Hirthler, Beltz and Howard Claim Grandview Triple 20 Wins & Pit Notes

Thunder on the Hill and Grandview Speedway held their final race of the season the “Treat or Treat Triple 20’s” under brisk but beautiful fall skies.  The spec 358 modifieds were looking forward to the treat of triple payouts.  The pits were filled with 50 modifieds and 33 sportsmen entries to close out the 2020 racing season at Grandview.

Feature # 1 – Kevin Hirthler led the 20 lap feature from green to checkered flag for the win in feature # 1 with only one caution and was completed in 8 minutes.  The top 5 was rounded out by Louden Reimert, John Willman, Duane Howard and Dylan Swinehart.   An invert of 12 was drawn for feature # 2.

Feature # 2 – This time it was Ryan Beltz leading the 20 lap feature # 2 from green to checkered flag with no cautions and completing in only 5 minutes and 26 seconds.  The top 5 was rounded out by Nate Brinker, Keith Hoffman, Frank Cozze and Louden Reimert.

Feature # 3 – The final feature was also won by pole sitter Duane Howard who again led from green to checkered flag for his second win of the season.  The final feature took 10 minutes and had 2 caution flags.  The top 5 was rounded out by Kevin Hirthler, Frank Cozze, Keith Hoffman and Nate Brinker.

In feature 1 victory lane Kevin Hirthler noted “This was a stellar field of 50 cars despite the Deyo race.  Lapped traffic was tough but everyone drove clean and with respect it was a good Night.”

In feature 2 victory lane Ryan Beltz commented “This is a dream come true to get our first modified win and be in victory lane with 2 of the best in the business Kevin Hirthler and Duane Howard.”

In feature 3 victory lane Duane Howard stated “The front starting spot was a big help and it was nice to get a win but this has still been a frustrating and disappointing season.”

Heat winners were Brett Gilmore, Louden Reimert, Kevin Hirthler and Doug Manmiller.  Last chance consolations were won by Briggs Danner and Brian Hirthler.

Race Results

Modifieds

Feature 1 (20 Laps) – 1. Kevin Hirthler 2. Louden Reimert 3. John Willman 4. Duane Howard 5. Dylan Swinehart 6. Frank Cozze 7. Mike Lisowski 8. Keith Hoffman 9. Nate Brinker 10. Jordan Henn 11. Eric Biehn 12. Ryan Beltz 13. Wade Hendrickson 14. Ryan Krachun 15. Craig Whitmoyer 16. Brian Hirthler 17. Briggs Danner 18. Richie Hitzler 19. Justin Grim 20. Chris Graver 21. Joe Funk 22. Brett Gilmore 23. Kevin Graver 24. Doug Manmiller (Alt # 1 – Ray Swinehart – DNS) 

 Feature 2 (20 Laps) – 1. Ryan Beltz 2. Nate Brinker 3. Keith Hoffman 4. Frank Cozze 5. Louden Reimert 6. Kevin Hirthler 7. Duane Howard 8. Eric Biehn 9. Jordan Henn 10. Mike Lisowski 11. Ryan Krachun 12. Dylan Swinehart 13. Craig Whitmoyer 14. Chris Graver 15. Brian Hirthler 16. John Willman 17. Doug Manmiller 18. Wade Hendrickson 19. Kevin Graver 20. Joe Funk 21. Brett Gilmore 22. Richie Hitzler 23. Briggs Danner 24. Justin Grim (Alt # 1 – Ray Swinehart – DNS) 

Feature 3 (20 Laps) – 1. Duane Howard 2. Kevin Hirthler 3. Frank Cozze 4. Keith Hoffman 5. Nate Brinker 6. Mike Lisowski 7. Craig Whitmoyer 8. Doug Manmiller 9. Eric Biehn 10. Jordan Henn 11. Ryan Beltz 12. Chris Graver 13. Dylan Swinehart 14. Kevin Graver 15. Ray Swinehart (Alt) 16. Joe Funk 17. Richie Hitzler 18. Louden Reimert 19. Ryan Krachun 20. Brian Hirthler 21. Brett Gilmore 22. Justin Grim 23. Wade Hendrickson 24. John Willman; (Briggs Danner – DNS)

 DNQ – Ray Swinehart (Alt # 1), Ron Kline, Nick Rochinski, Dan Waisempacher, Dillon Steuer, Kyle Weiss, Brett Kressley, Bobby Trapper Jr, Daryl Dissenger, Parker Guildin, Mark Kratz, Jim Britt, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Alan Barker, Carroll Hine, Kyle Merkle, Aleah Geisler, Scott Frack, Skylar Sheriff, Brad Brightbill, Bryan Kuhl, Brian Mady, Luke Fritz, Mark Kellner, Mike Tyson, Mark Levy

Modified Pit Notes

Kevin Hirthler won the 1^st modified feature and the sportsman feature to win both classes in the same day for his first time.  Hirthler brings his 2020 modified win total to 4 and his sportsman win total to 2 for the season.

Duane Howard got his second win of the season at Grandview bringing his career total to 87 wins. But the season has been tough on the veteran driver with what seems like nothing but bad breaks week in and week in.  One week it was so bad the 357 broke down on the way to the track and never arrived to race.  The special events season is not over yet and Howard has several big races on his agenda and the first of which is the Eastern States 200 at OCFG next week.

Ryan Beltz has been racing at Grandview for going on 20 years and got his first ever modified win tonight.  Back at the trailer Beltz noted “This is the same setup we won with on the sportsman car about a month ago.  We got the carburetor fixed at Big Diamond last week and this is the first time we used the left side panhard and we could not have won with the old setup under any circumstances.  We made the change at just the right time to get this first modified win.”

Best Average Finishes in all 3 features

1. Kevin Hirthler – 3.0
2. Frank Cozze – 4.2
3. Keith Hoffman – 5.0
4. Nate Brinker –  5.3

Teams had 10 minutes between each feature to do whatever adjustments they needed.  Kevin Hirthler and Eric Biehn both made gear ratio changes in between features.   

Only Briggs Danner couldn’t make the call in the 3^rd feature and Ray Swinehart was the only alternate that got into the program. 

Nate Brinker had his best day ever in his modified with a 9^th, 2^nd and 5^th place finish.  Brinker had an average finish of 5^th place in the 3 features.  Nate will concentrate on the modified in 2021 and the 14 team will no longer run in the sportsman division.

Loudon Reimert continues to have a strong special events season with consistent top 5 and top 10 finishes from track to track.  Reimert finished 2^nd and 5^th in the first two features and was running 3^rd in the final feature with 3 laps to go when he pulled in as the car started to smoke.  Postrace Reimert’s crew determined the car lost a power steering pump and the motor was not damaged.  Next up for Loudon is his annual pilgrimage to the Eastern States at OCFG.

Eric Biehn has been struggling with motor issues ever since his 3^rd place finish in late August which was his best finish of the season to date.  The motor troubles continued as the 87 entry had to withdraw from the 76er on Friday.  Coming in to the last race of the season Biehn has changed motors and the 87 entry has eliminated their engine gremlins.  Eric collected a top ten finish in all 3 features as Biehn looks forward to the 2021 season.

Justin Grim made the field but a damaged front end during the heat races keep the 61 entry off his usual up front pace.  The team made the call for all 3 features but didn’t have enough time to get their 61 entry repaired 100 % for the features.

John Willman had a 3^rd place finish in feature 1 but power steering problems dropped Willman to 16^th in the 2^nd feature.  In the 3^rd feature Willman pulled off on lap 10 with heavy smoke but postrace it was determined an oil seal failed and there was no engine damage on the 74W entry.

Parker Guildin make his debut in the modified division driving for Kenny Gilmore.  Parker finished 7^th in both his heat and consolation event in his first time driving a modified and may be the first sportsman driver to move to modified for the 2021 season.

Sportsman

The field was led to green by Paul Kline returning to racing for the first time in several years.  Kline led the field for the first 6 laps but Kevin Hirthler moved into the lead from his 7^th starting position on lap 7.  Kevin Hirthler was challenged on some late restarts but was able to hold off some hard charges from his brother Brian for his second Sportsmen win of the season.

The top 10 was rounded out by Brian Hirthler, Kenny Gilmore, Steve Young, Jesse Leiby, Jimmy Leiby, Dylan Hoch, Jesse Landis, Doug Snyder and Nat Mohr. 

Heats were won by Brian Hirthler, Kevin Hirthler and Dylan Hoch.  Consolation winner was Kyle Smith.

Sportsman Pit Notes

This was the last race of 2020 but many new drivers and teams were using this as a prep race for the 2021 season.  There were many new faces and names in the sportsman ranks making their 2020 debut as they get a head start on the 2021 season.  Veteran Paul Kline returned and picked up right where he left off with a strong run in 3rd until a racing contact incident ended his day.  Newcomers Cody Schantz, Ebby Ridge and Brad Force qualified for feature.  Doug Snyder was in his recently purchased #28 bicknell entry.

Racers will be racers even if they are brothers.  Kevin Hirthler didn’t get no breaks from Brian on a couple of late restarts in the feature.  Brian throw everything at his brother Kevin on a couple of late restarts in an attempt to beat him for the win but Kevin was able to hold off his brother Brian for the win.

The other sportsman brother tandem was also battling with one another all day.  In the heat race Jimmy made a last lap pass of his brother Jesse to get the last redraw spot and came complete with little racing contact in turn 4 on the last lap.    In the feature Jesse returned the favor and passed Jimmy for 5^th place while Jimmy finished 6^th. The Leiby’s just came off a successful visit to Georgetown and Delaware International a week ago and are now headed off to the Eastern States at Orange County Fairgrounds Speedway.

Dylan Hock is showing up at Grandview with more regularity and quickly moving toward the front of the sportsman field.  Hoch won his heat race and got his 7^th place in the feature was his best finish of the season.  It looks like Hock could be positioning to be a factor in the sportsman division in 2021.

Doug Snyder was in his recently purchased #28 bicknell for the first time and secured a 9^th place finish.  Snyder plans for a few more outings this season to start dialing in 28 entry for the 2021 season.

Grandview has concluded their 2020 season.  The 2021 season is scheduled to start the first Saturday in April with the Forrest Rogers Memorial Modified race with $1,000 to start.