Hirthler Wins 3rd Grandview Modified Title & Pit Notes

The 11^th Grandview modified and sportsman point race was under perfect weather conditions with cool and crisp fall night air.  This week also featured the “Hard Charger Challenger” – modified special feature event prior to the regular race program. 

The 30 lap modified feature was led to green by Ray Swinehart and Mike Lisowski.  By lap 1 it was two generations of Swineharts in front with Ray leading Dylan for the first 4 laps.  Lap 4 had a red flag for Doug Manmiller’s barrel roll down the front stretch and ensuing multi car pile in which ended the night for Manmiller, Kressley, Hitzler and Waisempacher.  On the restart Ray Swinehart stayed in the lead with Kyle Weiss continuing to move forward into 2^nd place with Kevin Hirthler and Dillion Steuer tagging right along.  Kyle Weiss dropped out of the top 3 due to a flat tire and Swinehart also lost the lead on lap 18 by clipping a yuke tire and bringing out the 3^rd caution flag.  On the 3^rd restart of the feature; Kevin Hirthler took the lead with Dillion Steuer moving into 2^nd place.   Kevin Hirthler was able to hold off a hard charging Steuer, Strunk and Von Dohren for his 3^rd trip to victory lane this season.

Hirthler commented in victory lane “I did have a good starting position but it is hard to run with these guys no matter where you start.  Holding these guys off (CVD/Howard) is not an easy task.  I did one restart on the top and then switched to the bottom.  The bottom was the place to be tonight on restarts.”

The top ten was rounded out by Dillon Steuer, Jeff Strunk, Craig Von Dohren, Craig Whitmoyer, Mike Gular, Justin Grim, Jared Umbenhauer, Ryan Grim and Duane Howard.

Heat race winners were Ryan Lillick, Ray Swinehart, Jeff Strunk and Craig Von Dohren.  Consolation winners were Ron Harring & Bobby Trapper.

The sportsman 25 lap feature were led to green by Scott Kohler and Tom Miller.   Kohler held the lead for the first 14 laps with Miller starting to close the gap.  But a lap 14 caution re-racked the field and on the restart Miller grabbed the lead with Kyle Smith moving into 2^nd place.  Tom Miller fought off Kyle Smith through 4 restarts and the next 11 laps while virtually running side by side with each other lap after lap.  But it was Tom Miller getting his first win this year and second career trip to victory lane.

The Sportsman top 10 were rounded out by Kyle Smith, Cole Stangle, Nate Brinker, Brand Arnold, Kyle Lillick, Brian Hirthler, Ryan Beltz, Mark Kemmerer and Nat Mohr.

Heat winners were Cole Stangle, Scott Kohler and Jimmy Leiby.  Sportsman consolation winner was Jesse Leiby.

9/05/20 Grandview Modified Feature (30-laps):

1. Brian Hirthler, 2. Dillon Steuer, 3. Jeff Strunk, 4. Craig Von Dohren, 5. Craig Whitmoyer, 6. Mike Gular, 7. Justin Grim, 8. Jared Umbenhauer, 9. Ryan Grim (provisional), 10. Duane Howard, 11. Ryan Lilick, 12. Brad Brightbill, 13. Ron Kline, 14. Carroll Hine III, 15. Ron Haring Jr., 16. Bob Trapper, 17. Ray Swinehart, 18. Louden Reimert, 19. Rick Laubach, 20. Kyle Weiss, 21. Mike Lisowski, 22. Kenny Gilmore, 23. Dylan Swinehart, 24. Brett Gilmore, 25. Bobby Trapper, 26. Dan Waisempacher, 27. Doug Manmiller, 28. Brett Kressley, 29. Richie Hitzler.

DNQ: Eric Biehn, Mark Levy Jr., Mark Kratz, Joe Funk III, Brad Grim, Darrin Schuler, Ron Myers, Colt Harris, Bobby Gunther Walsh and John Willman.

9/05/20 Grandview Sportsman Feature (25 laps):

1. Tom Miller, 2. Kyle Smith, 3. Cole Stangle, 4. Nate Brinker, 5. Brad Arnold, 6. Kyle Lilick, 7. Brian Hirthler, 8. Ryan Beltz, 9. Mark Kemmerer, 10. Nathan Mohr, 11. Parker Guldin, 12. Kenny Bock, 13. Scott Kohler, 14. Derrick Smith, 15. Jack Butler, 16. John McGovern, 176. Jesse Leiby, 18. Chris Esposito, 19. Chuck Eckert, 20. Decker Swinehart, 21. Jimmy Leiby, 22. Mike Laise, 23. Dakota Kohler, 24. Steve Young.

DNQ: B. J. Joly, Brianna Jones, Tommy Scheetz III and Bryan Rhoads

Hard Charger Challenge Modified Feature (22-laps)

1. Ryan Lilick, 2. Richie Hitzler, 3. Dan Waisempacher, 4. Eric Biehn, 5. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 6. Mark Kratz, 7. Mark Levy, 8. Darrin Schuler, 9. Joe Funk III, 10. Ron Haring Jr., 11. Brad Grim, 12. Ron Myers, 13. Brett Gilmore, 14. Ron Kline, 15. Bobby Trapper Jr., 16. Colt Harris – DNS

Modified Pit Notes

39 Modifieds were on the grounds qualifying for 28 Modified starting positions

Kevin Hirthler won his 3^rd feature of the season with 2 different cars – his backup car and 2012 double backup car.  Despite damaging some motors and frames this year Hirthler is tied with Brett Kressley with 3 wins at Grandview this season.  In addition both Hirthler & Kressley were disqualified for contact after the checkered flag with one another.  The season has been up one week then down the next for Hirthler with mechanical issues, wrecks, DNQ’s and DQ’s but along with the 3 wins Hirthler still stands 11^th in the point standings.

Dillon Steuer is an 18 year old who has been on the move this season.  Dillon won his first big block feature at OCFG in July.  Orange County Fair Grounds closed their track in August and ceased racing due to NY State Covid-19 requirements imposed by the governor.  So one race track closes another opens and Steuer found himself in a new spec 358 small block driving for the 17Z Zubi Racing team at a new track for him – Grandview Speedway.  Steuer has been racing at Grandview for 5 short weeks and has qualified for all 5 events and has 3 top 10 finishes.

This week Steuer started 8^th and after getting passed by Jeff Strunk and Craig Von Dohren he was able to pass them both back and post a 2^nd place finish in brand new car at a brand new track.  Back at the trailer Steuer commented “It definitely felt good to get back around Jeff for second.  Strunk is one of the best to ever do this and its really cool racing side by side with one of the guys I look up to in dirt racing.”    

Amidst all the pandemic and Covid-19 confusion Mike Gular quietly returned to his home track of Grandview this season.  Gular missed the first couple of point races but in the past 4 races he has finished 2^nd, 3^rd, 2^nd and 6th is dialed back into his 2018 championship form.

Craig Whitmoyer had the steering break during hot laps and took a hard hit to the outer wall near the pit entrance.  The 99 crew had the car repaired and ready to go back out onto the track before the “Hard Charger Challenge” even hit the track.  Whitmoyer qualified 4^th in his heat which secured him the 6^th starting spot in the feature which he used to get his best finish of the season – 5^th place.  Matter of fact the same 99 car was being serviced later tonight and prepared for a trip to Big Diamond for the Coalcracker on Sunday.

Justin Grim in the 61 just keeps improving in small increments each week.  Justin was able to move forward in the feature to a 7^th place finish from a 19^th place starting position for his biggest forward movement of the season in a feature event.

Ryan Grim has his best season in recent memory going and currently sits 6^th in the point standings.  In his heat race the yoke and U joint broke resulting in a DNF for his heat race.  For the consolation the 17 was a DNS since they were still repairing the car.  Ryan used a provisional to start 29^th position on the field and was able to secure a 9^th place finish from the 29^th provisional starting position and continue his string of almost season long top 10 finishes.

Brad Brightbill jumped out of his #19 sportsman entry to take the wheel of the Breitenstein #14 modified entry for the second week.  Brightbill qualified 5^th in his heat race from 10^th starting position.  In the feature he moved forward to a 12^th place finish from a 17^th place starting position and continues to progress with the new ride.

The father son duo of Bobby Trapper and Bobby Trapper Sr. just returned to racing 3 weeks ago and both were able to qualify in the field for the second week.

 Kyle Weiss returned in his 21k entry after a brief successful run in the Tom Umbenhauer #5 entry.  Kyle had a strong 2^nd place run going when he was retired to the pits with a flat left front tire.

Duane Howard also had a flat tire on lap 15 and returned to the tail of the field with 15 laps to go in the feature.  Howard worked back through the field for a 10^th place finish moving him into second place in the point standing.

Doug Manmiller saw a perfect season with no DNF go away with a violent barrel roll after racing contact on the front stretch.  Manmiller was uninjured and headed home to prepare the backup car for the Coalcracker race tomorrow. 

Ron Harring had a hard almost straight into the turn 1 wreck two weeks ago in his heat race.  The # 13 entry was completely destroyed due to the hard wall contact and also tangling with the Ron Meyers entry.  Harring missed only one week of racing and returned this week with his backup car which happens to be Ryan Grim’s gray #17 car from last year.  Harring won his consolation race and finished 15^th in the feature from a 21^st starting position.

Sportsman Pit Notes

Tom Miller was able to move forward only one position in the feature and that moved him right into the winner’s circle for the second time in his career.  Last week Miller couldn’t move forward and stayed in second position which was much better than the 3 previous weeks of August that all resulted in wrecks and being towed off the track.  Miller conducted his postrace interview while sitting on the roof of his car in victory lane.  The 69 year old Elvis impersonator got his second career sportsman modified win.

Kyle Smith made a strong bid for the lead with his crate 602 entry in the last 8 laps getting as close as .1 to the leader Tom Miller but just couldn’t complete the pass.  Nonetheless Kyle Smith got a strong 2^nd place finish which is his best finish of the season.

Cole Stangle was able to secure a solid 3^rd place finish this week after two weeks of being wrecked out of the feature and a DNQ due to a broken exhaust system.

Nat Brinker continued his string of top 10 finishes with a 4^th place finish from a 9^th place start position.

Racing action continues at Grandview Speedway on Saturday September 12 with the 12^th & final point race of 2020 and a full program of racing featuring the modifieds and sportsman for modifieds with racing starting at 7:30.