Forestville, PA - August 14, 2009 ~ Kyle Follweiler, a 23 year old rookie racer out of Slatington PA, captured his first career 358 Modified feature victory Friday night at Big Diamond Raceway. As part of Moyer Electronics Night, Follweiler became the 12th different victorious driver of the season.

Mike Mammana of Nazareth PA likewise stepped into the winner's circle for his first BDR career 20-lap Sportsman feature win. Mammana is the 13th different Sportsman winner of the season. Elvin Brennan III of Forestville PA added another Wooden Keg Roadrunner feature win to his belt, the third of 2009.

The 358 Modified feature found Dan Hineline showing the early pace. Hineline, in his second full season of BDR activity, led until lap four when fifth year Modified racer Colt Harris occupied the top spot. Follweiler immediately shot into the runner-up position behind Harris, while positions changed feverishly behind them.

The event's most controversial moment unveiled itself with eleven laps showing on the scoreboard. Craig Von Dohren (started 13th) shot into the third spot past Hineline. Duane Howard (who began from 15th) battled with Hineline for fourth. Contact was made going into turn four, and Howard's machine went around, bringing out a caution flag. Hineline was called on an over aggressive penalty and sent to the rear along with Howard, the points leader.

The ensuing restart found Von Dohren passing Harris for the runner-up spot. One l;ap later, Billy Pauch Jr. stormed past Von Dohren for second. The fourth and final caution flag was thrown with thirteen laps complete, and Follweiler made no mistakes during the event's final 12 laps, Follweiler graduated from Wilkes University last year. At the beginning of this season, Kyle fulfilled a life-long dream as he strapped behind the wheel of a Modified, following his father Jack Follweiler's footsteps. Jack is a past two-time track champion.

Pauch Jr. (Frenchtown NJ) drove to his fifth straight top five finish, crossing the line in second place. Von Dohren (Boyertown), the speedway's all-time win leader, ended up third. Rick Laubach (Hellertown) started back in 18th and relied on some impressive advances via the outside groove, taking fourth on lap 22, Harris (Mahanoy City) finished a season's best of fifth.

Doug Manmiller (Shoemakersville) finished sixth, after starting from 16th. Earlier in the evening, Manmiller earned $1300 by virtue of winning seven match races and the eventual deciding event over Duane Howard in the Pepsi Challenge. Manmiller's Dick Biever owned team switched to the Josh Biever #1 car for this week's events. They removed the motor from his weekly ride in car #14 and bolted it into the #1 machine.

Jordan Dreher led the 24-car Sportsman field to an opening green flag in their main evetnt. Mike Mammana started seventh and quickly powered to the front, taking second on a lap three restart. Mammana glanced to the inside of Dreher for a few laps, and accomplished the race winning pass on lap six.

A good streak of green flag laps followed and Mammana enjoyed a healthy full straightaway advantage over Dreher. As Mammana closed on lapped traffic, the event's fourth and final caution flag period took place. Mammana reported after the race that he was thankful for a yellow flag, as his machine experienced brake issues.

Mammana turned his tough '09 season around with his first career BDR victory. The team lost three engines this year and thanked former driver Willard Knecht for supplying them with a motor.

Dreher (Lake Wynonah) earned a career best finish of second, and rookie Brett Kressley (Orefield) turned in another fine performance of third. Previous week's winner Kevin Smith (Lehighton) drove from fourteenth to fourth, while Billy Moyer Jr. (Pine Grove) started thirteenth and finished fifth.

Ed Kuperavage jumped out in front for the early race Roadunner feature lead. Brennan started from eighth, and quickly asserted himself into the runner-up spot on lap three. After a side-by-side battle on lap seven, Brennon (on the high side) edged Kuperavage at the line to take possession of the race lead.

A major incident took place with only a pair of laps remaining. Kuperavage and Marc Berzowski made contact while racing for second, which sent Berzowski around. Several cars in the top ten were forced to make a pit stop, showing damage. Tom Hablett had been running within the front five since the opening green, missed the accident, and occupied second during the event's closing stages.

Brennan, a second generation racer, grabbed his ninth career Roadrunner feature win. Hablett (Schuylkill Haven), who just recently rejoined the RR ranks with his '08 car, settled for second. Gary Renninger (Pottsville) returned the previous week after some time away, finishing third on Friday. Jeremy Becker (Pottsville) continued his solid season for a ninth top five finish of fourth. Chris Holland (Pine Grove) showed some smoke during the closing moments but nursed his machine to a fifth place effort.

The speedway is in operation this Sunday August 16 for race number four of the Savage 61 Dodge/Dan Drobnick Welding Nutty Buddy Enduro Series. Events include: a 100-lap Big Car Race, a 100-lap Small Car Race, and a Ladies Race. Competition begins at 5:00PM and adult general admission is only $5.

Big Diamond Raceway is a three-eighth's mile clay oval speedway located just outside of Minersville PA. For complete information on the track, visit their website located at www.bigidiamondraceway.com

BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY COMPLETE RESULTS - FRIDAY AUGUST 14 - MOYER ELECTRONICS NIGHT

358 MODIFIEDS

Heat Winners: Gary Wagner Jr., Dan Hineline, Ricky Yetter.

Pepsi Challenge: Doug Manmiller (7-wins, overall winner). Billy Pauch Jr. (3-wins).

FEATURE (25-LAPS): 1) 42-Kyle Follweiler, 2) 8P-Billy Pauch Jr., 3) 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 4) 357-Rick Laubach, 5) CR7-Colt Harris, 6) 1-Doug Manmiller, 7) 88D-Meme DeSantis, 8) 71e David Van Horn 9) 44-Gary Hager, 10) 74W-John Willman, 11) R1-Ryan Godown, 12) 11-Mike Gular, 13) 4-Duane Howard, 14) 19-Jordan Umbenhauer, 15) 47-Gary Wagner Jr., 16) 11D-Tom Mayberry, 17) 21K-Kyle Weiss, 18) 39-Danny Nicholas, 19) 6-Ryan Watt, 20) 3A-Kevin Albert Jr. DNF: 21) 41-Jeff Strunk, 22) 99-Craig Whitmoyer, 23) 178-Dale Hartz, 24) 15x-Dan Hineline, 25) T102-Shawn Fitzpatrick, 26) 3Y-Ricky Yetter, 27) 5-Joey Grammes, 28) 29-Jeff Sechrist.

SPORTSMAN

Heat Winners:Brett Kressley, Jordan Dreher, Joe Masiado.

B-Main Winner: Justin Andrews.

Did Not Qualify: 31T-Troy Gibson, 83-Josh Hertzog, 119-Derek Bender, 18-Michael Weinert.

FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) 71-Mike Mammana, 2) 5D-Jordan Dreher, 3) 19K-Brett Kressley, 4) 7-Kevin Smith, 5) 17-Billy Moyer Jr., 6) 45x-Andy Fayash Jr., 7) 17x-Kevin Beach, 8) 17D-Mike Loney, 9) 1450-Greg Weiland, 10) 19-Brad Brightbill, 11) 15-Mike Lisowski Jr., 12) T102-Tim Fitzpatrick, 13) 24H-Justin Andrews, 14) x5-Daryl Dissinger, 15) 73-Jason James, 16) 31-Harry Landis, 17) 22N-Patrick Cozze, 18) 520-Gary Rothermel. DNF: 19) 26-Tom Brennan, 20) 32s-Jared Umbenhauer, 21) 5-Ryan Moyer, 22) 43M-Joe Masiado, 23) 35-Ebby Ridge, 24) 72SR-Ray Woodall Jr.

WOODEN KEG ROADRUNNERS

Heat Winners: Joe Hendricks, Marc Berzowski.

FEATURE (15-LAPS): 1) 555-Elvin Brennan III, 2) 22-Tom Hablett, 3) 101-Gary Renninger, 4) 97-Jeremy Becker, 5) 8c-Chris Holland, 6) 450-Kevin Olenick, 7) 22G-Steve Gromis, 8) 45-Ryan Olenick, 9) 454-Mike Radocha, 10) 666-Cory Baver, 11) 11x-Joe Hendricks, 12) 88-Toby Chase, 13) 6-Dylan Quinn, 14) 18-Ed Bartlett, 15) CR7-Butch Lesher. DNF: 16) 4-Nate Klinger, 17) 909-Neil Bressler, 18) 102-TJ Fitzpatrick, 19) 23-Ed Kuperavage, 20) 66K-Marc Berzowski, 21) 8-Davey Nester, 22) 17-Tyler Vidal, 23) 22x-Jessica McGlynn, 24) 98-Chip Kennedy. DNS: 550-Jim Kost, 95K-Kody Sites.