Kevin Graver Jr Claims First Modified Victory at Grandview Speedway & Pit Notes

Grandview Speedway hosted point race #13 and a tripleheader with the 4^th Crate special under pristine skies with bright sunshine and very comfortable weather conditions for July with no humidity.  There were 80 entries in attendance for the three division program.

The modified feature was won by Kevin Graver Jr for his first Grandview modified victory of his career and after the “biggest one” wreck of the season collecting 14 cars on the front stretch. 

The modified feature was lead to green by Carroll Hine with Jordan Henn taking the early lead.  On lap 5 the “big one” happened on the front stretch and was the biggest mass pileup of the season involving 14 of the 29 cars in the feature.   The top three in points – Brett Kressley, Craig Von Dohren and Jared Umbenhauer all had their night ended by the biggest wreck of the season.  On lap 5 restart Kevin Graver took the lead over Jordan Henn and for the next 20 green flag laps developed a commanding lead over Jordan Henn and Doug Manmiller.  But on lap 25 the 3^rd and final caution flew resulting in a single file restart which Graver was able to take advantage of and gain quick separation from the field to cruise to his first career Grandview win of the season. 

In victory lane Kevin Graver Jr noted “I can’t believe I’m here.  The outside line was good early and on the restart I got a good start on the outside and was able to beat Jordan into turn 1 to take the lead.  After I got the lead I didn’t know who was coming but I knew Timmy Buckwalter was back there and he was fast so I just did my thing and stayed smooth in the bottom line and here we are in victory lane.  This is my 3^rd night of racing this week and that might had helped a bit.  I started to catch lapped traffic and that was concerning but I didn’t want to see that caution on lap 25 and was very happy it was a single file restarts.  I was able to stay in my rhythm and hold off Manmiller for the win.  This is my first modified win since 2001 and my first Grandview win ever and feels awesome.”

The top ten was rounded out by Doug Manmiller in second place followed by Jordan Henn, Mike Lisowski, Timm Buckwalter, Brad Arnold, Danny Bouc, Jeff Strunk, Brad Grim and Ryan Grim in 10^th place.

The heat races were won by Jordan Henn, Brad Grim and Timmy Buckwalter.  The last chance consolation was won by Brett Kressley.

Modified Feature (30-laps):

1. Kevin Graver Jr., 2. Doug Manmiller, 3. Jordan Henn, 4. Mike Lisowski, 5. Timmy Buckwalter, 6. Brad Arnold, 7. Danny Bouc, 8. Jeff Strunk, 9. Brad Grim, 10. Ryan Grim (provisional), 11. Ron Kline, 12. Kyle Weiss, 13. Carroll Hine III, 14. Nate Brinker, 15. Brett Gilmore, 16. Jesse Leiby, 17. Eric Biehn, 18. Brett Kressley, 19. Justin Grim, 20. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 21. Ryan Lilick, 22. Duane Howard, 23. John Willman 24. Kevin Hirthler, 25. Craig Von Dohren, 26. Jared Umbenhauer, 27. Darrin Schuler, 28. Kyle Merkel, 29. DNS – Craig Whitmoyer  

DNQ: Ron Haring Jr., Jack Butler, Ray Swinehart, Mark Kratz, Dylan Swinehart and Cory Merkel.

Modified Pit Notes

Kevin Graver Jr. won his first Grandview modified feature and became the 180^th different modified winner at Grandview Speedway.  It has been exactly 20 years since Kevin’s last modified win at Big Diamond.  With rainouts and family commitments; the 7A hasn’t been at the track for nearly a month but the benefits of the extra shop time and rest had them ready to go when they rolled through the gate but the trip to victory lane still far exceeded their wildest expectations.

Back at the trailer Kevin reflected “This is absolutely amazing and I can’t believe it.  I have one modified win at Big Diamond in 2001 and this is now my second modified win in 20 years.  We have been off for two races and came into this race with our heads cleared.  We had a good car in the heat and ran 2^nd.  We made a few changes for the feature and the track also came to us in the feature.  Tonight we made the right choices on the car and I made the right choices on which lane to run.  Coming from asphalt racing I’m accustom to smooth and straight on the bottom and that’s exactly what got us this win tonight.  On the restart after the big melee; Jordan took the bottom and I knew that was my chance because the top was still there on lap 5.  I got a decent start and beat him into turn one.  I got the lead and moved around a bit but then decided the bottom was where I was going to commit to and that I was going to live or die with the bottom tonight.  When the caution came out on lap 25 I was really concerned with Manmiller on the restart.  I saw the scoreboard showing 25 and quickly realized I didn’t know if we were running 30 or 35 laps but when the track crewman put the cone out for the single file restart I knew I only had 5 laps to go.  Our win here at Grandview is something that I never dreamed in a million years would happen for us this year.”

Kevin also recalled “Roughly half way through the feature as I coming off of turn 2 the car revs up and I thought we might have broken something in the driveline.  So I back off the gas and coasting when I figure I better make sure it didn’t just jump out of gear and sure enough the shifter had jumped out of high gear.  I just had to put it back in high gear and get back on the throttle.  I held the shifter in gear for a lap and then it seemed OK so I let it go and ran the rest of the race with no issues and won the race.”

Doug Manmiller has had an eventful couple with weeks but the outcomes keep getting better and better.  This week he was involved in the 14 car melee but managed to emerged with minimal damage and proceed to finish 2^nd from his 14^th starting position.   Last week he got hooked to another car on the straightaway while in second and had to go to the back of the field with only 13 laps to go but still managed to come back through the field for a 7^th place finish.  Back at the trailer Doug commented “We started 14^th in the feature and made some early moves forward and then the big melee happened on the homestretch and I was right in the middle of it.  I got spun around but it seemed to be up on all four so I decided to stay out on the track and started the lap 5 restart in 12^th position.  I got through the field and was running the leader down when the yellow came out with 5 to go.  I just couldn’t run the leader down and he had a good car too.  We are very happy with a 2^nd place finish this week.”

Jordan Henn had a season best 3^rd place finish this week.  Last week he was leading for 7 laps until he fell out with a flat tire from wall contact.  Jordan noted “We started the day out well with a good 2^nd starting spot in the heat.   We had a good car in the feature and I made a little mistake on the restart when I choose the bottom.  I probably should have picked the top.  I thought I could get a good enough jump on him from the bottom to slide up in front of him on the straight away but he was just too strong up there and I couldn’t get it done.  About half way through the feature the car started to go away and get loose and that’s when Manmiller got by us for 2^nd.   After leading the feature we were a little disappointed; but 3^rd was our best run of the year.  We have overcome major rear end mechanical problems but now we are definitely getting somewhere with this car and figuring it out and getting better every week.”

Mike Lisowski finished a season best 4^th place from a 5^th starting position.  After a couple of back of the pack finishes and a DNQ the 15 entry picked up his 3^rd top 5 at Grandview this season.  Mike noted “We missed the setup a little bit but the circumstances of the night lead to our 4^th place finish.”

Timmy Buckwalter looked like the man to beat early on as he rocketed from his 12^th starting position to 5^th in a few laps and was far enough forward to completely miss the 14 car melee.  When racing resumed Timmy and the 23X entry couldn’t move forward and stayed in 5^th.  Postrace Timmy noted “We had the same car that we won Friday night at Diamond with but just missed on the tire choice a little bit.”

Brad Arnold had the outing that he has been waiting all year and got his first top 10 of the season with a 6^th place finish from a 28^th starting position.” We missed the setup bad in the heat race and ended up 10^th of 11 cars.  In the last chance consolation we go the car were we wanted it and got the last transfer spot to the feature.  We started 28^th in the feature and just planned to ride it out in the back when everyone started to wreck.  On lap 5 after the melee; we started 9^th and then worked our way up to 6^th.  I was hoping for our first top 5 but I’ll take 6^th.  I know it’s not a true 6^th place finish since all the big name guys wrecked but I’ll take it.”

Danny Bouc finished 7^th from a 19^th starting position.  Postrace Danny noted “I wasn’t involved in the big wreck but had no way to keep moving and get through it which put me behind a lot of cars that were involved in the wreck.  If the track wasn’t a total blockade I would have picked up the spots as I would have kept moving and driven through the openings like we usually do.  I had a tire going down from before the melee and feel we could had been top three without a soft tire.  That was a bummer.”

Jeff Strunk was involved in the big melee but managed to finish in the top 10 with an 8^th place finish from the 15^th starting position.  On the lap 5 restart Jeff started 16^th and was able to work back to an 8^th place finish on the final 25 laps.

Brad Grim recorded his season best 9^th place finish.  Brad had his strongest car of the season and won his heat race by a straightaway from his 4^th starting position.  He was able to avoid the 14 car melee and started 5^th on the lap 5 restart but faded just a bit during the 20 green flag laps to a 9^th place finish for his first top ten finish of the season.  Postrace Brand noted “This was definitely the most comfortable I have been in the car all year.  We didn’t make any drastic changes to the car.  Only a few minor changes that really made a difference.  We had a real fast car in the heat race and need to focus on keeping it that fast for the feature.  Going to the Hill on Tuesday for a little test and tune.”

Ryan Grim used a provisional 28th starting position to get a 10^th place finish.  Ryan was involved in two heat race tangles which relegated him to an 11^th place finish and sent him to the back of the last chance consolation.  In the consolation race Ryan missed qualifying by 2 positions and choose to use a provisional starting position.  It was a well spent provisional as Ryan was able to move from 28^th to a 10^th place finish.

Ronnie Kline is a man on the move with his first outing in his new 2017 Troyer chassis from the Pondish racing team.  Ronnie made some adjustments to the baseline setup in the consolation and the car improved for a 2^nd place finish in the consolation heat.  In the feature; Ronnie finished 11^th from a 24^th starting position for one of his better finishes of the season in his first outing in the new car.

Carroll Hine Jr was in front of the 14 car melee and posted his best finish of the season with a 13^th place finish.  Carroll has been showing recent consistency with qualifying for the feature in 5 of his last 7 outings.

Nate Brinker finished 14^th in the feature and was involved in the 14 car melee but that’s just the beginning and now “the rest of the story”:

Postrace Nate recalled “The flip last week was definitely a freak accident and we are starting to believe it was from part failure. The way it went over and how fast it happened is leading us to believe that theory.  The damage wasn’t terrible; just all front end components and a front clip.

Last week was definitely a long one with not much sleep between being super busy at work and then going straight home and working on the racecars.  Putting two racecars together from the ground up this week wouldn’t have been possible without my dad, grandfather, Bryan Levy, Brian Kriebel, Chris Trumbauer, and Andy Bowes.  All these guys were at the shop wrenching until 10-10:30 every night last week.  Bobby Strunk turned around our primary car in one day and we had it completely rebuilt by Tuesday night.  The second car (red 14) was also completed and received from Bobby this week which we assembled and had ready for this past Saturday.  I can’t thank all these guys enough for all their time and efforts to strip one car down and assemble two cars in one week.   I also have to thank Hoffman speed supplies who were there for us every step of the way last week and we visited them every day and some days twice.  

Getting third in the heat this Saturday and making the show right away was a huge relief for us and made all the long nights last week in the shop worthwhile.  In the feature I missed setup a little bit and we weren’t that good in the beginning.  Then we got caught up in that huge 14 car wreck and bent the front end up a little bit.  So when racing resumed on lap 5; we just stay out and tried to salvage a few positions if anyone else dropped out.  Bent front end and all; we were able to come home in 14^th place with the same car we flipped one week ago.

We also got our first laps on the backup red 14 car and it felt good with not much difference from the primary blue car.  The backup red car is the sister to the primary blue car with all the same components and setups and the only difference between the two cars is a few years in the year of the chassis.

This week will continue to be busy for us as we plan to run both cars at the Thunder on the Hill on Tuesday and at the regular weekly points race on Saturday.  Our hopes this week is to get both cars in the feature on Tuesday night and roll them into the trailer straight.”

A few weeks ago the top 3 drivers in points ran a 1-2-3 finish in the feature.  All 12 points races this season the top 3 – Kressley, Von Dohren and Umbenhauer have been in the top 10 at every race.  But this was week 13 of the points and all that came to an end with all of the top 3 points drivers being involved in a 14 car mass pileup that completely blocked the front stretch.  Jared Umbenhauer ended up upside down with heavy damaged and was towed off not to return.  Craig Von Dohren was also towed off and was a DNF for the night.  The points leader Brett Kressley was the only one of the top three able to drive away.  But after a few laps he also pulled in for his first DNF of the season.  So for the 13^th week in a row the top 3 points leaders stay together; this time at the back of the field.  Kressley finished 18^th; Von Dohren 25^th & Umbenhauer 26^th.  Despite a rough night Brett Kressley was able to quietly nearly double his point lead over second place Craig Von Dohren.  

The top three all had their worst finish of the season but Jared Umbenhauer had a particular rough night with being towed off the track in both the heat race and feature race.  Postrace Jared noted “In the heat race we were in a tangle and hit the wall. We changed the axle, shocks and repaired the body for the consolation.  The frame was bent but still worked and we were able to qualify for the feature from the consolation.  In the feature we were coming up and through and just had no place to go with a completely blocked front stretch and getting pushed from the car behind us.  We trashed the right side body, header, axle, shocks, wheels and tires and the underside of the frame got bent from this accident.  The car is being sent to Bobby Strunk for a front clip and if we can’t get the 19 together I will run my dad’s car on Saturday.”

This week at Grandview Speedway is the Thunder on the Hill USAC midgets and modified on Tuesday August 3 at 7:30 and then on Saturday August 7 it’s a Modified & Sportsman doubleheader with racing starting at 7:30 PM.