Duane Howard, Jesse Landis and Dylan Hoch Take Wins at Second Grandview Tripleheader

A wash-out of a weekend took just enough break from raining on Saturday for Grandview Speedway squeeze in a triple header of modified, sportsman and crate 602 for the second time this season.  The crates have the opportunity to run two complete programs with separate qualifying and features all in one night and makes for quite an interesting night for the crate teams who choose to do double duty in both classes with the same car.

A brisk and downright cold night was endured by fans and racers alike to produce an outstanding night of competitive racing with 39 mods; 43 sportsman and 34 crates for a total of 116 race cars on hand for the three division card of racing.

The modified feature saw Jesse Leiby lead the first 21 laps from the pole position only to have forward storming Duane Howard take over the lead on lap 22 with Craig Von Dohren hot on Howard’s heels and making a strong bid for the lead when a caution flew for a turn 1 wall tangle that ended the night for Jesse Leiby, Brad Brightbill and Richie Hitzler with all cars sustaining front end and or heavy body damage.  The ensuing lap 25 restart was the third and final caution of the feature and the single file restart was timed perfectly by Howard to get a good jump on Craig Von Dohren and hold him off for the last 5 laps and take his second Grandview win of the 2021 season.

In victory lane Duane Howard noted “To win these features you have to get to the front before the competitive cars get there.  I got to the leader first and had to race him hard for several laps to get the lead.  The incident in turn 1 was right in front of us and I saw it developing and just picked a line and keep the car straight  and I had just enough room to negotiate by.  We missed the setup last week but everyone on this team worked really hard this week and they are the reason we are back in victory lane this week for the second time this season.”

The modified top ten was rounded out by Craig Von Dohren in 2^nd followed by Mike Gular, Brett Kressley, Mike Lisowski, Jared Umbenhauer, Kyle Weiss, Jeff Strunk, Craig Whitmoyer and Danny Bouc in 10^th place.

Modified Feature (30 laps) – 5/08/21

 1. Duane Howard, 2. Craig Von Dohren, 3. Mike Gular, 4. Brett Kressley, 5. Mike Lisowski, 6. Jared Umbenhauer, 7. Kyle Weiss, 8. Jeff Strunk, 9. Craig Whitmoyer, 10. Danny Bouc, 11. Doug Manmiller, 12. Brad Grim, 13. Kevin Hirthler, 14. Dillon Steuer, 15. Brad Arnold, 16. Louden Reimert (provisional), 17. Tim Buckwalter, 18. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 19. Cory Merkel, 20. Ron Haring Jr., 21. Darrin Schuler, 22. Jesse Leiby, 23. Ryan Lilick, 24. Justin Grim, 25. Ron Kline, 26. Brad Brightbill, 27. John Willman (provisional), 28. Richie Hitzler, 29. Ryan Grim, 30. Dylan Swinehart.

DNQ: Brett Gilmore, Carroll Hine III, Dan Waisempacher, Glenn Owens, Eric Biehn, Jack Butler, Joe Funk, Mark Kratz and Nate Brinker.

The sportsman feature was lead to green by Nick Faust and until lap 7 when the first caution flew for a contact incident between Kenny Bock and Kyle Smith.  On the restart Chris Esposito took a commanding lead over Jesse Landis while Faust faded to mid-pack.  Esposito’s lead evaporated when the race went red on lap 14 for a hard contact incident on the back stretch between Bryan Rhoads and Cody Schantz.  On the second and final restart of the 25 lap feature; Esposito returned to the lead with Jesse Landis continuing pursuit in second place.  On lap 20 Landis closed the gap until he executed a pass for the lead on lap 23 while Esposito faded to 5^th. Landis held off Mark Kemmerer and Kyle Lillick for the win and his career first trip to Grandview’s victory lane.  Landis has been close to two other wins this season but the third time was the charm and Jessie got his first career Sportsman win at Grandview speedway.

In victory lane Jesse Landis commented “I got to thank Ryan Beltz for straightening us out in the heat race.  We wouldn’t be here now if he doesn’t do that.  Car has had speed all year we have just been missing something.  Hopefully we have found it for the rest of the season.”

The sportsmen top ten was rounded out by Mark Kemmerer in 2^nd place followed by Kyle Lillick, Brian Hirthler, Chris Esposito, Dakota Kohler, Dylan Hock, Kenny Gilmore, Doug Snyder and Kyle Smith.

Sportsman Feature (25-laps) – 5/08/21:

 1. Jesse Landis, 2. Mark Kemmerer, 3. Kyle Lilick, 4. Brian Hirthler, 5. Chris Esposito, 6. Dakota Kohler, 7. Dylan Hoch, 8. Kenny Gilmore, 9. Doug Snyder, 10. Kyle Smith, 11. Nathan Mohr, 12. Mike Stofflet, 13. Parker Guldin, 14. Logan Bauman, 15. Anthony Raisner, 16. Nick Faust, 17. Tom Miller, 18. Jimmy Leiby, 19. Bryan Rhoads, 20. Mike Schneck, 21. Cody Schantz, 22. Kurt Bettler, 23. Cody Manmiller, 24. Joey Vaccaro, 25. Decker Swinehart, 26. Kenny Bock.

 DNQ: Colton Perry, Josh Mooney, Brian Blankenbiller, Ryan Conrad, Kody Sites, Talan Carter, Tyler James, Joe Ciambrone, B.J. Joly, Mark Gaugler, Lex Shive, Eric Kocher, Brad Force, Wayne Rotenberger, Matt Clay, Ryan Beltz and Tajae Adams.

The final feature of the night was the 602 crates with Cody Kline in Kurt Bettler’s #54 entry leading at the green but he was quickly overtaken by Dylan Hoch from the outside pole position on lap 4.  Hoch proceeded to check-out on the field & negotiate lapped traffic flawlessly on his way to the win and his second trip to victory lane this season.  The 25 lap feature was run in 6.54 minutes without any caution flags.

Dylan Hock commented in victory lane “Car was better on the bottom today but I used both high and low lines as well as a little of the bumper to get through lapped traffic.  We figure out a little bit more every time we get on track here at Grandview.  Tonight we pretty much figured out how to get our car hooked on a slick track.”

The crate top ten was rounded out by Kurt Bettler in second place followed by Joey Vaccaro, Glenn Strunk, Cody Manmiller, Ryan Grim, Tyler James, Steve Lyle, Decker Swinehart and Dakota Kohler in 10^th.

602 Sportsman Crate Feature (25-laps) 5/08/21:

1. Dylan Hoch, 2. Cody Kline, 3. Joey Vaccaro, 4. Glenn Strunk, 5. Cody Manmiller, 6. Ryan Grim, 7. Tyler James, 8. Steve Lyle, 9. Decker Swinehart, 10. Dakota Kohler, 11. Tyler Peet, 12. Logan Bauman, 13. Ryan Conrad, 14. John Josko, 15. Joel Smith, 16. Jimmy Leiby, 17. Talan Carter, 18. Anthony Raisner, 19. Eric Kocher, 20. Roger Gaskill, 21. Kody Sites, 22. B.J. Joly, 23. Joe Toth, 24. Doug Snyder.

DNQ: Scott Kohler, Hunter Iatelas, Kris Ney, Bryan Blankenbiller, Joe Ciambrone, Zach Steffy and Wayne Rotenberger.

Next up at Grandview on Saturday May 15 is the USAC East Coast Sprints along with the modifieds and sportsman divisions for a triple header program with racing starting at 7:30 PM.