Craig Von Dohren Claims Second Modified Win of the season at Grandview Speedway & Pit Notes

Under breezy and cloudy conditions Grandview Speedway hosted Modified points race # 5 as part of a triple header program with USAC East Coast 360 sprint cars and sportsman cars.  34 modified were in attendance looking to join Brett Kressley (2 wins); Jared Umbenhauer; Danny Bouc and Duane Howard as winner of a 2021 points race at Grandview.

The 30 lap modified feature saw Jesse Leiby led the field to green and maintain the lead until a red flag on lap 6.  On the restart it was Brett Gilmore taking over the led and pulling away from the field until he was caught and passed by Doug Manmiller on lap 13 for the lead.   Manmiller stayed out in front until lap 23 when Craig Von Dohren took over the lead and drove into victory lane for his first points race win of the season.

In victory lane Von Dohren noted “As expected the track conditions were influenced by the sprint cars. The bottom was the place to be and there was just enough rubber down there to be side by side and get passed Manmiller.  It was our night and it is fun to race and get a win. I’m thankful for this team that makes all this happen.”

The modified top 10 was rounded out by Brett Kressley in 2^nd followed by Jeff Strunk, Doug Manmiller, Nate Brinker, Kevin Hirthler, Duane Howard, Jesse Leiby, Jared Umbenhauer and Brett Gilmore in 10^th.

The heat winners were Dylan Swinehart, Brett Kressley and Nate Brinker.  The consolation was won by Kevin Graver.

Modified Feature (30-laps) 5-14-21:

 1. Craig Von Dohren, 2. Brett Kressley, 3. Jeff Strunk, 4. Doug Manmiller, 5. Nate Brinker, 6. Kevin Hirthler, 7. Duane Howard, 8. Jesse Leiby, 9. Jared Umbenhauer, 10. Brett Gilmore, 11. Dylan Swinehart, 12. Craig Whitmoyer, 13. Eric Biehn, 14. Ryan Grim, 15. Ron Kline, 16. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 17. Kevin Graver, 18. Brad Grim, 19. Justin Grim, 20. Brad Arnold, 21. Danny Bouc, 22. Carroll Hine III, 23. Ryan Lilick, 24. Dillon Steuer, 25. Mark Kratz, Louden Reimert, 27. Cory Merkel, 28. Jack Butler.

 DNQ: Ray Swinehart, Darrin Schuler, Jordan Henn, Ron Haring Jr., Steve Young and Mike Lisowski.

Modified Pit Notes

The modified division had to deal with a black & slick track after the sprint car feature.  A watered track gave drivers a small window of both top and bottom racing for about 10 of the 30 lap feature after which the track went to one lane bottom dominate for the remainder of the feature with some tight battles going on for position in the bottom line.  The feature had 5 cautions with 3 multi car tangles, one flat tire and one solo spin.

Craig Von Dohren took his first Grandview points race win of the season from the 14^th starting position to add to his four 2^nd place finishes and one ninth place.   The points battle with Kressley will remain in the single digits with Von Dohren taking a slim 4 point lead into next week.   In 6 weeks of points racing Von Dohren has already consistently finished in the top 5 from mid pack starting positions of 16^th or further back to average a 3^rd place finish in 6 races.   

Brett Kressley finished 2^nd from a 15^th starting position.  Kressley has two wins, a 3^rd and two 4^th place finishes in addition to a 2^nd tonight giving him 6 top five finishes in 6 point races for a 3^rd place average finish just like Von Dohren.  Brett noted “We were able to make our way to the front quickly tonight and miss the big ones before the track turned to one lane which caused the wrecks as drivers were fighting for the preferred bottom lane.  We are ecstatic to continue our early season consistency this year.”

Jeff Strunk seems to get stronger every week and posted his best finish of the season with a 3^rd from the 24^th starting position.  Jeff now has 2 top five and 4 top ten finishes for the 2021 point races.

Doug Manmiller’s 4^th place finish was his best of the 2021 season and a performance upturn that the 44m team has been waiting for and they hope to keep the top five finishes going for the remainder of May and into the summer like they have done in past seasons.  Manmiller has a 9^th, 11^th, 12^th, 26^th and 11^th in five previous races for what has been a slow spring for Manmiller just like past seasons.  Doug is hoping to get the wins and consistency going a little sooner this season than his traditional win in July over the past few seasons.

Nate Brinker has been qualifying in the back of the field and handicapping almost every race but the first year modified driver has been waiting for his breakout performance and tonight the 14 team got what they been looking for with a career best 5^th place finish for Brinker and company.  Back at the trailer Nate commented “We have been struggling in our first year in modified trying to figure out the setup for window racing which is a big difference from sail panels that we were used to running in the sportsman division.  This success tonight with a 5^th place finish is a huge relief as we have been struggling and putting in new setups every week.  We found something tonight we can build off and use as a baseline of for the rest of the season.  There was some grip in the feature up top but because of the sprint cars the bottom was much better.  I lost a few spots off of restarts but try to learn from watching the front runners do what they do.  We started 4^th and got as high as 3^rd and back as far as 7^th so to finish with a 5^th is a real confidence booster for us going forward.”

Kevin Hirthler finished 6^th from a 13^th starting position.  Kevin noted “tracks conditions were pretty poor due to the sprint cars.  Most of the tangles were behind me although there was some contact as I was coming through the field.  When the track narrows up like tonight everyone fights for the bottom and as a result you have to be a bit aggressive to hold your ground.  All in all not a bad run for us and we will take it and move on to next week.”

Jesse Leiby got his best finish of the season with an 8^th place.  Last week Jesse was in 4^th and only 8 laps away from a strong finish when a multi car tangle ended his night and sent the 456 team back to the drawing board.  Back at the trailer Jesse noted “I messed up in the heat race and clipped the infield tire and fought the car the entire heat but we still managed to handicap.  Glenn Strunk helped me with the feature setup and I just had to figure out how to drive the track.  Not leading the race was actually helpful as I could see the lines that Kressley and Manmiller were running and make adjustments to my line.  We missed the setup a little and I had a few driver errors but felt good to finally get a feature finish in modified this year.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 9^th from a 25^th starting position.  Postrace back at the trailer Jared noted “You have to be a little cautious in the beginning starting 25^th and always looking ahead.  I was lucky and only had to avoid one of the crashes early on and the rest were behind me.  The track was decent for maybe 10 laps and then it was pretty used up and started laying rubber and by then it was a fight for the bottom and following the car in front of you.”

Brett Gilmore posted his best finish of the season with a 10^th and led the race from lap 6 to 10.  Back at the trailer Brett recalled “After a slow start to this season and a rough season last year to get a 10^th this early in the season is really good for us.  I got the lead early and was running the top and kept running the top and figured the track would take rubber with three divisions here tonight; so when I saw Manmiller get below me I knew there’s was rubber down there now.  I got hit hard on a restart and lost the front end but all in all not a bad night and the car is still straight and can drive onto the trailer.  I stayed on the top too long and lost some spots.  I’m know to run the bottom but tonight I stayed on the top too long tonight.”

Craig Whitmoyer finished 12^th for another consistent finish near the top 10 after blowing a motor in the consolation a few weeks ago.  Craig noted “Since putting in the new motor we are making improvements every week.  Our finish this week doesn’t reflect how good our car was since we lost some spots due to restarting on the top.  I’m really happy with the progress we made and feel we will be where we need to be shortly.”

Bobby Gunther Walsh made the program in the 28^th position after a battle in the last chance consolation for the last transfer position with Darrin Schuler.  Bobby posted his best finish of the season with a 16^th place finish from a 28^th starting position.  Postrace Bobby commented “I got caught up in an incident and took some heavy sheet metal damage early but I was able to continue.  I was fortunate enough to miss the next two tangles and able to post my best finish of the season this week with a 16^th place finish.  Last week we actually had our best run of the season as we stayed in 3^rd during the feature for the first 10 laps before an equipment issue had us fall back into the pack.  We will have the car fixed and ready to go again next week as I feel we can do even better than our recent successes.”

Jorden Henn had a rare DNQ and could not make the call for the consolation as the 77H entry broke the rear end in the heat race.

Jack Butler and crew worked all week to repair heavy damage from contact with the boilerplate last week in the consolation.  Jack qualified in the last chance consolation only to have the rear axle break in the parade lap of the feature.

Louden Reimert, Dillon Steuer and Danny Bouc all had tangles end their night early.  All 3 drivers continue to be strong in the point standings at 8^th, 10^th & 11^th.

Next up on the schedule at Grandview is another triple-header show of racing action featuring the Modifieds, Sportsman and the Outlaw Vintage Racers. Racing starts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night May 22nd. Adult admission is $14 while youngsters 11 and under are admitted free.