Dylan Hoch Takes 4th Grandview Win of the Season & Sportsman Pit Notes

After a two days of rainouts last weekend; Grandview Speedway resumed racing on Saturday under summerlike weather conditions.  40 modified and 33 sportsman were in attendance for point race # 9 after the first rainout of the season last Saturday breaking a streak of 8 straight Saturday races at Grandview this season.

The sportsman feature started out with 4 cautions before completing the 1st lap.  There were a 5 car tangle and 3 spins which were all in turn 1&2 with the last caution involving 9 cars on the inside of turn 1 and 2.  After the flurry of 4 cautions; the race ran 24 laps green to the checkered flag.  When the dust all settled it was Matt Clay leading the field and gaining some separation with second place Kenny Bock.  By lap 13 Dylan Hoch moved from 4^th to 2^nd and was starting to move in on Clay in first.   Clay entered lap traffic but got bottled up on the bottom allowing Hoch to make the pass for the lead using the top.  Dylan Hoch drove into victory lane for the 4^th time this season and his 3rd sportsman win of the season.

In victory lane Dylan Hoch noted “We couldn’t get a lap in at the beginning of the feature but we fell into the right situation on every one of the 4 cautions before lap 1 and we missed all the attrition.  We struggle when it’s heavy in the heat races but we have the track figured out really good for the feature when the track slicks off in the corners.  We have a setup that hooks up really good in the feature.  Tonight the top had a lip up there and the yuke tire got pulled out a little bit and it worked to our advantage.  Matt got stuck behind a lapped car and that worked to our advantage too.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Matt Clay in second followed by Cody Manmiller, Kenny Bock, Kenny Gilmore, Mike Kemmerer, Mike Schneck, Chris Esposito, Bryan Rhoads and Tyler James in 10^th place.

The heat races were won by Nick Faust, Nathan Mohr and Mark Gaugler.  The consolation was won by Brian Hirthler.

Grandview Sportsman Feature (25-laps) 6-5-21:

 1. Dylan Hoch, 2. Matt Clay, 3. Cody Manmiller, 4. Kenny Bock, 5. Kenny Gilmore, 6. Mark Kemmerer, 7. Mike Schneck, 8. Chris Esposito, 9. Bryan Rhoads, 10. Tyler James, 11. Brian Hirthler, 12. Jesse Landis, 13. Colton Perry, 14. Mark Gaugler (DNF), 15. Parker Guldin (DNF), 16. Nick Faust (DNF), 17. Lex Shive (DNF), 18. Dakota Kohler (DNF), 19. Kyle Smith (DNF), 20. Cody Schantz (DNF), 21. Ryan Beltz (DNF), 22. Nathan Mohr (DNF), 23. Jimmy Leiby (DNF), 24. Joey Vaccaro (DNF).

DNQ: B. J. Joly, Paul Effrig, Logan Bauman, CJ Solt, Tom Miller, Hunter Iatalese, Mike Laise, Gary Wagner and Decker Swinehart.

Sportsman Pit Notes

Dylan Hoch’s win this week makes it three in a row for the crates who take a 5 to 3 win advantage over the open motors in the sportsman division.  Brian Hirthler (open) has 2 wins; Dylan Hoch (crate) 3 wins; Dylan Swinehart (crate), Jesse Landis (open) and Logan Bauman (crate) all have one win each.

Dylan Hoch made it two weeks in a row with his second sportsman win this time from the 16^th starting position.  Dylan’s 3^rd sportsman win on the season has moved him into 2^nd in the sportsman point standings for 2021.  The 35 team had a treacherous start to the season with 3 weeks of mechanical issues but now have settled into a winning pattern and have wins in April, May and June already.  Dylan noted “We started 16^th and thanks to being on the top side of the starting grid was able to miss all the attrition from the four lap 1 one tangles and after all the cars got towed off and dust settled we were in 4^th place on lap 2.  I was running low in 1 & 2 and high in 3 & 4 because it had a cushion.  You got to run were they aren’t and that’s how I made my three passes from 4^th to 1^st.”

Matt Clay lead the first 17 laps with a margin as large as nearly 2 seconds over second place but a hard charging Dylan Hoch quickly cut the gap and on lap 18 Matt choose the low line but so did the lapped car which bottled him up and opened up the top for Hoch to motor into the lead and take the win.  Matt held on for a solid 2^nd finish from his 4^th starting position.  Matt recalled back at the trailer “We were off in the heats and made a few adjustments that worked well in the feature.  I was really worried about running out of fuel with all the cautions and delays.  I made a few in car adjustments and once the feature got rolling I was able to quickly pass the 3 cars in front of me to take the lead.  As I approached the lapped car I committed to the bottom line and the lapped car did not push up like I thought he would so I got bottled up on the bottom which opened the top for Hoch to take the lead.  I couldn’t really make any move Hoch after he passed me as the car was starting to fade.  I’m a bit disappointed the way it went down but I’ll take second.”

Matt Clay came to Grandview three races into the season.  He was not eligible for the handicap in his first three races and had two DNQ’s but on the 3^rd race battled through two on track incidents and showed some true racing grit by qualifying in the last transfer spot in the last chance consolation despite two on track tangles in the heat race.  Last week was his first week in the handicap and Matt immediately finished with a 5^th place on his first handicapped start.  This week was only his fifth Grandview race and his 2^nd and 5^th place finishes in only five starts has proven he will be a force to be reckoned with during the remainder of this season.  For now Matt is looking for one more position next week to get his first win of the season.

Cody Manmiller finished 3^rd from a 10^th starting position and has put together back to back top 5 finishes in only 5 Grandview starts this season.  Cody had the good fortune of being on the outside of the starting grid which put him in a position to be able to evade the 4 tangles before the conclusion of lap 1.  Cody also used the top to make a lap 24 pass on Kenny Bock to secure a 3^rd place podium finish.   Cody reflected on the feature “Car felt real good from the beginning.  I was really lucky to be on the top in the starting grid and was able to miss the carnage of the 4 early cautions.  I did try the top behind Kenny; but it didn’t feel good so I just followed him on the bottom.  In hindsight I should have kept trying the top.  In the end I moved up and just tried to get some momentum up and was able to swing around Kenny coming to the white flag.  I was kicking myself for not moving up earlier.”

Kenny Bock finished 4^th for his second top five finish of the season at Grandview. Other than his 2^nd and 4^th place finishes the rest of his Grandview season has been in the back of the field due to mechanical issues and heavy contract incidents.  Kenny’s 4^th place finish couldn’t come at a better time breaking his recent 5 week string of tangles and mechanical issues.  Kenny reflected on the feature “We had a good starting position in 6^th.  On the first tangle I lifted but got pushed forward from behind but got through it and the other 3 with just a few bumps and scraps to the car.  Our starting position lucky to be on the outside which helped us to get through the four early tangles.  On the lap 2 single file restart I got to start 2^nd and was able to run 2^nd & 3rdish until I reached the lapped car.  I went to the top to pass the lapped car and then went back to the bottom.  I was kicking myself in hindsight as I should had stayed up on the top and Manmiller wouldn’t had been able to zip by for 3^rd.  I had no brakes again and they were glowing most of the race so we got to figure what’s going on with them before Tuesday when we go to the Short Track Super Series at Big Diamond.”

Kenny Bock has made a lot of changes for an aggressive 2021 racing schedule.  The first change was a proactive switch from a sportsman motor to a crate motor.  The change to a crate engine allowed Kenny to continue to run the Grandview weekly sportsman program and also race the Short Track Super Series crate mid-week schedule during the season and an early season pilgrimage to Florida with the Short Track Super Series.  In the past two weeks both Grandview and STSS racing took a positive turn for Kenny from what had been a rough road of mostly mid pack and back of the pack finishes.  At the New Egypt STSS race Kenny drew the last starting position in the heat race and for once it was the place to be avoiding flipping and flying cars in what has to be described as an epic survival heat race from hell.  Kenny not only finished the heat but qualified in a transfer spot which lead to his best STSS feature finish of 10^th place.  His very next race at Grandview saw Kenny break out of a 5 race bad luck streak with a 4^th place finish and a move to 11^th in the Grandview points while he is also 14^th in the STSS points.  In addition having the crate motor has also allowed Kenny to participate in the Grandview sportsman and crate double headers and race in two full events in one night.  Kenny is looking for twin top 10 finishes at the next event which is this Saturday at Grandview.

Kenny Gilmore finished 5^th from a 15^th starting position and despite being involved in the first tangle he was able to continue moving and missed the three other tangles.  Kenny’s 5^th place finish continued his all top 10 and top 5 finishes with no wins but yet he is still leading the Grandview season long points with 4 top 5’s and 4 top 10’s. Kenny continues to lead the point standings by 245 points over a surging Dylan Hoch with 3 wins. 

Mark Kemmerer finished 6^th from an 11^th starting position despite making a pit stop for repairs during the 3^rd caution.  Mark now has 4 top ten finishes out of 8 starts and has moved into a solid 7^th place in the sportsman point standings.

After starting the season with four back of the pack finishes Mike Schneck and his #2 entry has strung together three consecutive top 10 finishes with a 6^th, 10^th and 7^th.   This week Mike’s 7^th place finish came from the 18^th starting position as he was able to avoid all four of the caution tangles before lap 1.  Postrace Mike noted “Well starting 18^th I was expecting a tough night and then what looked like the humidity bringing the moisture in the track up after the modified feature threw my setup off a little I had no idea what to expect in the feature.  I saw Gilmore next to me so I planned to follow him since he always seems to move forward.  It kind of paid off as I was able to avoid all of the big incidents and sitting in 6^th place on lap 1 after starting 18^th.  When we finally got to the green flag laps my car started to get loose and I got stuck in 6^th and with 3-4 laps to go the F10 got by me and I dropped to 7^th.”  Mike had his best weekend of the season with a 3^rd place podium finish at Big Diamond coupled with a 7^th place finish and third consecutive top 10 finish in a row at Grandview.

Chris Esposito in the 31A was able to stay out of all the early tangles and finish 8^th from a 20^th on the starting grid.  Chris has completely turned around his season from 4 starts with an average of 18^th place finish to his last 4 starts which have been 2 top five and 2 top ten and an average of 7^th place moving him up to 7^th in the sportsman point standings.  Postrace Chris noted “I started in 20^th and took my time and looking forward to pick my spots and it paid off getting through all the early tangles clean.  By the end of the race I was overheating so I backed off a bit and was able to get the car to the finish in 8^th place and in one piece.  Our consistency is back were we want it to be.”

Bryan Rhoads finished 9^th from a 22^nd starting position despite getting caught up in the 4^th “big one” 9 car tangle caution on lap 1.  Postrace Bryan commented “We made some leaps with the setup to move forward and it didn’t work but now we know to reset and go in a different direction.  We did get caught up in a small entanglement in turn 2 but our damage was minimal and the car was still mostly straight.  Our 9^th place looks good on paper but it was more a factor of the attrition and I was not happy with the speed & stability of our car this week so we will make some new changes next week in hopes of getting our speed and stability back.”

Brian Hirthler finished 11^th from a 19^th starting position despite getting caught up in the 4th“big one” tangle.  Brian’s season so far has been a true roller coaster with two wins and two top 5 finishes every other week.  The down weeks have been mechanical issues and tangles relegating the 4*/117 to back of the pack finishes every other week.   Postrace Brian commented “I missed the first three accidents on lap 1 but that 4^th one was unavoidable and caused front end and body damage so we had to pit and return to the back of pack but the car wasn’t the same.  We ended up 11^th since there were no cautions later in the race to bring the field back together.  I’m hoping to have the 4* back on track soon.” 

The 602 Mini-Series returns to action on Saturday June 12^th making a triple header program with the modifieds and sportsman divisions.  Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30 PM on Saturday June 12^th.