Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 8/10/24 – Alex Bartorillo Goes Flag to Flag for Career First Sportsman Win at Grandview

In the final laps polesitter Alex Bartorillo held off a late charge for the lead by Gavyn Krupp to take his career first trip to victory lane at Grandview.  Alex led flag to flag in the 32-minute 25 lap feature and withstood multiple extended cautions and restarts.

At the green polesitter Alex Bartorillo took the lead and then faced 5 cautions and restarts in the first 3 laps.  After one more caution the green flag racing opened up again on lap 12 with Bartorillo continuing to lead over Jesse Landis who was running the top, Gavyn Krupp and Logan Watt as the group of four separating from the field.  On lap 20 Watt moved into 2^nd and the entire group dropped to the bottom.  Watt went underneath for the lead on lap 23 but caught the inside wall by inches spinning his car and flattening a tire to end his night. Alex Bartorillo held his lead through the contact and took checkered flag after the final restart to post his career first Grandview sportsman win.

The heat races for the field of 42 cars were won by Brayden Sheldon, Colton Perry, Troy Bollinger, and Gavyn Krupp.

The consolation races were won by Mike Schneck and Adrianna Delliponti.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): ): 1. ALEX BARTORILLO (1), 2. Gavyn Krupp (11), 3. Jesse Landis (14),  4. Mike Schneck Jr. (21), 5. Nathan Mohr (23), 6. Logan Bauman (12), 7. Lawson Szerencits (7), 8. Shannon Slaughter (20), 9. Teague Miller (25), 10. Colton Perry (6), 11. Stephen Smith III (2), 12. Ryan Graver (24), 13. Troy Bollinger (3), 14. Kenny Bock (18), 15. Tyler James (10), 16. Adrianna Delliponti (22), 17. Logan Watt (16), 18. Brayden Shelton (5), 19. Dylan Swinehart (17), 20. Jared LaBagh (15), 21. Steve Young (8), 22. Brett Gilmore (22), 23. TJ Mayberry (13), 24. Stephen Laubach (4), 25. Joey Vaccaro (19), 26. Nate Horn (26)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Dakota Kohler, Kyle Hartzell, Zach Steffey, Nick Faust, Jesse Hirthler, Addison Meitzler, Kaitlyn Bailey, Mark Mohr, BJ Joly III, Ronnie Solomon, Zane Roth, Randy Graber, Mark Gaugler, Dennis Graber, Parker Guldin, Brett Grim

HARD CHARGER: Nathan Mohr +18

8/10/24 Race # 14 – SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES

Another tough night for the points leaders:

1. Points leader Logan Watt was one car short of the win with 3 laps to go and came out of it with a spin on the 23^rd lap and a 17^th place finish.
2. 2^nd place in points – Dylan Swinehart was a DNF in 19^th.
3. 3^rd place in points – Addison Meitzler was a DNQ.
4. 4^th place in points – Mikey Schneck was an exception and finished 4^th from 21^st.
5. 5^th place in points – Andrianna Delliponti finished 16^th from 22^nd
6. 6^th place in points – Brett Gilmore finished 22^nd.
7. 7^th place in points – Jesse Hirthler was a DNQ,

Most of the point leaders used up their Provisionals at the Firecracker 40 with five of the top ten drivers using their Provisionals.  With 42 cars on the grounds and only 26 qualified spots making the sportsman field is a true challenge each week with heat races that can make or break each driver’s night almost before it even begins.

Alex Bartorillo took his career first sportsman win from his pole starting position leading from flag to flag while facing 7 cautions/restarts and contact with Logan Watt in the final laps. 

Alex reflected “We used our consolation setup from our last race back on 7/27 in hot laps and was able to be 5^th quick time in our group.  In the heat race we had a carburetor problem on restarts with a stubble and stutter at the start but once I became aware of it, I adjusted my driving and was able to manage the numerous restarts tonight.  I finished 3^rd in my heat to handicap to the pole in the feature.”

“We added a spacer for stagger and changed our two rear tires for the feature.  We made the right changes, and I was able to manage the carb stutter and remain the leader after 7 restarts.  My plan was to stay on the bottom. On lap 15 I saw the scoreboard and realized I had a chance to win this race. I continued to stay on the bottom but on lap 22 I felt a push and saw Logan go way underneath me, so I just held my line on him.  We made contact but my car was gripped up and stuck in the rubber while Logan contacted the inside wall which spun him.  From there just drove two more laps into victory lane. I had a great car all night long.”

“I have been coming to Grandview since I was five years old and watching our KAM racing team cars but never dreamed, I would be driving over the scales as a feature winner in my 2^nd race at Grandview.  I want to thank all the people that made this happen for me Dad, Donnie, Mikey, John Willman, Tom Solderich, Tim Buckwalter and Ryan Lilick.”

Gavyn Krupp finished 2^nd from his 11^th starting position and is the only driver who has posted wins on both the left side and right side pan hard configurations this season.

Gavyn reflected “Our night went really well.  We felt great in hot laps and ran good lap times.  We had a good car in the heat and won from our 3^rd starting position.  The car felt good all night and we really did change much but tires and shock pressures.

In the feature we start 11^th in the middle of the pack, and I was patient the whole race. I got up to 3^rd on lap 10 and then battled for the lead in a four-car breakaway pack. I was closing on the leader in the final laps but ran out of time.”

Jesse Landis finished 3^rd from his 14^th starting position.  Jesse was going for the win and running a close 2^nd on the top, but when the top went away, he had to tuck back into the bottom and fell back into 4th.

Jesse noted “Heat race I went 8th to 4th so anytime I can make the handicap, I’ll take it.”

“In the feature I was able to miss the first big pile up and gained 6 spots from that incident. I was able to make some moves on the restarts but with 2 red flags in 3 laps I understand why they went single file for the rest of the race.  On the lap 3 single file restart, I was up to 5th from 14th, and I knew the bottom was going to rubber up.  I was pounding the top as hard as I could, but it was so far around that it was hard to cut into the lead.  Around a little past halfway I was able to close on the leader and got within a car length or two when the caution came out on lap 15.  Looking back, I wish we went double file for that restart, but I do understand why we didn’t, we might still be there now.  I knew my best opportunity was to get a run on the top but every lap it became harder and harder to make time, once I fell back to 4th I just got down and road out the last few laps on the bottom for a 3rd place finish.  After the mods running 50 laps, the track kind of is what it is. They tried watering it after the mods, but a track can really handle only so many laps.  It was the mods night to shine, so it’s fine to have a track that they kind of used up.  Good to have another solid night but with the competition so tough, any night you can line up for the feature, your goals have been met.”

Mikey Schneck finished 4^th from his 21^st starting position.  Last week Mikey was a DNQ by one position in the consolation, so this week was a nice rebound to qualify in the consolation and then make a solid run to 4^th.  Mikey only has two DNQ’s on the season and when he has qualified, he makes the best of his opportunities with solid top five or top ten finishes.

Mike commented “Warmups were way different than I thought they were going to be after all the rain this week.  Had to make some small changes for the heats.  In the heat I managed to get to 5th and then hit one of the slick spots that was left after they watered the track and went back to 6th.  In the consolation we started up front and qualified for the feature.

“The feature was just caution after caution and I had a lot of close calls avoiding the tangles in the feature.  Once we got going it was good racing.  Got up to 5th and saw 1-2 get together and I was able to make it around Logan. Really good night after not qualifying last week for only the 2^nd time this season.”

Nathan Mohr finished 5^th from his 23^rd starting position and posted the hard charger of the night with a +18 run through the field to a top five finish.

Nathan noted “Yeah it was a tough middle of the year with not qualifying for 3 weeks in a row.  We found something wrong with car yesterday morning and it showed immediately. We had a good car all night with very minimal changes from heat to feature.  I had multiple close calls in that feature, so we were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time several times.  This was our best run of the season with passing 18 cars in feature going from 23rd to 5th. The car was fast all night and we just got to dial it in a little more and keep digging for the rest of the season.”

Logan Baumann finished 6^th from his 12^th starting position.  Despite an up and down season Logan currently stands 9^th in the season points standings.

Logan remarked “Definitely found something with this car and I’m on the wheel a lot harder than I’ve ever been. Not the best run of the season but we have returned to some consistency which is good.  Had some luck too getting through all those incidents in the feature too.”

Lawson Szerencits finished 7^th from his 7^th starting position.

Lawson noted “We were up to 3rd and going for second when caution came out and track position played into the rest of the race with the rubber coming in.  We were finally able to put a whole night together and make changes that had the car going forward in the feature. We ran in the top 5 most of the race and tried to hang on towards the end but didn’t have the speed to keep a few other cars behind me.  Being towards the front also helped a lot with avoiding a lot of the wrecks with cars battling for track positions on the bottom.  It was a great effort all around and a well needed morale boost after a few weeks of struggling for us.”

Shannon Slaughter finished 8^th from her 20^th starting position and posted arguably her best run of the season after missing a week from an injury.

Shannon commented “This was my first race back after injuring my shoulder a few weeks ago. Hot laps felt pretty good, heat race had a lot of hard racing battles and ended up finishing 5^th and making the transfer to the feature.”

“Started 20th in the A main I tried my best to avoid the chaos early on, suffered some heavy rear end damage attempting to avoid the pile up on lap 3 but was able to keep going.  From there I was able to work my way up to 8th place with an ill handling car.  I’m happy with 20th to 8th considering the situation, it’s definitely the most positions gained for me in one race this season and some good experience driving from the back.”

Teague Miller finished 9^th from his 25^th starting position and posted his best back to front run of the season.

Teague reflected “We went out for hot laps and car felt good I knew it was going to be a hammer down kind of night with all this rain this week.  In the heat race I just made a few mistakes behind the wheel which cost us as we fell back to 8th.  We made our adjustments that we felt was necessary and started 5th in the consolation and knew we needed to have a good race looking at who else was in the consolation with us.  We ended up having a good hard race and finished 3rd to get the last transfer spot and make the feature. Didn’t change to much for the feature since the car felt so good in the consolation.”

“In the feature started off 25th and had to move around some wrecks but we ended up in a couple of them but was able to pull away. The cautions helped us out in the end and the car was good enough to pass so we passed multiple cars through the whole feature. I felt comfortable with where we were at and didn’t want to try anything crazy that would jeopardize me in going backwards so I just stayed on the bottom.  At the end of the night the team and I were all happy with the results, coming home with minimal damage which was just a bent right-side door and now we move on to next week and try to carry the momentum.”

Colton Perry finished 10^th from his 6^th starting position. 

Colton noted “We tried some changes to gain more speed, but it cost us in handling, so we went back to basics, and it helped us qualify two weeks ago but then the brakes faded.  Last week we were good until we lost the drive shaft.”

“Last night the car felt good in hot laps, and we made no adjustments. From the start of the heat the car felt good on the outside and a late caution helped us make the handicap.”

“In the feature Mike came up with some adjustments and I thought the car felt great in the beginning, but we just couldn’t catch a break with the cautions.  I hopped a wheel around lap 6 or 8 and then the car just didn’t have side bite anymore which caused me to fall back a bit.  Happy to still scavenge a 10th place finish after some of the things I was around and got caught up in. Now just on to looking the car over and head onto next week.  I am just thankful I have a great family surrounding me and supporting me through the good and bad of this season.”.

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.