Kressley Claims 5th Modified win and Kenny Gilmore First Sportsman Win of Season at Grandview Speedway

Under clearing skies and warm and conditions Grandview hosted a 3 division show with the modified and sportsman divisions racing in their 10^th point race of the season along with the sportsman and modified vintage cars.   A brief shower before the gates opened delayed the heat races a few minutes and presented heavy and challenging track conditions for the heat races.

Brett Kressley picked up the photo finish modified win over Craig Von Dohren at the checkered flag for his 5^th trip to victory lane this season at Grandview Speedway.  In the sportsman feature Kenny Gilmore made a late race pass on Logan Bauman to take his first win of the season.

The 30 lap modified feature was led to green by Carroll Hine and Darrin Schuler.  A red flag before lap 1 for a track blocking tangle and 4 more yellows before lap 3 finally gave way to some green flag racing with Darrin Schuler taking commanding early lead but it was short lived as Brett Kressley moved into the lead on lap 9 from his 16^th starting position.  The final caution of the night came out on lap 13 as Corey Merkel lost a tire due to hard racing contact.  On the 6^th and final restart; Kressley continued to lead Howard and Strunk with Craig Von Dohren on the move from 6^th.  By lap 23 Von Dohren had moved into second behind Kressley.  As Kressley entered lapped traffic; Von Dohren closed in on the lead.   The final 5 laps were side by side battle in lapped traffic with Brett Kressley holding on for the win by the narrowest of margins in a virtual dead heat photo finish at the checkered flag for his 5^th win of the season.

In victory lane Brett Kressley noted “Unbelievable win.  I thought we had a bigger lead coming through the lapped traffic but obviously we didn’t.  The car has been good every week this season and that’s thanks to the sponsors and crew.  Hopefully we will keep it rolling right next week.

The top ten was rounded out by Craig Dohren in second place, followed by Jeff Strunk, Jared Umbenhauer, Mike Maresca, Duane Howard, Doug Manmiller, Ryan Grim, Dylan Swinehart and Jack Butler in 10^th place.

Modified Feature Results (30-laps):

 1. Brett Kressley, 2. Craig Von Dohren, 3. Jeff Strunk, 4. Jared Umbenhauer, 5. Mike Maresca, 6. Duane Howard, 7. Doug Manmiller, 8. Ryan Grim, 9. Dylan Swinehart, 10. Jack Butler, 11. Darrin Schuler, 12. Eric Biehn, 13. Brad Grim, 14. Brad Arnold, 15. Carroll Hine III, 16. Joe Funk III, 17. Kevin Hirthler, 18. Ray Swinehart, 19. Justin Grim, 20. Cory Merkel, 21. Ron Kline, 22. Mark Kratz, 23. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 24. Jesse Leiby, 25. Ron Haring Jr., 26. Timmy Buckwalter, 27. Mike Lisowski, 28. Kevin Graver.

DNQ: Brett Gilmore, John Willman, Jordan Henn, Ryan Lilick, Danny Bouc, Craig Whitmoyer, Nate Brinker, Glenn Owens and Chris Gambler.

The sportsman feature was led for 18 green flag laps by outside pole sitter Logan Bauman over Lex Shive and Parker Guldin until the first caution on lap 18 for a 3 car tangle.  On the restart; Kenny Gilmore made a strong move from 4^th to 2^nd before the second and final caution few on lap 19.   Coming from the front row Gilmore made his move on lap 21 to pass Bauman for the lead and take his first win of the 2021 season.

The top ten was rounded out by Logan Bauman in second place followed by Cole Stangle, Kyle Lilick, Lex Shive, Nathan Mohr, Dylan Hoch, Brian Hirthler, Mark Kemmerer and Parker Guidin in 10^th place.

Sportsman Feature Results (25-laps):

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

DNQ: Brad Force, Adrianna Delliponti, Ryan Laise, Mark Gaugler, Paul Effrig, Nick Faust, Cody Manmiller, Wayne Rotenberger and Tyler James.

Tuesday, June 29th offers another exciting Thunder on the Hill Series featuring the Pennsylvania 410 Sprint Speedweek with the Hodnett Cup paying $10,000 to win plus 358 Modifieds. Duane Howard, Brett Kressley and possibly a sprint car racer or two will be part of the 5 p.m. Meet and Greet.

Sportsman will be in the spotlight on Saturday, July 3rd, when the annual Firecracker 40 is presented with a large field of T.P.Truck Equipment Sportsman expected to battle for the $2,000 first place money. The T.P. Trailers Modifieds will be the second part of the show. Adult admission is $22 while youngsters 6 thru 11 pay $10 Under 6 are admitted free. Action gets the green at 7:30 p.m.