Grandview Modified Pit Notes 8/10/24 – Ryan Watt Claims $10,000 Forrest Rogers Memorial Win   

Ryan Watt methodically and patiently moved through the field until he passed Ron Haring for the lead on lap 38 restart and then held off Jeff Strunk for the final 11 laps to take his first Grandview win of the season.

At the green Ron Haring bolted to the lead from the outside pole using his favorite high side on a very wide track with Chris Esposito following in second.  Ryan Watt moved into 2^nd past Eric Kormann on lap 22 with Haring continued his dominate lead of nearly 2 seconds until the 4^th caution flew on lap 38.  On the restart, Ryan Watt took the lead from the bottom line with Strunk moving into 2^nd as Haring fell back a few more spots in the field.  Watt stayed in the middle bottom groove while Strunk pursued using the topside but to no avail as Ryan Watt took the checkered flag for the win of the Forrest Rogers Memorial while also posting his first Grandview win of the season.    

Heat races for the 42-car modified field were won by Brett Kressley, Cody Manmiller, Eric Kormann, and Mike Lisowski.

Consolation races were won by Eric Biehn and Nate Brinker.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (50 laps): 1. RYAN WATT ($10,300) (9), 2. Jeff Strunk (14), 3. Jared Umbenhauer (12), 4. Tim Buckwalter (11), 5. Ron Haring Jr. (2), 6. Craig Von Dohren (26), 7. Eddie Strada (27), 8. Cody Manmiller (5), 9. Kevin Hirthler (10), 10. Kevin Graver Jr. (3), 11. Eric Kormann (4), 12. John Willman (7), 13. Duane Howard (20) , 14. Mike Lisowski (8), 15. Nate Brinker (22), 16. Joe Funk (28), 17. Kyle Smith (24), 18. Louden Reimert (19), 19. Doug Manmiller (25), 20. Justin Grim (17), 21. Mike Gular (13), 22. Craig Whitmoyer (18), 23. Tanner Van Doren (15), 24. Chris Esposito (1), 25. Jon Kellner (6), 26. Ray Swinehart (23), 27. Eric Biehn (21), 28. Brett Kressley (16)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Bryan Rhoads, Jimmy Leiby, Ryan Beltz, Mike Laise, Glenn Owens, Chris Gambler, Carroll Hine III, Danny Bouc, Brian Hirthler, Ryan Grim, Matt Yoder, Ryan Higgs, Frank Yankowski, Darrin Schuler

HARD CHARGER: Craig Von Dohren + 20

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 8/10/24 Regular Points Race # 14

Danny Bouc, Tanner Van Doren and Ryan Higgs all paid a visit to Grandview for the $10,000 Forrest Rogers Memorial and to get some advanced track time in preparation for the Freedom 76er on September 21. 

Ryan Watt took the win of the 50 lap $10,000 to win Forrest Rogers Memorial from his 9^th starting position and posted his first Grandview win of the season.   Ryan worked his way through the field into 2^nd place nearly 2 seconds behind Ron Haring.  On the lap 38 and 4^th restart, Ryan took over the lead from the bottom line and then held Jeff Strunk for the final eleven laps to take the win.

Ryan noted “We wrecked our Bicknell earlier in the season and then brought out our Troyer. We were 6 laps and a flat tire away from a win with the Troyer.  But then in the past two weeks we have been off with the Troyer, and something was missing that we couldn’t figure out.  I was out of town for work the week before the Forrest Rogers Memorial, so we decided to bring out the 2017 Bicknell that was last raced at Big Diamond by Logan.  It still had a crate motor in it and the frame was completely repaired and ready to go since last November.  We took out the crate motor and put in a Caroll Hine prepped spec motor.  Next, we added the shocks, coils and left side pan hard from the Troyer.  By Saturday we had an untried but race ready 2017 Bicknell.”

“In hot laps the car felt good, and we didn’t make any changes for the heat.  In the heat the car was alright, but we seemed to be a tick off.  We finished 3^rd in the second heat which placed us 9^th in the feature.”

“For the feature the track was very wide right to the wall.  In the feature we started 9^th and got stuck on the outside for the first few restarts, but then went back to the bottom to move up to 2^nd behind Haring.  On the lap 38 restart Ron put me on the bottom, and I was able get the lead from Haring and stayed on the bottom while holding off Struck for the final 12 laps.  The track was good but may have rubbered up with about 5 to go.”

Jeff Strunk finished 2^nd from his 14^th starting position for his best finish of the season.  Jeff continues to run top 5 or top 10 every week this season and has led the point standings all season long.

Jeff reflected “This was our best finish of the year.  A huge thank you to my crew who worked their tails off to fix a bunch of damage we received in the heat race and to get the car ready for the feature.  I thought mid race we were a little better than Ryan, but as the laps wound down and we got to second, he was on his game and didn’t make any mistakes. I could keep pace with him but couldn’t get close enough to get next to him.  Congrats to Ryan and the 14W team.”

“Jay (crew chief) and I have been working hard with Brandon from DIG shocks on our setup and we have been better in the past 2 weeks. Hats off to the track crew for a racy track and the great Grandview fans for their continued support.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 3^rd from his 12^th starting position.

Jared stated “The heat was a little up and down.  I got into the back of a car after he hit the inside wall, and they sent me to the rear.  I was still able to get a handicap spot coming to the line.”

“In the feature the car felt good right from the start.  I was able to get up through the field somewhat smoothly and ran right with Strunk most of the race.  The lines kept changing throughout the race, and you had to be in the right lane and right place on restarts.  I was happy with tonight’s finish, and this was the first time the car didn’t fade during the race. After a few rough weeks, I’ll take a 3rd with minimal tire wear and no damage.”

Tim Buckwalter finished 4^th from his 11^th starting position and has found top five consistency in July and August.  Tim has posted back-to-back 4^th place finishes in his last two races.

Tim noted “We have found a good baseline and are riding the wave with a top 5 car now and our setup package is really good now.  In the heat we quickly got forward to 4th and then was able to just ride it out into a handicap position which placed us 11^th in the feature.”

“We made a few adjustments for the 50-lap feature and fell back a few spots to 15^th but around the halfway point we started to pick off cars one at a time until we finished in 4^th.  We now have a top five car that can win any week.”  

Ron Haring finished 5^th from his 2^nd starting position and led for the first 38 laps.

Ron reflected “Car was good in clean air, and I was just making laps out in front until the caution on lap 38 which killed me.  I don’t know what I’m missing, but my first two laps after a restart weren’t good all night.  We had a massive driveline vibration from lap 3 on, so I was just praying it didn’t fly apart but as fast as car was and for ten grand I wasn’t pulling off.  The car has been good since Bobby Strunk did some updates and a new shock/spring package seems to be working well for me.  Without that yellow on lap 38, I’m thinking I’m still counting the money, but it is what it is and a 5th with that caliber of guys at Grandview in a 50 lapper is an incredible run for a guy like me.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 6^th from his 26^th starting position to earn the hard charger for the night.  Craig continues to run consistent top five and ten every week but is still looking for that elusive first win of the season.  Craig is currently 2^nd in the Grandview season point 311 points behind points leader Jeff Strunk.

Eddie Strada finished 7^th from his 27^th starting position.  For the 2^nd week in a row Eddie has posted an outstanding back to front run in the feature.  Last race he went from a provisional 29^th to a 2^nd place finish.

Eddie stated “Yeah just the driver just wasn’t good in the heat and probably had one of the fastest cars all night long.  I screwed myself up twice hitting the infield barrier after moving up into a qualifying spot, so I put myself back in the consolation again.  In the consolation we pushed early and got passed but then had to catch back up. I was able to get the final transfer spot and make the feature in 27th this week.”

“In the feature my tires did wear but that was expected in a 50-lap race.  We went out with what we have been using for 30 lap races and just went more laps. The car was very good for all 50 laps.  We’ve been fast, I just got to do better as a driver early in the night.”

Cody Manmiller finished 8^th from his 5^th starting position and has qualified for his last four straight modified starts and already has posted his career first win.

Cody reflected “My night was good.  After a couple mechanical issues and feature crashes last few weeks, it’s nice to load the car in one piece with a top 10 finish. This is only the third race I’ve finished at Grandview in Modified (won, 8th in Thunder race, and 8th this weekend) just need to make sure I cross the finish line in all the features we run. I felt like my RR tire never fired for the feature and just had no grip from the jump.  But overall, I’m happy to be running around a quality group of cars in the top 10 and to finally finish a feature race.”

Kevin Hirthler finished 9^th from his 10^th starting position.  Kevin started the night with a solid heat race and made the handicap.  In the feature Kevin fell back to 16^th but in the final ten laps was able to move back to a 9^th place finish and take advantage of having the extra laps in the 50-lap feature.

Kevin noted “Started 7th in heat finished 4^th which got us into the handicap starting 10th in feature.”

“In the feature we got a good start passed a car or two in the first few laps.  Caught a rough spot in the track entering the top of turn one and almost flipped the car. I had to back out and roll high to calm the car and lost about 7 spots. The track had groove high and low, and I was able to use both.  Late in the race most guys got in line on the bottom.  My car was just good enough to pick a spot up every couple laps on the top.  Made some headway back to a top ten finish.  The car could have been better for sure and without the near mishap I think we would have finished in the top 5.  I think the long green run helped us build heat in the tires and made the car better.  We had no tire wear issues, and everything looked great.”

Kevin Graver finished 10^th from his 3^rd starting position to post his best finish in the last two months.  Kevin started the season with good speed, but not so good racing luck and a black cloud has been following the 7A most of the season. So, to run 10^th in a 50-lap race perhaps the black cloud is gone, and Kevin will be able to finish the season showing the speed the car has.

Kevin commented “We’ve just had some extremely odd stuff happening this season.  Started the season with a car landing on top of us in our first heat of the year.  From a valve train issue, to losing the fuel pump while lining up for the feature it’s been quite the adventure for us this year for us.  Last week, we broke a set of gears, and it took 2 splines off the jackshaft on the rear in warm-ups.”  

“We didn’t adjust enough for track conditions in the feature, but it’s the first feature that we ran to the end in quite a while.  So, to put a decent night in the books on one of the biggest and longest races of the season is a real positive win for us.  We definitely have a baseline to work with now and hopefully we have run out of bad luck for this season.”

Eric Kormann finished 11^th from his 4^th starting position and posted an all-around solid night from start to finish.

Eric commented “Yeah been working hard on setup and found some things tonight thanks to some good people that gave us some good information.  It was great to not be in the consolation for a change and be back in the handicap.  The right rear sealed up on us in the feature for unknown reasons but a solid night nonetheless and we are very happy to be heading in the right direction.”

Next up on Saturday, August 17 will be a full program of modified and sportsman racing along with the Outlaw Racing Series Vintage cars.  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.