Story By: BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY – MINERSVILLE, PA – On a beautiful night for racing in God’s Country, it was Tony Jackson winning the Fossil Fuel 35 feature and taking home the $5,000. Kevin Olenick led the Uss Achey, Inc 602 Crate Sportsman to his first win of the year with Kris Ney victorious in the Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner feature. The winner of the Xcel 600 modified feature was Korey Inglin and it was Christopher Buffalino winning the Big Creek Concrete Rookie 602 Crate feature.
The Wingless Sportsman Fossil Fuel 35 feature saw Tony Jackson and Craig Perigo lead the 20-car field to the start with Perigo taking the top spot as they raced down the backstretch, but Jackson regained the lead as they came off turn four to lead lap one. Bill Brian Jr stormed past Perigo to take over the second spot while Jackson was leading the way. A red flag stopped the action on lap seven when the car of Brian Nace went over in turn four. Nace exited the car under his own power and was okay. Back to racing and Jackson remained in front as Alex Bright was now up to third and battling Bill Brian Jr for second.
The field took the halfway flags on lap 18 with Jackson out front by a safe margin with Bill Brian Jr, Alex Bright, Trent Yoder and Cliff Brian Jr all battling for spots inside the top five. Lap 22 saw the leader Jackson come up on the tail of the field to put cars a lap down. Jackson had no issues putting cars a lap down and opening up his lead even more. Bill Brian Jr in second put some distance between himself and Alex Bright who was now trying to hold off a determined Trent Yoder for the third. The yellow was out with five laps to go for a slowing car giving Bill Brian Jr another shot at Jackson. Bill Brian Jr had nothing for Jackson who sped away to a 10 car length advantage quickly. Tony Jackson was not to be denied on this night leading all 35 laps and a payday of $5,000. Bill Brian Jr, Alex Bright, Trent Yoder and Cliff Brian Jr rounded out the top five.
“I don’t like starting on the pole, I’ve won a handful of these races, and I don’t usually do well from the pole,” said the happy Jackson. “I like to chase and watch where guys are running. I watched the board pretty close and saw that Alex (Bright) was up to third pretty quickly and he is a good racer no matter what he is driving and saw that Billy (Brian Jr) was on my tail. I normally like to slam it around the top but tonight the top wasn’t there, so I had to run where the track is. I want to thank the whole track, the track crew and everybody. I have run Super Sportsman for years and outside of one race at BAPS, this is the most we have ran for. It’s kind of sad that our biggest race is 100 laps and we raced for $4,000 and we come up here and run 35 laps for $5,000. I hope we can continue to do this, and I hope we can support it a little better and have 30 race cars.”
Glenn “Buckshot” Owens and Xavier Sprague brought the Uss Achey, Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman to the green flag with Sprague getting the early advantage only to have Brennan Chapman go around to negate the start. The next start saw both Owens and Sprague get together through turns one and two with both going around to bring out the yellow and another complete restart. This put Johnny McGeoy on the point with a single file restart now being ordered from track officials. McGeoy in front for the first time this season now had to deal with Matt Martino who was applying the pressure. Ninth-place starter Kevin Olenick was quickly charging through the field and was past Martino for second as five laps were in the book. Olenick made an aggressive move for the lead past McGeoy going into turn one with some contact and was now the new leader as the halfway flags were displayed. Olenick put some distance between himself and new second place runner Martino just as the yellow was out on lap 15. Martino tried his best on the restart to get underneath of Olenick for the lead but Olenick was not to be denied as was able to put a three car length advantage between himself and Martino. Behind the leaders, points leader Jordan Henn was doing all he could to hold off Colin Cox while Jax Yohn was making a charge from the rear after having to start last for coming on the track late. Tonight it was all about Olenick as he charged to the win for the first time in 2024 over Martino, Henn, Cox and Yohn.
The Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunner feature saw Eric Buchinski take the lead at the drop of the green flag to lead for the first time in 2024. Mike Reichert passed Jim Kost for second and immediately started to pressure Buchinski for the lead as they raced side by side until Reichert was finally able to make the pass as the field completed lap five. Riechert continued to lead as Kris Ney worked his way to the front and was right on the leader’s back bumper when the crossed flags were displayed at the halfway point. Reichert and Ney raced alongside each other for multiple laps before Ney was finally able to wrestle the lead away. Ney went on to take the victory over Jarod Bassininsky, Chuck Fayash, Mike Reichert and Joe Bassininsky.
It was all Christopher Buffalino in the Big Creek Concrete 602 Rookie feature as he dominated the 15-lap feature for his third rookie feature win of the season over Trevor Bixler and Chase Gular.
The Xcel 600 saw Korey Inglin get to the lead from his front row starting spot and immediately put a distance between himself and the field. Inglin had built up a large lead when the yellow was out at the halfway point allowing the field to bunch back up. Former Big Diamond 602 Crate Sportsman racer Danny Buccafusca was on the move from his 18th starting spot and was up to the 9th position at the time of the yellow. After a couple of missteps trying to get the race restarted, Inglin once again led the way as cars battled behind him for the spots in the top five. Doug Newbigging caught the leader Inglin with seven laps to go, putting pressure on the leader for the top spot. As the field took the five to go signal from starter Warren Alston, Inglin was able to put a little distance on Newbigging and race on to take the win over Newbigging, Kenny Harris III, Richie Hitzler and Tyler Fronina.
Full Results from Friday, July 26
Wingless Super Sportsman Fossil Fuel 35
FEATURE FINISH – TONY JACKSON, Billy Brian Jr, Alex Bright, Trent Yoder, Cliff Brian Jr, Steve Wilbur, Craig Perigo, Jay Fannasy, Derek Sheaffer, Michael Smith, Andy Burkhart, Dexter Ehrenzeller, Brett Perigo, Cooper Shue, Chad Thomas, Chris Meleason, Brian Nace, Rohan Beasley, Brandon Shearer
Did Not Start – Curt Stroup
Heat Winners – Brett Perigo, Trent Yoder, Alex Bright
Uss Achey Inc. 602 Crate Sportsman
FEATURE FINISH – KEVIN OLENICK, Matt Martino, Jordan Henn, Colin Cox, Jax Yohn, Nick DeSantis, John McGeoy, Logan Starr, Troy Bollinger, Alex Bartorillo, Bobby Kupp, Ralph Mele, Tim Borror, Craig Cuneo, Wes Brady, Bobby Firth, Ray Woodall Sr, Brennan Chapman, Glenn Rowan, Xavier Sprague
Heat Race Winners –Brennan Chapman, Xavier Sprague
Penske Racing Shocks Certificate Winners
$100 – Kevin Olenick
$75 – Matt Martino
$50 – Jordan Henn
Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners
FEATURE FINISH – KRIS NEY, Jarod Bassininsky, Chuck Fayash, Mike Reichert, Joe Bassininsky, Andrew Fayash III, Alex Schoffstall, Eric Buchinski, Jim Kost, Terry Kramer, Alex Ditzler
Did Not Start – Blaine Fritz
Heat Race Winners – Kris Ney, Jim Kost
Big Creek Concrete Rookie 602 Crate Sportsman
FEATURE FINISH – CHRISTOPHER BUFFALINO, Trevor Bixler, Chase Gular, McKenzi Smith, Reice Widger, Payton Renninger
Penske Racing Shocks Certificate Winners
$100 – Christopher Buffalino
$75 – Trevor Bixler
$50 – Chase Gular
Xcel 600 Modifieds
FEATURE FINISH – KOREY INGLIN, Doug Newbigging, Kenny Harris III, Richie Hitzler, Tyler Fronina, Danny Buccafusca, Josh Bewley, Tiffany Hitzler, Mason Peters, Chris Smith, Chris Warren, Chad Kreiser, John Hall, Gerry Bressler, Mark Bressler, Tommy Nettleship, Riley Garmen, Tyler Bartik
Heat Race Winners – Korey Inglin, Tiffany Hitzler