NASCAR Stock Car Racing Features at Grandview Go to Howard, Shuey and Henn on Saturday Night
BECHTELSVILLE, PA. May 1, 2016 . . . Racing action was fan-pleasing wild and furious at the “fast” 1/3-mile high banks of Grandview Speedway on Saturday night.
Duane Howard survived the numerous skirmishes to become the first repeat winner in the T.P. Trailers NASCAR 358 Modified All-American Racing Series 30-Lap feature. “We were driving like a bunch of animals and there wasn’t one car that wasn’t bent,” commented Howard in victory lane. He also garnered $250 from T.P. Trailers.
Late Model action also had a two-time season winner as Brian Shuey scored his second BRC 25-Lap feature victory in the Scott and Sue Lee-owned No. 177. He also received $100 from T.P. Trailers and the Dan’s Deli ½-way hoagie award.
Jordan Henn, who has been close on numerous occasions to winning a 25-Lap NASCAR Sportsman feature, finally was able to put the “Moose” Eisenhard No. 77 in the winner’s circle by a narrow margin over runner-up and last week’s feature winner Mike Lisowski to claim a well-deserved first career win. He also was awarded the T.P. Trailers $100 bonus and the Dan’s Deli ½-way Hoagie award.
VP Racing Fuels product awards went to the top finishing racers in each division that used their racing gasoline and carried the proper decals and patches.
NASCAR stock car racing action returns to Grandview Speedway on Saturday, May 7th at 7:30 p.m. when the T.P.Trailers NASCAR 358 Modifieds, BRC Late Models, and Sportsman stock cars are in action. Spectator gates open at 5:30 p.m. The weekly Meet and Greet featuring three different drivers and their race cars each Saturday takes place at the main gate at 5:30 p.m. Adult admission is just $15 while youngsters under 12 are admitted FREE.
The Modified feature took three tries to complete one lap in which seven cars were eliminated in the multiple incidents.
When the first lap was recorded Ron Haring Jr. was the early pacesetter followed by Chris Gambler, Ray Swinehart, Tim Buckwalter and Jared Umbenhauer.
Swinehart, who almost rolled his car on one of the many early cautions never losing a position, charged past Haring Jr. on the second lap multi-car caution to become the new leader.
Buckwalter overtook second on the third lap to challenge the veteran leader. He made several bids to pass him, but to no avail as the door was shut on him as Swinehart protected his lead. Advancing to third from his 16th starting spot was 10-time point champion and the point leader going into the feature, Jeff Strunk who was gaining ground on the pair.
Lapped traffic moved into the picture by the half-way mark and by now Strunk was second challenging Swinehart for first.
The lead changed for the third time on the 1th lap when Strunk put the Glenn Hyneman-owned No. 126 into first.
Strunk’s lead was short-lived as mechanical issues sidelined him on the 20th lap which also caused him to drop in the standings giving the lead back to Swinehart.
While Swinehart and Buckwalter diced for first, this allowed Howard, behind the wheel of the Petruska-owned Atlas Paving No. 66 to gain ground on them.
It wasn’t long before a five-car battle brewed between Swinehart, Buckwalter, Howard, Umbenhauer and Craig VonDohren as they all built momentum coming out of the fourth turn.
Howard got a strong run coming off the turns and stormed past Buckwalter and then Swinehart to take charge of the top spot on the 24th circuit.
Jeremy Banos stopped in the second turn with a flat tire unable to pull into the infield bringing out the caution on the 26th lap. Howard held his ground on the restart while Swinehart and VonDohren battled for second with Buckwalter and Umbenhauer waiting in the wings for something to happen.
Something did occur when Swinehart and VonDohren headed into the first turn. Contact was made, Swinehart went around and VonDohren continued with the yellow out on the 28th lap. Umbenhauer barely squeezed by as he made contact and the innocent victim was Ryan Grim being through for the night along with Swinehart. It was still Howard first when action resumed with VonDohren trying to unseat him.
Despite a one-lap shoot-out set up when Danny Erb and Mike Kellner tangled in the fourth turn, Howard went on to chalk up his 70th career win trailed by defending point champion Von Dohren. Finishing third and fourth for their season-best outings were Buckwalter and Umbenhauer with Mike Gular, fifth. Sixth through tenth were Doug Manmiller, John Willman, Billy Pauch Jr., Don Norris Jr. and Brian Houseknecht.
Ray Swinehart, Brett Kressley, and Steve Swinehart won the heats. The consi went to Chris Esposito.
Drew Weisser was the early leader of the Late Model feature and he held onto that spot until Shuey dove underneath him coming out of the fourth turn on the eighth lap. Weisser didn’t surrender easily as he made several attempts to regain first.
In a matter of time, Shuey had a comfortable lead built up and was running up on lap traffic.
The yellow was thrown for Ron Kline when he was stopped in the second turn with a flat tire on the 21st lap. At the same time, Weisser relinquished second and pulled into the infield out of competition. Shuey pulled away quickly with Cory Merkel now second giving him a run for the money.
Shuey managed to keep C. Merkel behind him, “not knowing he was there,” and went on to score another win. Following them across were Lou Egrie Jr., Dan Green, and Bill Henning. Rounding out the top ten were Lou Egrie, Randy Stoudt, making a rare appearance; Wayne Pfeil, Dave Ogin, and Sean Merkel. Chuck Schutz, last week’s winner and defending point champion, dropped out early in the event finishing a disappointing 17th.
Bryon Sipe and Weisser were the heat winners.
Rookie Andrew Kreis was the early pacesetter on the Sportsman feature.
The red was thrown on the fourth lap when cars went three-wide in the second turn and found themselves out of racing room. As a result Jim Housworth, who scored his first career victory recently, hit the wall, got turned into traffic and flipped along the backstretch with others involved as they all scattered. All drivers involved were uninjured, with Housworth’s car sustaining heavy damage.
On the restart, Mark Kemmerer grabbed the lead trailed by Kreis, another rookie Ryan Higgs along with Henn and Jack Butler, another rookie.
Ken Eckert Jr. brought out the yellow on lap seven as he stopped in the turn one infield at a dangerous spot. The restart was void for a multi-car first turn tangle. On this restart, Henn powered into first as Kemmerer seemed to be experiencing problems since he started to fall off the pace losing several positions.
Challenges for Henn came in the form of Higgs, Kreis, Dean Bachman and Butler with Lisowski, last week’s winner, soon joining the thick of the battle.
Lisowski advanced to second on the 19th lap and set his sights on Henn who had a slight edge built up.
With two laps to go, Higgs, who was running a solid third, hit the fourth turn infield marker tire putting him out of contention with the yellow out. Henn was still the leader on the restart with Lisowski giving him no room to error.
It was a drag race to the checkered between Henn and Lisowski, but Henn hung on for the win. Third went to Brett Gilmore followed by Brad Brightbill and Bachman. Completing the top ten were Joe Funk III, Kreis, Butler, Brad Grim and Brian Papiez.
Higgs, Ryan Lilick, Butler, and Lisowski were the heat winners. Consies went to Ken Eckert Jr. and Brad Brightbill.
RACE RESULTS
T.P. Trailers Modified Feature (30 Laps): 1. Duane Howard, 2. Craig VonDohren, 3. Tim Buckwalter, 4. Jared Umbenhauer, 5. Mike Gular, 6. Doug Manmiller, 7. John Willman, 8. Billy Pauch Jr., 9. Don Norris Jr., 10. Brian Houseknecht, 11. Kyle Weiss, 12. Chris Gambler, 13. Bobby Gunther-Walsh and 14. Carroll Hine III. DNF: 15. Mike Kellner, 16. Danny Erb, 17. Ray Swinehart, 18. Ryan Grim, 19. Ron Haring Jr., 20. Jeremy Banos, 21. Jeff Strunk, 22. Kenny Gilmore, 23. Chris Esposito, 24. Ron Seltmann Jr., 26. Steve Swinehart, 26. Kevin Hirthler, 27. Eric Biehn, 28. Brett Kressley. DNQ: Justin Grim, Meme DeSantis, Kyle Borror and Kory Fleming.
BRC Late Model Feature (25 Laps): 1. Brian Shuey, 2. Cory Merkel, 3. Lou Egrie Jr., 4. Dan Green, 5. Bill Henning, 6. Lou Egrie, 7. Randy Stoudt, 89. Wayne Pfeil, 9. Dave Ogin, 10. Sean Merkel and 11. Joe Fanelli. DNF: 12. Drew Weisser, 13. Ron Kline, 14. Dirk Rimrott, 15. Shawn Horning, 16. Devin Frey, 17. Chuck Schutz, 18. Eric Hoch and 19. Bryon Sipe.
Sportsman Feature (25 Laps): 1. Jordan Henn, 2. Mike Lisowski, 3. Brett Gilmore, 4. Brad Brightbill, 5. Dean Bachman, 6. Jo Funk III, 7. Andrew Kreis, 8. Jack Butler, 9. Brad Grim, 10. Brian Papiez (alternate), 11. Mark Kemmerer, 12. Brian Hirthler, 13. Kyle Lilick, 14. Mike Stringer, 15. Craig Whitmoyer, and 16. Ken Eckert Jr., DNF: 17. Dylan Swinehart, 18. Ryan Higgs, 19. Skylar Sheriff, 20. Jesse Landis, 21. Kurt Bettler, 22. Ryan Beltz, 23. Lex Shive, 24. Ryan Lilick, 25. Jim Housworth, and 26. Ryan Shupp. DNQ: Derrick Smith, Nathan Mohr, B.J. Joly, Mike Koffel, Paul Houseknecht, Brandon Whitmoyer, Chad Kohler, Josh Adams, Kenny Bock and Pat Conrad.
Grandview Speedway, a one-third-mile, banked clay track, is located on Passmore Road just off Route 100 in Bechtelsville, PA, 10 miles north of Pottstown. A full assortment of great concessions and novelty items are available. Free parking on the grounds. Fans are invited to the competition area after the events are completed to meet the racers. For information telephone 610.754.7688 or check in at www.grandviewspeedway.com, Twitter@GrandviewSpeedway and www.facebook.com/grandviewspeedway along with Rainedout.com(for rainout information).
Sources: Vicki Gehris and Ernie Saxton.Ernie Saxton Communications, Inc.
Note: Saturday night events start at 7:30 p.m. effective May 7th until Freedom 76 weekend.
Saturday, May 7, 7:30 p.m. T.P.Trailers NASCAR 358 Modifieds, BRC Late Models and Sportsman stock cars.
Saturday, May 14, 7:30 p.m. Whelen Engineering Night: T.P.Trailers NASCAR 358 Modifieds, Late Models, and Sportsman stock cars.
Sunday, May 15, 1 p.m. Enduro and Blast from the Past Vintage Car racing. This event postponed from May 1.
Saturday, May 21, 7:30 p.m. T.P.Trailers NASCAR 358 Modifieds, BRC Late Models, Sportsman and Blast from the Past Vintage racers.
Saturday, May 28, 7:30 p.m. T.P.Trailers NASCAR 358 Modifieds, BRC Late Models and Sportsman stock cars.