Grandview Modified Pit Notes 8/20/22 – Craig Von Dohren Claims 7th Saturday Night Points Race Win of Season

Craig Von Dohren passed Kevin Hirthler on lap 13 to take the lead and drive into victory lane to his 7^th points race win of the season.

Mark Kratz took the early lead for the first five laps until the first caution for a Brett Kressley flat tire.  On the lap 6 restart Kevin Hirthler took over the lead until lap 12 when the second caution came out for a three car front stretch tangle that turned into a red flat and took 20 minutes to separate the cars (Brinker & Merkle).  When racing resumed on lap 13, it was Craig Von Dohren passing Kevin Hirthler on the restart to take the lead and he would drive right into victory lane for the win.

Heat winners for the 34 car modified field were Mark Kratz, , Joe Funk, and Steve Swinehart.   The last chance consolation was won by Jared Umbenhauer.

MODIFIED 30 LAP FEATURE FINISH (30 Laps):

1.CRAIG VON DOHREN, 2. Kevin Hirthler, 3. Jeff Strunk, 4. Tim Buckwalter, 5. Doug Manmiller, 6. Steve Swinehart, 7. John Willman, 8. Ryan Grim, 9. Jared Umbenhauer, 10. Kyle Lilick, 11. Brett Kressley, 12. Mike Lisowski, 13. Duane Howard, 14. Justin Grim, 15. Brad Arnold, 16. Joe Funk, 17. Cory Merkel, 18. Dan Waisempacher, 19. Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 20. Mark Kratz, 21. Craig Whitmoyer, 22. Ray Swinehart, 23. Brad Grim, 24. Dylan Swinehart, 25. Brett Gilmore, 26. Nate Brinker, 27. Eric Biehn, DNS – Ron Haring Jr.

DID NOT QUALIFY: Carroll Hine III, Kevin Graver Jr., Ron Kline, Steve Young, Chris Gambler, Jesse Leiby

Grandview Modified Pit Notes 8/20/22 –

Craig Von Dohren is painting his championship picture by numbers.  The weekend started with a Big Diamond win on Friday night that was bookend with a Grandview Win on Saturday making his weekend two for two in wins.  Von Dohren has won 7 of the 14 points races this season at Grandview and when you add in special events that puts Craig up to 11 wins at Grandview on the season. 

The feature race started like they usually do with Von Dohren and Kressley side by side in the starting grid.  At the green Von Dohren quickly moved forward and by lap 6 he was in 6^th place while Kressley had fallen to 24^th in the field after pitting for a flat tire.  It only took 13 laps for Von Dohren to move into the lead and then drive into victory lane for his 11^th Grandview win of the season.

In victory lane Von Dohren noted “ On the lap 5 restart we where in the right lane when the holes opened, and I was able to make a big move forward to the top 5.  Track was good top to bottom.   The crucial move of the race was using the middle to get by Jeff on lap 10 and get in front of him.  After you get into the lead it is always difficult to know which lane to choose on restarts.”    

Kevin Hirthler finished 2^nd from his 9^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season. 

Kevin stated “The last time I ran this car was at the TOTH triple 20’s show.  This car felt strong that night at TOTH and my 2019 car was off a bit at the Forrest Rogers Memorial.  So, we decided it was best to work on the TOTH car a bit and see what we could do with it.  I did some tuning on the engine Saturday afternoon and made some minor setup changes based on what I felt at the TOTH race.

“The car felt strong in hot laps, so we made no changes for the heat.  With only 3 heat races this week and you just must be patient and hit the spots when they open.  8th to 3rd set us up for a great starting position in the feature.  We were slated to start 11th but 85 car scratched from field which moved us up to 10^th.”

“The car was great from the drop of the green and I was able to cut my way through traffic with a car felt good both high and low.  We took the lead and then searched around to find the bite in the track until the red flag fell on lap 12.  I really didn’t want to see a red as I was really in a good rhythm.  Tire did cool of a bit, but I think the top guys up front all had the same compound.  On the restart I just couldn’t hold Craig off.  In retrospect replaying it in my head there are some things I would do differently, but car still felt strong as Craig didn’t pull away and make it look easy.  I did make a late race charge and think my car was better at the end then Craig.  All in all, a great night for me and the entire family . Jesse continues to impress.  My wife and I are so proud of him. He has definitely paid attention when he has been watching from the stands his entire life and continues to learn every week. “ 

Jeff Strunk finished 3^rd from his 11^th starting position and posted his 4^th straight podium finish.  Jeff has strung together seven top 5 finishes and one top ten finish in his last 8 starts at Grandview.  As usual Jeff is finding speed and consistency as the season rolls into the fall big money races.

Jeff stated “ I had 42 laps with Craig tonight in both the heat and feature.  It sucks to continue to say we are getting closer to him every week this season.  But he has got it all going on right now.  All we can do is keep working hard and throwing little tweaks at it every week in hopes to keep pace or even get a little closer to him.  He’s real fast and is on top of his game.  Right now, he is the best I’ve ever seen him, and he has raised the bar for all competitors at Grandview.  Kevin drove a great race in 2^nd tonight.  I followed his through traffic to get to the front very quickly and we both stayed with the 30.  Craig is so dominate right now he takes advantage of every opportunity to pass cars.  We had another night of being right there so I can’t complain but we got to keep working hard to find some more speed.”

Timmy Buckwalter finished 4^th from his 12^th starting position.  Timmy started the season with 3 top five and 5 top ten finishes out of his first 9 races.  The next 4 races were all off the pace for Timmy with a 26^th, 12^th, 16^th and 11^th due to a motor change and going to a bars car.

Back at the Trailer Timmy commented “It was a good night for us going from 12^th to 4th in the feature and our stuff was working pretty well again tonight.  In the feature, I think I was just as good as Jeff & Kevin and could have gotten up to second with a yellow, but we didn’t have anything for Craig.  We have been struggling for the last month.  We got a good start this season, but then fell off and had to go back to the drawing broad.  My guys and I never quit on this car.  We had some motor problems, and we went to our bar car and the struggles started.  We got our motor back two weeks ago and then went back to running the same coil car on Friday night at Diamond and Saturday here at Grandview.  We worked on the car all day today turning the car around before loading up and coming here.  Going back to running the same car two nights a week has woke our program up and we’ll see if we can do it again next week.   This week has been a good turnaround for our team.”

Doug Manmiller finished 5^th from his 14^th starting position and he continued his streak of 10 top five and 4 top ten finishes in all 14 of his starts this point season at Grandview Speedway. 

Doug stated “We were a little off tonight, but we’ll take it to come home with a top five again and have a straight car.  We need to get a little better.  Our consistency along with getting a little better will eventually bring us some wins.”

Steve Swinehart finished a season best 6^th from his pole starting position.  Steve noted “Our  setups have been fluctuating from week to week.  Not super happy about it, but it’s just the cards we have been dealt.   It’s been difficult to get a consistent comfort level in the car and we made a major mistake balancing the car for the Forrest Rogers.  The car started out the night with looser than I like.  Even though we won our heat, I could barely touch the throttle without the car wanting to spin out.  To my surprise the car held up in the feature.  We had about 10-12 laps towards middle of race when the car was way too free to keep up with top dawgs.  I think the delay helped my focus a bit since I was dealing with a steering box that had 2 inches of play  and I was sawing the wheel all night long.  Late in feature track came back to us a bit and we were able to hang in for 6th.  Positive for our team and happy to be a part of our good nights.  Our goal is always for more consistency.  I would like to thank Dennis and Donna Weller for this opportunity and sticking with it through some turmoil.  Racing is tough Grandview, but I believe we will have our consistency sooner than later.”

John Willman posted a 7^th place finish from his 8^th starting position.  John recalled “We went from 9^th to 6^th in the feature but then the car got free and started backing up.  I missed something from last week.  The car was better last week when we broke the rear just before the finish.  We are finally getting the car were we want it to be, but it has been slow and frustrating with only four races left in the season.  We are able to go forward in the heats and feature and just need to keep working on it and going further.”

Ryan Grim finished 8^th from his 20^th starting position.  Ryan has qualified at every race he has  attend this season and he has slowly worked his way up to 8^th place in the point standings despite missing 2 weeks of racing while waiting for his motor to be repaired early in the season.  Ryan noted “The long 15 minute red flag in the feature didn’t seem to bother our tires at all.  We had a good car tonight and was able to move forward before and after the long delay to a solid top 10 finish.  This is the second week in a row we have run from back to front for a top ten finish while also keeping the tires under the car.”   

Jared Umbenhauer finished 9^th from his 22^nd starting position.  Jared was in the first heat race which always presents challenging track conditions especially to cars in the back and he missed qualifying by one position.  He won the consolation which placed him 22^nd in the feature.  Jared had a good car but not enough laps to move further than 9^th.  A vast improvement from last week’s results when he got damage in an early tangle at the Forrest Rogers Memorial and finished 23^rd.

Jared recalled “We had a very good car in the heat, but I and others couldn’t get around one particular car that kept us from racing from the rest of the field.  The track was different this week as it was dirty with a lot of loose marbles on top which made it difficult to get traction up top after a while.  I also had a tough time seeing this week with all the loose stuff flying around.  The bottom was the place to be in the 2^nd half of the feature.  I think I burned my tires off by going so hard early in the feature.”

Kyle Lilick returned to a top ten finish after two weeks of DNQ’s due to power steering pump problems.  Kyle finished 10th from his 3^rd starting position.  Kyle commented “After the power steering pump issues of the past few weeks it’s real nice to get back on track and post an actual good night.  We weren’t ready for the slick track tonight, but this is only our 2^nd feature in this car.”

Brett Kressley finished 11^th from his 15^th starting position.  Brett started side by side with Craig Von Dohren but dropped back while Craig shot straight to the front.  Brett then got a flat that sent him to the pits and to the back of the field, but he was able to run back through the field to an 11^th place finish.  Brett is now behind Von Dohren by over 190 points and time is running short with only three Grandview point races remaining for 2022 season.

Brett noted “The race heat put a damper on the whole night.  In the feature the holes did not open for us and then we had a flat which was a big setback.  We made a 2^nd pitstop under red/yellow and changed another tire.  It was just an uphill battle all night for us.”

Duane Howard finished 13^th from his 24^th starting position and continues to struggle with his handling at Grandview.  Duane was in the first heat race where track conditions made passing  a premium and his front end got bent which set the tone for the rest of the night.  There wasn’t enough time before either the consolation or feature to change the axle, so Duane raced the remainder of the night with a bent car.  Postrace Duane stated “ We had a bent car all night long.  The change from 4 to 3 heats in the past  three weeks have been brutal.  We are still struggling to get our car to handle here at Grandview.”

The Rest of the Story

Dylan Swinehart was in the top five for the first 12 laps and then it happened again for the 5^th time this season the Dennis Bailey owned 81 team had their motor expired ending their night and quit possible their 2022 season.   Dylan stated “I want to thank my grandfather for fighting the good fight this season and going way above and beyond to give me a chance to race in a modified this season.  I look forward to seeing how things develop for the 2023 season.”

Cory Merkel finished 17^th from his 28^th starting position.  The 2^nd year Grandview driver is currently 10^th in the season points and continues to chase every point week in and week out.  This week he got in the feature from the last qualifying position in the consolation when the race was checkered after 3 cars feel out and the remaining 7 were all in qualified positions.  During the feature Cory was involved in a tangle with Nate Brinker that took nearly 20 minutes to untangle.  Cory went to the pits and was able to continue and completed all 30 laps with a 17^th place finish.

Cory recalled “I was dealing with parts failures all night during the heat and consolation.  We finally caught a lucky break when the consolation was checkered and all cars remaining on the track were qualified in the feature.  We had an unfortunate tire error that cause our car to get loose coming out of turn four in the feature and I collected Nate Brinker.”

Craig Whitmoyer had a violent flip in turn 1 last week which destroyed his new primary car.  Craig and the 99 team worked all week to put the modified motor into his 2591 crate car which has turned into his modified back-up car.  Craig’s first accomplishment was to get the back-up car ready by Saturday night and his second accomplishment was getting the improvised car into the feature and posting a 21^st finish.

Ron Haring finished 8^th last week and looked to be on the way to another strong outing after finishing 2^nd in his heat race but Ron couldn’t make the call for the feature due to a broken rear-end.  Ron noted “This new chassis has made a world of difference for us, and we are either running up front or breaking something, so it’s been all or nothing since we debuted this new car.”

Darrin Schueler missed his first race of the season as he recovers from injuries he received when Craig Whitmoyer’s car landed on his car last week while he tried to squeak by Craig’s crash.  Darrin was planned on assessing the damage to his car this weekend as he is sideline indefinitely until his doctor’s clear him to return to racing.  Darrin stated, “this is the first time in my career when the car was ready, but the driver was not ready.”

The next event on the Grandview Speedway schedule is next Saturday, August 27, featuring the T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds and the T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman in another NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series program, that will see the Outlaw Racing Series Vintage Racers joining the show 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 6:15 pm. Adult grandstand admission is $18, while children ages 11 and under are admitted free of charge.