VonDohren, Godown split Twin 20s, Bright wins ARDC feature
A packed house was treated to a night of outstanding racing on Friday at Big Diamond Speedway on Red White and Blue Autos night with the return of the Twin 20s for the CJ’s Tire & Automotive Services 358 modifieds.
Craig VonDohren won the opening 20lap feature with a last-lap pass for the win while point leader Ryan Godown led all 20 laps in the non-stop nightcap feature.
Other winners on Friday included Steve Gromis (Savage 61 roadrunners) and Ricky Weaver (Enduro Dash).
This coming Friday, Aug. 5, the speedway will present a four-division show of 358 modifieds, U.S.S. Achey sportsman, roadrunners and the No Sweat Service Group street stocks on the No Sweat Service Group night.
The gates open at 5:30 with warm-ups at 7:45 and racing at 8:15. General admission is $15 while kids 12-and-under and active military with a valid ID are free.
In the opening 20-lap feature, VonDohren would move into a three-car battle for third on lap eight as Brett Kressley took the lead from John Willman on lap four.
Just past the halfway mark, VonDohren moved into second and then began to encounter lapped traffic as he chased down the leader Kressley.
On the final lap, VonDohren throw the slider again on Kressley and Kressley was able to maintain the lead momentarily as VonDohren raced back to be side-by-side with Kressley for the lead heading into Turn 3. VonDohren was able to wrestle the lead away for good as the two drivers raced through the final two corners.
“I thought I saw the white flag but I guess it was the move-over flag with about four to go and I pulled a slider on Brett and I thought that I blew it and then I realized that it wasn’t the last lap,” VonDohren said. “We got caught back up it was nip-andtuck tonight. You just hope to be in the right lane at the right time.”
Willman would come home third followed by Kevin Beach, Jr., and Rick Laubach to round out the top five.
Sixth through 10th were Godown, Jeff Strunk, Duane Howard, Gary Hager and Ryan Watt.
Heats for the 358 modifieds were won by Willman, Laubach and Beach, Jr. The consolation event was won by Mike Lisowski.
In the second Twin 20-lap feature, Godown took the lead from the drop of the green flag and then held off a hard-charging Laubach at the line for the win.
The non-stop 20-lap feature took just six minutes, 29 seconds to run.
Laubach would close in on Godown on lap 15 and then the two touched momentarily at the start-finish line on lap 18.
“The last seven or eight laps the car really got freed up on me and so I went to the bottom and I really didn’t feel good there and that’s the problem with being the leader,” Godown said. “You know Laubach is good here so I did feel him coming off Turn 4 but I didn’t know he was on the outside of me.”
Laubach held on for second with Howard, third, followed by VonDohren and Willman to complete the top five in the second feature.
Sixth through 10th were Kressely, Strunk, Watt, Ryan Grim and Beach, Jr.
Back on May 20, the ARDC midgets treated the fans to a fantastic show with a last-lap pass for the win.
On Friday night, they duplicated the feat as Brenden Bright pulled a slide job on Ryan Greth in the final corner of the 20-lap feature to take home the win.
Results CJ’s Tire & Automotive Services 358 modified 1st feature (20 laps): 1. Craig VonDohren, 2. Brett Kressley, 3. John Willman, 4. Kevin Beach, 5. Rick Laubach, 6. Ryan Godown, 7. Jeff Strunk, 8. Duane Howard, 9. Gary Hager, 10. Ryan Watt, 11. Justin Grim, 12. Jim Bobbitt, 13. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 14. Shawn Fitzpatrick, 15. Ray Swinehart, 16. Ryan Grim, 17. Andy Burkhart, 18. Gary Wagner, 19. Dale Hartz, 20. Jay Aten, 21. Scott Albert. DNF: Mike Lisowski, Jimmy Reppert, Heath Metzger, Jason Rivers, Ron Haring Jr. DNS: Billy Pauch Jr. Heat winners: Willman, Laubach, Beach Jr. Consolation winner: Lisowski. CJ’s Tire & Automotive 358 modified 2nd feature (20 laps): 1. Godown, 2. Laubach, 3. Howard, 4. VonDohren, 5. Willman, 6. Kressley, 7. Strunk, 8. Watt, 9. Grim, 10. Beach Jr, 11. Hager, 12. Bobbitt, 13. Albert, 14. Fitzpatrick, 15. Burkhart, 16. Hartz, 17. Gunther-Walsh, 18. Wagner, 19. Metzger, 20. Jason Rivers. DNF: Lisowski, Aten, Reppert, Swinehart, Grim, Haring Jr. Savage 61 roadrunner feature (20 laps): 1. Steve Gromis, 2. Chris Holland, 3. Shon Elk, 4. Kyle Wingle, 5. Nate Hill, 6. Bruce Ditzler, 7. Andrew Buchinski. DNF: Kris Ney, Andrew Fayash III, Jon Schlauch, Shawn Mulhall, Jim Kost. DNS: Chris Eckert. Heat winner: Holland. ARDC Midgets feature (20 laps): 1. Brenden Bright, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Ryan Greth, 4. Brett Arndt, 5. Trevor Kobylarz, 6. Jim Radney, 7. Nick Wean, 8. Tony Dimattia, 9. Brett Wanner, 10. Jamie Spears, 11. Josh Heckman, 12. Rohan Beasley. DNF: Chris Dyson, Danny Stratton. Heat winners: Wean, Radney. Enduro Dash (60 laps): 1. Ricky Weaver, 2. Shawn Naftzinger, 3. Jim Neiman, 4. Lee Allen, 5. Chris Graver.