Andrianna Delliponti led the first 13 laps while Colin Cox moved from 7th and then took the lead on lap 14. The two drivers battled and swapped the lead on two more restates with Colin taking the lead on lap 21 final restart and pulling away to take his first Grandview win.
Heat race winners for the 40 car sportsman field were Andrianna Delliponti (1), Colton Perry (1), Kenny Gilmore (1) and Joey Vaccaro (2) .
Mark Mohr (2) and Chase Gular (2) won the consolation races.
Feature leaders – Andrianne Delliponti (lap 1-13) & 20/21; Colin Cox 14-19 & 22-25
T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. COLIN COX (7), 2. Adrianna Delliponti(1) , 3. Gavyn Krupp (5), 4. Nathan Mohr (10), 5. Kenny Gilmore (3), 6. Dylan Swinehart (11), 7. Joey Vaccaro (4), 8. Mike Stofflet (17) , 9. Jimmy Leiby (23), 10. Colton Perry (2), 11. Kenny Bock (8), 12. Teague Miller (15), 13. Mike Schneck Jr. (25), 14. Kyle Hartzell (6), 15. Chase Gular (22), 16. Ryan Graver (12), 17. Mark Mohr (21), 18. Mark Gaugler (24), 19. Brett Grim (20), 20. Decker Swinehart (9), 21. Jesse Landis (14), 22. TJ Mayberry (16), 23. Dakota Kohler (18), 24. Addison Meitzler (13), 25. Brett Gilmore (19), 26. Nate Horn (26)
DID NOT QUALIFY: Lawson Szerencits, Tom Miller Jr., Braydon Shelton, Kaitlyn Bailey, Parker Guldin, Zach Steffey, Matt Martino, Taylor Kramer, Brad Brightbill, Stephen Laubach, Dennis Graber, Jason Graber, Tom Miller Sr., Ebby Ridge
GRANDVIEW $100 HARD CHARGER: Jimmy Leiby +14
Colin Cox took the sportsman opening day win from the 7th starting position. Colin had a 25 lap shootout with Adrianna Delliponti with the lead changing 3 times. Colin carried a broom into victory lane as he swept wins at both Grandview and Big Diamond on the weekend.
IN victory lane Colin reflected “I tried to give that one away when I picked the bottom on that restart. I found the top early and just stayed up there.”
Back at the trailer Colin continued “So the night started out great, we rolled out of the trailer fast and kind of just carrier it throughout the night. I was able to add a good pill draw for the heat, so we started upfront and that helped with a heads up start tonight and no redraw. We were able to finish second in the heat and started 7th in the feature.”
I knew I would just have to be patient starting 7th. I was lucky to find the top early and that’s kind of just where I was most of the race. Then the caution came out when I was leading, and I picked the bottom and almost gave the race away, but I went back to the top and had a great car that allowed me to regain the lead.”
“We won Big Diamond Friday night with our STSS car and tonight won with our regular Grandview weekly car so didn’t have to turn a car around overnight. Track was definitely a little different from last year and was a little rough tonight but still wide and racy which is good. The early season holes and the ruts added some character and sometimes can make the racing better. It’s cool to be able to say that you’re leading points at one track let alone two, but you know it’s still early in the season and that’s only after one race, so we’ll see what the rest of the season holds.”
Adrianna Delliponti finished 2nd from the pole position to start the season off strong for the 2nd year in a row.
Adrianna drew the pole for heat race 1 and led every lap which secured the pole for the heads up feature. She led the first the first 13 laps and traded the lead with Colin Cox on a couple of restarts but was not able to reclaim the lead on the final restart. Once again Adrianna is off to a strong start to the season and will be in contention for the points championship again this year.
Adrianna commented “We were good in hot laps and just ran my own race in the heat race starting first and finishing first. We had the good fortune of getting the pole again in the heads up feature race and was just running my own race up front until Colin arrived and he was just able to get through the ruts so much better than I could and my car was really upset in the ruts. He just had a better car and more momentum through the ruts. I tried to get him on a couple of restarts but just couldn’t hold him off.”
Gavyn Krupp finished 3rd from his 5th starting position.
Gavyn noted “Opening night went really well for Us. Right off the bat we picked a good number for our heat which was pill 11 and that put us p3 in the first heat race. For hot laps I felt really good and the car felt amazing. I had to adjust a little bit from running on the left side to the right but still felt I was putting down good laps.”
“In the heat I moved up into 2nd and stayed there right to the checkered flag and was able to stay level with the winner. I watched the track, and it was blackening up and then we had a rain shower which sealed my tire selection for the feature.”
“We went out for the feature, and I knew I just had to be smooth and hit my marks there was 25 laps to go so I had to take my time. The track was rough in 1 and 3 there were to big holes so if you didn’t miss them your whole car would just become unstable. Once we went green my car felt really good on the bottom, and I could hang with 2nd and 3rd, and I didn’t know if the top was good or not until I heard somebody on my outside. It was Colin and I followed him to the top and we both went around 2nd and 3rd. I had a good car on the bottom too and had some good battles with Jesse Landis and Ryan Graver to be able to come home with 3rd. Great start to our season.”
Nate Mohr finished 4th from his 10th starting position. Car was good all night, nothing much to say about heat race…… got driven down to the yuke tires on both restarts by the 2nd place guy but stayed in 3rd and qualified.”
“Good start to the year and just got to keep rolling and stay consistent. The track was rough and tricky, and I just drove the car how it had to be driven. Real drivers will adapt to the situation that they are in. Overall, a good night for us.”
Kenny Gilmore finished 5th from his 3rd starting position in his first time ever driving a 602 crate motor.
Kenny reflected “We had a flat in hot laps and put on a new tire for the heat and it grew way more than we expected so stagger was way off in the heat race, but I held on for the heat race win from the pole.”
“This was my first feature ever with a crate motor. I have driven with the right side before, and I really didn’t see much of a change going from left to right. The track was the roughest that I can ever remember in all my days of racing at Grandview.
“In the feature we had a power issue with the motor. The car was OK but didn’t hit the rev limiter and we probably needed more gear. We held our own, but the car was far from perfect.”
Next up on Saturday, April 26 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 with hot laps at 5:00 PM and racing at 6:00 PM.
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