It was opening day for Grandview speedway’s modified and sportsmen points program. 70 cars started their 2020 points chase with the first point’s race of the season. There are 12 points races on the schedule for the 2020 Covid-19 season. It was a warm overcast day but the rain went around Grandview and the racing program was completed uninterrupted by weather.
The modified feature went to pole sitter Craig Von Dohren who led the 30 lap feature from green to checkered flag with Duane Howard and Doug Manmiller rounding out the top 3 for the modifieds.
The Sportsmen feature was between the front row drivers with Jack Butler taking the win after an absolute battle with Brandon Edgar for the entire 25 lap feature.
In the spec 358 modified feature Craig Von Dorhen lead the field to green and never looked back as he took the green to checkered feature win. With only two yellows during the 30 lap feature; Craig Von Dorhen’s only challenge came from Brett Kressley who made contact with Von Dohren and the wall causing Kressley to fall back. From there Von Dorhen checked out on the field and cruised to nearly 3 second gap on second place Duane Howard.
Postrace Von Dohren commented “We won the heat and got the pole; but this win was harder than running through the field last week from 22nd to 2nd. It’s just much harder running up front not knowing whose running where, track changes and you tend to watch the scoreboard. It’s much easier mentally running through the field from 22nd to 2nd and seeing what guys are doing.”
The top 5 was rounded out with Doug Manmiller, Jeff Strunk and Jared Umbenhauer.
Heat winners were Craig Von Dohren, Jared Umbenhauer and Briggs Danner. Consolation was won by Clay Butler.
The sportsman feature was a two car duel between Jack Butler and Brandon Edgar. Butler took the lead on lap 4. Edgar made several runs for the lead and used the high side to pull next to Butler but couldn’t get any of the passes to stick. Butler took the win with Edgar trailing by only .4 seconds.
An equally heated three car battle developed for 3rd position between Brad Brightbill, Brian Hirthler and Mark Kemmerer. The top ten was rounded out by Brad Brightbill, Brian Hirthler, Mark Kemmerer, Brett Gilmore, Jesse Landis, Ryan Beltz, Kyle Lillick and Chris Esposito.
Next up at Grandview Speedway is Thunder on the Hill featuring PA Speed week with 410 sprint cars for $10,000 to win and 358 modifieds on Tuesday night June 30 @ 7:30 PM.
Modified Pit Notes
Craig Von Dohren pulled off his second win of the weekend on Saturday at Grandview. Von Dorhen also kicked his weekend off with a win at Big Diamond on Friday night. Craig is looking forward to a few more double header wins this year.
Ryan Grim had a solid outing with a 6th place finish tonight after struggling all last year with his car. Grim dropped back to 11th from a 6th starting position in the feature and worked his way back to a 6th place finish in the end. Back in the pits Grim noted “We were at big diamond last night trying to get the motor right and hit a yoke tire tearing up the front end. We were able to fix the front end from last night; but never did figure out why motor was flat. Our car is handling now but we were still down on power tonight. After struggling all of last year my crew guys got down but never gave up on getting this car back where we wanted it. Hopefully we’ll have the motor completely figured out for next week.”
On Friday night Jared Umbenhauer had a hard end over end crash down the front stretch at Big Diamond in the 1H entry of Mike and Jen Harvey. Umbenhauer came to Grandview the next day and didn’t miss a beat with a heat race win and 5th place finish in the feature finish.
Defending 2018 Grandview track champion Mike Gular stopped for the 2020 point’s opener. Gular had mechanically issues in the feature and fell out early. Gular plans on returning to his old home track again on Tuesday night June 30.
Jeff Strunk, Briggs Danner and Tim Buckwalter will not be racing weekly this year due to a Saturday commitment to Bridgeport Motorsports. All three will be at most of the Grandview weekday specials and of course at the 76er.
Brad Grim is the sole sportsman driver to step up to modified this year. Grim was 3rd in the sportsman points and is looking for a good season in his modified debut.
Grandview 6/27/20 Modified Results
| Name | Finish | Start |
| Craig Von Dohren | 1 | 1 |
| Duane Howard | 2 | 8 |
| Doug Manmiller | 3 | 9 |
| Jeff Strunk | 4 | 12 |
| Jared Umbenhauer | 5 | 2 |
| Ryan Grim | 6 | 6 |
| Brett Kressley | 7 | 5 |
| John Willman | 8 | 7 |
| Kyle Weiss | 9 | 15 |
| Louden Reimert | 10 | 4 |
| Ron Kline | 11 | 10 |
| Rich Laubach | 12 | 13 |
| Eric Biehn | 13 | 19 |
| Briggs Danner | 14 | 3 |
| Craig Whitmoyer | 15 | 18 |
| Ryan Lillick | 16 | 11 |
| Justin Grim | 17 | 20 |
| Clay Butler | 18 | 22 |
| Bobby Gunther Walsh | 19 | 27 |
| Richie Hitzler | 20 | 26 |
| Dan Waisepaucher | 21 | 21 |
| Mike Lisowski | 22 | 16 |
| Ray Swinehart | 23 | 17 |
| Brad Grim | 24 | 25 |
| Mike Gular | 25 | 14 |
| T.J. Lilly | 26 | 24 |
| Dylan Swinehart | 27 | 23 |
| Mark Kratz | 28 | 28 |
| Ron Meyers | DNQ | |
| Mark Levy | DNQ | |
| Carroll Hines | DNQ | |
| Kevin Hirthler | DNQ | |
| Kenny Gilmore | DNQ |
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