Three of the best NASCAR Modified racers battled for the win on Saturday night at Grandview Speedway with five time track champion Jeff Strunk taking his second win of the season. Strunk, at the wheel of the Gold Rush Trailers No. 126, had a comfortable lead as he crossed the finish line in the 30-lap Allstate Insurance NASCAR Whelen All American Series Modified feature. The Mohnton, PA racer picked up $2,700 for his second win of the season with $500 coming from Hellertown, PA Allstate Insurance agent Kurt Ridgway.
The 20-lap main event for the NASCAR Late Models was won by Brian Shuey of Shoemakersville, PA driving the Bob Fisher Chevrolet sponsored No. 5. Shuey picked up an extra $200 for his win courtesy of Allstate.
Veteran racer Randy Bailey charged to the front of the pack at the drop of the green and set the pace for five of the first six laps and survived a variety of cautions for on-track incidents. On the sixth circuit of the one-third-mile, banked clay oval Jeff Strunk, coming from 11th starting spot, took over the top spot and that is where he stayed for the balance of the 30-lap main event.
Randy Bailey, the early leader, dropped out with about one-third of the race complete. Duane Howard, the current NASCAR Modified point leader, came up from 12th to challenge Strunk. At the 12 lap marker it was Strunk, Howard and Meme DeSantis battling for the top spot and that continued until the finish.
DeSantis moved into second with little more than half the laps completed but Howard came back with just a lap to go to grab the second finishing position. The second place kept Oley based Howard in front of the track point standings. DeSantis (Temple) finished third followed by Doug Manmiller (Shoemakersville) and Mike Gular (East Greenville).
Last week’s feature winner Craig VonDohren was involved in a first heat incident that caused damage on his Stauffer Construction No. 1c entry that could not be repaired and he was out for the night.
In victory lane Strunk pointed out that he stuck to the low groove because the track was in excellent shape down there.
Three time Late Model champion John Giesler looked as if he might be on his way to his first win of the season as he set the pace for more than half of the 20-lap Late Model feature. Brian Shuey, coming from 10th starting spot and surviving a few “full moon” incidents on the track, took the lead on the 12th circuit and held off the hard charging efforts of relative newcomer Wayne Pfeil (Mohnton) to pick up his first win of the season. An early race accident saw Greg Hoffmaster roll his No. 69 and Randy Stoudt suffer enough damage on his TP Trailers No. 10 to keep him from finishing. Stoudt was third in the point standings going into the night’s events.
Finishing third behind Shuey and Pfeil was defending champion Chuck Schutz (Pottstown) followed by John Giesler (Aston) and Dean Stoudt (East Greenville).
Qualifying heat races in the NASCAR Modifieds were won by Duane Howard, Sean Merkel, Danny Erb and Meme DeSantis while consolation race victories were taken by Mike Gular and Rick Schaffer.
In qualifiers for the Late Models the wins were earned by Rick Todorow, Chuck Schutz and Ron Kline.
The Cornerstone Auto Sales of Fleetwood, PA Hard Charger Awards went to Kerry Kratz who gained 17 positions in the Modified feature race and Jamie Undercoffler who gained 10 positions from his last starting spot to 13th in the Late Model feature race.
More than 70 fans went home with a variety of prizes including one winner who received tickets to the Pennsylvania 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Pocono Raceway in August courtesy of Kurt Ridgeway Allstate Insurance Co. in Hellertown, PA.
FIREWORKS will be a big attraction at Grandview Speedway on Saturday, July 7th as part of Norris Mechanical Contractors Night. The Firecracker 40 Late Model Championship will be topping the racing program along with the NASCAR Modifieds. The show gets the green at 7:30 p. m. Coming up on Saturday, July 14th will be Maverick’s Motorcycle Club Night featuring the NASCAR Modifieds and Late Models.
On Wednesday, July 18th, 7:30 p. m. the DIRT Big Block Modifieds will be featured in the Traffic Jam 100 along with the Garden State Vintage Stock Cars.
Fans are reminded that they are free to visit with the racers in the pits after the racing action has been completed to collect autographs, take pictures and see the race cars up close. Many of the race teams do have FREE photo cards for fans and also offer t-shirts and other souvenir items for sale.
Grandview Speedway is located on Passmore Road, just off Route 100, in Bechtelsville, PA, 10 miles north of Pottstown.
ALLSTATE INSURANCE NIGHT NASCAR WHELEN ALL AMERICAN SERIES MODIFIEDS (30 LAPS): 1. Jeff Strunk 2. Duane Howard 3. Meme DeSantis 4. Doug Manmiller 5. Mike Gular 6. Rick Schaffer 7. Kerry Kratz 8. Terry Meitzler 9. Shawn Reimert 10. Todd Marburger 11. Ryan Watt 12. Mark Fehr 13. Larry Solomon 14. Steve Folk 15. Kevin Hirthler 16. Jon Kellner Jr. 17. John Tschudy 18. Brad Missimer 19. Todd Smith 20. Randy Bailey 21. Glenn Owens 22. Ryan Beltz 23. Sean Merkel 24. Kyle Weiss 25. Jason Hamilton 26. Danny Erb 27. Ryan Grim 28. Mike Laise
ALLSTATE INSURANCE NIGHT LATE MODEL FEATURE (20 LAPS): 1. Brian Shuey 2. Wayne Pfeil 3. Chuck Schutz 4. John Giesler 5. Dean Stoudt 6. Ron Kline 7. Jon Kellner Sr. 8. Mike Kellner 9. Rick Todorow 10. D. D. Keely 11. Buddy Wharton 12. Chad Rae 13. Jamie Undercoffler 14. Byron Sipe 15. Eric Kauffman 16. Kyle Merkel 17. Billy Graham 18. Randy Stoudt 19. Greg Hoffmaster 20. Bill Henning 21. Carl Mertz 22. Dean Schaeffer 23. Mike Myers
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