BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. – It was another night of competitive racing for the history books on Saturday night at Grandview Speedway, with the T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment NASCAR Modified feature coming down to the final lap and the final turn for the second consecutive week.
Scoring the exciting and dramatic victory was defending track champion Duane Howard of Oley, Pa., who was able to stave off challenges from Ryan Watt of Boyertown, Pa. over the final five laps of the 30-lap feature, to score the win by a car’s length at the checkered flag.
This dramatic and exciting feature was one week after Jared Umbenhauer of Richland, Pa. held off several late race challenges last week from Justin Grim of Orefield, Pa. to score the win by about a car’s length at the finish.
Another repeat of last week’s race program was seeing a driver score his first career win in the T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Sportsman 25-lap main event, with Mike Toth of Hellertown, Pa. scoring his first ever Grandview Speedway feature win, following a fierce battle with rookie Johnny Fugelo of Norristown, Pa., one week after Bryce Bashore of Bethel, Pa. was able to record his first win at the track.
The winners both received bonus money (Modified $300, Sportsman $200) from T.P. Trailers and Truck Equipment of Limerick, Pa., sponsors of the two divisions at Grandview Speedway in a race program run under the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts banner.
The 30-lap T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Modified feature saw first year Grandview driver Jax Yohn of Boyertown, Pa. take the early lead, with Dylan Swinehart of Fleetwood, Pa. following closely behind, with a multi-car battle developing behind them for position between Brandon Edgar of Lehighton, Pa., Ron Haring Jr. of Alburtis, Pa., and Duane Howard who was on the move early from eighth starting spot.
A restart following a caution on lap six saw Dylan Swinehart make a power move using the high groove off turn four to take the lead away from Yohn, who kept it close never letting Swinehart get too far ahead, while Howard continued to fight for a top five position with Haring Jr. and a fast moving Ryan Watt, who had advanced to the top five by lap seven after starting in twelfth position.
A final caution on lap twelve set up a race changing restart, with Swinehart and Yohn battling for the lead following the green entering turn one, with Howard making a bold powerful move down low entering the turn, and slid by both drivers in one fell swoop, to grab the top spot in an exciting performance.
With all green flag racing the remainder of the race, Howard set the pace building up a small but safe lead over Yohn who was able to secure second on lap fourteen, with Watt grabbing third on lap fifteen, followed by Swinehart, Haring Jr., and another multi-car battle for the remaining top ten spots between Craig Von Dohren of Oley, Pa., Matt Yoder of Benton, Pa., Ryan Graver of Lehighton, Pa., Jared Umbenhauer of Richland, Pa., Mike Gular of Harleysville, Pa., Eddie Strada of Lake Ariel, Pa. and Anthony Perrego of Montgomery, N.Y.
By lap twenty several two car battles developed, as Watt turned up the pressure on Yohn for second, Von Dohren pressured Swinehart for fourth, and Umbenhauer put the heat on Haring for sixth position.
Things really got exciting as if they weren’t already, when leader Howard hit lapped traffic on lap twenty-two, allowing Yohn and Watt to both close the gap quickly on the leader, with Watt able to sneak by Yohn on lap twenty-four and quickly move right in to challenge Howard for the win.
The final five laps were wildly exciting, with Howard working through lapped traffic to perfection, keeping Watt at bay, every time it looked as if Watt may have a chance the window would be closed by another lapped car, which Howard seemed to position alongside of himself at the correct times to block any late challenge from Watt.
The final set of turns saw Watt make a last ditch effort, but Howard powered off the turn ahead of Watt to win by a car’s length at the finish line to score the popular feature win, for Howard his 82nd career Saturday NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts victory and overall (counting Thunder on the Hill Series wins his 90th) Grandview Speedway 358 Modified feature win.
Following Howard at the checkered flag were Ryan Watt, Jax Yohn for a career best Grandview finish, Von Dohren, Umbenhauer who advanced from 18th starting spot, Haring Jr. for a season’s best run, Strada who advanced from 24th starting spot and was the VP Fuels Hard Charger, Perrego up from 17th position, Rick Laubach of Quakertown, Pa. advancing from 22nd starting spot, and Dylan Swinehart.
Qualifying heats for the 47 cars on hand were won by Jax Yohn, Brandon Edgar, Duane Howard and Craig Von Dohren while Louden Reimert of Oley, Pa. and Rick Laubach won the consolations.
The 25-lap T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Sportsman feature saw Mike Toth grab the lead at the drop of the green, with rookie driver Johnny Fugelo staying right with him applying the pressure on the leader, while Brayden Shelton of Hatfield, Pa., Stephen Smith III of Saucon Valley, Pa., Ebby Ridge of Upper Black Eddy, Pa., and Gavyn Krupp of Barto, Pa. were all battling right behind the lead duo.
Toth was running the bottom lane, with Fugelo working the outside groove, taking the lead powering off turn four to score lap four, with Shelton and Ridge locked in a two-car race for third, Smith III and Krupp for fifth, and Kaitlyn Bailey of Alburtis, Pa. and Shannon Slaughter of Lititz, Pa. battling for the seventh position.
The top seven began to put distance on the rest of the field, continuing their own two-car battles, as the race stayed green, with some very hot and heavy action being contested deep in the pack, as drivers were trying to advance toward the top ten positions.
With Fugelo leading and continuing in the high lane, Toth never gave up on the bottom groove, and kept the leader close, eventually closing back in and began a side by side battle with Fugelo for the lead on lap sixteen.
After three laps of exciting side by side racing, Toth was able to regain the lead off turn four to score lap nineteen, however just when it seemed Toth would be home free, the first and only caution would wave on lap twenty-two to reset the field.
Toth ran the final three laps to perfection, holding off a couple of last-ditch efforts by Fugelo to score his first career NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts Grandview Speedway feature win over Fugelo, who turned in his best performance to date with a great second place run.
The remainder of the top ten at the finish behind Mike Toth and Johnny Fugelo were Ebby Ridge, Gavyn Krupp, Brayden Shelton, Stephen Smith III, Jimmy Leiby of Gilbertsville, Pa. who advanced from 18th starting spot and was the Grandview Hard Charger, Kaitlyn Bailey, Shannon Slaughter, and TJ Mayberry of Sellersville, Pa.
