Kressley Claims 2nd Grandview Win & Pit Notes

Grandview held their 9th week of points for the modifieds and sportsmen and had perfect racing and track conditions for the near 70 entries to battle for the race win and the ongoing point championship.

The modified 30 lap feature was led to green by Richie Hitzler and Dan Waisempacher.  Hitzler bolted to the led and lead the field for the first 10 laps.  On lap 11 Brent Kressley charged to the lead with his signature high side outside pass. On lap 15 Duane Howard moved into 2^nd from his 14^th starting position but Kressley was already checked out by 2.5 seconds and the next 15 laps were all green flag.  Kressley cruised through the lapped traffic and into victory lane for his second Grandview win of the season.

The top was rounded out by Duane Howard, Mike Gular, Rick Laubach and Kyle Weiss in the Tom Umbenhauer # 5 entry.

Heat race winners were Richie Hitzler, Brett Kressley from 8^th, Duane Howard and Ron Kline.  Consolations went to Dylan Swinehart and Brad Brightbill in the Breitenstein Motorsports # 14.

The 25 lap sportsman feature was lead from green to checkered flag by 1^st time winner Chuck Eckert.  Eckert had a 6 second lead by lap 10 but the second red flag of the night brought the 26 entry back to the field.  But on the lap 11 restart Eckert went right back to the front and took a 1 second lead into victory lane for his first career sportsman win.

The top 5 was rounded out by Chris Esposito, Brad Arnold, Brian Hirthler and Scott Kohler.

Sportsman heat winner were Chuck Eckert, Tom Miller and Nate Brinker from a 7^th starting position in the heat race.  Consolation was won by Jack Butler.

T. P. Trailers Modified Feature (30-laps) 8-22-20:

1. Brett Kressley, 2. Duane Howard, 3. Mike Gular, 4. Rick Laubach, 5. Kyle Weiss, 6. Ron Kline, 7. Louden Reimert, 8. Ryan Grim, 9. Jeff Strunk, 10. Kevin Hirthler, 11. Jared Umbenhauer, 12. Craig Von Dohren, 13. Justin Grim, 14. Doug Manmiller, 15. Brad Brightbill, 16. Brad Grim, 17. Brett Gilmore, 18. Dillon Steuer, 19. Richie Hitzler, 20. Colt Harris, 21. Darrin Schuler, 22. Dan Waisempacher, 24. Dylan Swinehart, 25. Eric Biehn, 26. Craig Whitmoyer, 27. Ray Swinehart, 28. Kenny Gilmore.

DNQ: Mark Kratz, Mark Levy, Ryan Lilick, Carroll Hine III, Bobby Gunther Walsh, Ron Myers, Bobby Trapper Jr. and Ron Haring Jr.

T.P. Trailers Truck Equipment Sportsman Feature (25-laps):

1. Chuck Eckert, 2. Chris Esposito, 3. Brad Arnold, 4. Brian Hirthler, 5. Scott Kohler, 6. Jack Butler, 7. Kyle Lilick, 8. Nathan Mohr, 9. Ryan Beltz, 10. Jesse Leiby, 11. Nate Brinker, 12. Mark Kemmerer, 13. Brandon Eckert, 14. Kyle Smith, 15. Dakota Kohler, 16. Jimmy Leiby, 17. Kenny Bock, 18. Jesse Landis, 19. Mark Gaugler, 20. Derrick Smith, 21. John McGovern, 22. Tom Miller, 23. Cole Stangle, 24. Steve Young.

DNQ: Parker Guldin, Bryan Rhoads, Decker Swinehart, B.J. Joly, Matt Brooke, Lex Shive, Kurt Bettler and Joey Vaccaro.

Modified Pit Notes

Brett Kressley scored a dominate victory for his second win of the season.  Last week Kressley was disqualified due to a postrace rule infraction after the heat races.  Kressley’s DQ placed him on the outside looking in at feature time last week.  He started off a bit rocky in this week’s heat race as he got sent to the back of the field for contact.  Nonetheless Kressley just came through the field again using his signature high side passing to secure the 4^th handicapped position. Once back in the feature this week; Kressley used his 9^th place handicapped starting position to rocket to the front and take the lead on lap 11 and then checkout on the field for his second win of August.

Duane Howard appears to be quietly picking up momentum in the points chase.  He added a second place finish this week to a 3^rd and 1^st in the past 2 weeks.  Meanwhile the two cars in front of Howard in the points finished out of the top 10 this week ; Von Dohren, 12^th and Manmiller, 14^th.  Howard has moved into second place in the point standings and with 3 races to go  and appears to be poised to make a bid to defend his 2019 Grandview championship and win the championship for a second year in a row.

Brad Brightbill jumped out of his #19 sportsman entry to take the wheel of the Breitenstein #14 modified entry as a temporary driver.  Brightbill won the consolation race and ran 14^th in the nearly green to checkered feature from a 22^nd starting position.

Ryan Grim continues to produce weekly top 10 results with another 8^th place finish this week.  In the heat race Grim got a flat from racing contact with Colt Harris and Justin Grim.  Ryan did not return from the pits in time for the restart of the heat; but turned out that the restart was a “no start” and Grim got back into the back of the field without losing a lap.  That was the break Ryan Grim need to propel himself from starting last in the heat and getting a second place finish and handicapped for the feature.  In the feature Ryan ran the nearly green to checkered 30 laps feature to an 8^th place finish from an 11^th place starting position.  That was Ryan’s second 8^th place finish in a row keeping him in 6^th place in the point chase.

Justin Grim like Ryan Grim also benefited from the “no start” in the heat race to be able to rejoin from the pits on the same lap which Justin used to grab a feature starting position with a 5^th place heat race finish.  Justin also had a solid run in the nearly green to checkered feature with a 13^th place finish from a 19^th place starting position.

Louden Reimert posted a 7^th place finish from a 10^th starting position and help strengthen his 7^th place standings in the Grandview points.  Louden is also currently 7^th in the Big Diamond points also. So this weekend was all sevens for Louden who would like to throw 7’s the rest of the remaining 3 point races.

Ron Kline has had a difficult season missing a couple of weeks due to motor issues, coming up light at the scales, and some straight up DNQ’s.  Kline came to life late last season with a second place finish and he looks to be starting a late season surge again this year.  Ron won his heat race and had his best feature finish of the season with a 6^th place finish from a 4^th place starting position.

Richie Hitzler had made some changes with his 2020 setup but thus far this season they have not improved the performance of the #9 entry.  In pre-race comments Hitzler stated “What we have changed to for 2020 is just plain not working so we’ll going back to our 2019 setup today.”  It was a good choice for Hitzler as he won his heat race going away for his first heat race win of the season.  In the feature Hitzler lead the first 10 laps from the pole only to have the tires chunk on him which dropped Hitzler to a 19^th place finish.  Hitzler was elated with the speed of the car, forward movement and chassis setup.

Another driver scrapping the 2020 setup and going back to the 2019 setup was Dan Waisempaucher.  In his heat race early contact put Waisempaucher to the rear of the field from a 4^th place starting position.  Waisempaucher’s car had no problem coming back through the field from last to a 4^th place finish and most importantly a handicapped starting position in the feature.  Waisempaucher started on the pole and fell out on lap 13 but the change back to the 2019 setup has already paid dividends for the 01 team.

Kyle Weiss in only his second outing in the Tom Umbenhauer 05 entry qualified in 2^nd position in his heat race.  Despite some contact in the feature Weiss was able to secure a top five finish with a 5^th place finish.

The only yellow of the event was for a contact spin of Craig Von Dohren which put him to the back of the 28 car field.  Nonetheless Von Dohren secured a 12^th place finish to maintain his points lead.

Jeff Strunk had a flat on lap 12 which caused Strunk to also go to the back of the field.  Strunk made a strong run back through the field for a 9^th place top 10 finish.

A heat race tangle put Ron Haring Jr. and Ron Meyers head on into the turn 1 wall resulting in heavy damage to both cars and an end to their night.  Both drivers were OK after being checked out by the paramedics.

Sportsman Pit Notes

Chuck Eckert came into tonight with a 3^rd and 8^th place finishes at Big Diamond in the past weeks.  Eckert started his night out with a heat race win and was able to start on the outside pole for the 25 lap sportsman feature.  Eckert secured his first career sportsman win in dominant fashion leading every lap from green to checkered flag.

For the 4^th week in a row the sportsman feature had two major tangles before lap 2.  The only other stoppage came on lap 10 for a red flag due to heavy wall contact in turn 1 by Mark Gaugler. Mark was uninjured but the car sustained heavy damage.

Chris Esposito continues to rack up the top 10 finishes with his best finish of the year a 2^nd place from an 11^th starting position.  Esposito continues to hold his 7^th place in the point standings in his first full year of sportsman racing at Grandview.

Jack Butler continues to impress with consistent top 10 finishes week in and week out.  Coming off of a 2^nd place finish last week; Butler started 19^th and was able to run through the field and secured a 6^th place finish which kept Butler in 3^rd place in the point standing.  Butler moved up one position at the line when the checkered flag flew moving him from 7^th to 6^th and showing Butler’s drive & determination to get any position and point possible.

Ryan Beltz came into the night sitting in 4^th place in the point standings.  Beltz started 9^th in his heat race and couldn’t get forward movement and finish 9^th which did not qualify him for the feature.  Beltz went into the last chance consolation looking for one of the 6 qualifying positions with 14 cars on the starting grid.  The 221 driver landed the 6^th and final qualifying position which gave Beltz the last starting position in the feature – 24^th.   Beltz posted a 9^th place finish from a 24^th place starting position.   

Last week Decker Swinehart suffered his second rollover of the season and his second week of rebuilding a car from the ground up.  A lot of midnight oil was spent again this past week but the 38 team was able to get it done again and had a car ready for racing by 3:00 AM on Saturday morning.  The new frame and panels came from Jeff Strunk as evidenced by the “126” and the Jeff Strunk paint scheme on the car. Decker and the 126 were a DNQ this week but will be back next week looking for their first win.  Decker has come close with a 4^th place finish and a 2^nd place finish that was a DQ at tech.

Racing action continues at Grandview Speedway on Saturday August 22 with the 10^th point race and a Tripleheader program featuring the modifieds, sportsman and excel 600 modifieds with racing starting at 7:30.