Manmiller, Swinehart win at Grandview
Doug Manmiller dove underneath leader Ryan Grim to take the lead away on the 24th lap of the 30-lap NASCAR T.P. Trailers 358 Modified feature and proceeded to win the race.
The new winner’s streak continued at Grandview Speedway on Saturday night. Back after a week hiatus courtesy of Mother Nature, 35 Modified, 18 Late Model and 34 Sportsman drivers were ready to mix it up in qualifying events to participate in their respective features on Saturday night at Grandview Speedway and three new feature winners put their names in the record book.
After three Saturday nights of NASCAR stock car racing there have been nine different feature winners.
Doug “The Handler” Manmiller dove underneath leader Ryan Grim to take the lead away on the 24th lap of the 30-lap NASCAR T.P. Trailers 358 Modified feature and proceeded to win his first feature of the current campaign behind the wheel of the Jason Miller-owned No. 44M. Manmiller ran high and low until the bottom line came in and he could make his move. With five laps to go Manmiller dealt with lap traffic and as long as they held their line he knew what maneuver to make to keep the others in tow.
A new name was added to the win column in the BRC NASCAR 25-lap Late Model feature. Blaine Emery, who returned to the 1/3-mile oval after missing several seasons, held off the challenges of opening night winner Ron Kline until he encountered problems with a lap car and later Kyle Merkel. It was Emery’s first career win despite having overheating problems.
Second year racer Dylan Swinehart overcame the sophomore jinx to collect his second career win and his first of the year in the 25lap NASCAR Sportsman feature. He didn’t have an easy time capturing the win. Earlier he lost the lead to rookie Jeromy Guistwite on a restart, but on another restart he kept the pedal to the metal and regained the lead. In later stages he was able to withstand Mark Kemmerer’s continuous bids.
Providing all feature winners had the TP Trailers decal and the VP Racing decals if they ran gas in addition to meeting all the necessary requirements, they received monetary awards from T.P. Trailers and products awards from VP.
Harris, who was having a strong run chasing down Erb, brought out the first caution when he stopped in the first turn after smoking the previous laps.
Erb maintained the lead on the restart with Grim now in second.
Lap 13 was not a lucky one for Erb since for the second time while leading, he stopped between turns three and four with mechanical problems. This time it appeared to be a broken front-end suspension. Erb’s misfortune was Grim’s fortune as he now inherited first. On the restart cars stacked up behind Grim were Manmiller, Mike Gular, Kyle Borror and John Willman.
Grim, who received the Dan’s Deli ½-way hoagie award, and Manmiller battled side-by-side for several laps with Grim taking the high line and Manmiller the inside groove with neither one giving up.
Manmiller took advantage to take over the lead on the 24th lap when Grim pushed up high in turn four and Manmiller dove underneath.
Behind the front pair anticipating a false move were Gular, Borror and Jared Umbenhauer. Lurking in the wins trying to get into the top five were Craig Von Dohren and Jeff Strunk.
Gular overtook Grim with two laps to go and tried to reel in Manmiller, but ran out of time.
At the drop of the checkered Manmiller was in victory lane for the first time since September 3, 2016. Chasing him across were Gular, Grim, Borror and Von Dohren.
Kenny Gilmore, Gular and R. Grim won the qualifying heats. The consi was won by Duane Howard.
Emery passed Shawn Horning for the lead on the second lap of the Late Model feature with Kline following through at the same time for second.
Kline’s bid for another victory was erased after he made contact with the lapped car of Jordan Knepp and hit the first turn wall.
On the restart Cory Merkel, running fifth, spun in the first turn with several others involved. The next attempt at another lap was better as Emery was still first trailed by Kyle Merkel, Steve Wilson, previous winner Brian Shuey and Chuck Schutz.
In the closing stages a three-way battle for first ensued between Emery, Merkel and Shuey.
Emery kept everyone at bay and went on to chalk up the victory and also received the Dan’s Deli ½-way hoagie award. Finishing second was K. Merkel followed by Shuey, Wilson and Schutz.
Heats were won by Shuey and Emery.