Danny Bouc Takes First Trip to Grandview Victory Lane & Pit Notes

Grandview Speedway held their 4^th points race of 23 scheduled events under cool and breezy conditions.  The two division program had 36 modifieds and 32 sportsman competitors on the grounds. 

Danny Bouc in Norm Hansell’s 357 entry and held off a closing Craig Von Dohren to take the checkered flag in the 30 lap feature and his first trip to the Grandview victory lane in only his 5^th start of the season.  

The 30 lap feature saw Brad Brightbill take the early led over Eric Biehn and Danny Bouc.  On lap 6 the first caution of the night flew for a tangle on the front stretch that retired Doug Manmiller, Kevin Graver and Ron Haring Jr. to the pits for the night.  On the ensuing restart; Danny Bouc moved from 3^rd to 1^st until the second and final caution of the night came out on lap 17.  Brightbill then reclaimed the lead on the lap 18 restart but Danny Bouc came right back around him on lap 19 to go back into the lead.  On lap 22 Craig Von Dohren moved into 2^nd and closed in on Bouc who held on by .25 seconds to take his first trip to victory lane at Grandview.

Postrace Danny Bouc noted “The biggest change tonight was we brought the diamond car which I’m more comfortable driving.  I knew those guys were coming and I saw Craig peek under me.  It mean a lot to be able to get this first win at Grandview so soon.  The competition level here is huge.  Norm has given me every piece of the puzzle it takes to win here. I felt like we had a car good enough to win the first two weeks and then started to struggle a little last week so we hit the reset button.  Starting upfront in 5^th definitely helps but it also pressures you to win more rather than just get solid runs.”

The top ten was rounded out by Craig Von Dohren in second followed by Timmy Buckwalter, Brett Kressley, Jeff Strunk, Brad Brightbill, Louden Reimert, Jack Butler, Jared Umbenhauer and Kyle Weiss.

Heat races were won by Jeff Strunk, Danny Bouc, Jared Umbenhauer and John Willman.  Both Strunk and Umbenhauer won from there 8^th starting position while Bouc came from 5^th and Willman from 6^th as the heat races were all back to front runs this week.

The last chance consolations were won by Jorden Henn and Justin Grim.

30 lap Modified Feature @ Grandview Speedway 5/01/21:

Danny Bouc, 2. Craig Von Dohren, 3. Timmy Buckwalter, 4. Brett Kressley, 5. Jeff Strunk, 6. Brad Brightbill, 7. Louden Reimert, 8. Jack Butler, 9. Jared Umbenhauer, 10. Kyle Weiss, 11. Dillon Steuer, 12. Eric Biehn, 13. Ryan Grim, 14. John Willman, 15. Brad Arnold, 16. Jordan Henn, 17. Justin Grim, 18. Nate Brinker, 19. Ron Kline, 20. Cory Merkel, 21. Richie Hitzler, 22. Duane Howard, 23. Brad Grim, 24. Brett Gilmore (alternate), 25. Dylan Swinehart, 26. Doug Manmiller, 27. Kevin Graver, 28. Ron Haring Jr.

 DNS: Craig Whitmoyer.

 DNQ: Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Carroll Hine III, Mark Kratz, Darren Schuler, Jesse Leiby and Glenn Owens.

Pit Notes – Grandview Modified

Danny Bouc picked up his first win in only five starts at Grandview.  His previous starts have been marred by contact flats, plain old flats and finding an incident or two here and there.  A change to the Big Diamond car was enough to take the 357 team to their first Grandview win.  Bouc and the 357 team now set their sights on their first Big Diamond win as well as win # 2 at Grandview.

Craig Von Dohren posted another 2^nd place finish from an 11^th starting position for his 3^rd second place finish of the season added to a 9^th place finish which was from a 21^st starting position.  He also has a Thunder on the Hill win already this season.  The 2020 Grandview champion is looking to make it two in a row and currently sits in 2^nd only 19 points behind Brett Kressley.

Tim Buckwalter made a rare Saturday visit to Grandview and got right back into a rhythm with a 3^rd place finish from a 15^th starting position.  Back at the trailer Tim commented “The 23X is good here, we had a rainout Friday night and I didn’t have any other rides goings so we figured you know what handicapping to the back is no different than handicapping to be back when you are up there in the points.  Actually sometimes it’s better to be in the rear on the first lap than you can pick your poison and not be in the middle of the mess.  Tonight in the feature we bought our time, followed Craig and filled the holes that opened up and found ourselves in 4^th from 15^th.  I’d like to get that last restart back when I got caught low and let Craig get back by me.  It’s frustrating when you do all the work to get past someone and then you make a mistake and they get back by.  Without a doubt this is the toughest place to race on a Saturday night.”    

Brett Kressley had another solid finish with a 4^th from a 14^th starting position.  Brett has been writing the book on consistency this season with 4 top five finishes.  He has two wins, a 3^rd and a 4^th which currently puts him in the points lead.

Jeff Strunk had another solid day with a 5^th place finish from an 11^th place starting position.  Jeff has had consistent top ten finishes with a 6^th, 8^th, 10, and 5^th and currently sits 4^th in the 2021 points standings.  

Brad Brightbill had a nice outing in his return with the Breitenstein Motorsports # 14 with a 6^th place finish in only the second outing in the car.  The car sustained frame damage in an opening night flip in turn 3 and returned to action this week.  In the meantime Brad jumped into the Vince Gagliardo #41 and was able to maintain the weekly handicap which put him in the pole position this week.

Jack Butler posted his season best 8^th place finish to add to qualifying in every points feature this season in his first modified season.  Jack commented “Had some adversity in the heat and fell to 7^th but was able to work our way back to 4^th to get in the handicap which was a key to our night.  In the feature we fired off real loose and at about lap 10 the track started to come to us and we tighten up.  A caution on 16 hurt us bunching us back up with the top guys.  Our stagger ended up a bit off a bit but all in all a great run and night for us.”

Cory Merkel (16) has quietly qualified for every points feature this season.  Cory used the last chance consolation this week but qualified for the 28 car field nonetheless.  Cory finished 20^th but was able to avoid an early front stretch tangle.

Ron Haring (85) has stepped up this season and qualified for 4 consecutive features.  Ron had a strong run in the last chance consolation finishing 4^th from an 8^th starting position and it’s just a matter of time before he pulls off a quality finish in a feature.  Unfortunately Ron’s night ended early as he was collected in the lap 10 front stretch tangle.

Craig Whitmoyer had a season best 9^th place finish last week only to have a DNS due to an engine failure during qualifying this week.  Craig made the field in the last chance consolation with a 3^rd place finish only to have the motor go up in smoke just past the finish line resulting in the 99 not being able to make the call for the feature despite qualifying.

On Saturday May 8^th it’s the second round of the 602 mini-series at Grandview for a three division program with the modified and sportsman division with racing kicking off at 7:30 PM.