Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 4/30/22 –  Parker Guldin Scores Sportsman Win at Grandview Speedway

Parker Guldin of Fleetwood, Pa. took advantage of a late race caution flag which wiped out a huge lead that Kyle Smith of Fleetwood, Pa. had been enjoying, and grabbed the lead on the final restart with seven laps remaining, to score his first victory since August of 2019 in the 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman feature event.

Following Guldin across the stripe in the Sportsman feature were Smith, Brian Hirthler of Green Lane, Pa., Dylan Hoch of Mertztown, Pa., and Jimmy Leiby of West Milford, NJ. who rallied back from a roll over on lap 2 to gain a top five finish.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps):

 1. PARKER GULDIN, 2.Kyle Smith, 3. Brian HIrthler, 4. Dylan Hoch, 5. Jimmy Leiby, 6. Cody Manmiller, 7. Nathan Horn, 8. Josh Adams, 9. Mike Myers, 10. Joey Vaccaro, 11. Mike Schneck Jr., 12. Bryan Rhoads, 13. Zach Steffy, 14. Tyler James, 15. Mark Kemmerer, 16. Cole Stangle, 17. Decker Swinehart, 18. BJ Joly, 19. Chris Esposito, 20. Dakota Kohler, 21. Mark Gaugler, 22. Ryan Graver, 23. Zane Roth, 24. Mike Stofflet

DID NOT QUALIFY:  Jesse Hirthler, Nathan Mohr, Anthony Raisner, Colton Perry, Kyle Hartzell, Adrianna Delliponti, Hunter Iatalese, Logan Bauman, Kenny Bock, Mike Faust   

Following Guldin across the stripe in the Sportsman feature were Smith, Brian HIrthler of Green Lane, Pa., Dylan Hoch of Mertztown, Pa., and Jimmy Leiby of West Milford, NJ. who rallied back from a roll over on lap two to gain a top five finish.

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES

Parker Guldin won his first Sportsman feature since 2019 with a perfect restart on lap 19 to take the lead and win over Kyle Smith.  After 3 years of frustration; everything came together in a hurry in one unexpected night and Parker was able to grab that elusive 2^nd sportsman win.  Parker was able to avoid the big one, get the caution he needed and fire on the restart to drive into victory lane for his second career sportsman win at Grandview Speedway.  Although early in the season; Parker has also vaulted to 6^th in the points standings despite a rough opening night 20^th place finish.  Parker is prepped and ready for an onward and upward season to his best heights of his career.

In victory lane Parker commented “This took a hell of a lot of work to get here, and we have been struggling for three years to get back to victory lane.  We used the top early but then the track changed rapidly, and it turned into a fight for the bottom.   We got a second chance at this win when the final yellow came out bringing the leader Kyle Smith in the 77 back to the field and that final caution was my saving grace.  We had a good clean race with Kyle and no contact.”

Postrace Parker reflected “Our night started off just like any other night.  However, in hot laps we turned the fastest laps that I and our car have ever turned with this motor and suspension combination.

By far we weren’t the fastest overall, but it was my fastest times in hot laps.  In the heat race I felt as though our car was pretty dominant but unfortunately the driver just kept making little mistakes overdriving but overall the heat was still very good.  We didn’t make any really big changes after the heat race.  The feature on the other hand was a roller coaster with the big pile up and as a result the faster guys shuffling forward and some ending up right on my bumper after the red flag.  I had trust and confidence in our car because it was consistent and predictable lap after lap tonight.   We have our same torsion bar setup and motor as last year and we just found something mid-summer last year that we are continuing to drill down on and make better every week.”

“Our goal for this year is to have a consistent and predictably fast car while continuing to improve the driver skill including aggressive & offensive driving which anyone competing at Grandview needs to be successful.  We will try to improve where and what we can to come back better and better every week.  Just because we were good last Saturday; I refuse to believe that we were the best.”

Parker continued “Nate Horn is my former crew member and he finished 7^th tonight in only his second race and has no prior racing experience.  It is really cool to see Nate get his first top ten on the same night we get our first win since 2019.”

Kyle Smith finished 2^nd from an 11^th starting position and has started his 2022 chase for the points championship.  Kyle finished 6^th in the 2021 points and with a another sportsman year under his belt he has jumped out to a great start of a long season and currently sits tied with Jimmy Leiby at 2^nd in the 2022 points standings.  Kyle continues to be one of two drivers (Bryan Rhoads) that continue to run the 604-motor combination in Grandview’s sportsman division.

Back at the trailer Kyle reflected “We were really good in the heat and overall, it was a very good night.   Tonight, all my restarts were on the bottom, and it started to rubber-up, so I stayed on the bottom and I’m told that I developed a half a lap lead before the final caution came out.  We have had issues before with this carburetor; and on the last restart it loaded up and bogged down.  Parker didn’t jump the restart at all; he just went when he heard me go and then my car hesitated.  With this 2^nd place finish tonight; we have our 2^nd top five finish of the season, and this is exactly where we want to be as we pursue the 2022 Grandview sportsman points championship.”

Brian Hirthler finished 3^rd after handicapping in the 14^th starting position as the prior week’s winner.  Brian was able to avoid the 8-car back stretch pile up and turned in another top 3 finish.

Brian commented “ My night was good, and the car was fast right off the bat.  Times were fast in hot laps but that doesn’t really mean too much other than showing speed.  Track was a bit different in the heat races tonight.  Car was good and moved forward steady from 14th to 4th by checkered flag time.  I planned to stay patient early and, also that there would be a massive wreck which generally happens early in the feature, and I wanted to make sure I kept the car straight and got to race the full 25 laps.  I gave up a few spots early, but as a result I missed both accidents on lap 2 which put me inside the top 10 on the restarts.  I got trapped on the restart and was probably a bit too patient since I wasn’t sure the crashing was done yet.  Once we got strung out, I was able to pass high and low but not as quick as I needed to be to get to the front.  There was a caution with 7 laps remaining but with the top lane dusted off and the bottom taking rubber it became single file and after advancing to 3rd I had to move to the bottom after 5 laps and settled into line which is unfortunate. However, a win & a 3rd to start the season is a great way to start the season.”

Dylan Hoch finished 4^th from his 19^th starting position.  Dylan plans and schedules may be changing this spring which may open him up to more Grandview racing and a possible 2022 sportsman championship run.

Postrace Dylan Hoch stated “Car felt really good early on but right in the beginning of the heat race I caught my RR off of a spinning car and it broke the brake blender off of my brake caliper, so I finished the remainder of the heat race with no brakes.  Even though it was manageable, it wasn’t comfortable to drive without brakes which held me back a bit. Thought I could hold on to the transfer spot, but I was getting eaten up the last few laps. We didn’t have any time to make changes for the last chance race after fixing the brake issue; so, the car wasn’t perfect in the last chance race, but we still managed to make a last lap pass for the win. Other than that, like I said before the best time for our crate motor to be anything close to competitive is when the track slicks off and it comes down to setup over motor.  Otherwise, it’s very difficult to keep up with the open motor early when the track is heavy.  I honestly don’t know how Leiby manages a quick time in hot laps most weeks.  We will be at Grandview until the sprint car is back together but that’s on hold for now.”

The outcome of this week’s feature was affected in a major way by a 5-car tangle on lap 1 and then a major 9 car wreck on lap 2 that resulted in an extensive red flag period.  Decker Swinehart was turned into the backstretch wall and then came down in front of the entire field of traffic triggering Jimmy Leiby to go airborne and do midair barrel rolls.  Cars involved that were retired by this incident were Mike Stofflet, Zane, Roth, Ryan Graves, Mark Gaugler, Dakota Kessler, Chris Esposito, BJ Joly, Decker Swinehart.  Of all the 9 cars involved Leiby was the only one to drive to the pits and return to the race.  Decker walked back to the pits but unfortunately the 83 was destroyed in the incident.

Jimmy Leiby finished 5^th from his 13^th starting position but now here’s the rest of the story.  As mentioned above Leiby got airborne in the lap 2 wreck but had no contact with the ground.  After being checked out by the EMT’s Jimmy was able to drive the car back to the pits while still under red and the cars were being untangled.   Amazingly the 9L only suffered body and cosmetic damage which was quickly repaired and tapped back together by team Leiby and friends.  Jimmy returned to the stagging lanes and after review with track officials went back on track and to the rear of the field to complete the race and he was able to run back through the surviving cars for a 5^th place finish.

Postrace Jimmy reflected “our crew did a great job just looking everything over and taping up some body damage.  My dad told me the car was straight and I trust him.  Based on his reassurance; I went out and ran just as hard as I did before the wreck.  The track safety crew was more worried about a fire due to oil on motor.  The car handled better than before I wrecked.  I know I’m in it for points, but we never give up if we have a running driving car we race.  I just had so much adrenaline that I thought what worse could happen to the car after I already flipped it so why hold back.  It was my choice to drive away and we just pulled panels so I could see and let her rip.”

Jimmy posted a 5^th place finish and although it is early in the season, he is tied with Kyle Smith for second in points and this may very well have been a pivotal moment in the 2022 championship points chase but only time will tell.  Jimmy finished  4^th last year in season points and as today proved is bound and determined to get as close to 1^st in the 2022 points championship as possible.

 You just have to move down to the 6^th place for some more racing drama.  Cody Manmiller finished 6^th from a 15^th starting position but peel off his fire suite and you notice a cast on his left arm.  Cody sustained an off-track injury during the prior week but was still able to drive and posted a solid 6^th place finish despite the cast.

Back at trailer Cody reflected “I broke my wrist last week in an off-track incident and to my surprise was able to drive with the cast.  I was going to run 1 lap and pull in but decided that it felt OK to stay out and raced to a 5^th place in the heat and a transfer spot for the feature.  In the feature the big wrecks crossed right in front of me, but I stood on the brakes and didn’t touch a single car in either incident.  I don’t know how I managed to miss it.”

 Nat Horn finished 7^th from his pole starting position and posted his career best finish in only his 2^nd career race.  The 21-year-old has never raced any other class other than his 2 recent Grandview sportsman races.

Back at the trailer Nat noted “This was only my second race day ever and to be able to win our heat race was unbelievable.  I started in racing by helping Parker Guldin for the past 3 years and just decided I would start racing in the crate division.  It was great to see Parker win this race today.  As far as my feature went, I just fell in and followed after I got passed for the lead and I just wanted to finish.  I’ll take a 7^th place finish my 2^nd time in the car.”

Josh Adams posted a solid 8^th place finish from a 2^nd starting position after a 2-year break from racing.

Back at the trailer Josh noted “We had a rough week last week at the crate/sportsman doubleheader with fuel issues all day.  We didn’t have time to find the fuel problem last week.  We have the four barrel back on this week and won our heat race.  Made some adjustments but got loose near the end of the feature.  It’s always a good night when you can load up a straight car.”  

The T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman will be joined by the Wingless Super Sportsman in a three-division program next Saturday, May 7 starting at 7:30 pm. The program will include qualifying events leading to the 30-lap T.P. Trailer Modified feature, the 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman main, and the 25 lap Super Sportsman feature. Pit gates will open at 4 pm. with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm. and warm-ups starting at 6:30 pm. Adult grandstand admission is $20, while children under age 12 are admitted free of charge.