Brian Hirthler Rebounds to 5th Win at Grandview Speedway & Pit Notes

Grandview speedway held their 18^th of 19 points races under bright skies and unseasonable mild conditions with no threat of rain on race day for the first time in a month.  34 modifieds and 30 sportsmen were in the pits continuing their points chase as the 2021 season winds down toward the grand finale next week.

In the sportsman feature Brian Hirthler charged from his 14^th starting position and ducked underneath Jimmy Leiby on lap 16 and then used the top line to pass BJ Joly on lap 18 while surviving 7 cautions to record his 5^th sportsman win of the season.

In the sportsman feature pole sitter Colton Perry led the first 12 laps with BJ Joly on his back bumper.  On lap 13 the veteran Joly made his move and took the lead with a charging Jimmy Leiby moving into 2^nd place.  On lap 13 the Brian Hirthler was in 8^th and by lap 18 he assumed the lead and then checked out to a nearly 5 second margin at the checkered flag for 12^th career win at Grandview Speedway.  

The top ten was rounded out by Jimmy Leiby in second followed by Kenny Gilmore, Dylan Hoch, B J Joly, Ryan Beltz, Joey Vaccaro, Dakota Kohler, Tyler James and Chris Esposito in tenth.

Heats were won by Cole Stangle, Joey Vaccaro and Adie Delliponti. Ryan Beltz won the last chance consolation.

 Sportsman Feature (25-laps):

1. Brian Hirthler, 2. Jimmy Leiby, 3. Kenny Gilmore, 4. Dylan Hoch, 5. B.J. Joly, 6. Ryan Beltz, 7. Joey Vaccaro, 8. Dakota Kohler, 9. Tyler James, 10. Chris Esposito, 11. Decker Swinehart, 12. Jesse Landis, 13. Adrianna Delliponti, 14. Colton Perry, 15. Mark Kemmerer, 16. Lex Shive, 17. Kyle Lilick, 18. Cole Stangle, 19. Kyle Smith, 20. Logan Bauman, 21. Mike Stofflet, 22. Steve Young, 23. Nathan Mohr, 24. Bryan Rhoads.

DNQ: Hunter Iatalese, Parker Guldin, Mike Mondak, Anthony Raisner, & Mike Schneck

Sportsman Pit Notes

The open sportsman motors have won the last 4 races to take an 11 win to 7 win lead over the 602 crate motors.

Brian Hirthler took the win from his 12^th starting position and exercised his patience again this week. He didn’t break into the top ten until lap 11.  In typical 4* fashion; 8 laps later he had moved from 10^th to 1^st and was pulling away from the field for a 4.5 second margin of victory and his 5^th win on the season.

The 4* car has 12 top five/ten finishes in 14 starts.  Brian also had an additional two top 5 finishes in the 117.   Brian has a 3^rd place points finish locked up for 2021 season. 

Postrace Brian commented “Wins like this past Saturday are very unusual.  After last week’s heat race accident; the car had pretty substantial damage and was sent out for frame repairs on Sunday and came home Monday night.  We did some work on it Tuesday; but lost power Wednesday and with the storm didn’t get back to work till Friday.  I had to work a 12 hour shift in race shop to get car ready for Saturday; but when I was finished I was confident it was back to 100% for this week.”

Brian continued “We Set fast time in warmups; ran both the top & bottom in heat while going from 8th to 5th which was probably the hardest part of the night.  Feature time I lost spots early which has become the norm lately.  After starting 12^th; I fell back to 16th at one point.  By the first caution I was back up to 11th on lap 10.  After a string of caution laced laps; I took over 2nd using the bottom groove on lap 15.  The next restart on lap 17; I took over the lead using the outside groove which seemed to be working pretty good.  The remaining 8 laps I was testing the waters top bottom & middle and they all seemed to be pretty good and I picked up the win with a 4.5 second margin which I was very happy with after a 14th place finish last week and a bent up racecar.  I was extremely happy that our friends at Competition Carburetor were in town from out of state to see the win and also earned some bonus money for fast lap & winning while using one of their carburetors.”

Jimmy Leiby finished 2^nd from an 11^th starting position and has quietly strung together 3 top five finishes and 3 top ten finishes in his last 6 starts.  Back at the trailer Jimmy noted “We had a couple of things to figure out and with some help from Timmy Buckwalter we are rotating better in the turns and the car is now on rails.  In the heat we went from 7^th to 2^nd which is really good for a crate and probably the best heat we have run all year long.  In the feature the car was free and rotating better and we moved forward using the dominate bottom but could go to the top in 3 and 4.  Hirthler was better than us and he got by on the bottom but I’ll take another second place as we have two 2^nd’s in the last three races.  We also had a slow leak and the right rear tire was down to 3 pounds when I got back to the pits.  I put a new tire on for the feature and we had no tire wear whatsoever tonight which is great these days.”

Jimmy continued “My goal was to move forward into the top 5 in points by the end of the season.  I have been in 6^th since the beginning of the season and tonight I was able move into 4^th by 120 points as both Lilick and Kyle Smith were early DNF’s tonight.  This would be a bonus to pick up an extra spot in the points; but there is one more week to deal with and defend the 4^th position.”

The points leader Kenny Gilmore just keeps on going week after week.   Kenny finished 3^rd from a 21^st starting position again this week.  Kenny couldn’t get forward in the heat race and had to qualify in the last chance consolation.  In the feature he used a combination of restarts and a real good setup that let him go anywhere he wanted to make up 18 positions.

Kenny Gilmore has recorded 9 top five finishes with two wins and 8 top ten finishes with only one 20^th place finish out of the top 5 or 10 all season long.  He goes into the final points weekend with a 133 point lead and can clinch with a finish of 13^th or better.

If there is such a thing as a miserable 4^th place finish Dylan Hoch has found it with his 4^th place finish from his 14^th starting position.  He was involved in three caution incidents and one other incident of wall contact but he was able to continue after all incidents to a 4^th place finish.  Back at the trailer Dylan noted “We had a real good heat race going from 10^th to a 5^th place finish in the handicap.  In the feature it was just one thing after another all night long.  The first incident was my fault I got under the 117 and spun myself out and from there it was just downhill.  We were just in the wrong place wrong time and spun three times tonight but keep pushing forward and got back up to a 4^th place finish.  When we could keep the car on the track it was good. We bent up a brand new front axle, rear bumpers and some sheet metal.”

BJ Joly arguably has had his best season on record; yet it has still been a roller coaster of a season.  BJ was on what looked like a run to his first win as he took lead on lap 13 for a couple of laps before Brian Hirthler flew by on the top and BJ fell back a few more spots to a solid 5^th place finish.  The highs have been a 3^rd and a 5^th place finish while the lows have been a hard wreck resulting in an injury that sidelined him for a month and most recently getting dumped on his lid for the first time in his career.  But in traditional BJ fashion; he turned that into a positive and was able to get the car out for the feature despite going on his lid in the heat race.

BJ reflected “I got a call on Friday at noon and got offered a ride in the Wyatt Jacobus Outlaw Vintage car on Friday night which was my first Vintage car race.  I managed to park it in victory lane for the win.  So coming into Saturday I was hoping to sweep the weekend and pickup back to back wins.  We started on the pole in the heat and finished 2^nd moving to the feature in the handicap.  In the feature we were in a battle with Colton Perry for 13 laps and I finally took the lead on lap 13.  Held it until lap 17 when Hirthler sweep by on the top off of a restart.  The car loosened up and I made a few mistakes so ended up with a solid 5^th place finish.  Early on in the feature; I was trying to get to the front and burned up the tires doing so.  My strategy was to get out in front and check out on the field and get as much space between me and the open motors and I was hoping it would stay green all the way.”

Ryan Beltz returned in his 221 entry after about a month absence due to a blown engine on July 24.  In the meantime he jumped in the 127 crate of Andy Clemmer to continue to earn points.  Ryan finished 9^th from a 19^th starting position.  Ryan reflected “It was nice to be back in the open sportsman this week; but we still struggled in the heat with a one lane track that if you try to make a move and it doesn’t work two cars will drive right underneath you.  We won the consolation and started 19^th in the feature.  We got jumbled around in the feature trying to miss a wreck and had to go to the tail of the field but still came through for a solid 6^th place finish.”

Chris Esposito finished 10^th from a 9^th starting position and ended a nine week run of every type of mechanical issue you can image.  Chris had a good season in the works with two top five’s and two top ten’s in a row but then the gremlins set in for 9 consecutive weeks.  It was a huge accomplishment for the 31A team to get the car to the checkered not to mention a top ten finish.  Chris noted “This week we found a bad coil and hoped that would put us back on track and out of this miserable nine weeks of mechanical failures.  We started 4^th in the heat and just tucked in line on a tacky track.  We stayed in the handicap and that’s the best we can do. So right now we are not taking any unnecessary risks at this point for the sake of one more position when we are already in the handicap.  In the feature the car was good enough for a top 5 or 7.  We had a solid run holding 5^th but got ran into and our left rear tire blew out.  We had to come into the pits and go to the rear of the field.  My guys and other crews changed the tire and we got back out for a 10^th place finish and our first decent night in 9 weeks.”

Last week’s winner Cole Stangle worked his way up to 9^th place and was starting to move forward when he had nowhere to go and got collected in a multi car tangle on lap 14 that ended his night.

The final point standings will be decided on Saturday, September 11, with the running of the Hope Mortgage Team Championship Night for Modifieds and Sportsman. And there will be a fireworks display with racing starting at 7:30 p.m.