KRAUSE, HOLLAND AND BRENSINGER CLOSE OUT THE YEAR WITH BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY ENDURO VICTORIES...By Gary Lileck

Forestville, PA - October 3, 2009 The 2009 season has officially been completed at Big Diamond Raceway. Brad Krause of Deer Lake, Chris Holland of Pine Grove and Jody Brensinger of Orwigsburg each earned victories in the 2009 Nutty Buddy Enduro season finale races.

After cruising to a victory in a special 20-lap exhibition race earlier this season, Brad Krause has been on a roll. Sitting behind the wheel of his #51 Chevy Impala, Krause posted a second, two thirds, and a fourth place finish prior to his victorious effort on Saturday evening. Krause started 27th and made a miraculous charge to the front. After exchanging the lead earlier with '08 champion Shawn Naftzinger, Krause took sole possession of the spot with 65 laps showing on the scoreboard.

When Naftzinger experienced problems with ten laps remaining on the backstretch, Krause jumped on the throttle and officially lapped the entire field. Although he was racing his own lap, Krause neverr lifted on his accelerator. Krause diligently worked through traffic on the final lap and captured his first career endurance race victory in the extra distance 150-lap contest. Krause earned $500 for his efforts.

Seven different drivers took shots at the lead including Kerry Fritz, who originally started from ninth. Fritz (Cressona), who was making his third start of the season, thrilled the crowd with an impressive race-long effort. Third year Enduro racer Shon Elk (Sinking Springs) started sixteenth and worked into the front ten during the event's early going. Elk celebrated a recent birthday with a season's best finish of third.

Mike Naftzinger (Auburn) led laps 9 through 24 after starting from sixth. M. Naftzinger matched his season high finish of fourth (for the third time this year). Jason Brown (Schuylkill Haven) completed his impressive '09 season with his fourth top five finish of the season in the fifth position. Teammates Doug Naftzinger (Auburn) and Bee Luckenbill (Auburn) each secured their best finishes of the season, sixth and seventh respectively.

The secondary story of the night was the unseating of 2009 dominator Tom Hablett (Schuylkill Haven). The '09 point champion entered the evening with four victories and one second place finish. He started third, via luck of the draw, and led the opening eight laps, eventuallye pitting with a flat tire on lap 23. During the closing laps, Hablett (who was running similar lap times to the race leader) fell victim to another flat tire, and was forced pitside in the very end. Hablett still finished in eighth. Chip Kennedy (Donaldson) drove his three race old #55 Nova to a ninth place result. Jeremy Krauss (Mertztown) led a few laps, made a pit stop, and finished tenth.

Chris Holland duplicated the 2008 season as he won his second straight 4-cylinder season finale. C. Holland started from 23rd and wasted no time in working to the front. After taking the runner-up spot on lap 38, C. Holland patiently reeled in the race leader, Steve Wilson. During the closing moments, Wilson's machine began to lose power and C. Holland passed him with only two laps remaining.

C. Holland, who also competes in the Roadrunner division, captured his third career victory in car #8c, worth $400. Chris became the first repeat winner of the season. Wilson nursed his machine across the line to finish in the apparent second position, however, his car failed post race technical inspection.

Sept. 20 winner Tyler Stump (Mertztown) started tenth, and led a portion of the event. Stump finished on the lead lap, scored in the second position after Wilson's DQ. Although he finished one lap down, Kevin Holland (Pine Grove) crossed the line in third. The '09 track champion has finished no worse than third this year. Rookie Adam Zimmerman (Schuylkill Haven) posted his finest career effort with a fourth. Russ Killian (Schuylkill Haven), making an '09 return to racing after many years away, grabbed his first top five of the year in fifth.

Gary Grim (Fleetwood) and Adam Hess (Mertztown) each finished a season's best of sixth and seventh. Larry Spencer (Nanticoke) notched his third top ten of the year for eighth. First year competitor Greg Zelinsky (Pine Grove) finished ninth and second generation racer Earl Eichert Jr. (Tower City) finished a season's best of tenth.

Jody Brensinger and Karen Chase entertained the crowd in the 40-lap 6/8 cylinder Ladies Race. Chase jumped in front early and Brensinger led laps 3 through 22. Chase took command on lap 23, Brensinger fought back a lap later, and Chase reestablished command with 25 laps on the baord. For the final 15 laps, Brensinger stayed within striking distance of the leader, waiting to attempt a winning pass. And on the final lap, Brensinger received her opportunity.

As the pair raced into lapped traffic through turns three and four, the 21 year old racer nailed her accelerator and passed Chase for the race lead. In front of a supportive crowd, Brensinger grabbed the exciting last second victory over Chase (Bernville). Jaclyn Bankes (Oneida) drove in the third position throughout the race's duration and finished there. Eva Wilson (Pottsville) drove her husband's #703 to a fourth place effort. Shelly Zvorsky finsihed fifth ahead of Crystal Paul.

Prior to the evning's start, the top five in 6/8 Cylinder and 4 Cylinder points were presented their hardware for finishing in the top five of the points standings. It was announced that the popular Nutty Buddy Enduro Series will return in 2010.

SAVAGE 61 DODGE/DAN DROBNICK WELDING 6/8 CYLINDER ENDURO (150-LAPS): 1) 51-Brad Krause, 2) 01-Kerry Fritz, 3) 10x-Shon Elk, 4) 777-Mike Naftzinger, 5) 8-Jason Brown, 6) 58-Doug Naftzinger, 7) 23L-Bee Luckenbill, 8) 22-Tom Hablett, 9) 55-Chip Kennedy, 10) 111-Jeremy Krauss, 11) 27-Chuck Long, 12) 114-Dennis Felty, 13) 6-Shawn Naftzinger, 14) 888-Robert Staller Jr., 15) 73-Aaron Bowman, 16) 703-Rick Wilson, 17) 349-Adam Dietzel, 18) 70-Chuck Detweiler, 19) 3-Jamie Naftzinger, 20) 86-Kevin Martin, 21) 54-Mike Benulis, 22) 327-Chris Reichert, 23) 11J-Bill Wingle Jr., 24) 39-Phil Levering, 25) 07-Paul Noll, 26) 992-Terry Kramer Jr., 27) 63-Mike Reichert, 28) 84-Ralph Bankes III, 29) 302-Ralph E. Bankes, 30) 7-Mike Fiskaldo, 31) 911-Sammy Detweiler, 32) K102-Jesse Krasnitsky, 33) 007-Mike Allar, 34) 16-Terry Kennedy, 35) 98-Ray Cinqmars.

SAVAGE 61 DODGE/DAN DROBNICK WELDING 4 CYLINDER ENDURO (100-LAPS): 1) 8c-Chris Holland, 2) 14-Tyler Stump, 3) 66-Kevin Holland, 4) 13z-Adam Zimmerman, 5) 17K-Russ Killian, 6) 127-Gary Grim, 7) 00-Adam Hess, 8) 24-Larry Spencer, 9) 16z-Greg Zelinsky, 10) 91-Earl Eichert Jr., 11) 15K-Jesse Kimmel, 12) 15-Earl Eichert Sr., 13) 58-Tom Kemmerer, 14) 49-Clay Wollyung, 15) 35-Lance Hoch, 16) 11K-Brad Killian, 17) 44-Kevan Schaeffer, 18) 84x-Butch Schaeffer, 19) 41-Curt Breinich, 20) 93-Steve Todorow, 21) 88X-Wayne Krauss, 22) 384-George Schaeffer Jr., 23) 90x-Joel Matter, 24) 8x-Scott Barry, 25) 27V-Mike Ventura, 26) 56-Andy Tobash, 27) 17-Scott Peters, 28) 38-Corey Collier, 29) 27x-Tony Wetzel. DQ: 5-Steve Wilson.

6/8 CYLINDER LADIES RACE (40-LAPS): 1) 23-Jody Brensinger, 2) 88-Karen Chase, 3) 84-Jaclyn Bankes, 4) 703-Eva Wilson, 5) 58-Shelly Zvorsky, 6) 51-Crystal Paul.