Hirthler Claims Second Grandview Win

A hot and humid day greeted 70 modified and sportsman teams as they competed in point race # 5 and prepared for the upcoming 50^th annual Forest Rogers Memorial $10,000 to win event next week.

In the modified feature Kevin Hirthler took his 2^nd win of the season over Duane Howard who got underneath Hirthler as they rubbed rails coming out of turn 4 on the final lap with Hirthler taking the win by a margin of victory of only a tenth of a second.

In the sportsman feature Kenny Bock made a last lap pass of Dakota Kohler for the lead and endured a 1 lap single file restart to claim his first win of the season and his career.

Kevin Hirthler grabbed the lead on lap 2 from his 4^th starting position and proceeded to check out on the field by nearly a full straightaway until the first yellow bunched the field back up.  After the lap 8 restart both Brett Kressley and Duane Howard were within striking distance and applying pressure on Hirthler with a spirited three way battle for the lead until the 2^nd & final yellow of the event flew on lap 23.  On the double file restart Hirthler found Howard next door in the front row with 7 to go.  Hirthler maintain about a car length lead over Howard but on the final lap Howard got his final low side move to stick as he drifted in the final turn and made contact with Hirthler who had the high side momentum and was able to hold off Howard’s charge by half a car length at the checkered flag giving Kevin Hirthler his second modified feature win of the season.

Back at the trailer Hirthler noted “The first win was with the backup home built 2012 car but today we won with the 604 crate frame and a motor that we bought from Duane about 8 years ago.  Our primary car is still being repaired and our two wins have come with two different backup cars.  We still have two other frames just in case but hopefully can get our primary car back in action soon.”

The top ten was rounded out by Duane Howard, Mike Gular, Brett Kressley, Rick Laubach, Ryan Grim, Jeff Strunk, Craig Von Dohren, Briggs Danner and Doug Manmiller.

The heat races were won by Brett Kressley, Briggs Danner, Mike Gular and Kenny Gilmore.  Consolations went to Doug Manmiller and Ryan Lillick.  The heat races were exceptional with 3 wide and close competition for all the transfer spots.

Pole sitter Kenny Bock held the lead until lap 10 when Dakota Kohler took his crate powered 59K entry to a high side pass and into the lead.  Kohler continued to run the high groove with his crate entry but 5 cautions keep Kohler from getting away from Bock.  On lap 24 Kohler jumped the berm and contacted the wall in turn 4 allowing Kenny Bock and Jesse Leiby to get past him but a final caution made for a single file restart and 1 lap shootout.  Bock made no mistakes and drove right into victory lane for his first Grandview win of the season and his career

The top ten was rounded out by Jesse Leiby, Dakota Kohler, Mark Kemmerer, Derrick Smith, Brad Arnold, Chris Esposito, Nate Brinker, John McGovern and Brian Hirthler.

Modified Pit Notes

Kevin Hirthler is the first modified this season to score two feature wins in 2020.  Nonetheless Hirthler came into today’s event 20^th in the season points due to bookend DNQ’s around his first win and a tangle last week relegating him to a 20^th place finish which allowed Hirthler to handicap to a 4^th starting position this week which lead to his 2^nd win of the season.  Other winner’s this season have been Craig Von Dohren, Dylan Swinehart and Mike Gular.

Duane Howard’s may not have been in victory lane yet this year but he has quietly had consistent runs through the field in the heats and feature week after week culminating with a 2^nd place finish this week by half a car length to Kevin Hirthler.   Quietly; the defending points champion Howard has gotten to the points lead without a win yet.  The Forrest Rogers Memorial defending champion Howard seems poised and ready to make it two years in a row for the $10,000 win.

Ryan Grim had a rough outing last week getting in a multi car tangle and going back to the pits on the wrecker at lap 21.   Grim rebounded this week with another 6^th place finish to add to two other 6^th place finishes and a 9^th place finish which maintains his 5^th place in the point standings.  Earlier in the season Grim noted “We are getting good finishes but my concern is when we handicap to the back of the heats we can’t be flat or we won’t be able to move through the field in the heat.”  It looks like they found what they were looking for as Grim had an outstanding heat race moving from an 8^th place starting position to an 2^nd in the heat behind winner Mike Gular with Von Dohren behind him in 3^rd.  The feature was also good for the 17 entry as they moved forward from a 12^th place starting position to a 6^th place finish.  Ryan feels they still haven’t found everything that the motor has to offer and is looking to break into the top 5 in the coming weeks.

Rick Laubach has been showing his versatility as he pursues the Grandview point championship.  Two weeks ago a motor problem was discovered while loading the 7L on Saturday morning.   The #14 Big Diamond car was brought to Grandview for the first time as a last minute replacement and with no prior history on at Grandview with the car Laubach was able to land an 8^th place finished.  Last week engine problems with the 7L caused Laubach to drop out of heat and DNS in the consolation.  Laubach used a provisional and Ron Meyers 18 entry to start in the 29^th position and move forward to 18^th.   This week the 7L was back with a new motor.  A few adjustments after hot laps and the 7L entry was back on track with a 2^nd place heat finish leading to a strong 5^th place finish in the feature.  

Ron Haring Jr has only been racing at Grandview for 3 short weeks and was able to qualify for the feature in only 3^rd time on the track.  Not only did he qualify for the 28 car feature but Haring had a solid 5^th place run going until lap 23 when the car stopped on the track and ended his day.

Scott Frack debuted a brand new immaculate 12H modified entry.  Frack had a pretty good debut missing transferring to the feature from the consolation by one position and ending up as 1^st alternate for his first outing of the year.

Duane Howard’s may not have been in victory lane yet this year; but he has quietly had consistent runs through the field in the heats and feature week after week culminating with a 2^nd place finish this week by half a car length to Kevin Hirthler.   The defending point champion Howard has quietly taken the points led without a win yet.  The Forrest Rogers Memorial defending champion Duane Howard seems poised and ready to make it two years in a row for the $10,000 win.

This week’s back to front runs in modified were:

Mike Gular – 16^th starting position to 3^rd finish (+13)  

Duane Howard – 14th start to 2nd place finish

Doug Manmiller – 21st start to 10th place finish

Jeff Strunk – 17th start to 7th place finish

  Sportsman Pit Notes

Talk about turning your season around on a dime.  I know there may be a coin shortage but don’t tell Kenny Bock.  Kenny’s season has been full of frustration and disappointment with two DNQ’s and a 16^th, 21th and 18^th finish to date.   But this week Kenny found his dime and turned his season around with his first win of his racing career at Grandview.   Bock improvised during his feature winning run as early on the pan hard broke and limited his handling which restricted him to running only the low line of the track but Bock still collected his first career Grandview win.  In addition Bock jumped from a 28th to 16^th position in points with his win.

The points battle is heating up as the top 5 in points are battling for every position and every point.  Brad Arnold, Mark Kemmerer and Chris Esposito are 2, 3 & 4 in the current point standings with each driver moving forward +9 or more positions in this race from their 15^th, 14^th and 19^th starting positions respectively.  Brand Arnold sits only 15 points behind Brian Hirthler who is the point leader.

Jack Butler had contact damage and a DNF in his heat race.  In the consolation Butler ran from 13^th to 7^th and just missed qualifying for the feature by one spot.  He exercised one of his Provisionals to start 25^th on the field and secured an 18^th place finish to obtain as many points as possible.  Jack Butler currently sits 5^th in the point standings and is only 120 points out of first place.

Dakota Kohler’s 59k crate car has impressed for the second week in a row only to lose the lead in heartbreaking fashion twice.  Last week the car had fuel issues and the car would not fire on a restart while leading the race.  This week Kohler was leading and just jumped the cushion with 2 laps to go and the ensuing wall contact dropped him from 1^st to 3^rd place finish.  Kohler ran an amazing race entirely using the high grove of the track with his crate powered 59K.  He is still looking for his first Grandview but maybe three is the charm for Dakota Kohler.

The Leiby brothers continued to battle every week with their 602 crate entries and continue to be two of the best performing crates week in and week out.  This week Jesse got the brothers best finish of the season with a 2^nd place finish right on the back bumper of the winner while Jimmy moved from 21st starting position to a 12^th place finish.  Jimmy and Jesse both have two highest finishing crate awards of the 5 so far this season.   Jimmy is currently 10^th and Jesse 12^th in sportsman points.

Grandview has 8-12 crates running with the sportsman each week.  The group is very strong with Kyle Smith, Derrick Smith, John McGovern, Dakota Kohler Jimmy Leiby, Jesse Leiby, & Brym Rhoads among others.  There were 3 crates in the top 5 this week with Jesse Leiby in 2^nd, Dakota Kohler 3^rd and Derrick Smith in 5^th.

Next up at Grandview is the 50^th annual Forest Rogers Memorial $10,000 to win modified 50 lap feature with the sportsman on Saturday August 1 with racing at 7:30 PM.