Grandview Sportsman Freedom 38er – Pit Notes

76er weekend opened in grand style at Grandview Speedway with fall sunny cool and breezy conditions that put the shorts and race tee shirts away and brought out the Bob Hilbert race hoodies but with 108 cars on the premises it was a great night of racing despite the cooling temps.  55 sportsman entries were on the grounds for the 38er while 53 mods were testing for Saturdays 76er and the $35,500 to win.

With 18 drivers in the redraw it was Joe Toth in his Dad’s 89 and Steve Davis leading the field to green with Davis leading the first 5 laps.  After the first caution it was Brett Kressley in the Hoffman Speed shop # 6 taking the lead until lap 30 when lapped traffic briefly bottled up Kressley which all that Kevin Hirthler needed to jump into the lead after coming through the field from his 19^th starting position.  For the final 8 laps Hirthler negotiated lapped traffic with any problems and opened up nearly a 2 second lead right into the winner’s circle for his second 38er win.   Kevin Hirthler becomes the first driver to win two Freedom 38er’s with his second win securing the biggest check ever written for the sportsman 38er – $3,550.  Kevin Hirthler also adds his first sportsman win of the season to three modified wins while his brother Brian won the sportsman season points championship.

In victory lane Hirthler noted “We put in a brand new crate motor out of the box from Chevy into my 2012 chassis.  At feature time we decided to go with a hard compound tire since we were in 19^th starting position in the back and would have to run harder to get to the front.  The car worked high or low and was good anywhere I put it.  I am honored to win the 50^th Anniversary of the Freedom 38er and a big thank you to the Rogers family for doing all of this.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Brett Kressley, Mike Gular, Steve Davis, Kyle Smith, Jack Butler, Brad Brightbill, Ryan Lilick, Dakota Kohler and Jimmy Leiby.

Heat race winners: Brandon Edgar, Cole Stangle, Ryan Beltz, Tommy Miller, Brett Kressley and Brett Gilmore.  Consolations were won by Lex Shive, Kevin Hirthler and Ryan Higgs.

Sportsman Freedom 38 Feature Results, 38 laps (9/18/20)

1)Kevin Hirthler, 2) Brett Kressley, 3) Mike Gular, 4) Steve Davis, 5) Kyle Smith, 6) Jack Butler, 7) Brad Brightbill, 8) Ryan Lilick, 9) Dakota Kohler, 10) Jimmy Leiby, 11) Brandon Edgar, 12) Joe Toth, 13) Nate Brinker, 14) Nathan Mohr, 15) Ryan Higgs, 16) Jesse Leiby, 17) Ken Eckert Jr., 18) Tyler Peet, 19) Tom Miller, 20) Chris Esposito, 21) John McGovern, 22) Matt Peck, 23) Lex Shive, 24) Cole Stangle, 25) Jordan Henn, 26) Ryan Beltz, 27) Brad Arnold

DNS-Brett Gilmore (scratched due to engine issues). Matt Peck (first alternate) started the race as a result.

DNQ-Derrick Smith, Brian Hirthler, Mike Laise, Matt Brooke, Doug Snyder, Joey Vaccaro, Mike Schneck, Jim Housworth, Joe Brown, Bob Lineman Jr., Kenny Bock, Brianna James, Kyle Lilick, BJ Joly, Jesse Landis, Decker Swinehart, Tyler James, Cody Manmiller, Parker Guldin, Ray Woodall Jr., Bryan Rhoads, Skyler Sheriff, Steve Young, Mark Kemmerer, Chuck Eckert, Mark Gaugler, Scott Kohler.

Sportsman Pit Notes

55 entries were on the grounds for the 27 available starting positions.

Kevin Hirthler, Brett Kressley, Mike Gular and Steve Davis were 4 modified drivers who entered the sportsmen 38er.  This was actually Mike Gular’s first time in a sportsman entry.  Steve Davis was committed to the high line for the entire event and provided some exciting side by side racing in the top 4 for the entire feature.  These four modified drivers were also the top four on the podium for the feature.

All 18 of the heat race qualifiers were in the redraw for starting positions 1 – 18.

Kevin Hirthler qualified as a consolation winner and started in 19^th position for the feature.  Hirthler used a harder compound tire to compensate for his deep in the field starting position of 19th. His decision paid off as he was able to win the race from his 19^th starting position in a feature with only 3 cautions  and a long 26 lap green flag run to the checkered flag.

Kyle Smith’s 5^th place finish was the highest finishing true weekly sportsman driver who was not from the modified division.  Back at the trailer Kyle noted “We had a lucky draw and drew 5^th and I just ran my race and it came out great.  Today the track was a one groove racetrack on the bottom with only underneath pass and I prefer the bottom anyway.  This is our home track and we hope to move to modified in a couple of years here at Grandview.”  Kyle Smith is 17 years old and finished 7th in sportsman points for 2020 in only his second season in the sportsman division at Grandview.

 Brad Brightbill started dead last in 9^th position in his heat race and was able to move forward to a 4^th place finish which missed qualifying for the redraw by 1 position.  A second place finish in his consolation event place him 22^nd in the feature starting grind.  Brightbill was able to finish 7^th in the feature and move +15 positions through the field from his 22^nd starting positon.

One of the best races of the night was in the first consolation race as Lex Shive drove the low groove while Nate Brinker drove the high grove and these two were trading positions every lap and virtually side by side for the entire 10 lap consolation event.  Lex Shive won the consolation with 10 laps of clean side by side racing with 2^nd place Nate Brinker.

Tyler Peet grabbed the last starting position in the feature with a hard run from a 6^th place starting position to the 3^rd and final feature qualifying position.  Peet was able to pass Parker Guldin for the final qualifying position. in the 3^rd and final consolation event of the night.  Parker Guldin missed qualifying by one position.

Scott Kohler qualified 3^rd in his heat race only to be disqualified at the scales for coming up light.  A last place start in the consolation couldn’t get Kohler back into the feature event. 

Grandview’s final event of the season is the Thunder on the Hill “Modified Treat or Treat Triple 20’s” and the sportsman division on Saturday October 17 with racing 6:00 PM.