Grandview Modified Pit Notes 6/04/22 –  Doug Manmiller Claims First Win of Season at Grandview Speedway

Doug Manmiller methodically moved through the field to take the lead on lap 26 from Jordan Henn and take his first win of the season over Tim Buckwalter and Brett Kressley to round out the podium.

The father and son of Doug and Cody Manmiller both posted wins in their respective class to be the second time in Grandview history that a father and son have won in the same night.

Doug Manmiller won the modified feature from his 14^th starting position and passing Brett Kressley in 3rd, Tim Buckwalter in second and finally leader Jordan Henn to take the lead on lap 26.  Henn then drew the second caution on lap 27 after spinning and contact with Jeff Strunk which ended Henn’s night.  On the ensuing restart Manmiller was able to hold back all comers on the lap 27 single file restart and make his first trip to victory lane of the 2022 season.

The 30 lap feature saw three leaders with Eric Biehn leading until lap 11 with Jordan Henn leading until lap 25 and Doug Manmiller taking the lead on lap 26 to the checkered flag.

Heat winners for the 38 car modified field were Brett Kressley, Eric Biehn, John Willman, and Craig Von Dohren.  Jared Umbenhauer and Kevin Graver won the last chance consolations.

MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):

1.DOUG MANMILLER, 2. Tim Buckwalter, 3. Brett Kressley, 4. Jeff Strunk, 5. Eric Biehn, 6. John Willman, 7. Craig Von Dohren, 8. Nate Brinker, 9. Duane Howard, 10. Craig Whitmoyer, 11. Jared Umbenhauer, 12. Jesse Leiby, 13. Kevin Graver Jr., 14. Cory Merkel, 15. Ron Haring Jr., 16. Kevin Hirthler, 17. Brad Arnold, 18. Darrin Schuler, 19. Mike Laise, 20. Joe Funk, 21. Carroll Hine III, 22. Dan Waisempacher, 23. Justin Grim, 24. Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 25. Jordan Henn, 26. Brad Grim, 27. Ryan Beltz, 28. Mike Lisowski

DID NOT QUALIFY: Brad Brightbill, Ray Swinehart, Steve Swinehart, Dylan Swinehart, Bobby Trapper Jr., Dave Dissinger, Mark Kratz, Brett Gilmore, Glenn Owens, Kyle Lilick

Modified Pit Notes  – 6/04/22

Doug Manmiller had quite a night enroute to his first win of the 2022 from his 14^th starting position.  Doug was able to keep Craig Von Dohren behind him all night and break his three race win streak at Grandview Speedway.  He also managed to pass both Brett Kressley and Tim Buckwalter in the final ten laps of the feature to take his first win of the season in convincing fashion moving into 2^nd in the early points standing only 11 points behind points leader Brett Kressley.

As if that wasn’t enough in one night; Doug & his son Cody became the second father and son duo in Grandview’s 60 year history to win features in the same night.  The only other time a father and son duo won features on the same night was Randy and Mike Bailey in 1998.

In victory lane Doug noted “This has been a long time coming.  Craig and Brett have been so fast this this year and are the class of the field this year.  We been chasing them and working and trying different things to catch them and tonight it worked.  It took me a while to get through traffic and I saw Jordan out there cruising away.  I just kept picking away and stuff just worked out in my favor this week.  The lapped cars held Jordan up on the bottom and I used the outside to get around him .  A lot of lapped cars were racing for position side by side, and it just worked out for me.  When the lap 27 caution came out it cleared a path to the checkered for me.”

Back at the trailer Doug stated “ We have been running good with top five all year in our point races.  We haven’t had enough speed to run with the top upfront guys until tonight when things turned out in our favor.  It is never easy here.  We did try some different setups at the TOTH show on Sunday.  Everything just clicked tonight for us to get into victory lane.

Tim Buckwalter finished 2^nd from a 13^th starting position.  Tim rebounded to his second 2^nd place finish of the season after coming off a 14^th place finish where he could not move forward due to what was later found to be a cracked distributor cap. 

Postrace Tim commented “We just go with slick shocks on and roll with it all night.  We have a couple of shock packages and don’t have to reinvent the wheel for different track conditions.  We didn’t change anything from prior weeks.  I do like how it was tonight when it slows down the racing seems to be better than if it’s just hammer down around the top.  The track was different tonight and put us on an even playing field.  Some nights the seas just part and you get to the front quickly.  Our car was good anywhere and I could just pick and choose rolling the top and bottom and got to the front quickly.  ”

“We did have some break fade going on during the long green flag run.  It was difficult getting around Jordan, but it was still good to see him have some good speed.  I made a mistake getting around Jordan and was too cautious floating the middle and top saving tires.  Doug got underneath me, planned it just right through lapped traffic and race was over.  The last thing both Doug and I wanted to see was that caution with 4 to go and look up on the scoreboard and see the 19K up there.”

Tim continued “We have found consistency this year in getting to the front and staying there.  Last week we had a bad week and 14^th due to a broken distributor cap and those weeks can be the deal breaker at the end of the season determining whose smiling and who is not.  We are trying our best to eliminate these types of failures the best we can.”

Brett Kressley finished 3^rd from his 15^th starting position.  Brett has once again started the 2022 season off strong posting a 6^th place finish and four top ten finishes – 1^st, 5^th, 2^nd, and a 3^rd.  He currently leads the modified point standings by 11 over Doug Manmiller in 2^nd place.

Brett recalled “ We had a really good car in our heat race and was able to win from a 10^th starting position.  The track was very slippery and was a game changer tonight.  The guys with the coil like Manmiller shined tonight.  We didn’t make any changes to the car.  Maybe if we have a track like this again, I will make some changes next time.”

Jeff Strunk finished 4^th from his 12^th position.  Jeff was involved in heavy contact with a spinning Jordan Henn, but Strunk was able to continue and finish the race holding a solid in 4^th place.  Tangles in two prior races has dropped him to 12^th and 19^th place finishes to go along with two solid 2^nd place finishes behind Craig Von Dohren so this week’s 4^th place finish was very important to Jeff who needs solid top five finishes to stay in contention in the early points standings. 

 Eric Biehn finished a season best strong 5^th place finish after starting on the pole.  Eric has had several weeks of fuel issues which were in the fuel tank and were confirmed as resolved this week after switching back to alcohol for the Balls to the Wall TOTH show.  Eric had a successful return to alcohol with a win in his heat race and a strong 5^th place finish in the feature.

Back at the trailer Eric commented “We could have used a little more grip but I’m sure everyone would say that tonight since the track was very slick.  The watering of the track before the feature helped a little but the moisture was gone by lap 10.  We were very good in the beginning and end of the feature but in the middle of the feature we were very loose and lost 4 positions back to 5^th.  The racing tonight in the feature was good racing with everyone racing clean and side by side.  All in all, tonight was a good night.  It all started last Sunday when we switched back to alcohol at the TOTH race and rather then just test and tuning we were able to qualify for the field and resolved our fuel  issues.  We will probably stay on alcohol for a few weeks and then switch back to gas to see how it works again.”

John Willman posted a 6^th place finish from a 6^th starting position which is his best finish of the season.  The “Underdog” has struggled early on this season at Grandview posting a best finish of 17^th prior to tonight, which was not meeting expectations for both Willman and the KAM Racing 291 team.

John stated “This was our first top 10 this year with the 291 team.  We still struggled with the car and was too tight on the first lap and last lap.  Our starting position helped but we are getting closer to where we want to be.  The track was different then what I expected and had character tonight. The top went away around lap 10 so had to hug the bottom and use too much brake.  We got to sit down and do some homework it still doesn’t want to turn on entry.”

John continued “We changed back to stuff we were doing at the beginning of the year.  We now have the car comfortable to drive because last Saturday it was horrible to drive.  We went home early last Saturday night and starting prepping car for TOTH on Sunday to test and tune our setup.  We got a little better last Sunday at the TOTH show in the last chance consolation.”

Nate Brinker posted his first top ten of the season with an 8^th place finish from a 9^th starting position.  Nate stated “ I didn’t change anything from heat to feature We ran the bottom which seemed to work out.  I do like it when the track gets super slick like tonight, and it usually makes for decent racing.  The only thing missing tonight was a nice top groove with a cushion.”

Nate continued “We haven’t had results we are looking for this year but tonight has us heading in the right direction.  We have been rolling into the trailer without any major damage this year at Grandview which is always a plus.”

Duane Howard finished 9^th from his 18^th starting position.  Duane reflected “It was a pretty ugly night for us and not really happy with the results we produced tonight.  Lap times were almost 2 seconds slower than normal.  We tried a new technique on the back of the car that worked Sunday at the Thunder on the Hill Show, but it didn’t work on Saturday night.  Really displeased with our heat race results and we struggled to get into a qualified position.  We are a bit off and need to regroup and focus on what we are doing.  The track threw us a curveball last night.  The slower than normal times did make for some good racing.  We have got to do better with our 15g and get it right for the rest of the season.”

Jesse Leiby moved through the field to a 12^th place finish from his 20^th starting position.

Jesse commented “In the heat I clipped the inside wall on lap 2 I think and broke the front panhard and just wrestled the car a qualifying spot.  In the feature the car’s handling was amazing but we had some carb issues that really made us struggle. We were still moving forward and came home in one piece.   We have improved our consistency so far this spring and are getting smoother and faster every week.  Last year was a very unsuccessful season due to setting our goal as getting a feature win.  This year our main goal is finishing every feature.  We’ll see were that takes this season but so far we are 9^th in points which is a great start for us.”

Kevin Graver finished 13^th from his 21^st starting position.  A right rear tire going down in the consolation sent Kevin to the consolation which he won.  Kevin noted “The track tonight kind of fit my driving style.  We did make a bunch of changes for the feature and definitely have things heading in the right direction.  Going from 21^st to 13^th was a very good night for us.  We just keep digging and hopefully keep getting better.”

UPCOMING EVENTS at Grandview Speedway:

Friday, June 10 – Outlaw Racing Series Enduro and Outlaw Racing Series Vintage – 7 pm.   

Saturday, June 11 – T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds, T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman – 7:30 pm. 

Tuesday, June 14 – NAPA Auto Parts THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES – USAC National Sprint Series Eastern Storm Jesse Hockett Classic, Tri-Track Series 358 Modifieds – 7:30 pm. 

Saturday, June 18 – T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds, T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman – 7:30 pm.

Saturday, June 25 – T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds, T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman plus Outlaw Racing Series Vintage – 7:30 pm.