Grandview Modified Pit Notes 7/27/24 – Brett Kressley Rolls to a 5th Modified Win of Season at Grandview Speedway

Brett Kressley came from his 16^th starting position and overtook  Eddie Strada and Ryan Beltz  on lap 26 to take the lead which he carried into victory lane for the 5^th time this season at Grandview.

Polesitter Chris Esposito held the lead for 17 laps until Ryan Beltz moved into the lead with Buckwalter, Strada and Kressley in close pursuit.     Kressley then made his run at the front passing both Strada and then Beltz on lap 26 to take the lead and then the checkered for Grandview win number 5 over a top 5 of Eddie Strada, Ryan Beltz, Tim Buckwalter and Louden Reimert.    

There were two separate hard contact incidents on lap 7 ended the night for Ron Haring, Cody Manmiller, John Willman and Jimmy Leiby while Craig Von Dohren, Jeff Strunk, Duane Howard and Mike Gular received only sheet metal damage and were able to continue on.

Heat races for the 37-car modified field were won by Chris Esposito, Ron Haring, Duane Howard and Ryan Beltz.

Consolation races were won by Jon Kellner and Kyle Smith.

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

1.BRETT KRESSLEY (16), 2. Eddie Strada (29), 3. Ryan Beltz (5), 4. Tim Buckwalter (11), 5. Louden Reimert (13), 6. Nate Brinker (6), 7. Jeff Strunk (17), 8. Chris Esposito (1), 9. Craig Von Dohren (15), 10. Doug Manmiller (24), 11. Mike Gular (22), 12. Kevin Hirthler (12), 13. Duane Howard (15), 14. Kyle Smith (21), 15. Jared Umbenhauer (19), 16. Mike Lisowski (26), 17. Joe Funk (7), 18. Brian Hirthler (25), 19. Darrin Schuler (2), 20. Bryan Rhoads (27), 21. Jon Kellner (20), 22. Ray Swinehart (3), 23. Eric Kormann (18), 24. Jimmy Leiby (10), 25. Eric Biehn (28), 26. Ron Haring Jr. (4), 27. Cody Manmiller (8), 28. John Willman (9), 29. Craig Whitmoyer (23)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Bobby Trapper Jr., Ryan Watt, Glenn Owens, Sean Weiss, Carroll Hine III, Justin Grim, Chris Gambler, Kevin Graver Jr., Frank Yankowski

HARD CHARGER: Eddie Strada +27

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 7/20/24 Regular Points Race # 13

Brett Kressley took his 5^th Grandview win of the season from the 16^th starting position. Early in the feature Brett was fortunate to be able to get through the 2^nd lap 7 tangle without any significant damage.  For the second straight week Brett has won the feature and made it look easy using the top and bottom at will to get to the front.   

In victory lane “Brett commented “This left side pan hard bar is unbelievable and the car practically drives itself with these coils.  I don’t really do much.  Hats off to crew, track and sponsors.”

Post race Brett noted “We were in the first heat, and it was one of the toughest heats I’ve ran all year.  Every lap was a fight, but we managed to get the job done and make the invert from the last starting position in the heat race.”

“In the feature, we had a solid car and were fortunate to get through the 9L spin which was really a changing point of our race.  We just fought every lap with a really solid car and wound up taking the win.”

Eddie Strada finished 2^nd from his provisional starting position of 29th.  In his heat Eddie was involved in a racing contact incident which ended up with Doug Manmiller’s car balancing on the hood and roof of Eddie’s car and resulted in a heat race DNF for Eddie.  In the consolation Eddie finished one spot short of qualifying in 5^th and ended up with a DNQ until he exercised a provisional for the 29^th starting position.  In the feature Eddie made the strongest front to back run of the season when he moved from 29th into 2^nd and was in contention for the win. 

Eddie reflected “In the heat it was just misjudgment by both Doug and I, essentially going for same spot.  Doug and I are good friends, and it was a racing deal.  We had a lot of body damage and not much mechanical damage.”

In the consolation everyone was just fast which made it hard to get going forward.  It was almost a slider friendly racetrack, but it was too fast to get the guy in front of you to slow down.  I also didn’t quite pick the right lanes, so we ended up not making the top four transfer spots.”

In the feature we made a very good use of a provisional tonight and running from 29^th to 2^nd was astonishing.  Despite not having a lot of time after the consolation, the guys made the right adjustments and gave me a great car for the feature.  We also got the right breaks, right lanes, and some red flags at the right time that helped us get to the front, but I also passed a lot of cars tonight too.  We have something to build on for the upcoming Forrest Rogers Memorial.”

Ryan Beltz finished 3^rd from his 4^th starting position posting his best finish of the season. Ryan moved into the lead on lap 18 and held the lead until Brett Kressley drove under and took over the lead on lap 26 and drove away from the field for his 5th win of the season.

Ryan noted “As soon as the feature started, I knew I had a good car and just waited until things sorted out in front of me and maybe I waited too long.   Happy with 3^rd but do feel like I may have given one away.  Car was getting tighter as race went on and I missed one corner and that lost the lead for me.”

“We have been fast all year thanks to Carol Hines from Wide Open but with all the early rain outs we just didn’t get a good baseline setup early in the season.  Found an issue with my springs in June and since that we have been getting better every week in July with a 21^st, 15^th, 12^th and 3^rd tonight.  I have confidence in the car now.”

Timmy Buckwalter finished 4^th from his 11^th starting position and posted a top five finish for the second consecutive week with a 3^rd last week.  After damaging the frame of the 23x, Timmy has been able to transition to the 942 and quickly turning the car into a contender after only a handful of races.”

Timmy stated “We been running good past couple of weeks but without any luck.  Two weeks ago, we got a flat on the last lap of the heat and ended up falling from 1^st to 9^th place in the heat.  Last week we were leading in the makeup feature when something happened to the motor, but I was able to nurse it home with a 3rd place finish. 

“So, we are still not sure what happened to the motor last week, but we replaced it with a fresh motor this week.  We ran out of time, so had to use the available headers which are actually the wrong headers for this motor.  I’m really looking forward to running this motor next week with the correct set of headers.”

In the heat, we had to check up and then got hit from behind which caused us to fall back a few spots.  I restarted 5^th but was able to get back into the invert with a 4^th place finish.

In the feature, I bent the front axle during a lap 7 incident from the Leiby spin.  The car didn’t feel the same the rest of the night.

“I would like to thank Dennis and Donna Weller for such a good car, good team and working to turn the 942 into a killer team in the future.  It’s a matter of being consistent with top 10ish finishes every week and working to improve the package from there each week.”

Louden Reimert finished 5^th from his 13^th starting position which moved him into 7^th in the season long points standings.

Louden stated “The night at Grandview always starts with getting through the heat clean and without busting up the car, which we did tonight with the extra added bonus of making the invert too.  Grandview is always the toughest gig on a Saturday night.”

Nate Brinker finished 6^th from his 6^th starting position. 

Nate reflected “We came to the track this week with a few changes on the car to build from the night we won.  The car was amazing out of the box, and we could ride the top really well.  The heat was mostly around the top which was good for us starting in 4^th and we made the invert.”

“In the feature we had really good speed throughout. I tried to make the bottom work a few laps too long and while trying to pass for second, then I got shuffled back until I could get back to the top.  Dave has this car rolling every single week, just finally having some luck on our side which is welcome to finally have.  Keith provides us with a great car, and we have a great group of guys working on it from Keith’s guys to our guys. It makes the nights more enjoyable for the whole team when we can string a few good runs together like we have been doing.”

Jeff Strunk finished 7^th from his 17^th starting position.  Jeff continues his streak of top ten finishes with an eye on moving into the top five or better every week.  Jeff also continues to lead the points standings with a 236-point lead over second place Mike Gular with 7 races remaining on the schedule.

Jeff commented “barely qualified in the heat race with a 5^th place finish outside of the invert.  It’s very difficult to make the invert from the back of the field every week so we started 17^th instead of 15^th this week.”

Really had a good run going in the feature keeping pace with the 19K but got caught up in a mishap and still was able to come from the back to end up in 7^th with a wounded car and it turned out to be a decent night after all.”

Chris Esposito finished 8^th from the pole position to post his best finish of the season.  Chris has been creeping up on his setup every week and it finally all came together this week. Chris took the lead at the drop of the green and led the field for the first 17 laps and through three restarts.

Chris stated “We have been struggling all season with the car upgraded to the coils but with help from Fast Four, Ron has been working with us to get the set up right.  He is a mastermind when it comes to getting the car to work and his craft to figure out what the car wants and needs.  With the support and help of Denis and Debbie Becker – D & B Motorsports, we have a Nick Gatto motor and an updated used Bicknell frame. We got everything flipped over to the updated Bicknell frame 2 weeks ago but once again we were hit with bad luck and had a fuel issue first time out with the updated frame.  This week everything came together for the first time this season and we won our heat race.  The car was great, it just fell off a little and at the end from losing some grip.  We made changes in the feature and started on the pole.”

“In the feature we were really good until lap 17 when we started to lose the tires.   That’s the difference between used and new tires. We had used tires on, and they just didn’t last the whole feature.  I also could have been better as a driver and put the car where it needed to be on the track. But all in all, it was a good night for us. I am really proud of my crew and a big thanks to my sponsors and DB Motorsports for their continued support and help this season.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 9^th from his 15^th starting position.  Craig had a solid heat race finishing 2^nd and looking like CVD of old.  In the feature he posted another consistent top ten finish as he continues to look to break through back into consistent top five finishes while also searching for his first win this season.

Doug Manmiller finished 10^th from his 24^th starting position after a tangle in his heat race sent him to the consolation where he qualified for the feature.

Doug noted “Last week we broke a motor in the feature, so we had our backup motor in this week and like in the past it performed very well for us.”  

“We had a tough heat race on a track that was difficult to pass on.  We were involved in a tangle but able to continue and finished 6^th.  We made changes for consolation and qualified for the feature but deep in the field at 24^th.”  “In the feature we tried something different, and it got us up to 10th place finish.  Had some good laps for a baseline and just need to make some more adjustments.”

Mike Gular finished 11^th from his 22^nd starting position.  Mike was involved in both lap 7 tangles in the feature but managed to stay on the track and not go into the pits.

Mike reflected “We were in a stacked first heat tonight and just couldn’t get forward into the invert like we usually do.  We qualified in the consolation but that only put us in 22^nd starting position.”  

“We were wrong place wrong time twice in the feature and involved in two tangles.  All cosmetic damage and didn’t have to pit.  I always look ahead, but this time didn’t see the 85 parked on the fence and hit him.  I missed the 2^nd tangle but then was hit from behind by someone that didn’t check up.  Car was fast in the feature again just need some luck.”

Duane Howard finished 13^th from his 15^th starting position.  Duane’s night started out on a high note with a solid heat race win from the back of the field.  In the feature Duane was involved in an early tangle.

Duane stated “We started the feature a little tight and were in wait and see mode looking for the track to come around to us but unfortunately the car behind use didn’t see the accident development in turn 3 and we got caught up in it due to contact from behind.  We came out of that little incident with a flat right rear and a bent front end for another disappointing night.”

Next up on Saturday, August 3rd will be a two-division program of modified and sportsman racing.  Modified and Sportsman will have qualifying races leading up to the 25-lap Sportsman and 30-lap Modified main events.  Pit gates open at 4:00 and Spectator gates at 5:00 with hot laps at 6:00 and racing at 7:30.