all of the rainouts, then we got upside down one night and that really hurt us so all we could do was to capitalize and win this feature. I have to thank Getz Motorsports, and everybody involved, they do such a helluva a job and gave me a fast hot rod here. You know for us old timers; the youngsters are chipping at our shoulders but we’re going to show them how it’s down for a couple more years. I just needed the racetrack to come to me, I can rotate the bottom so well. Early it was a struggle for me, and I just knew I had to be patient and really this No. 15G is the only car here that can rotate the bottom like it does and I just had to bide my time and not make mistakes. I have to thank everybody for racing me clean including Brett (Kressley), he is a heckuva a competitor and he will have his chance or championships but tonight I wanted this one. I have been here a long time; I have known the Roehrigs and now I know Jake (track owner/promoter Smulley) and it nice that we have these kinds of facilities in our backyard like Big Diamond. You know when they open the gates, they are going to have something special every year and thanks to Jake and everybody, track attendance has been really good here at Big Diamond.”

The battle for the title in the USS Achey Crate 602 Sportsman division was a little anticlimactic as Brandon Edgar was crowned the champ as soon as he took the green flag for the feature race but that didn’t faze Edgar as he put an exclamation point on his title by winning the 20-lap main event. Brandon Firestone led lap one from his pole starting position as a couple of early cautions slowed the pace of the race. When we returned to racing Firestine, and Daryl Dissinger battled hard for the top spot with Dissinger taking over on lap six. Danny Buccafusca was charging from his 12th starting spot to challenge Dissinger for the lead. Lap nine saw Buccafusca work by Dissinger and into the lead. Edgar charges into second on lap eleven and one lap later Edgar was working on Buccafusca for the lead. Lap 14 saw Edgar being scored the leader, but Buccafusca wasn’t about to give it up without a fight. After a couple of laps Edgar was able to put a few car lengths between himself and second place Buccafusca as now Logan Watt was in third and right behind Buccafusca. Edgar would hang on to win with Buccafusca, Watt, Dissinger and Matt Yoder.

With Mike Reichert not signing in for action on Friday night, Alex Schoffstall was guaranteed the championship in the Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner division. Schoffstall took the lead for good on lap five after swapping it back and forth with Chuck Fayash. Schoffstall was able to hold off Fayash to take his 10th win of the season. Fayash and Andrew Fayash III had a battle royale for second with Chuck Fayash able to hold off Andrew Fayash III. Finishing fourth and fifth were Joe Bassininsky and Jim Kost.

Full results from August 26th, 2022 – Championship Night

Insigner Performance Modifieds: 1. Duane Howard 2. Nick Rochinski 3. Brett Kressley 4. Kevin Beach Jr 5. Eddie Strada 6. Rick Laubach 7. Ryan Watt 8. Mike Lisowski 9. Craig Whitmoyer 10. Corey Renninger 11. Shawn Fitzpatrick 12. Dave Dissinger 13. Bobby Trapper Jr 14. Heath Metzger 15. Scott Albert 16. Dan Hineline 17. Craig Von Dohren 18. Cliff Quinn 19. Shawn Light 20. Wayne Witmer 21. Ken Eckert Jr 22. Jordan Henn 23. Louden Reimert 24. Tom Solderich DNQ: Rob Woleschok & Tim Fitzpatrick

Modified Heat Winners: Brett Kressley, Ken Eckert Jr & Kevin Beach Jr

Modified Consi Winner: Shawn Fitzpatrick

Modified Penske Shocks Gift Certificate Winners: Duane Howard ($100), Nick Rochinski ($75) & Brett Kressley ($50)

Final Modified Top Ten in Points: 1. Duane Howard 1792 2. Brett Kressley 1787 3. Nick Rochinski 1633 4. Craig Von Dohren 1597 5. Louden Reimert 1458 6. Mike Lisowski 7. Rick Laubach 1148 8. Kevin Beach Jr 9. Eddie Strada 10. Ryan Watt 1056

Savage 61 Crate 602 Sportsman: 1. Brandon Edgar 2. Danny Buccafusca 3. Logan Watt 4. Daryl Dissinger 5. Matt Yoder 6. Brandon Oleski 7. Talan Carter 8. Skylar Sheriff 9. Chad Putalavage 10. Kevin Brady 11. Kevin Olenick 12. Amanda Buchel 13. Shon Elk 14. Josh Mooney 15. Xavier Sprague 16. Kaitlyn Bailey 17. Alex Bartorillo 18. Tyler James 19. McKenzi Smith 20. Kyle Kania 21. Tyler Vidal 22. Brandon Firestine 23. Bobby Kupp 24. Marty Shappell DNQ: Ryan Graver & Mike Schneck Jr

Crate Sportsman 602 Heat Winners: Daryl Dissinger, Brandon Firestine & Logan Watt

Crate Sportsman 602 Consi Winners: Josh Mooney

Crate 602 Penske Shocks Gift Certificate Winners: Brandon Edgar ($100), Danny Buccafusca ($75) & Logan Watt ($50)

Final Crate Sportsman Top Ten in Points: 1. Brandon Edgar 2561 2. Danny Buccafusca 2369 3. Logan Watt 2094 4. Kyle Kania 1735 5. Talan Carter 1698 6. Matt Yoder 1679 7. Kevin Olenick 1642 8. Daryl Dissinger 1398 9. Mike Scheck Jr 1109 10. Jordan Henn 1087

Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners: 1. Alex Schoffstall 2. Chuck Fayash 3. Andrew Fayash III 4. Joe Bassininsky 5. Jim Kost 6. CJ Ferguson 7. Terry Kramer 8. Glenn Rowan 9. Tod Roth Jr 10. Tonya Lance 11. Josh Harris DNS: Kyle Wingle & Dave Schultz

Roadrunner Heat Winners: Chuck Fayash & CJ Ferguson

Roadrunner Top Ten in Points: 1. Alex Schoffstall 3410 2. Mike Reichert 3015 3. Chuck Fayash 1701 4. Jim Kost 2443 5. CJ Ferguson 2379 6. Tod Roth Jr 1820 7. Dave Schultz 1819 8. Glenn Rowan 1754 9. Tonya Lance 1729 10. Andrew Fayash III 1617