Grandview Modified Pit Notes 6/17/23 –  Ryan Watt Claims  First Modified Win of the Season at Grandview Speedway

Ryan Watt got to the front early going from 10^th to 2^nd by lap 8 and taking the lead on a lap 9 restart where he stayed right to the checkered flag to take his first win of the season while holding off a high side charge of Brett Kressley by nearly 1 second and drove into Grandview’s victory lane for his first victory of 2023.

Eric Kormann jumped out to an early strong lead, until the first caution of the feature flew on lap 8 for a five car tangle that ended the night for Jeff Strunk, Chris Esposito, and Darrin Schuler.  Off the ensuing lap 9 restart; Ryan Watt drove into the lead and never looked back.  The second and final caution bunched the field up, and on the restart, Kressley got within half a car length of Watt but with each of the final five laps Watt added to his lead and by the checkered flag he  had a 1 second margin of victory.

Heat race winners for the 33 car modified field were won by Eric Kormann, Timmy Buckwalter and Ray Swinehart.

 Kevin Graver Jr won the consolation race.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):

1. RYAN WATT, 2. Brett Kressley, 3. Tim Buckwalter, 4. Craig Von Dohren, 5. Louden Reimert, 6. Doug Manmiller, 7. Craig Whitmoyer, 8. Mike Lisowski, 9. Jared Umbenhauer, 10. Ray Swinehart, 11. Mike Gular, 12. Eddie Strada, 13. Justin Grim, 14. Bobby Trapper Jr., 15. Kevin Graver Jr., 16. Jimmy Leiby, 17. Jesse Leiby, 18. Joe Funk, 19. Bobby Gunther-Walsh, 20. Chris Gambler, 21. Eric Kormann, 22. Nate Brinker,23. Kevin Hirthler, 24. Ryan Grim, 25. Chris Esposito, 26. Darrin Schuler, 27. Jeff Strunk, 28. John Willman, 29. Eric Biehn

DID NOT QUALIFY: Ron Haring Jr., Glenn Owens, Mark Kratz, Bobby Trapper Sr.

MODIFIED PIT NOTES –  6/17/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 8

Ryan Watt finished 1^st from his 10^th starting position.  Ryan has been struggling all season with his (orange) Troyer to qualify for the handicap and finish better than 9^th.  So, this week, he tried his (blue) Bicknell at a Grandview for the second time and got immediate results by qualifying for the invert in his heat race for his first time this season.

In the feature Ryan quickly went from 10^th to 2^nd and on lap 9 moved into the lead off a restart.  Watt was able to hold off Brett Kressley in the final 6 laps of the feature and take his first Grandview win of the season at Grandview.   

In victory lane Ryan noted “We found the Bicknell car was better at the TOTH race and we weren’t on a racy track.  I knew we couldn’t qualify today with the Troyer and the way we have been with it this season.  Track was good top, bottom, or middle and the longer I ran with the Bicknell the better we got.  I was able to drive away from Eric after the restart on lap 8 .  The car was so good that I wasn’t sure if I wanted a yellow, but we got one.  I knew Kressley had to pass me and after the restart he stayed with me for one lap and then we pulled away from him on the rubbered up bottom to hold him off for the win.”

This is great and maybe one of these days both Logan and I can win on the same night.  We knew we could be better than than 9^th and now we are getting closer to our potential with our Bicknell.”

Ryan reflected “Heat race was tough tonight on a narrow track, but we made the invert with a 4^th place finish which set us up for the feature in 10^th starting position.  The feature track was good, and we were able to show how good our car was on the track was tonight.  Track rubbered up for the last 5-10 laps and we beat the toughest guy here (Kressley) with our Bicknell only second night out.”

Brett Kressley finished 2^nd from 17^th starting position and once again ran a torrent pace to the front until the bottom rubbered up in the final few laps.

Brett recalled “It was a very difficult heat racetrack, and we took what the track gave us.  In the feature we were lucky to keep the car clean in that skirmish which I believe had a big impact on the finish tonight.  The track started to take rubber in the end and that’s were the leader was so I had to stay up top to be where he was not and have a chance to get by him.”

Tim Buckwalter finished 3^rd from his 12^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season.

Tim commented “I had a real good wingless 410 week since last Friday, but I’m committed to the modified and Grandview on Saturdays.  We have been struggling with carb, motor, and chasing car issues all season, so last week we went back to basics with the car setup.  We went back to our beginning of the year packages and changed to a new carb, and it was the best carb we had all year.”

“Racing more every week slows everything down and you are in the game no matter what type of car you are racing.  Racing and circling the track helps in general and we have been running wingless sprint cars every day since last Friday.”

“We went back to our basics and got our package back on track.  We were changing too many things and were not zoned in on what our real problem was.  We lost our feature package because we were spending too much time working on our heat race package.  We got two 11^th place finishes in the past two weeks in the feature, and we are not settling for 11^th as being good enough for this team.  My guys work really hard to get the most out of this car.  The game changes every week here at Grandview and so does the track and one good week don’t mean anything until you can duplicate your results on a different surface with another package adjusting for the track changes.”

Buckwalter continued “I made a few mistakes with lapped cars allowing Kressley to get bye, but I was able to stay with him and show him a nose.  Just to be able to run door to door with the hottest guy at Grandview was really good for our team.  We are back in the game.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 4^th from his 18^th starting position and continues to stay close to the points leader Brett Kressley only 64 behind in second place .  Craig has posted 6 top five finishes and 2 top ten finishes in his 8 starts.

Louden Reimert finished 5^th from his 15^th starting position in a rare Saturday appearance with the Breitenstein Motorsport 14B at Grandview.  Louden stated “We had a good night and I think learning car setups and how to drive on the different kinds of tracks like Diamond and NES that I’ve been racing on have helped me be better when I return to Grandview.  In the heat we made the handicap which put us 15^th in the feature.  The track was very racy with was lots of room to pass and it did take rubber in the last few laps of the feature, so it was tough to make any moves in the final 6 laps after the second restart.”

Doug Manmiller finished 6^th from his 19^th starting position and got back on track after a distributor broke and left him dead in the water moments before the start of the feature last week.

Doug reflected “In the heat the track was a little different than usual and I just got caught in the wrong lane a couple times, but we still qualified for the feature.  In the feature we were good and was able to get towards the front all night except on the last restart when I made a wrong lane choice and lost a couple positions before the checkered flag.”

Craig Whitmoyer finished 7^th from his 5^th starting position and posted his 3^rd top ten finish of the season.

Craig noted “When we get the end of these features we are in uncharted territory and don’t know what adjustments to make for the end of the feature because half the time we are wrecked and not running at the end of the night. Tonight, marks our 3^rd top ten and we are starting to be able to compile a bit of a notebook on late laps in the feature now.”

I honestly believe our program is heading in the right direction and we are improving in the heat every week which is an essential building block.  The smaller teams need to start up front to stand a chance and keep from getting run over.  We made the invert and started us 5^th in the feature.  We are very good on a slick and technical track like we had tonight.  We got up to 2^nd place early and then I tried the top but went right back to the bottom.  Several front runners went by me on the top, but we were thrilled with a 7^th place finish and our 2nd top ten in a row at Grandview on Saturdays.  We are trying to build consistent top ten finishes under varying track conditions from week to week.”

Mike Lisowski finished 8^th from his 9^th starting position and posted his 5^th top ten finish in a row at Grandview Speedway.  In his last three Big Diamond appearances Mike has also posted a 3^rd place finish and two top ten finishes.

Mike commented “We were able to qualify 3rd in the heat and made the handicap.  In the feature we were able to miss a few wrecks and stayed out of trouble. We missed the setup a bit tonight; but we were able to hang on for an 8^th place finish.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 9^th from his 29^th provisional starting position.  Jared’s night started off slow in his heat race where he was unable to get out of the back of the field and finished 9^th.  In the last chance Consolation Jared was involved in a tangle which sent him to the pits, and he did not return.  He used a provisional starting position and started 29^th in the feature to finish  9^th place while running 20 places forward in the feature.

Ray Swinehart finished 10^th from his 4^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season. Ray’s season has not been what he was hoping for with a couple of DNQ’s, a handful of tangles and mechanical failures.  Ray is in hopes that the 10^th place finish will be a turning point for the 942 team’s season.

Bobby Trapper Jr finished 14^th from his 26^th starting position.  In the heat races Bobby struggled with his setup and driving on the slick track.  Bobby stated “I’ve got some learning to do with driving on slick tracks.  We were able to make changes for the feature which made us better and by the end of the feature I was starting to figure out driving the slick at Grandview.  In general, we just can’t get the car hooked up and the driver isn’t as good when the track gets slick.  We are hoping to get the slick figured out this week and qualify for the feature from a heat for a change and skip the consolation for a change.”

The one major tangle saw Darrin Schuler take two consecutive hits on the left side, go up to make contact with the front stretch wall and finally coming back down across the track with a broken steering box and then taking pile-in hits from Chris Esposito, Mike Gular and Jeff Strunk. 

Darrin Schuler broke his motor in a plum of smoke last week and was back this weekend with his backup motor only to suffer heavy damage for the second week in row.  Darrin is one of the weekly self-funded teams that always seem to find a way to return next week no matter what happens, and they will be ready for that best run of the season that they know is right around the corner.

Next up on Saturday, June 24 will be Back to the 90’s with $10 general admission for a two-division program under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner for the T.P. Trailer 358 Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman. The program will consist of qualifying races leading up to the 30-lap Modified and 25-lap Sportsman main events with racing starting at 7:30 P.M.