Grandview Modified Pit Notes 8/05/22 – Craig Von Dohren Collects 6th Saturday Night Points Race Win of Season   

Craig Von Dohren worked from his 14^th starting position to 2^nd  place in 18 laps and then used the first restart of the night to take the lead and pull away from the field for his 6^th Grandview points race win of the season.

Pole setter Carroll Hines III took a 3 second lead over 2^nd place Darrin Schuler for the first 17 laps.  The first caution flew on lap 18, just after Craig Von Dohren moved into the 2^nd place from his 14^th starting position.  On the ensuing  restart, Von Dohren stormed to the lead and  opened up nearly a 6 second gap on second place Carroll Hines before the second caution on lap 27.   On the second and final restart, Von Dohren held on to the lead for the final 3 laps sprint to the checkered flag and took his 6^th win of the year.

Heat winners for the 34 car modified field were Darin Schuler, Nate Brinker, and Ryan Beltz.  Brett Kressley won the last chance consolation.

MODIFIED 30 LAP FEATURE FINISH:

1.CRAIG VON DOHREN, 2. Jeff Strunk, 3. Brett Kressley, 4. Carroll Hine III, 5. Michael Storms, 6. Nate Brinker, 7. Kevin Graver Jr., 8. John Willman, 9. Doug Manmiller, 10. Duane Howard, 11. Jared Umbenhauer, 12. Ryan Grim, 13. Brad Arnold, 14. Ron Kline, 15. Justin Grim, 16. Tim Buckwalter, 17. Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 18. Cory Merkel, 19. Darrin Schuler, 20. Kevin Hirthler, 21. Mark Kratz, 22. Brett Gilmore, 23. Dylan Swinehart, 24. Ryan Beltz, 25. Ryan Lilick, 26. Craig Whitmoyer, 27. Ron Haring Jr., 28. Ray Swinehart

Did Not Qualify:  Brad Grim, Steve Swinehart, Bobby Trapper Jr., Brad Brightbill, Mike Lisowski, Kyle Lilick

Grandview Modified Pit Notes 8/05/22 –   

Craig Von Dohren took the win from the 14^th starting position to record his 6^th Saturday point race win of the season.  Craig’s worst finish of the season was a 12^th place finish which he was leading with 2 laps to go when a tire went flat.  In addition to his 6 wins he has two 2^nd place finishes: two 5^th place finishes, a 7^th, and the 12th place finish with only 5 races remaining in the 2022 season.

In victory lane Craig noted “I was not sure were we were until I looked a the scoreboard on the first caution.  This thing took off right away tonight.  In the parade laps we stopped on the front stretch and lost low gear and had to get a push start in high gear the rest of the night.  The  humid conditions made the track wet, but it was a great track.  The bottom came in and it had two good two lanes of racing and you can’t ask for more than that.  We ran hard right to the end because when the bottom is that good you just never know what is going to happen.”

Jeff Strunk finished 2^nd from his 15^th starting position and after his win last week seems to be peaking at the right time with the Forrest Rogers right around the corner next week.  This was the 5^th time this season that Jeff has finished 2^nd at Grandview and all five were won by Craig Von Dohren.  Jeff would like nothing more than to turn that one around next week at the Forrest Rogers Memorial.

Postrace Jeff noted “We had a solid night.  Another 2^nd to Craig which I think is 5^th to Craig and 6 or 7 total second place finishes.  The three heat format has been brutal in the past two weeks.  The track was really fast with a lot of grip last night so to start 15^th and run up to 2^nd was a real good night for us.  We been getting the car a little better every week and I think we got something to run with the 30 and 19K.  Looking forward to next week.  I haven’t won that race for over 20 years so hoping we can end that streak.”

Brett Kressley finished 3^rd from 21^st starting position after qualifying for the feature by winning the consolation race.  Kressley was in the first heat race which was filled with cautions that did not help him get to the front of the 12 car field.  On the final caution with one lap to go he was penalized for rough riding and sent to the rear of the field, and he missed qualifying for the feature by one position which sent him to the consolation race.

Brent commented “Car was really good in the feature, we ran our best on lap 30 and tire wear was light, so both are good signs for upcoming 50 lapper event coming up this week.  Our car was a little off in the heat this week, and the congestion in the 3 heat format with 12 cars just creates tension which resulted in seven contact yellows in three preliminary heat races.  In my opinion the 3 heat race format should not be used and just continue with the 4 heat race format with a few less cars for safety and equipment’s sake.”

Carroll Hine III finished 4^th from his pole position for a career best finish at Grandview.  Carroll led the first 17 laps right to the first caution of the night.  Craig Von Dohren pulled away from him on the next restart to take the lead but despite overheating tires Carroll stayed up front for his career and season best finish of 4^th at Grandview.  Carroll has qualified for 8 out of 11 features this year.

Back at the trailer Carroll III reflected “ Yeah 4^th is our best finish at Grandview.  We were tight in warmups, and I told Dad not to worry.  In the heat we got in a little contact which jackknifed the car for a moment, but we recovered and was still smooth for the rest of the race.  We finished 2^nd in the heat and most importantly made the invert.”

“We made a shock adjustment in the right rear for the feature.  The car was real smooth and we just took off from the field for the first 17 green flag laps of the feature.  Boy that was fun.  The car was working good on either top or bottom.  Around lap 14 the tires started to get hot, and the car started to hang.  After the restart I didn’t cool my tire since I was worried about changing the temperature in the tires.  The car was just hanging and walking backwards when we were with Strunk, but we still got a 4^th place finish and I’ll take it and we are still in one piece.”

Carroll continued “When I started to lap cars the radio said, “leader is here” and I think some drivers were shocked and confused when they saw me since I’m usually a back runner and not one of the leaders.  We blistered our right rear tonight, and the top guys have a tire package that keeps them strong right to the end.  We are very close to where we want to be and just fine tune the shocks every week.  We were trying something out of the box tonight and it worked.  Dad told me to “drive it like you stole it.”

Michael Storms in Norm Hansell’s 357 finished a season best 5^th from his 10^th starting position.  Michael noted “We have made decent progress in 6 races, but I still feel we need to be better to run with the top guys.   These heats are super tough, and I need to figure them out better. Norm doesn’t have much say in what setup we use, and Jay does a great job and puts in lots of hours in on the car.  We have great understanding and communication which is a must at a track as competitive as Grandview.  I knew what I was getting with racing at Grandview and it’s most definitely different, but you have to be versatile to figure it out . The biggest thing with Grandview is knowing who you are racing with and if they will give you a lane of stuff you in the fence.  But all in all, we are happy and just keep moving forward each week.”

Nate Brinker finished a season best 6^th from his 5^th starting position.  Nate reflected “Heat race was good.  The car was finally hooked up and starting up front on that track surface helped a lot.  We got to the lead early in the heat and just ran my own race to take the win.”

Nate continued “In the feature we made some changes anticipating the track was going to get super slick which helped a ton.  We were the fastest we’ve ever been and just need to make less mistakes while running the top.  Von Dohren and the top guys are so dominant because they have everything dialed in perfectly, from the car to the driver. I’ll take a 6th, we really needed that after a rough season so far this year. Hopefully we can continue put together good runs to finish the year out.”

Kevin Graver  finished 7^th from his 7^th starting position after a week of repairing the car from last week’s rollover down the backstretch which bent the roll cage.  But what a difference a week makes, as last week’s heat rollover was replace by a top ten finish this week thanks to the determination and drive of the 7A crew in the shop last week.

Kevin Graver reflected “Our night was good right from the beginning.  We had a decent car in the heat starting 5th and finished 4th which put us in the invert for the feature.  We usually struggle in the heat, but think we figured some things out this week.  We made some adjustments for the feature, and I believe we may have over adjusted a little bit.  The car seemed pretty good in the beginning of the feature and then seemed to tighten up a little as the feature wore on.  It’s very hard to compete with CVD, Strunk, Brett, etc.  Those guys are on top of their game and have things figured out at Grandview.  We’re definitely gaining on it the best we can and just have to take things one race at a time.  I think tire prep, tire selection and adjusting to keep up with the track is a big advantage the top guys have over the little guys.  You can’t beat experience at Grandview.”

John Willman finished 8^th from a 7^th starting position as he has recently found sporadic consistency with two 8^th place finishes with a DNQ  sandwiched in between.  August and September have historically been the “Underdog’s” months, so the 291 KAM team is hoping that history repeats, and they continue to the top five of the field in the final months of the season.

John reflected “We were good in the heat finishing 2nd and got luck and somehow made it around a wreck on the first lap.  We were trying some stuff in the heat and continuing to search for the setup like we have been all year.  The track was narrow, and bottom dominate in the heats with the fast guys back a little further then usually which has made for some more contact and cautions in the heats then we normally see when we run 4 heats.”

John continued “In the feature we went from 7^th to 4^th early, but the fast guys went by me and then I got blocked by a car in front of me and lost a few positions.  We had a 5^th or 6^th place car but were much better than we were at the TOTH race on Tuesday night when we faded hard, couldn’t turn and our setup was just junk.  But we are now moving in the right direction and had no fade at all tonight.  We still have to use too much brake and throttle to steer the car, but the car definitely feels right now and see what we get next week.”

Doug Manmiller finished 9^th from a 18^th starting position and continued his streak of top ten finishes and is a perfect 12 for 12 with top ten finishes for the season.  Despite only two cautions in the feature, Doug moved forward 9 positions and continues to maintain his 3^rd place in the season point standings.

Duane Howard finished 10^th from his 13^th starting position as the 15g team continues to search for consistent speed and some racing luck in the same week.   Duane noted “We are down right now, and the issue is we are searching for the right combination.  We are just not getting the dialed in for the track conditions each week.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 11^th from a 26^th starting position.  In the heat race Jared had an early flat tire from contract and then got bent in a tangle so had to go to the consolation were he qualified for the feature.  Jared was fast in the feature moving 15 positions forward in the 30 lap feature which only had 2 cautions.

Darrin Schuler had a breakaway on the field in second place for the first 17 laps but then faded  after the first restart when the track slicked off.  Darrin reflected “We made some gains this week.  When the track slicks off this car gets too loose.  We got to be good for 50 laps this week and need to be able to drive to the front and not hang around.  Hats off to the 114 who had a great run this week.”

The next event on the Grandview Speedway schedule is next Saturday, August 13, featuring the much anticipated Summer Classic, the 52^nd annual Forrest Rogers Memorial for the T.P. Trailer Modifieds who will be racing for 50-laps and $10,000 to win the race in honor of the man who created and built Grandview Speedway. 

This race program will also include the T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman in another NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series double-header starting at 7:30 pm.

Pit gates will open at 4 pm. with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm. warm-ups will be starting at 6:30 pm. Adult grandstand admission is $30, while children ages 6-11 are $10, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge.