Brett Kressley Wins Opening Day at Grandview Speedway & Modified Pit Notes

Grandview Speedway kicked off their 2021 racing season with the opening race of the weekly NASCAR championship points chase under pleasant skies and warm conditions.  Over 70 modifieds and sportsman entries were on hand looking for an opening day trip to victory lane.

The 1^st modified feature of the 2021 season saw John Willman lead the field to green with Ryan Grim taking over the lead on lap 3.  Grim set the pace until lap 15 when Duane Howard took the lead briefly only to have Ryan Grim reclaim the lead before a lap 17 caution.   On the restart Brett Kressley used the top to pass both Ryan Grim and Duane Howard and move from 3^rd to 1^st.   Kressley strategically managed the 4 additional restarts including the final restart on lap 28 which he was able to hold off a charging Craig Von Dohren by a 1 second margin of victory to make his first 2021 trip to victory lane.

In victory lane Brett Kressley noted “After I got to the leaders I sat back and waited for them to get to lapped traffic and it held them up enough that I could roll the bottom.  I didn’t think the bottom was there until I rolled it a couple of times and crossed over and then I realized something was down there and it worked out for us.  Once I got to the lead the top was so good I stayed there since someone would have to be really good on the bottom to be able to get past me.”

Back at the trailer 3^rd place Ryan Grim noted “We lead the first half of the race and then lost the brakes on lap 16 and I had to slow down a bit and be careful with no brakes.  We didn’t make any changes from the heat but we were too free to run the top.”

The top ten was rounded out by Ryan Grim in 3^rd place followed by Duane Howard, Kevin Hirthler, Jeff Strunk, Louden Reimert, Ron Kline, Doug Manmiller and John Willman.

The heat races were won by John Willman, Ryan Grim, Kevin Hirthler and Jordan Henn.  The last chance consolations were won by Ryan Grim and Jared Umbenhauer.  The feature lined up heads up based on the heat races and the consolations.

Modified Feature (30-laps) – 4/10/21 @ Grandview Speedway:

1.)Brett Kressley, 2) Craig Von Dohren, 3) Ryan Grim, 4) Duane Howard, 5) Kevin Hirthler, 6) Jeff Strunk, 7) Louden Reimert, 8) Ron Kline, 9) Doug Manmiller, 10) John Willman, 11) Jared Umbenhauer, 12) Dillon Steuer, 13) Ryan Lilick, 14) Jordan Henn, 15) Dylan Swinehart, 16) Brad Grim, 17) Mark Kratz, 18) Cory Merkel, 19) Joe Funk, 20) Danny Bouc (DNF), 21) Justin Grim (DNF), 22) Craig Whitmoyer (DNF), 23) Dan Waisempacher (DNF), 24) Mike Lisowski (DNF), 25) Steve Young (DNF), 26) Jack Butler (DNF), 27) Brett Gilmore (DNF), 28) Ron Haring Jr. (DNF)

Did Not Qualify: Brad Brightbill, Darrin Schuler, Nate Brinker, Mark Levy, Richie Hitzler, Brad Arnold, Eric Biehn, Carroll Hine III, Bobby Gunther Walsh, Kyle Weiss and Jesse Leiby.

Pit Notes – Opening Day of 2021 Championship Points Season

Brett Kressley took the win from the 9^th position on the starting grid.  Brett commented “I was kicking myself last week because we made a couple of adjustments tonight we should had made last week and the difference was two spots tonight and a win.”  Last week Kressley finished 3^rd after trying the bottom in an attempt to get around the leader.  But nonetheless Kressley is off to a solid & consistent start at Grandview this season with a 3^rd and a 1^st while he had a 5^th at Big Diamond this past Friday night.  Historically Kressley’s luck has not been good early in the season but so far in 2021 that appears to be changing for the 19K team.

Craig Von Dohren finished 2^nd from a 19^th starting position.  Von Dohren has served notice he is ready to defend his 2020 Grandview points championship with a 2^nd place finish in the Money Maker and a 2^nd place finish in the season points opener.

Ryan Grim won his heat race and earned the heads up feature pole position. Ryan was able to lead the first half of the feature until his brakes failed dropping him to a 3^rd place finish in the points opener.  A broken rear ended his chances last week in the heat at the Money Maker and Ryan is in hopes that the bad luck this year is already over so he can make a strong run every week to improve his of 7^th place finish in the 2020 NASCAR points

Jeff Strunk finished 6^th from a 16^th place starting position which was a nice rebound from last week at the Money Maker where Strunk had a rough start to the season spending more time in the pits than on the track.

It may only be one points race into the new 2021 season but a good points battle is already underway with Brett Kressley, Craig Von Dohren, Duane Howard, Jeff Strunk, Ryan Grim & Kevin Hirthler already off to a strong start with their 2021 points.

Pole sitter John Willman began to fade on lap 3 with carburetor issues but was able to hang on for a 10^th place finish.  Back at the trailer Willman noted “I felt a power loss right away but it was coming and going until the restart on the lap 18 when it just didn’t go and I lost about half a dozen spots.  This 2021 Teo elite chassis is performing flawlessly we just had a motor issue today which we’ll get sorted out and be back next week.  We have been really good the first two weeks coming back to our home track with a 4^th and a 10^th place finish despite motor issues in the feature.” Willman has been on a hot streak with his brand new 2021 Teo Elite chassis.  Willman has had both luck with the draws and good performances winning both his heats to earn him two consecutive poll positions.

Ronnie Kline had his second top 5 starting position of the season and this time he was able to stay up front for the entire feature event.  Ronnie finished with a solid 8^th from a 6^th place start and was his best finish in the past year.

Louden Reimert continues to have a strong car and finished 7^th from an 18^th starting position on the field.  Louden noted “We had a good night in all and the racing was really clean throughout the pack.”

Dannie Bouc was in 3^rd place from a 12^th starting position when a flat tire ended his night with two laps to go.  Bouc made a strong late charge gaining several positions on restarts and moving from 6^th to 3^rd before retiring to the pits with only 2 laps to go.  Bouc noted “We were really good on the bottom when the preferred groove was up top.  I am getting better on restarts here and unfortunately we just got a flat at the wrong time.”

Jared Umbenhauer not only had a bad draw for his heat race starting in the 8^th position but also was in the most stacked heat race of the day.  Jared missed qualifying by one position in his heat but did win his last chance consolation putting him 22^nd in the feature where he went +11 and finished 11^th .  Jared noted “Our car was not perfect and the extra laps in the consolation helped us get better for the feature.”

Dylan Swinehart was plagued with brake issues in the heat but had a good car and was able to get the 81 entry to a 15^th place finish in the feature from a 26^th place starting position.  Dylan reflected “Last week we lost our brakes and decided to pull in early during the feature.  This week I had a great car in the heat race that just didn’t have any speed and the car didn’t turn like it did in the warmups.  After the heat; when I pulled in the pits the right front brake was locked up and on fire.  So after dealing with that we didn’t have much time to prepare for the consolation.  We went out for the consolation without a right front caliper and finished 3^rd from a 6^th starting spot.  We got the front brakes back for the feature and dialed everything to the front brakes and were planning on running a couple of laps and then pulling in; but the car was really fast and with the front brakes only I had enough brakes to slow down so I stayed out and finished 15^th.”

Mark Kratz in the 88K had a hit and miss season last year qualifying for features but did qualify for the 76er which is the biggest event at Grandview and one of the toughest to qualify for.  Mark got the 2021 season off to a good start qualifying for the feature with a 2^nd in his consolation and making the program with 39 entries on the grounds qualifying for the 28 starting positions.  Mark finished 17^th in the feature from a 22^nd starting position and noted “We look forward to build on today and continue to qualify for every race we can this season and push forward in the features with better finishes this year.”

Four of the top 10 from the 2020 sportsman points championship moved up to the modified division in 2021 – Brad Arnold, Jack Butler, Nate Brinker and Jesse Leiby.  The first of the modified rookies to qualify in 2021 was Jack Butler who qualified with a solid 14^th position but he ended up with a DNF at lap 17 when a flat tire and subsequent damage ended his night.  Arnold, Brinker and Leiby will continue to look for their first modified qualifier next week.

Next up at Grandview is a triple header racing program with modifieds, sportsman and crate 602 divisions on the slate for Saturday April 17^th and hot laps at 6:00 with racing starting at 7:00.