TOTH Sportsman Pit Notes – Logan Watt Claims Thunder on the Hill “Balls to the Wall” Sportsman Win at Grandview Speedway

Brad Grim led for 19 laps until Logan Watt found the bottom lane and moved into the lead on lap 20 to drive into victory lane for his second Grandview win of the season in 6 starts. 

Brad Grim took a strong early lead but after cautions on lap 4,5 and 10; Logan Watt closed in on Grim until he found grip on the bottom and made a pass into the lead on lap 20.  Logan rode into victory lane for his second Grandview win in six starts this season.

Heat Races were won by Brad Grim, Jordan Henn and Hunter Iatalese.

Consolation race was won by Ronny Solomon.

Feature Results (25 Laps) –

1. Logan Watt 2. Brad Grim 3. Logan Baumann 4. Jordan Henn 5. Parker Guldin 6. Hunter Iatalese 7. Talan Carter 8. Dakota Kohler 9. Nathan Mohr 10. Kevin Olenik 11. Zach Steffey 12. Kenny Bock 13. Mike Stofflet 14. Ryan Graver 15. BJ Joly 16. Colton Perry 17. Mark Mohr 18. Molly Truss 19. Joey Vaccaro 20. Tom Miller Jr. 21. Jesse Hirthler 22. Dallas Bridenbach 23. Decker Swinehart 24. Ronny Soloman

TOTH BALLS TO THE WALL SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES – 5/28/23

Logan Watt won the race from his 3^rd starting position to drive into his first TOTH victory lane.

Logan recalled “Well I found the bottom around lap 15 and stayed there to get it to work because I figured the top was going away toward the end of the race.  I know Brad is an experienced driver and I had to outsmart him to get around him.  I could see Brad searching around a little and I was too, but he didn’t hit the bottom as good as I was, and that’s when I made my move and passed him for the lead.”

Brad Grim finished 2^nd from his 2^nd starting position.  Brad led 19 laps and didn’t find the rubbered up bottom lane until it was too late, and Logan Watt was already past him for the lead on lap 20.  Brad posted an 8^th and 2^nd place finish this weekend at Grandview.

Brad reflected “I was not expecting the track to be cut right before our feature which made the top the place to be or at least in the beginning.  I stayed up top too long and the track took rubber on the bottom, and it locked down.  As the leader, you just don’t know what is going on behind you.  I felt the top slowing down and smelled rubber, so I tried the bottom one time, and it wasn’t as good as I expected so I went back up to the top.  Once I saw Logan go by on lap 20, I knew it was over and I wasn’t going to get him back.”

Logan Bauman finished 3^rd from his 8^th starting position and posted back-to-back 3^rd place finishes this weekend.  Logan’s car was fast for the first 3 races, but bad racing luck took him out of each race early.  The last three races have been a 7^th, 3rd, and another 3^rd place tonight.  He was leading in the 7^th place race when contact with another car on the final lap broke his steering and sent him from 1^st to 7^th.

Logan stated “Yeah, we had a fast car all weekend for sure.  Starting towards the front definitely helps, but we’ve been showing this weekend that we are a threat.  Hopefully we can keep this consistent momentum up and grab a win or two.  I hope we keep up the speed and hopefully the Lady Luck stays with us for a little longer.”

Jordan Henn returned to his old home track and finished 4^th from his pole starting position.

Jordan noted “We struggled with a tight car all night long.  Once we got to the feature we were just not in the right place at the right time.  Everyone went to the bottom and the top faded around lap 15 so everyone had to ride it out through the rubber on a single file track.”

Parker Guldin finished 5^th from his 18^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season at Grandview.

Parker recalled “Sunday night was the true definition of a roller coaster ride. I let my best friend Jordan talk me into racing that night and initially I didn’t want to go, but he pulled on me through the day, and he was at the garage washing everything before I was even out of bed. All throughout the day and night we were racing on his support. Usually, I have my family with me at every racing event but as of 11 pm Saturday night, I was still sure that I was not going to race the next day at the TOTH show.  It was definitely a weird feeling not having my family there today and especially my brother Spencer.”

After battling it out in the heat with my buddy Kenny Bock, we were reluctant to qualify on a super technical track which is usually where I shine. I wanted a higher qualifying spot but given my 8th starting position from the draw, I was happy with a 6^th place finished and making the field from the heat race.”

“The feature was awesome, I had super low expectations, since I was starting 18th in a 24-car field and Grandview was giving it their best efforts to give us a racey track, so I expected everyone to be equally fast.  Everyone was indeed fast, but luckily, we hit our setup yet again and I was fast, so it didn’t matter which groove I was in at the start.  I was able to make up serious time early in the race. After a few restarts I started gaining more positions forward and was finding the most speed on the bottom and carried it home from there to a 5th place finish from an 18^th starting position.  Overall, a good night and am happy I decided to race.  We were able to add to our setup notebook and rachet down on our baseline setup.  Overall, we were very happy Bob Miller gave us this opportunity to race and also very happy we decided to come.”

The next Thunder on the Hill event is the “Jesse Hockett Classic Eastern Storm on Tuesday, June 13^th at Grandview Speedway with racing at 7:30.