Dylan Hoch Claims 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 sportsman 25 lap feature was led by Matt Clay for the first 16 laps with Dylan Hoch and Joey Vaccaro following in 2^nd and 3^rd.  After clearing a restart tangle of five cars; the 4th restart on lap 16 saw Dylan Hoch sprint to the lead and cruise to his 2^nd sportsman win of the season with a 4 second advantage over 2^nd place Joey Vaccaro.  Only 13 cars were still on track at the end of the feature.

Dylan Hoch commented “Matt Clay washed up in corner on 3^rd restart which gave me the opening on the bottom to take the lead and take our 3^rd win of the season.   I couldn’t do this without my crew, brother and dad who are in the shop every night.”

The top ten was rounded out by Joey Vaccaro in 2^nd followed by Decker Swinehart, Jimmy Leiby, Matt Clay, Brian Hirthler, Cody Schantz, Kenny Gilmore, Chris Esposito and Mike Schneck.

The heat races were won by Matt Clay, Mark Gaugler and Kenny Gilmore.  The consolation was won by Ryan Beltz.

Sportsman Feature (25-laps) 5/22/21: 1. Dylan Hoch, 2. Joey Vaccaro, 3. Decker Swinehart, 4. Jimmy Leiby, 5. Matt Clay, 6. Brian Hirthler, 7. Cody Schantz, 8. Kenny Gilmore, 9. Chris Esposito, 10. Mike Schneck, 11. Ryan Beltz, 12. Bryan Rhoads, 13. Mark Gaugler, 14. Kyle Lilick, 15. Lex Shive, 16. Tyler James, 17. Mike Stofflet, 18. Colton Perry, 19. Dakota Kohler, 20. Mark Kemmerer, 21. B.J. Joly, 22. Nathan Mohr, 23. Kyle Smith, 24. Cody Manmiller.

DNQ: Logan Bauman, Paul Effrig, Kenny Bock, Wayne Rotenberger, Brad Force, Gary Wagner.

Pit Notes – Sportsman

Dylan Hoch’s win this week makes it two in a row for the crates who take a 4 to 3 advantage in wins over the sportsman motors for the season in the sportsman division.  Brian Hirthler has 2 wins; Dylan Hoch 2 wins; Dylan Swinehart, Jesse Landis and Logan Bauman all have one win each.

Dylan Hoch picked up his second sportsman win of the season in addition to a Crate division win taking his win total to 3 in his first full season of competition at Grandview.  Dylan finished 1^st from the 11^th starting position and is quietly moving up in the points standings and is currently in 7^th in the sportsman point standing despite a 2 weeks of mechanical issues causing the 35 team not to be able to make the call for the feature and miss several heat races.  The last several week have settled down and for the month of May there finishes have average a Top 10 finish each week.

Postrace Dylan noted “We missed the setup last week and the track was very similar this week but we made adjustments and nailed it this week.  Recently chasing the changing track conditions has been the biggest thing for us.  Everything fell our way tonight and we were able to take advantage of the right opportunities to move forward from 11^th and not make any mistakes.  On the long red flag delays I really don’t worry about the tires cooling off since they have so much heat in them already.  I was able to make the pass on the restart after the long delay when Matt Clay made a mistake and slid up and gave me the bottom line from there I stayed on the bottom until the checkered flag.”

Joey Vaccaro picked up another 2^nd place finish this time from the 7^th starting position.  Joey reflected “Once again I’m just glad we could have a good night again.  Since our first second place run 3 weeks ago; we have had two finishes way back in the pack so it was great to turn around the bad finishes jumping right back up to a 2^nd place finish for the second time this season. We hit the setup this time and was a lot better in the heat this week.  For the feature we better tires on and made the usual feature changes.  Our 7^th starting position was nice because we were starting on the bottom which allowed me to quickly move to 4^th.  For some reason in the feature I was great through 3 & 4 but in 1 & 2 I was really tight and it killed my momentum.  Hoch had the best car tonight and there was no way I was going to catch him.  I was glad we were able to hold onto 2^nd place.”

Decker Swinehart finished 3^rd from a 9^th starting position and is putting together a pretty strong month of May with two top 5’s and one top 10 in the month.  Decker “I had a great car tonight and moved up to 6^th on lap 1 and ran the bottom until the lap 16 caution flag.  Using the bottom I was able to move up to 3^rd.  The car was very smooth and fast and it was nice being up front away from all the accidents.  There was only one wreck I almost got into when a lapped car spun but luckily I went low and just missed him.  9^th to 3^rd is a great run for me.  It was a great night.”

Jimmy Leiby returned to the top five with a strong charge to a 4^th place finish from a 12^th starting position.  The night started off good with a 5^th place finish in the heat race from an 8^th starting position earning a handicap position in the feature.  For the first time in recent weeks Jimmy was able to get out of the heat without any serious damage and Jesse’s black #9 backup car could stay on the trailer tonight.  Jimmy commented “We were able to avoid all the stuff that happened with the lapped car incident and made some good passes early on to quickly get up front and then just hung up there and picked off a few positions on the restarts.”  Jimmy is tied for 4^th in the point standings and only 55 points out of second place.

Matt Clay capitalized on his first race with the benefits of the handicap and finished 5^th which is his best Grandview outing of his career.  Instead of being in the rear in the heat like the past 3 weeks; Matt started 2^nd in his heat and won by a full straightaway and nearly a 6 second margin.  In the feature he started 3^rd and took the lead on lap 2 which he held until lap 16. On the lap 16 restart he washed up and fell back to 5^th place where he finished for his best career finish at Grandview.  Postrace Matt noted “I had an awesome car on the long run in the feature but felt it fade around lap 14.  When we stopped on the lap 16 red flag I could see there wasn’t any tread left on my front right tire.  On the restart going into turn 1 I missed my mark and the car slide up just enough for four of them to get under me.  We are thrilled to return to the front of the field.”

Brian Hirthler pulled off a solid run with his brother’s 117 crate finishing 6^th from a 13^th starting position.  Brian moved into 2^nd in the sportsman point standings demonstrating the value of having a backup car.  The 4* dropped a valve last week and is still being repaired.  Brian commented “Yeah we like to take some time to get these motors fixed right so we opted for Kevin’s 117 crate again this week.  Tonight track rubbered up and not so much passing and was really tough on tires.”

Cody Schantz returned after only a one week absence while the car was repaired and in his first outing back finished with a solid 7^th place finish.  2 weeks ago Cody was involved in a hard collision in the back stretch straightaway which heavily damaged his #16 entry.  Cody reflected” We were definitely happy about returning the track.  It was a lot of hard work to get this car back together after significant damage a few weeks ago.  I was a little hesitant at first but it was awesome getting back out again and car felt really good.  For me a night bringing the car back in one piece is a win.”  

Mark Gaugler had a career night with a heat race win and a 13^th place finish in the feature. Mark started the season off by rolling and destroying his primary Grandview car in a violent barrel roll in the first turn.  But within weeks Mark was back on a track with his “Big Diamond” car while the Grandview car continued to be rebuilt.  Mark won his first heat race and started on the pole in the feature.  For 16 laps Mark was able to stay in 6^th but then got shuffled back to 13^th which was still his career best feature finish.   Back at the trailer Mark reflected “I made a mistake early when I entered 1 too hot and pushed up losing 8 spots in the first lap.  I got back up to 6^th but the tires started to fade and we fell further back to 13^th.  I feel like we are definitely on the right track.  We are still rebuilding our Grandview car and going over it thoroughly to make sure everything is ready to go.  We might have the Grandview car ready to return in two weeks.”

Tyler James was on his strongest run of the season in 2^nd place for 16 laps when an incident with a lapped car ended his night.  Tyler noted “I had a great car last night and looking forward to getting this car ready for another opportunity to get our first win.”

Kyle Lillick had a strong run going having moved into 9th from a 23rd starting position. On the first lap 16 restart Kyle was caught in a 5 car tangle which ended his night with a 14th place and a DNF. Despite the disappointing end to a strong run through the field, Kyle still sits tied for 4th in the points standings and only 55 points out of second place.

In the past two weeks both winners have gone from 1^st to last the next week after a win demonstrating just how competitive and difficult it is to achieve consistent success at Grandview.  Jesse Landis got his career first win only to finish 25^th the following week.  Last week sportsman rookie Logan Bauman also got his career first Grandview win only to follow it this week with a DNQ.  Logan reflected “We got out motored in the heat race and was just entirely too loose in the consolation and weren’t able to go anywhere.  What a difference a week can make here.” There is an incredible fine line between the top and bottom at Grandview for sure.

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.