Thunder on the Hill Modified Pit Notes – Craig Von Dohren Picks up 5th Grandview victory of the Season at “Balls to the Wall 50”

This race was something different.  Actually, it was the first Thunder on the Hill event of the season with a new name “Balls to the Wall 50” and as well also the first Tri-track race series between Grandview, BAPS and Big Diamond.  That is where the different ended and the same started with Craig Von Dohren handily picking up his 5^th win in 6 starts at Grandview and winning his last three Grandview races in a row.

The race paid the top ten at lap 30, 40 and 50 with a bonus if a car was able to lead all 3 lap segments. 

Cory Merkel led on lap 1 with Duane Howard taking over the lead right to lap 30 to claim stage one .  After inverting the top 4 the 40 lap second stage was led by Kevin Hirthler.  After the final invert the 50 lap feature was won Craig Von Dohren sweeping the weekend at Grandview with back to back wins.

Heat races were won by Brett Kressley, Duane Howard, Rick Laubach and Cory Merkel.  The two last chance races were won by Steve Swinehart and Jeff Strunk.

NASCAR 358 Modifieds Results – @ Grandview Speedway on May 29, 2022

Feature (50 Laps) – 1. Craig Von Dohren ($5250) 2. Timmy Buckwalter ($3000) 3. Jeff Strunk ($2700) 4. Kevin Hirthler ($3000) 5. Billy Pauch Jr. ($1450) 6. Loudon Reimert ($1425) 7. Rick Laubach ($1500) 8. Ryan Watt ($1225) 9. Jesse Leiby ($1100) 10. Anthony Tramontana ($1000) 11. Jack Butler ($740) 12. Dillon Steuer ($700) 13. Craig Whitmoyer ($645) 14. Nick Rochinski ($625) 15. Cory Merkel ($800) 16. Duane Howard ($2325) 17. Brett Kressley ($850) 18. Tanner Van Doren ($535) 19. Kyle Lillick ($530) 20. Mike Lisowski ($500) 21. Eric Biehn ($500) 22. Brad Brightbill ($500) 23. Steve Swinehart ($600) 24. Brian Hirthler ($500)

DNQ – Ryan Beltz, Ryan Grim, Kevin Beach, Jimmy Leiby, Joel Smith, Eddie Strada, Ron Harring, JB James,  Brett Gilmore, Justine Grim, Ray Swinehart, Ryan Krachun, Doug Manmiller, Kyle Smith, John Willman, JR Fulper, Mark Kratz. Cole Stangle and Kyle Smith.

Modified Pit Notes  – “Balls to the Wall 50”

By lap 10 Craig Von Dohren had made his way to 5^th and rode there right to the end of the first stage at lap 30.  For the next 10 lap stage he moved up to 3^rd which then inverted to a 2^nd place starting position for the final 10 lap stage.  By lap 41 Von Dohren had left Timmy Buckwalter and it was all over except the shouting.  Craig cruised into victory lane with nearly a 4 second margin of victory for his 3^rd straight Grandview win.   If not for a flat tire while leading on lap 28 of 30 a month ago; Von Dohren would be 6 wins and no loses this year at Grandview.

In victory lane Craig noted “Early on we were in a side by side battle with Kevin Hirthler, and he was the only car I saw and knew was with us.  This was our backup car tonight.  We didn’t have time to turn around last night’s car.  I thought Timmy was fading and I was able to get around him quickly on lap 41.”

Timmy Buckwalter started in 3^rd and basically chased Duane Howard for the lead the entire 30 lap segment.  After the second segment he was right were he wanted to be in 4^th place inverting to the pole.  But the play didn’t play out for one reason – CVD.  By lap 41 CVD was out in front and on his way to checking out to his 5^th Grandview win of the season.

Timmy Buckwalter commented “I couldn’t get Craig.  We are all running for 3^rd, and nobody can run with Craig and Kressley.  They both have their act together.  We had a different car and motor package  tonight.  We carry good speed early, just can’t do it late in the race and keep up with Craig.  We’ll just keep digging.”

Jeff Strunk fought the good fight on this one and ran from 22^nd to 3^rd by the end of the 30 laps of segment 1.  He ended the first 30 laps in 3^rd place and inverting to 2^nd for the next 10 lap segment.  He remained in 2^nd until lap 40 and inverted back to 3^rd place for the final 10 laps of the 50 laps.  He stayed in 3^rd for the final 10 laps.

Postrace Jeff stated “Our car was torn up last night so we brought our backup car tonight.  I just didn’t know where I was at when we got near the 30 lap point.  We wanted to win and had a great car, but this deal just didn’t work out for us.  I don’t know if I like this deal and think I would prefer to just run 50 straight laps.”

Kevin Hirthler started in 9^th and found his way into contention on the only racing caution of the night on lap 15.  Kevin went from 7^th to 3^rd on the restart and moved into 4^th just before the end of segment 1 at lap 30.  Kevin inverted to the leader for the restart for the next 10 lap segment and lead all 10 laps of segment 2 and got paid $1,500 for leading on lap 40.  After the second stage and final invert, Hirthler ended up in 4^th position for the final 10 laps and that’s where he stayed to the checkered flag.

Kevin reflected “ We came into this with no game plan other than run hard and see how it shakes out.  On the lap 15 restart we got 3 wide and went from 7^th to 3^rd which our position for the first invert. We got up front and into the flip flop invert  and found ourselves with some coin in our pocket.  We brought the same car back we used on Saturday.  We where able to use everything we learned on Saturday and built on it for Sunday.  Track seemed to slick up a bit quicker than normal which was probably due to limited track prep time.”

Louden Reimert returned to Grandview and drove the high side just like he use to do a few years ago.  Louden finished 6^th from a 24^th starting position.

Postrace Louden commented “Heats are always tough at Grandview, and I just got stuck behind some people and couldn’t go anywhere.  The feature was better, and the track had two useable grooves.  It’s the same old Grandview I remember.”

Jesse Leiby made the redraw and finished 9^th from his 5^th starting position.  Jesse qualified in back to back nights of racing and posted a 9^th and 15^th place finish in fields of 43 and 39 cars respectively.

Jesse recalled “We bent our front axle on Saturday night.  We changed the front end and welded the chassis on Saturday night into Sunday morning.  We couldn’t scale the car and were just winging it, but the car was still super-fast in the heat and strong in the beginning of the feature.  When the track slicked off, I struggled a little bit but feel we learned something for our next feature. I think I now know what adjustments I need to make to have the car there at then end of the feature.  We got some good momentum this weekend and hopefully we can keep it going and finish every race this season.”

Anthony Tramontana finished 10^th from a 16^th starting position in his first ever trip to Grandview Speedway.

Anthony commented “I’ll tell you coming to Grandview is an experience and a huge learning curve for us.  We only have 6 or 7 modified races under our belt and to get a top ten our first time here is truly amazing.  The Butlers were a big help to us this weekend and got to thank them.  The last time I was here I was twelve years old and watching 410 sprint cars.  I wouldn’t want to race here weekly, but it is an interesting place, and we will come back here later in the year.”

Jack Butler finished 11^th from a 23^rd starting position.  Jack reflected “We started 23^rd and was up to around 14^th when we whacked the wall on the lap 15 restart and fell back to about last.  We were able to work our way back up to 11^th and the car was working really good on the bottom.”

Eric Biehn and his dad have been chasing fuel problems for a couple of weeks.  They still couldn’t resolve them on Saturday night so the decision was made to run the TOTH race on Sunday to see if any progress could be made on resolving their ongoing fuel issue.  Eric and his dad decided the best course of action would be to convert the car from gas and back to alcohol.  So overnight they converted back to alcohol and  returned on Sunday for essentially a test and tune race.  The car improved on alcohol and still had fuel pressure fluctuations but was good enough to roll out for the heat races.

Eric  reflected “We came here just to chase fuel problems and our change from gas to alcohol over night didn’t resolve the issue completely but made us competitive.  In the heat race on a late restart, the inside car went to the top and left me a hole on the bottom which I filled and was able to move from 7^th to 5^th on the final lap and transfer into the feature.  This was a really good day for us to get start money and make some progress on our fuel issues.”   

Both Brett Kressley and Duane Howard saw strong runs for a top five fall by the wayside late in the feature due to flat tires ending their night.  Brett Kressley was running in 6^th on lap 31 when a flat tire ended his night and he pulled into the pits.  Duane Howard had a solid run in 5th through 48 laps, but his night was cut short by 2 laps short when he had to pull in due to a flat tire and a DNF finish.  

Next weekend the T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman will be competing in a two-division program on Saturday, June 4 starting at 7:30 pm. The program will include qualifying events for both divisions leading to the 30-lap T.P. Trailer Modified feature and the 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman main event. 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 $18, while children under age 12 are admitted free of charge.