Henn Claims his First Freedom 38er & Sportsman Pit Notes

76er weekend opened in at Grandview Speedway with clearing skies & cool and crisp fall conditions for the Friday’s Freedom 38er Sportsman race and modified time trials.  The Sportsman kicked off the racing with the $2,300 to win Freedom 38er. With 55 sportsman entries on the grounds the battle for one of the 18 feature redraw positions started with the pill draw.  45 modifieds were also on the grounds dialing in their setup for Saturday’s $30,000 to win Freedom 76er.

With 18 drivers in the redraw; it was Jordan Henn in the 4R and Gary Wagner leading the field to green.  Henn took the a solid 2.7 second lead over Mark Kemmerer in 2nd place and then hit lapped traffic on lap 7.  The first 12 laps were green until 2 yellows came out on lap 12 with one turning into the first red of the night for a 9 car tangle that sent Kyle Kania to the pits on the hook and ended his night.  A couple more laps and the third yellow came out which also turned red for a hard 3 car tangle on the back stretch that ended the night for Cody Manmiller and Brian Blankenbiller.  On lap 15 Henn went right back to his commanding lead over Kemmerer until lap 26 when the caution came out for the 4th time for a another hard crash with Brandon Edgar and Craig Whitmoyer who ended up on this lid for the second week in row and again emerged uninjured.  When racing resumed Henn again went right back to his commanding lead but this time with Kevin Hirthler moving into second place until the 5th and final yellow flew on lap 35 setting up a shootout between Henn and Hirthler.   Hirthler threw everything he had at Henn but in the end it was Henn taking his first 38er win of his career.

In victory lane Henn commented “I came close to winning this race a couple of years ago when I won the sportsman championship but got second to Grosso and lost it in lapped traffic.  Well I wasn’t going to let that happen again.  The
starting position on the pole was huge.  The bottom was the place to be and with starting on the pole I just had to run my line and stay smooth. I was kind of happy when that final caution came out since I was struggling with the top and keeping my momentum going on the top.  I saw Kevin coming on the leader board and knew I couldn’t make any mistakes.  It all worked out and we got in victory lane tonight.”

“Defending and only two-time event winner Kevin Hirthler said “the track was smooth and wide and you could pass on the top or the bottom and that’s all you could ask for.  I really didn’t have anything for the leader. He was running real well.  I picked up a lot of spots off that early race restart crash in turn one and my car was pretty strong.  With the weight they put on the 604 Crate engines it pulled us down kind of hard and we just didn’t have the steam to try and compete with the leader once we got to second-place.”

Steve Davis noted “I kept getting started on the top and it just wasn’t the place to be.  I really had to fight to get back to the bottom. We were running a 602 Crate tonight and we weren’t really even sure if we’d come tonight. I talked with Craig Whitmoyer and he said we’d have a good shot because they had the weights balanced pretty good between the different engines running tonight. We made a decision about nine o’clock this morning to come and we’re happy with the way everything turned out in the end.”

The top ten was rounded out by Kevin Hirthler in second followed by Steve Davis, Brett Gilmore, Mark Kemmerer, Kyle Smith, Brian Hirthler, Dakota Kohler, Ryan Grim and Ryan Beltz in 10th place. Heat races were won by Kyle Lilick, Brian Hirthler, Mark Kemmerer, Brad Brightbill, Kyle Smith and Steve Young. 

The first heat race had a rough start with 2 cautions and 1 red flags before lap 1.  Kenny Bock brought out a caution with a spin and then a red flag with a roll over ending up on his roof in turn 4. Last chance consolations were won by Cole Stangle, Brandon Edgar and Lex Shive.

Sportsman Freedom 38 Results (38-laps):

1. Jordan Henn, 2. Kevin Hirthler, 3. Steve Davis, 4. Brett Gilmore, 5. Mark Kemmerer, 6. Kyle Smith, 7. Brian Hirthler, 8. Dakota Kohler, 9. Ryan Grim, 10. Ryan Beltz, 11. Cole Stangle, 12. Richie Hitzler, 13. Chris Esposito, 14. Ken Eckert Jr., 15. Lex Shive, 16. Jesse Landis, 17. Steve Young, 18. Logan Bauman, 19. Brad Brightbill, 20. Kyle Lilick, 21. Brandon Edgar, 22. Craig Whitmoyer, 23. Cody Manmiller, 24. Brian Blankenbiller, 25. Kyle Kania, 26. Dylan Swinehart, 27. Gary Wagner.

DNQ: Bryan Rhoads, Brad Force, Brad Grim, Joey Vaccaro, Talan Carter, Ryan Conrad, Shon Elk, Danny Buccafusca, Wayne Rotenberger, Kenny Bock, Matt Clay,  Mike Stofflet, Nick Faust, Mikey Schneck Jr., Addison Meitzler, Decker Swinehart, BJ Joly, Colton Perry, Dylan Hoch, Anthony Raisner,  Matt Yoder, Jimmy Leiby, Tyler James, Parker Guldin, Mark Gaughler, Gary Grim, Keith Brightbill and Hunter Iatalese.

Sportsman Pit Notes

55 sportsman have entered the Freedom 38er which is a record number of entries in both of the past two years.  This year there were 28 crates and 27 open sportsman motor entries.

All 18 of the heat race qualifiers were in the redraw for starting positions 1 – 18.

Jordan Henn, Kevin Hirthler, Steve Davis and Brett Gilmore are all current or former modified drivers who entered the sportsmen 38er.  These four modified drivers were the top four in the feature.

The first heat race had 3 caution/red flag combo before lap 1 with problems with cars firing in the start zone.  Kenny Bock went around in tangle 1 and then in tangle 3 Bock went over and was on his lid against the wall in turn 4.
Unfortunately for Bock the car sustained heavy damage and his night was finished early again.

Jordan Henn drove the 4R car of Tyler Reber Racing last year in 38er but they broke early in the feature and were a 25th place DNF.  The Jordan Henn & Tyler Reber Racing gave another stab at the 2021 38er and things immediately got off to a better start than the prior year.  In their heat race the 4R team finished 2nd from an 8th place starting position and putting them in the redraw of 18 cars.  Then the 4R redrew the pole position and all they had to do now was run the 38 lap race and stay in front. Jordan did just that; as he lead every lap; handled 5 restarts without issue and held off a late charge by Kevin Hirthler to drive into victory lane for his first Freedom 38er win of his career.

Kevin Hirthler was the 2020 defending champion of the 38er so he jumped in the 117 crate entry to defend his championship.  The 117 has been driven by Brian Hirthler, Jesse Hirthler and Adie Delliponti this year.  Today was Kevin’s first time in the 117 this season.  In the heat Kevin moved from an 8th starting position into a 5th place finish which sent him to the last chance consolation were he finished 2nd from a 4th starting position.  Kevin started 22nd in the feature and was able to move forward to a solid 2nd place finish.  Postrace Kevin noted “With the feature track conditions on the tackier side I did not have enough smoke under the hood to compete with the open engines. We got our track position when we missed the wreck in turn 1.”

Kevin continued “from last season to this season they have added 100 lbs to our 604 engine.  The extra weight really hurts coming off the corner and now I think it is definitely not the preferred engine of choice.  All in all a good run for us tonight but I think something needs to be done to balance the engine options out a bit better for next season or perhaps the 602 division may be separate.”

Brett Gilmore finished 4th from a 24th starting position.  Brett jumped in his dad’s championship winning open sportsman entry for the first time this season.  In the heat race Brett started dead last in 9th and was able to finish 6th which put him into a last chance consolation.  Brett was able to qualify from his consolation with a 2nd place finish which put him in 24th starting position in the feature.  Back at the trailer Brett stated “The 117 was moving past people and I just followed him through.  I got caught up in one of the wrecks after being tagged from behind and had to come into pits to get a flat changed and radius rod fixed.  Seems like every year something happens in this race and we can’t finish but not this year.  My crew and others helping us got me back out and I was able to pass cars anywhere I wanted and get back to the front.  I gave it all the sauce I got and we got back to 4th place.  I’m just happy my dad gave me a chance to drive his 2021 championship winning car and I can’t thank him enough.”

Mark Kemmerer has been on a quest for his daughters and things finally started to look like tonight might be his night.
Mark finally got a good draw and won his heat race from the pole to start the night out.  The draw luck continued for Mark in the feature were he drew the 3rd starting position.  Mark held 2nd place for 27 laps but faded in the final laps to a 5th place finish.  Back at the trailer Mark remarked “The car was too tight and the track was only a lane and a half at best.  To top it off we had three restarts on the outside which didn’t help any.   I finished the highest of the weekly open sportsman drivers and was behind four modified drivers who come to the sportsman class for the best sportsman money race of the year.”

Kyle Smith took a week off last week and returned to finish 6th from an 11th starting position.  Kyle had his sail
panel fall off early in the race but despite the damage Kyle was able to still finish 6th.  Back at the trailer Kyle noted “The sail panel just fell off right at the start of the race.  We had a top three car if the sail panel stayed on the car.  The car is a handful with the sail panel off like that but we managed to work around it tonight.”

Brian Hirthler finished 7th from a 14th starting position and went to the back of the field two separate times.   Postrace Brian noted “In the 38er we had a good draw for heat and we were the quickest car of the night winning by half a
track.   Redraw didn’t go so well for us; we drew 14th out of 18.  We got up to 11th by the first restart but then Whitmoyer spun Brightbill entering turn 1 causing a 4 car pileup.  I saw it coming but was getting pushed from behind and eventually I went to low and drove around the tangle.  Track officials said I was involved even though I don’t recall stopping.  I got boxed it for much of the rest of the race.  Then on a lap 26 tangle in turn 1; I got sent to the back again to 17th place this time.  By the restart on lap 35; I was in 11th and moved to 7th around the outside in the closing 3 laps.  Car was good but much of the race was unproductive for us.”

Ryan Grim finished 9th and in the top ten from the 27th and dead last starting position.  Ryan started the night out with a 9th and last starting position in the heat were he finished 4th and went to the last chance consolation. He finished his consolation in the final transfer position sending him to the 27th and final position in the feature.  For a guy starting in the tail of the field most of the night it turned out pretty good with a 9th place finish in the feature.  

Ryan Beltz finished 10th from a 16th starting position.  Ryan has been switching between his open sportsman 221 entry and Andy Clemmer’s 127 crate car for the past two months.  First the motor broke in his 221 open sportsman entry sending him to a crate entry for the first time in his career.  He then got the 221 back for a couple of weeks only to have the car sustain significant damage in the season finale returning Ryan back to a crate for the 38er which he drove  to a solid top 10 finish.

Cole Stangle finished 11th from a 19th starting position.  Stangle won his last chance consolation and was busy moving between the open sportsman car and his modified in practice during the night.  Cole reflected “It was tough jumping between cars but dad and the crew did a great job of having everything ready when I came in and all I had to do was change cars.  It was a learning experience and the more laps the better.” 

Craig Whitmoyer jumped back in a sportsman entry for the 38er and was running in 4th when he was sent to the back of the field along with Brian Hirthler for contact in Brad Brightbill’s spin on lap 12. Craig was moving back toward the front when contact sent him up & over and onto his lid in turn 2. Postrace Craig noted “We had a good car and I feel it was a bad call to put us to the back since another car ran Brightbill into the inside wall and caused the whole thing which left me no were to go.  Then later in the race we tangled with Brandon Edgar after he got punted and I ended up on my lid for the 2nd week in a row.  Unfortunately it wasn’t my first rodeo for being on my head but it was the first time I ever got on my head two weeks in a row. I’ll be ready for the 76er tomorrow.”