Grandview Modified Pit Notes 5/20/23 – Eric Biehn Scores Career First Modified Win at Grandview Speedway 

Eric Biehn has been close to victory lane many times before, but tonight Eric Biehn captured the lead on lap 15 from Chris Gambler and then held off a strong charge from Ryan Grim to take his first career win and trip into Grandview’s victory lane.

Heat race winners for the 33 car modified field were Chris Gambler, Eric Biehn, and Darrin Schuler.

 Brett Kressley won the consolation race.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED BRUCE ROGERS MEMORIAL MONEY MAKER FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):

1. ERIC BIEHN, 2. Ryan Grim, 3. Jeff Strunk, 4. Brett Kressley, 5. Jared Umbenhauer, 6. Craig Von Dohren, 7. Carroll Hine III, 8. Kevin Hirthler, 9. Eddie Strada, 10. Doug Manmiller, 11. Bobby Trapper Jr., 12. Ryan Watt, 13. Tim Buckwalter, 14. Darrin Schuler, 15. Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 16. Kevin Graver Jr., 17. Jesse Leiby, 18. Craig Whitmoyer, 19. John Willman, 20 Joe Funk, 21. Eric Kormann, 22. Ron Haring Jr., 23. Jimmy Leiby, 24. Chris Gambler, 25. Mark Malcolm, 26. Justin Grim, 27. Mike Lisowski, 28. Ryan Beltz, 29.Ray Swinehart, 30. Bobby Trapper Sr.

DID NOT QUALIFY: Dylan Swinehart, Chris Esposito, Mark Kratz

MODIFIED PIT NOTES –  5/20/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 4

Eric Biehn has finished 2^nd many times over his 12 years of racing mods but never found his way into victory lane at Grandview until tonight when he drove from his 4^th starting position to take the checkered flag and drive into Grandview’s victory lane for the first time.

Eric ran the first 14 laps behind Chris Gambler and made his move into the lead on lap 15.  After a lap 17 caution Eric continued with sizeable margin of nearly 2 seconds over second place but by lap 25 his lead was down to half a second with Ryan Grim showing his nose with Jeff Strunk diving low and Brett Kressley riding high for the final 5 laps, but Eric hit his marks and held his line to maintain his .5 margin over Ryan Grim at the checkered flag and take his career first Grandview win and driver into victory lane.

Eric reflected “My dad busted his butt all week to help me fix this car for tonight.  Last week we got in a tangle and broke the brake caliper, rim, and front axle.  We also made some changes from last week to try to free the car up since it was very tight last week before the incident.”

“In the heat the track was heavy and only one lane.  We were lucky to get to the front first in the heat from the outside starting spot and held a comfortable margin over 2^nd place Bobby Gunther Walsh. The car was really good, but we were still having some brake issues after last week.  We didn’t make any changes for the feature.”

“ Started 4^th in the feature and got to 2nd pretty quickly. Then battled with Gambler for 14 laps until I was able to sneak underneath him coming out of turn two and move into the lead. Car was good up top and coming off corners well.  Track seemed smooth and wide for the feature.  Have to give credit to Grandview for a good track and getting the races finished quickly with the weather coming. In the final laps I did see Ryan’s nose but just slowed myself down and hit my marks through the lapped traffic and it all worked out.”

“I’m extremely happy to finally win one for everyone who supports this car. I didn’t get to thank everyone in victory lane but want to make sure I thanks everyone that helps me.  My mom and dad, family, and uncles that are with me every week.  Carol Hines at Wide Open Technologies for building one hell of an engine. Hoffman Speed Supply for always getting me the best parts and helping me with set ups. Thanks to Dave, Keith, Jim, and Morgan. Thanks to Rick Laubach at Shock Spa for great shocks. Also, thanks to Birdsboro Napa, Kevin Hartnett Lettering, Roadrunner race fuels, Jones racing products, Gebhard Printing and everyone that congratulated me after the races and all my friends that texted or called!”

Ryan Grim finished 2^nd from his 9^th starting spot with Strunk showing his nose on the bottom and Kressley showing on the top in the final laps, but Ryan was able to hang on to a strong second place finish.    Ryan has showed speed each week this season, but just has not been able to get the car to finish a race due to mechanical issues and racing incidents until his 2^nd place run this week.

Ryan noted “ I felt like we weren’t that fast in the heat, but we still qualified.  In the feature the car felt better and honestly glad I finally got to finish one this year. Just hoping we can build on this one and keep getting the car better every week.”

Jeff Strunk finished 3^rd from his 19^th starting position in the feature race and continues to hold the early season points lead over Umbenhauer, Kressley, and Von Dohren.  Jeff was able to finish his heat race in 7^th and get the final transfer spot into the feature.

Jeff noted “ There is a huge challenge in heat races every week to get back to front but especially hard this week with track conditions so just to go from 11th to 7th was huge since we didn’t have to deal with a consolation race.  Really hungry for a win this year, but to run from 19th to 3^rd in the feature was a great run for us. The track crew did a great job trying to widen out the groove all night and gave us a fast but still passable track in feature with weather conditions being what they were and rain on the way.  Hats off to Grandview for getting the show in before the rain arrived.”

 Brett Kressley finished 4^th from his 22^nd starting  position.  Brett missed qualifying in his heat race by one position behind Jeff Strunk in the 7^th and final transfer spot from the heat.  In the consolation he was joined by Von Dohren and Tim Buckwalter who all secured positions in the feature through the consolation race.  Brett stormed to the front in the feature and was trying to make a three for one pass from 4^th for the win but ran out of laps.”

Brett stated “The track was trying to move the show along to beat the incoming weather but that led to the one lane track.  I believe, we knew the heat was going to be tough starting that far back but we just never gave up on this car.  I knew my car was capable in the feature and I just needed to drive extra hard to get to the front. We will take a 4th from 22^nd starting position.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 5^th from his 15^th starting position and continued his strong run of back to front runs with finished from 4^th to 6^th in all 4 of his races this season and a return to his 2021 form when he finished a solid 3^rd in the 2021 final points standings.  Jared currently sits 2^nd in the early season 2023 points standings and looking for one more spot.

Jared commented “I knew the heat was going be tough, there wasn’t much passing in the two heats before me.  Somehow, I made it from 10th to 4^th, which was the first race since opening night that I made the handicap. The feature was hammer down; it was very intense until the lap 17 caution.  We all were going hard as we could, and I was stuck on the bottom for way too long and couldn’t get to the top.  The car really came in with 10 laps to go. I got to thank my crew chief for giving me such a good car every week and Ron Seltmann for helping me out with the shocks, he’s been a huge help in the last few weeks.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 6^th from his 23^rd starting position.  Craig couldn’t move forward in the heat race and qualified from the consolation along with Brett Kressley and Tim Buckwalter.  Craig has not won yet this season at Grandview but is lurking around the top five every week and his first win could just be around the corner.

Carroll Hine III finished 7^th from his 3^rd starting position for his best finish of the season.  He had a good top 5 run going a few weeks ago when the left front brake locked up spinning him in the turn 3 and ending his night.  Carroll has been consistently qualifying this season and hopes to have found the speed to keep him up front in the coming weeks.

Kevin Hirthler finished 8^th from his 11^th starting position and continues to post improving finishes every week after a rough start to the season with a 24^th and 25^th place finish.

Eddie Strada finished 9^th from a 29^th provisional starting position to maintain his 5^th place in the early season points standings.

Eddie commented “ In the heat race we started 9^th; I tried to get to 7th too early and hit the infield wall taking out a tire, wheel and tie rod and ending up on the hook.  In the Consolation it was a wrong place at wrong time and car came across the track taking out the front axle. We had 15 minutes to change and axle and other parts, so we didn’t have time to adjust anything chassis wise. We also went out without doing tire pressures, shocks, or chassis changes.  Put a new axle in and went in the feature with what we had when we got there.  I put my guys in a bad spot all night, but crew did a hell of a job changing everything in time for the feature.  It paid off with us being able to use a  provisional to pass a lot of good cars and turn what started out as a bad night into a top ten finish.”

Doug Manmiller finished 10^th from his 16^th starting position and continues to have a good car with bad luck while still managing decent finishes.  This week it was a flat tire after getting up to a 7^th place position before going to the rear due to the flat.  Doug used the final 13 laps to work back up to a 10^th place finish.

Doug reflected “It was a rough heat, but we made it directly to the feature. The car was good and we were going to front when we got a hole in the tire.  The car has been outstanding every week so far but our bad luck that has been coming with it not so much.”

Eric Kormann finished 21^st from his 26^th starting position in his first time behind the wheel of the Bailey 81 modified.  Eric is the new driver of the 81 and the 3^rd driver in 4 weeks due to some continuing trying times for team Bailey.  Kenny Gilmore was injured on opening night  while Kyle Weiss is just not available for weekly Saturday racing.  So, in steps long time modified driver Eric Kormann and he’s off to a good start with qualifying in the field on his first outing at Grandview this season.

Eric noted “ This was only the 4th time I ever raced at Grandview.  I tried to qualify for two 76er’s.  I also ran a DIRT race in 901 car there several years back and I don’t remember if I qualified for that race or not.  Tonight, we had a solid night and were just making laps to figure the car and track out. There is a lot of work to do on both the car and driver and we will need to be better.”

On Saturday, May 27 it will be a three-division program under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner as the T.P. Trailer Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman will be joined by the USAC East Coast Sprints. The program will consist of qualifying races leading up to the 30-lap Modified, 25 lap East Coast Sprint, and 25-lap Sportsman main events with a feature only vintage race as the 3^rd class.  Grandstand gate at 5:30 with racing starting at 7:30.

This will be followed by the first Thunder on the Hill Racing Series event of the season on Sunday, May 28. This holiday program features the 358 Modifieds in a special 50-lap feature race titled the ‘Balls to the Wall 50’.

The winner of the 50-lap feature will grab a $5000 payoff, and the leader at laps 20 and 35 will pocket $1500, when the race is stopped and the top four inverted.  So, it becomes a race of strategy to chase the bonus or go for the win. Should the same driver lead laps 20, 35 and then grab the final checker to win, Pioneer Pole Buildings will post a $4000 extra bonus, allowing the 50-lap feature winner to grab a possible total of $12,000 for the victory!

The 602 crate Sportsman will also join the show which starts at 7:30 pm. on May 28, making for a big holiday weekend of racing action.