The 2023 Grandview Sportsman champion Logan Watt picked up right where he left off last year and won the 2024 sportsman season opener is right back on top of the points standings in 2024 again.
Watt earned the heads-up pole position with a heat race 1 win and lead the feature from green to checkered flag for his first win of the 2024 season. Ryan Graver posed a challenge on one of the three restarts, but Logan used the high line to pull away and take a nearly 8 second lead to the checkered flag.
Heat race winners for the 49 car sportsman field were Logan Watt, Dakota Kohler, Brett Gilmore, Kenny Gilmore, and Ryan Graver.
Decker Swinehart and Jesse Hirthler won the consolation races.
T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps):
1. LOGAN WATT (1), 2. Ryan Graver (4) , 3. Logan Bauman (10), 4. Addison Meitzler (7), 5. Adrianna Delliponti (15), 6.Nathan Mohr (13), 7. Mike Schneck Jr.(17) , 8. Dylan Swinehart (22), 9. Zane Roth (9), 10. Jesse Hirthler (21), 11. Decker Swinehart (20), 12. Parker Guldin (11), 13. Mike Loney (12), 14. Nicholas Hamm (14), 15. Mark Mohr (19), 16. Nathan Horn (25), 17. Dom Roselli (23), 18. Lawson Szerencits (18), 19. Mark Kemmerer (24), 20. Zach Steffey (8), 21. Stephen Laubach(21) , 22. Kaitlyn Bailey (14), 23. Brett Gilmore (23), 24. Dakota Kohler (2), 25. Cody Manmiller (16), 26. Kenny Gilmore (26)
DID NOT QUALIFY: Nick Faust, Colton Perry, Gavyn Krupp, TJ Mayberry, Michael Toth, Kyle Hartzell, Troy Bollinger, BJ Joly III, Mike Stofflet, Jesse Landis, Randy Graber, Joey Vaccaro, Monte Pool, Mark Gaugler, Steve Young, Chris Martinez, Brad Grim, Dennis Graber, Tyler James, Keith Haring, Kenny Bock, Ronnie Solomon
SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES – 4/06/24 Bruce Rogers Memorial Money Maker
Logan Watt only needed one good draw for the heat race, and he got it drawing the outside front row in heat race 1 and his heat race win gave him the pole in the heads-up feature. In the feature Logan had a strong run on the high side but both Dakota Kohler and Ryan Graver gave Watt notice they were within striking distance during the 25-lap feature.
Logan noted “My night went very well; I started 2nd In the heat and ended up grabbing the lead on the first lap and ran away with the win. In the feature I started 1st since it was heads up, so we didn’t have to redraw and I ended up leading all the 25 laps and was able to win the season opener. We used the same setup as last year and the car was a rocket that I could put in any groove.”
Logan continued “It was a nice change to start up in the front for the first time in a while at Grandview since I usually handicap to 9th in a heat or around 16th in the feature. It was a treat to have clean air all night and not have to battle through the field to get to it.”
Ryan Watt’s number is 14W so it only figures his son Logan would be some “W” or maybe “L” number deviation. But no, it’s 4m so where did that come from Logan?
Logan reflected” So, my great grandfather (Pop) bought me my first quarter midget. Pop thought of the 4m and requested I run the number for my first season. I was only 5 at that time and really had no clue the true meaning of the number. At that time there were 4 generations of our family alive. Thats where the 4 comes from. And everyone used to call my great grandmother, Mom, so that’s where the M comes from. The 4m stands for…4 Mom. It was my Pops way of remembering her and I carry the 4m to this day.”
Ryan Graver also had the good fortune to start his 2024 Grandview points season with a heat race draw of 2nd in the 5th heat race leading to the heads-up feature. Like Watt, he won his heat and started in 4th in the heads-up feature. Ryan inherited 2nd place in the feature when Dakota Kohler parked it after a flat tire and Brett Gilmore just pulled in for the night.
Ryan reflected “Honestly, the biggest part of last Saturday was having a lot of luck. Started off the night with a good draw. After working on some engine issues we were able to get the car running better after warmups and then went out and won the heat race. After that we were in a good position, starting 4th in the feature. I was really trying to be conservative at the start since I didn’t know if I should expect a bunch of cautions. After having some luck on my side and being in the right line at the right times, I was able to make my way to second. I knew Watt was fast, so I threw two slider attempts on two different restarts to try to get in front of him and force him to try and get around me, but I had to get out of the gas both times since I knew I wasn’t going to clear them. We ended up settling in 2nd and just held off other people to finish there.
Ryan continued “We are coming into this year with a decent number of changes, so we have a lot of learning to do as well as some new things we would like to try this year. We are extremely excited to start our season off with a second-place finish. Last year ended with some really solid runs and we are coming into this year with some changes to the car in 2024. We are excited that we showed some speed right out of the gate, and I hope to be able to keep improving and continue to bring home some top ten finishes this year. I have to thank all my sponsors for making this all possible and my dad for giving me everything he can to have a good racecar and without him none of this would be possible!”
Logan Bauman got his 2024 season off to a good start with a 3rd place finish in the feature from his 10th starting position showing he is ready to take an active role in the 2024 championship points chase. Logan moved forward all night as he also moved from 6th to 3rd in his heat race.
Logan noted “Yeah, we had a solid night. Unfortunately, our carb gave out on us during hot laps, but we were able to snag one from Nate Mohr and it got us through the night. It’s amazing to see how the guys who you rarely talk to are the same guys offering parts to get you on the track, which is probably one of the most humbling things about racing as a sport.”
“Our car was good in the heat, but the track was tricky, it was grippy on entry and then from the apex off it was slick which isn’t usual for Grandview. Feature time we made some changes but not enough to get us out front. Had a solid car but there’s certainly some things we need to tweak to get better. All in all, a great night and hopefully we can carry this momentum through the rest of the season.”
Addison Meitzler finished 4th from his 7th starting position and has set himself up for a run at the 2024 points championship. Addison finished 5th in 2023 and with a good start on opening night he is looking for a top three or better finish in the 2024 championship points.
Addison stated “In the heat race we had carburetor issues, and the car would not fire on the starts, but then we could run once the car got rolling off of the restart and we got back to 2nd in the heat race.”
” We put a different carb on for feature and that fixed the problem. We had a good car in feature, and I worked my way up to 3rd. I was catching the 2nd place car and then started to lose power and fell back a few spots and limped home in 4th place.”
Adie Delliponti got her 2024 season off to a good start with a 5th place finish from a 15th starting spot in the feature. Addie also ran from 9th to 4th in two laps of her heat race.
Adie has joined the Saxton Motorsports 23x team as the sportsman driver joining modified driver Tim Buckwalter for the 2024 season. Addie has a long history of running with long standing Grandview family racing teams with Hirthler family in 2021; Gilmore family 2022 & 2023 and now with Saxton Motorsports in 2024.
Adie reflected “We drew last for the heat race, but our 2024 season started on an uptick in heat 1 when we went from 9th to 4th in two laps. I used the outside, got a bit lucky that a few cars bobbled on the bottom just enough that I could get by.”
“We put our feature setup in the car and had a great run from 15th to 5th but got a little tight by the end of the feature. We were running the top very well and this was a great season opener for us. The track was much different coming out before the mods instead of after the mods like we usually do. It is great to be clicking right out of the box on opening day with our setup.”
Nate Mohr posted a very strong 6th place finish from his 13th starting position which was his career best opening day start to the season.
Nate stated “As a team we are excited to start the year with such a strong 6th place run since we ended 2023 on a downer last year. The track was good all night, tons of grip, we learned some things on practice day which led us to throw it at the car on Saturday. We have definitely hit on something. Hoping to keep this run going and be a contender for the points championship all year long.”
Mikey Schneck Jr finished 7th from his 17th starting position to get his 2024 Grandview Sportsman season off to a good start.
Mikey noted “In hot laps I felt good out there even though we had the wrong gears in the car, so we made that change right away upon returning to the pits. Track was just hammer down in hot laps and the track crew did a great job considering all the rain they got during the week.”
“The heat was “just try to make it in the field” with the number of cars in each heat. Slated to start 6th and Jesse broke so put me in 5th. Not sure why the first start got called back when the pole sitter fired first. I was in 4th, trying to find a way around Mike Lonely and just couldn’t find an opening without smashing into him. I knew I was in the feature but with a heads up I wanted to be up farther in the heat.”
“Feature race started out fast for me and I was making passes which seemed like I would get around cars and then the caution would come out and I would have to do it all again. I like it when we go out first before the modified and I had barely any tire wear tonight. The track went from somewhat heavy to slick pretty fast. I think only two cautions which was a good thing on opening night. The car felt really good and was able to move forward very quickly. I think only gained one position from a car spinning out.”
Dylan Swinehart finished 8th from his 22nd starting position posting the hard charge of the night going +14 position in the Sportsman feature.
Zane Roth posted a 9th place finish from his 9th starting position and was delighted with his start to the 2024 season with a top ten finish this year. Zane is looking for more consistent finishes in 2024 and to eliminate the DNQ’s from his season this year.
Zane noted “Our hot lap session was great, we got to shake down the car and get back into the racing groove. We made some major improvements to the car, updating our old engine, carburetor etc. I ’m very happy with the outcome of opening night 2024. We learned a lot about what we accomplished in the shop over the offseason. Our team has changed to Fast Four Racing shocks and right away in the first week of the season we can already see the car’s improvement. We have new faces joining us at the shop and at the track as much as possible. Our team is very thankful for who has tagged along for this racing season with us.”
Jesse Hirthler ran from back to front in both the heat and feature and proved he is ready to improve on his 7th place points finish in the 2023.
Jesse reflected “In hot laps I wasn’t fully comfortable with the car, there was an issue on entry that didn’t happen at practice last week, but we changed it so that it was a lot better for the heat race.”
“The heat set back my whole night. I got by a few cars on the opening laps and wasn’t able to get by one car till the last lap but would’ve been great to see what I could do if I wasn’t trying to pass for 5th the whole race. “
“In the consolation I was just trying to avoid the rough patches on both ends of the track and turn nice consistent laps. I didn’t really change anything on the car for consolation which was a slight error because we could’ve been a lot faster.”
“In the feature I started 21st and was able to avoid some accidents and be cautious on the opening laps. After that I started working through the field and was able to get up into 9th but by the end got passed back on the last lap to finish 10th. Not terribly upset with the finish but I could’ve made some driver choices that would’ve put me in a higher position.”
As many teams that were happy with moving forward there were also many teams disappointed with dropping out of the season opener.
Dakota Kohler ran 11 laps in a solid 2nd place when a flat tire sent him to the pits and ended his night.
Dakota noted “This car is our newer Higfab chassis that was finished for port royal last year. It was alright but just very evil to drive so we have some work to do on it for this weekend. Just had a flat tire but with how wild the car was I didn’t feel like it would be worth going back out again with the car handling like that in traffic, so I parked it for the night.
Brett Gilmore ran in 4th for 16 laps until he pulled the car off. Brett noted “We are not running for points this year and we are just running to win not to finish 4th so we pulled in early today when I realized we were not going to catch Logan Watt. I am running my car as a test car for the new rule changes coming in 2025.”
Michael Stofflet had a good run going in 2nd place in his heat race only to have his drivetrain break on lap 9 and ending up with an DNF. Michael stated “This new car was worth the time and money. At the end of the heat, I felt we were catching the leader but then our driveshaft had other plans. We ended up breaking the universal and both yokes at the transmission and when it came apart it broke my shifter cables, so we had no choice but to call it a night. I also felt with a car like that we were better off going home and being sure to fix it correctly.”
Nicholas Hamm ran 18 of the 25 feature laps in the top ten but after contact on a restart he fell back to a 14th place finish.
Next up on Saturday, April 13 will be 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.
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