Brett Kressley Scores 3rd Win of the Season at Grandview & Pit Notes

Under sunny skies and warm summerlike conditions Grandview hosted another 3 division show with the modified and sportman divisions racing in their 7^th point race of the season along with the vintage cars.

The modified 30 lap feature was led for 11 laps by pole sitter Darrin Schuler until Danny Bouc took the lead off of a lap 11 restart.  3 laps later it was Brett Kressley taking the lead on lap 15.  Kressley endured two lengthy red flags and held off Danny Bouc by nearly a 2 second margin to take his 3^rd Grandview points race win of the season.

In victory lane Brett Kressley noted “The track was not as racey as it usually is early in the feature and was top dominate from the beginning.  The cautions kept us away from lapped traffic until the final laps and then I slowed the pace down a hair to maintain and didn’t have to get involved with lapped traffic.  We are off to a heck of a start this season with 3 wins and all top 5 finishes in all Grandview point races this year.”

The top ten was rounded out by Danny Bouc in second followed by Doug Manmiller, Jared Umbenhauer, Craig Von Dohren, Craig Whitmoyer, Eric Biehn, Jeff Strunk, Ryan Grim and Nate Brinker.

The heat races were won by Darrin Schuler, Jesse Leiby and Jack Butler. The last chance consolation was won by Cory Merkel.

Modified Feature (30-laps) 5/22/21:

   1. Brett Kressley, 2. Danny Bouc, 3. Doug Manmiller, 4. Jared Umbenhauer, 5. Craig Von Dohren, 6. Craig Whitmoyer, 7. Eric Biehn, 8. Jeff Strunk, 9. Ryan Grim, 10. Nate Brinker, 11. Cory Merkel, 12. Brad Grim, 13. Kevin Graver, 14. Brad Arnold, 15. Ron Haring Jr., 16. Carroll Hine III, 17. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 18. Jack Butler, 19. Joe Funk III, 20. Dillon Steuer, 21. Brett Gilmore, 22. John Willman, 23. Darren Schuler, 24. Duane Howard, 25. Jesse Leiby, 26. Louden Reimert, 27. Justin Grim, 28. Mike Lisowski.

DNS: Kevin Hirthler & Dylan Swinehart

DNQ: Steve Young, Richie Hitzler, Ray Swinehart, Jordan Henn and Mark Kratz.

Pit Notes – Modified 5/22/21

The 30 lap feature had 3 major tangles of which two were red flagged to clear the cars involved. Two of the incidents involved 5 cars and the other one had four cars involved.

Brett Kressley was one spot short last week with a runner-up to Craig Von Dohren but this week he got the top spot back and finished 1^st for his third win of the season.  Brett is in a point battle with Craig Von Dohren and his win tonight reclaimed the points lead over Von Dohren by 37 points.  Kressley has 3 wins, a 2nd, a 3^rd and two 4^th place finishes and is setting a torrid pace that only Craig Von Dohren has been able to keep pace with in 2^nd in the points standings.  Jared Umbenhauer is in 3^rd place and over 200 points behind the two point leaders.

Back at the trailer Brett Kressley noted “We came to the front much quicker this week and the track turned one lane much later in the feature this week.  Despite several cautions and a lengthy red flat our tires never sealed over.  I used the top to get the lead, bottom to protect the lead, and paced myself to stay out of the lapped traffic in the feature.  We’ve had Lady Luck on our side and hope to keep it rolling.”

Danny Bouc had a solid 2^nd place run from the 9^th starting position.  After a couple of rough weeks in the luck department Bouc adds today’s second place finish to his first win a few weeks ago to move into 8^th in the Grandview points standings.

Postrace Doug Manmiller noted “In the feature we moved forward and got held up in 7^th a while but got a good restart at lap 17 moved us right into 5^th.  I committed to the bottom early as the top faded and was able to pick up two more spots to a 3^rd place finish.”   Doug’s 3^rd place finish from a 10^th starting position was his best of the 2021 season and a performance upturn in recent weeks 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.  Manmiller has a 9^th, 11^th, 12^th, 26^th and 11^th and a 4^th last week in six 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.

Jared Umbenhauer finished 4^th from a 13^th starting position.  Jared noted “We struggled a little early to get through traffic and the car continued to get better throughout the race.   We did OK with the long red flag but you never know what a red flag wait may do to your tires.”  Jared is currently 3^rd in the Grandview point standings with a 50 point lead over Jeff Strunk in 4^th.

Craig Whitmoyer turned in his best finish of the season with a 6^th place finish from a 24^th starting position.  Whitmoyer’s night didn’t start out as planned as he fell to 10^th in the heat race sending him to the consolation.  Whitmoyer noted “In the heat race the car was just not right and couldn’t get going forward. I made some changes for the consolation that made the car much better.  For the feature I made a few more adjustments and was able to pass my way forward and picked up some spots due to a couple of wrecks but we had a good car for the track conditions.”  Whitmoyer blew a motor 3 weeks ago in the consolation and qualified but could not make the feature call due to the blown motor.  Since then Whitmoyer has qualified for the last three features and finished in the top 10 each week.

Eric Biehn recorded his best finish of the season with a 7^th place finish.  Eric had a strong night from start with a 2^nd place finish in a 12 car heat race.  Postrace at the trailer Eric noted “We had to replace the axle from last week but no other major changes.  The car was really good on the bottom this week which was crucial for the heat race and the key was to hit the bottom just right and car was good from center off of the corner.  I was very happy we were able to move forward from our 5^th starting position in the heat.  Feature was very dicey as a lot of the cars were pretty equal and the track was good on both the top and bottom.  Track seemed to take rubber late in the feature when everyone moved to the bottom.  I had to keep the car straight on each of the five restarts as everyone was fighting for every inch on each restart.  All in all happy with our finish and ability to fight off all the restarts.”

Jeff Strunk had what looked like a rough day going into the pits twice on lap 8 for a flat and then repairs after a restart tangle.  Despite going to the rear of the field; Jeff was able to quickly move back through the field and secure an 8^th place finish.  Jeff now has 2 top five and 5 top ten finishes in the 2021 point races and currently sits 4^th in points.

Ryan Grim had an amazing up and down day and fortunately the up came at the end of the night with a 9^th place finish in the feature from a 27^th starting position.  Ryan was involved in two tangles in the heat race relegating him to a 10^th place finish in the heat.  In the last chance consolation Ryan finished 9^th from a 13^th starting position but was still 2 positions out of a transfer spot.  Ryan was preparing to use a provisional starting position but a late scratch for the feature by Kevin Hirthler put Ryan in the field as the 1^st alternate.  From there it was the best news of the night as Ryan proceed to move from his 27^th starting position to a 9^th place finish.

Nate Brinker has strung together a top 5 and a top 10 finishes in the last two weeks. Nate secured a 10^th place finish from a 25^th starting position this week and finished 5^th last week with his best modified finish of his career.  Back at the trailer Nate reflected “We struggled in the heat race as we missed the setup with too much stager and track was slicker than we thought it would be.  We made the feature through the consolation and made a few changes to our successful 5^th place setup from last week’s feature and went out to swing for the fence.  We were able to pass 7 or 8 cars and get through 3 wrecks.  The last wreck was close but we got hooked to Strunk and he cleared the way for us and we got minimal damage.  We were definitely able to build off of last week’s 5^th place setup.  It has been great to be able to run side by side with the Grandview front runners in our first year in the modified division.”

Cory Merkel secured his best Grandview finish of the season with an 11^th place finish from a 22^nd starting position.  Cory has qualified for 7 features in a row in his first year at Grandview and has been waiting for his first finish near the top 10.  Cory reflected “We missed the setup for the heat but regrouped for the last chance consolation and ran away with it for the win.  In the feature we stayed away from big trouble and was able to move forward the best we have all season to an 11^th place finish.  This is my second year in modified and I am still learning every week as modifieds are totally different from late models which I drove for years here at Grandview.  My crew of Troy Snyder, Paul Hassall, my dad, my father-in-law and my wife Abbey worked really hard this week to get the car on the track this week.  They fixed a destroyed rear, welded the frame and repair body work for us to make it this week.”

Brad Grim continues to qualify for every points event feature this season and is now showing improved consistency in the feature with his second 12^th place feature finish in the past 3 weeks.  Brad is 7 for 7 in qualifying for features this year and his strong & consistent heat race performances will be continue to pay dividends in the coming weeks with his handicap in the feature.

Carroll Hine III was on the Grandview rollercoaster to a surprise feature start and well deserved 16^th place finish from a 28^th starting position.  In the last chance consolation Carroll got passed at the checkered for the final transfer position into the feature.  But due to Dylan Swinehart not being able to make the call for the feature due to a broken jackshaft in the rear Carroll made the feature via his second alternate status.  Carroll started 28^th in the feature and got involved in a tangle but was able to turn in his best feature finish of the season with a 16^th.  Carroll noted “We have red panels on one side and white on other cause we destroyed a door last week and this was the only panels we had available at this time.  It all worked out to get us here tonight.”

Kevin Hirthler couldn’t make the call for the feature due to a broken rocker arm.  Dylan Swinehart also could not make the feature due to a broken rear.   It is a rare occurrence to have one alternate inserted in the field let alone two in one night.

John Willman missed last week at Grandview due to a tangle at Georgetown on Friday night that caused extensive damage to his car and also injured his back.  This week the “Underdog” returned with his only car repaired and ready to go.  John stated “I’m still hurting but I’m here and the car is ready to go after extensive repairs this week.  I can get in the car just fine but boy is it difficult to get out of the car with this hurting back.”   Looks like John needs a new nickname the “Ironman Underdog”.  John qualified for the program and raced to lap 22 when a multi car tangle ended his night and thankfully with no additional injuries to the Ironman Underdog.

Duane Howard (5^th in points) and Louden Reimert (10^th in points) both were unable to finish the feature and ended up 24^th and 26^th respectively for their first DNF of the season.

Coming up on Saturday, May 29th is a doubleheader card of T.P.Trailers Modifieds and T.P.Truck Equipment Sportsman part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. The Meet & Greet for the night is tentatively set with Mod ace Ryan Grim and two Sportsman hot shoes Jesse Landis and Nate Mohr. Racing gets the green at 7:30 p.m. Meet and Greet takes place starting at 5 p.m. at the main gate area. That very same weekend, Sunday, May 30, the popular Thunder on the Hill Series offers Roaring Triple 20s Big Block/358 Modified racing along with Sportsman and Outlaw Vintage Racing Series with a 7:30 p.m. starting time.