BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. – Duane Howard claimed back-to-back victories at Grandview Speedway when he picked up his fifth victory of the season in the 30-lap TP Trailers NASCAR 358 Modified feature on Saturday night.
The current point leader worked for this one battling with John Willman from the 15th lap through to the finish. Normally Howard tends to pick the inside groove to make a pass, but the second week in a row he took the outside path and was able to overtake Willman with five laps to go to park the Norm Hansell-owned No. 357 in the winner’s circle.
Brad Brightbill decided that after three straight second place finishes in the TP Truck Equipment NASCAR 25-lap Sportsman features it was time to change that status and move it up a notch. That’s exactly what he did when he posted his fourth feature win with runner-up Kenny Bock closing in on him, but didn’t have enough laps to get the job done.
Modified action saw polesitter John Willman, who has had more than his share of engine issues, grab the early lead with Dylan Swinehart, Richie Hitzler, Ryan Lilick and Eric Biehn in pursuit.
The caution flew with two laps completed after Mike Lisowski, another one having more than his share of misfortunes, was plagued once again and slowed in the fourth turn out of competition. After two false starts, Willman was still first, but now D. Swinehart, Joe Funk III, Hitzler and Howard completed the top five.
A three-way battle for second soon developed between D. Swinehart, Funk III and Howard with neither one ready to give up a position.
The red was thrown on the 13th lap when Hitzler hit the first turn wall with heavy impact and Nick DeSantis, left with nowhere to go, clipped the backend of the car. Thankfully no one was injured. Willman was still the leader, but now Howard was in the runner-up spot putting his bids in for first followed by D. Swinehart, Brett Kressley, who started deep in the 28-car starting grid in 24th and Funk III.
Howard made several bids for the lead underneath Willman, but none of them were successful.
With five laps remaining Howard switched to the high line to see if that would work. This attempt was a wise choice and he was now in first.
Howard never looked back once he became the new pacesetter and went on to chalk up another one in the win column. Chasing him across the line for his best finish of the season was Willman followed by Kressley, D. Swinehart and Kevin Hirthler.
A rarity in the Modified ranks was that 10-time champion Craig Von Dohren, locked in a close point battle with Duane Howard, wasn’t an entry in the feature. Problems with his primary car in the heat forced him to switch to the back-up car for the consi. He also had issues with that and was forced to be a spectator the rest of the night.
Tom Miller, already a feature winner this year, took the early lead in the Sportsman feature with Parker Guldin, Bock and Sean Weiss in pursuit.
Jimmy Leiby hit the homestretch wall with heavy force which caused the red to be thrown. He was slightly shaken up a bit. Miller continued to show the way on the restart with pressure now coming from Chris Esposito, Bock, Brightbill and Guldin.
Esposito became the new leader on the tenth lap restart needed four a four-car tangle in turn four.
The lead changed hands for the third and final time when Brightbill charged ahead in the Leindecker powered mount on the 12th lap.
Bock overtook second on the 18th lap and set sail after Brightbill who had a slight edge built up over the field.
In the closing stages Bock was reeling in Brightbill, but time fell short and Brightbill was in the winner’s circle. Following Brightbill and Bock across were Esposito, Brian Hirthler and Ryan Beltz.