Kyle Lilick Returns to Grandview Victory Lane for Second Open Sportsman Win and Pit Notes

Cool and cloudy conditions greeted Grandview’s 3rd tripleheader with modifieds, sportsman and crate divisions.  With crate competitors being able to compete in two full programs in both sportsman and crate divisions in the same night these events have quickly became some of the most interesting and chaotic events of the season at Grandview.

Kyle Lilick posted his second open sportsmen victory of the season at Grandview to join the 2021 multiple victory open sportsmen winners list of Dylan Hoch who has won three open sportsman wins and Brian Hirthler who has also won the open sportsman features twice this season.

Pole sitter BJ Joly took a strong early lead in the first 8 laps but then was passed for the lead on lap 9 by outside pole sitter Logan Bauman.   Bauman held the lead though a series of 3 cautions and restarts with Kyle Lilick closing in fast from his 12^th starting position and moving into 2^nd on lap 12.  On the final lap 16 restart; Lilick was able to make a top side pass on Bauman for the lead and cruised into victory lane for his 2^nd win of the season.

In victory lane Kyle Lilick commented “I watched my brother dominate his modified heat race on the top and realized the top had some life left to it.  I did work early in that race and the rest just fell into place.  I was loose on the bottom so after I got the lead figured I just stay on the top unless he showed me his nose or something which fortunately never happened.  We have been able have consistent and solid finishes despite missing two races this season.”

The top ten was rounded out by Logan Bauman in second followed by Joey Vaccaro, Kyle Smith, Dakota Kohler, Jimmy Leiby, Dylan Hoch, Mark Kemmerer, Kenny Gilmore and Brian Hirthler in 10^th.

Sportsman Feature (25-laps) 6-12-21:

   1. Kyle Lilick, 2. Logan Bauman, 3. Joey Vaccaro, 4. Kyle Smith, 5. Dakota Kohler, 6. Jimmy Leiby, 7. Dylan Hoch, 8. Mark Kemmerer, 9. Kenny Gilmore, 10. Brian Hirthler, 11. Tyler James, 12. Kenny Bock, 13. Chris Esposito, 14. Matt Clay, 15. Cole Stangle, 16. Mike Schneck, 17. Cody Manmiller, 18. Nathan Mohr, 19. Lex Shive, 20. B.J. Joly, 21. Parker Guldin, 22. Bryan Rhoads, 23. Jesse Landis, 24. Steve Young, 25. Tom Miller, 26. Kurt Bettler.

DNQ:  Chuck Eckert, Eric Kocher, Zach Steffey, Colton Perry, Mike Stofflet, Mark Gaugler, Decker Swinehart, Brian Blankenbiller and Adrianna Delliponti.

The open sportsmen heat race winners were Logan Bauman, Jesse Landis, B J Joly and Parker Guldin.  The last chance consolations were won by Cody Manmiller and Mike Schneck.

Sportsman Pit Notes

The open sportsman division had 19 crate 602 entries and 16 open motor entries.  Just like the last race open/crate doubleheader the top 10 had 5 crates and 5 open motors.

Several crate drivers had great nights in both the open sportsman and 602 crate divisions:

 Dylan Hoch   – 7^th in sportsman and 1^st in the crates

Joey Vaccaro – 3^rd in sportsman and 5^th in crates

Jimmy Leiby – 6^th in sportsman and 2^nd in crates

Logan Bauman- 2^nd in sportsman and 8^th in crates

Kyle Lilick’s open sportsman win brings the open sportsman motor a bit closer to a tie but they are still at a 5 to 4 deficit in wins to the crate motors in the sportsman division.  Brian Hirthler (open) has 2 wins; Dylan Hoch (crate) 3 wins; Dylan Swinehart (crate), Jesse Landis (open), Logan Bauman (crate), and Ryan Lilick (open) all have one points race win in 2021.  Ryan Lilick also has a second open sportsman win which was a non-points event.

Kyle Lilick may have missed last week but it didn’t slow him down one bit as he rolled right back into victory lane for his second win of the season.  Kyle started in 12^th position and used both the bottom and top to drive to his 2^nd win of the 2021 season.  Kyle comment “We missed hot laps and I had to shake a little rust off in the heat race since I haven’t raced in 3 week but I got lucky enough to get a midrace caution in the heat which allowed me to regroup and get a 2^nd in the heat race.  In the feature the cautions definitely worked to my advantage and helped me reel Logan in.  My car was that good on the outside so I think I could have run him down without the cautions but they certainly helped make it a bit easier to get up front. “

Logan Bauman’s 2^nd place finish was only his 2^nd time in a new #22 car and the last two weeks have been the first time he ever drove a car with a coil suspension.  Logan’s rollercoaster of a rookie season started with his first 602 crate sportsman racing this season at Grandview moving up from the Slingshot division.  With only three finishes of 23^rd, 18^th and 14^th under his belt in his rookie season Logan proceeded to collect his first win with only 4 starts in the sportsman division.  The next week Logan broke his winning motor and was a DNQ for the feature and looking for new motor and equipment.  Last week Logan got to shake down his new # 22 car that has major suspension changes from his # 14 car.

In only his second time in the new # 22 car Logan finished a solid 2^nd in the open sportsman division and 8^th in the 602 crate sportsman division.  Back at the trailer Logan noted “It was a great night and we needed to rebound from blowing up our motor and not able to qualify on our last outing and we needed to qualify tonight.  I thought we could get a win tonight but just didn’t seem to happen.  I knew the restarts were going to be trouble and saw 10 on the scoreboard and didn’t know who it was but then Kyle who pulls up next to me for the restart in the 104.  We just tried our hardest but Kyle just got me on that last restart.”

Logan continued “For the crate race we were still in tech for the sportsman feature so never got out of the car and drove the same setup right from the sportsman feature to the crate heats.  We didn’t have any time for adjustments.  The crate race ran green to checkered flag in 8 minutes and it would have been nice to have a yellow and a restart but it didn’t happen.  We were able to run from 10^th to an 8^th place finish despite no restarts.  This new car is a completely different setup right down to steering box and coils so this doubleheader show was perfect for us to get extra seat time and sort this 22 car out.  The new 22 car will be our new special show car and we will continue to run the 14 as our regular weekly Grandview car.  We didn’t expect to do this well tonight and are thrilled with our progress tonight.”

Joey Vaccaro had his best open/crate double header race of the season with a 3^rd in open sportsman and a 5^th in crates.  Back at the trailer Joey reflected “We had an up and down year last year so to get all of this in one night is unbelievable and I can’t thank everyone that makes this possible enough.  I can’t believe we were able to get a 3^rd in open and a 5^th in crates without having any time to make changes from the open feature to the crate heats.  In the open feature we couldn’t hook up and were spinning the tires and had to feather the throttle.  We were fortunate to start 4^th and being up front definitely made a difference for us.  The Open feature ran clean all night.  We were able to move forward in all our heats and features which was also outstanding considering our limited time and changes between the two divisions events.  I always feel this place has the best competition and I learn every night from being with the best drivers and on this unique surface.  This was our best night of the season by far.”

Kyle Smith may have been only competing in the open sportsman division like any other regular Saturday night but the 77 team couldn’t be happier with returning to the top 5 with a 4^th place finish from a 13^th place starting position.  Kyle started the season with 5 straight top 5/10 finishes and then had a miserable three weeks of tangles and back of the pack finishes for the past 3 weeks.   Kyle is back on track and looking for another streak of top 5 finishes to take him through the summer.

Dakota Kohler has been battling with an up and down season from week to week and his 5^th place finish from a 10^th starting position couldn’t come at a better time.  Dakota has dealt with three weeks of tangles and has battled to stay on track even using a provisional and the backup black 9 car of Jesse Leiby after Dakota’s car was knocked out twice in  one night with a tangle in the heat and another one in the consolation.

Jimmy Leiby is another driver that welcomed a solid 6^th place finish from an 19^th place starting position.   Jimmy has also had several rough weeks including last week when he was towed back to the pits with a tore up race car before lap 1 had ever been recorded.  Despite a rough month of May; Jimmy has been able to maintain his 5^th position in the season point standing.  Jimmy noted “In the open sportsman feature we had the luck to qualify in our heat but missed the handicap so started in 19^th.  I just rolled the top to gain a bunch of spots and the restarts helped get us bunched back up to make the passes to get us up to 6^th.  We were able to earn the VP Racing Fuel Hard Charger award and Glenn jumped in the car to go out for the 602 crate heats while I swopped to Jesse’s black 9 for the crates.  It was great to see our luck turn and we got off to a great start tonight in feature # 1.”

Point leader Kenny Gilmore continued his streak of 9 top 5/10 finishes in 9 point races this season.  Kenny finished 9^th from a 15^th starting position

Brian Hirthler returned with the 4* for the first time in about a month after being sidelined for repairs of a broken valve.  Brian was able to put down a solid 10^th finish from a 14^th starting position in the first time back out with the 4*.   Brian noted “The 4* did fine; the driver just picked some wrong lanes at the wrong time and got bottled up by traffic and couldn’t get the car adjusted right.  In the end when I got in clean air the car was okay but the track was mainly already used up and there were no opportunities from late cautions.  We have a baseline with the 4* back in action and will try again next week.”

Saturday June 19th the Wingless Super Sportsman make a rare appearance as part of a Father’s Day Weekend tripleheader that will also feature the Modifieds and Sportsman. Racing will start at 7:30 P.M on Saturday.