BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. – The weather smiled on Grandview Speedway Saturday night and allowed a Mom’s Night NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series tripleheader to be completed, with Duane Howard topping a battle with Jesse Leiby in the 30-lap T.P. Trailers 358 NASCAR modified feature.
The veteran campaigner tried to dive underneath the rookie and later attempted the outside trek, but each attempt failed. Finally on the 22nd lap, the six-time champion got past Leiby and went on to take the win.
Modified action saw Leiby move out quickly at the drop of the green followed by Bobby Gunther Walsh, Mike Lisowski, Darrin Schuler and Craig Whitmoyer. Lisowski overtook second on the sixth lap and set his sights on Leiby, who was distancing himself from his fellow competitors. Gunther Walsh, Kyle Weiss and Whitmoyer completed the top five by this time.
The order behind Leiby at the completion of 10 laps was comprised of Lisowski, Weiss, Howard and Gunther Walsh.
Howard was on the move and advanced to second by the 15th lap. He quickly reeled Leiby in and was trying every lane to pass him, but each attempt was thwarted. Waiting in the wings anticipating a slip up in hopes of gaining a position were Lisowski, Craig Von Dohren and Mike Gular.
The lead changed for the second time when Howard put the Butch Getz No. 15G ahead of the pack, but Leiby stayed with him trying to regain first.
On the 25th lap, Brad Brightbill spun between turns one and two just as the front runners approached bringing out the caution. They narrowly avoided being involved and scrambled in several directions, but Leiby, who was having his best run, and Richie Hitzler weren’t as fortunate and were out of competition.
Howard maintained first on the restart, but now Von Dohren, Gular, Lisowski and Brett Kressley were running second through fifth.
Howard was able to keep everyone behind him to pull into victory lane. Finishing second for the second week in a row was Von Dohren followed by Gular, Kressley and Lisowski. Sixth through tenth were Jared Umbenhauer, Weiss, Jeff Strunk, Whitmoyer and last week’s feature winner Danny Bouc.
Qualifying heat winners were Lisowski, Leiby, Kressley and Ron Haring Jr. The consies were won by Brad Grim and Dillon Steuer.
A new name was added to the list of T.P. Truck Equipment 25-lap Sportsman feature winners. Jesse Landis ducked underneath veteran Chris Esposito with two laps to go and claimed his first career victory at the oval.
In the 25-lap 602 Sportsman Crate feature, Dylan Hoch took over the lead on the fourth lap and won by a comfortable margin over runner-up Kurt Bettler for his first win in that division. He has one victory to his credit in the regular T.P. Trailers sportsman class.
More than 100 race teams took part in the night of excitement.
The finish:
1. Duane Howard, 2. Craig Von Dohren, 3. Mike Gular, 4. Brett Kressley, 5. Mike Lisowski, 6. Jared Umbenhauer, 7. Kyle Weiss, 8. Jeff Strunk, 9. Craig Whitmoyer, 10. Danny Bouc, 11. Doug Manmiller, 12. Brad Grim, 13. Kevin Hirthler, 14. Dillon Steuer, 15. Brad Arnold, 16. Louden Reimert, 17. Tim Buckwalter, 18. Bobby Gunther Walsh, 19. Cory Merkel, 20. Ron Haring Jr., 21. Darrin Schuler, 22. Jesse Leiby, 23. Ryan Lilick, 24. Justin Grim, 25. Ron Kline, 26. Brad Brightbill, 27. John Willman, 28. Richie Hitzler, 29. Ryan Grim, 30. Dylan Swinehart.