From Bob Miller
BECHTELSVILLE, PA (June 30, 2020) – A late race slider led Elks Grove, California’s Kyle Larson to a $10,000 win in the Pennsylvania 410 Sprint Car Speed Week event presented by Red Robin. Ryan Watt of Boyertown, PA picked up the NASCAR 358 Modified victory and $3,000 at Grandview Speedway on Tuesday Night, as part of the NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series. With scattered showers over Grandview Speedway from noon to 7 PM the track crew and staff of Thunder on the Hill was determined to get this event in the books, and they did. The win also earned Kyle Larson his place on the Greg Hodnett Cup and perpetual trophy. Hodnett, a six time Thunder Champion and nine time Thunder on the Hill feature winner was remembered Tuesday night after losing his life in a racing accident in 2018.
In the 410 Sprint Cars, Larson overtook Freddie Rahmer to win was his third Grandview win in four years after scoring the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Speed Week event.
“Freddie (Rahmer) set such a good pace on the restarts, I’m surprised I could stay with him,” Larson said while celebrating his big payday. “At times we were good, it’s great to get a win.”
NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Christopher Bell set Fast Time and by the luck of the draw started on the pole of the 35-lap A-Main event. At the drop of the green flag, Bell pulled away to about a straightaway lead over Freddie Rahmer setting the pace for the first five circuits around the the one-third mile, Grandview high banks.
Bell’s night would come to an end quickly, after Kyle Reinhardt slowed collecting the leader, and handing the lead to Freddie Rahmer.
Rahmer hit lapped traffic on the 11th trip around the track, but that didn’t faze him, he switched lanes sliding passed cars, while Larson had his hands full battling Sammy Swindell for second position.
Larson would move into second on the 20th lap, and closed on Rahmer in lapped traffic.
A late race restart opened the door and Larson pulled a slide job on Rahmer, pulling away for the victory and the Greg Hodnett Memorial Cup.
Rahmer finished in second and Sammy Swindell rounded out the podium. Ryan Smith finished in fourth and Danny Dietrich completed the top five finishers.
There was no cruise control on the way to victory for Ryan Watt in the NASCAR 358 Modified feature event. Kevin Hirthler led the field to the green flag running side-by-side with Watt for the first 6 laps before Watt’s No. 14W machine could complete the pass.
The top five ran nose-to-tail with Watt leading the way followed by Hirthler, Craig VonDohren, Jeff Strunk and Brett Kressley. Kressley tangled with a lapped car, bringing out the first yellow flag of the night.
On the restart, the top-5 used every inch of the Grandview Speedway battling it out, with Strunk claiming the second spot.
Watt picked up the $3,000 win, Strunk settled for second, while Craig VonDohren, Kevin Hirthler, and Doug Manmiller rounded out the top five.
The NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series returns on Tuesday, August 4 with the Ken Brenn Midget Masters featuring the USAC National Midget Series and the return of the NASCAR 358 Modifieds. More information on this and all of the Thunder on the Hill Racing Series events is available at www.thunderonthehillracingseries.com
Race Results
410 Sprint Cars
Time Trials – 1. Christopher Bell 11.552, 2. Kyle Larson 11.581, 3. Aaron Reutzel 11.631, 4. Freddie Rahmer 11.634, 5. Cory Eliason 11.675, 6. Sammy Swindell 11.696, 7. Brock Zearfoss 11.722, 8. Anthony Macri 11.772, 9. Ryan Smith 11.790, 10. TJ Stutts 11.834, 11. Logan Wagner 11.850, 12. Danny Dietrich 11.851, 13. Lucas Wolfe 11.884, 14. Brandon Rahmer 11.895, 15. Kyle Reinhardt 11.904, 16. Lance Dewease 11.913, 17. Dylan Cisney 11.938, 18. Jared Esh 11.986, 19. Mike Wagner 11.986, 20. Kyle Moody 12.055, 21. Alan Krimes 12.065, 22. Brent Marks 12.092, 23. Ryan Taylor 12.132, 24. Chase Dietz 12.151, 25. JJ Grasso 12.200, 26. Robert Ballou 12.294, 27. Tyler Walton 12.333, 28. Brett Michalski 12.441, 29. Dave Carlberg 12.793, Rico Abreu N/T, Brent Shearer N/T
Heat 1 (10 Laps) – 1. Ryan Smith 2. Christopher Bell 3. Lucas Wolfe 4. JJ Grasso 5. Alan Krimes
Heat 2 (10 Laps) – 1. Sammy Swindell 2. Kyle Larson 3. TJ Stutts 4. Brandon Rahmer 5. Brent Marks
Heat 3 (10 Laps) – 1. Brock Zearfoss 2. Logan Wagner 3. Aaron Reutzel 4. Kyle Reinhardt 5. Ryan Taylor
Heat 4 (10 Laps) – 1. Danny Dietrich 2. Anthony Macri 3. Lance Dewease 4. Freddie Rahmer 5. Brett Michalski
B-Main (10 Laps) – 1. Rico Abreu 2. Dylan Cisney 3. Robert Ballou 4. Kyle Moody
A-Main (35 Laps) – 1. Kyle Larson 2. Freddie Rahmer 3. Sammy Swindell 4. Ryan Smith 5. Danny Dietrich 6. Lance Dewease 7. Brock Zearfoss 8. Aaron Reutzel 9. Anthony Macri 10. Logan Wagner 11. JJ Grasso 12. Alan Krimes 13. Brent Marks 14. Ryan Taylor 15. Dylan Cisney 16. Lucas Wolfe 17. TJ Stutts 18. Kyle Moody 19. Brandon Rahmer 20 Robert Ballou 21. Brett Michalski 22. Kyle Reinhardt 23. Rico Abreu 24. Christopher Bell
NASCAR 358 Modifieds
Heat 1 (10 Laps) – 1. Kevin Hirthler 2. Craig VonDohren 3. Richie Hitzler 4. Dylan Swinehart 5. Jack Butler 6. Ron Kline
Heat 2 (10 Laps) – 1. Doug Manmiller 2. Ryan Watt 3. Briggs Danner 4. Brett Kressley 5. Ryan Beltz 6. Matt Stangle
Heat 3 (10 Laps) – 1. Kyle Weiss 2. Jeff Strunk 3. Rick Laubach 4. Duane Howard 5. Brett Gilmore 6. Brian Hirthler
Consi (10 Laps) – 1. Ryan Krachun 2. Justin Grim 3. Richie Pratt 4. Mike Gular 5. Ray Swinehart 6. Mark Kratz
Feature (30 Laps) –1. Ryan Watt 2. Jeff Strunk 3. Craig VonDohren 4. Kevin Hirthler 5. Doug Manmiller 6. Kyle Weiss 7. Duane Howard 8. Rick Laubach 9. Mike Gular 10. Briggs Danner 11. Matt Stangle 12. Dylan Swinehart 13. Jack Butler 14. Ray Swinehart 15. Ryan Beltz 16. Ryan Krachun 17. Richie Hitzler 18. Richie Pratt Jr. 19. Brian Hirthler 20. Brett Kressley 21. Brett Gilmore 22. Justin Grim 23. Mark Kratz 24. Ron Kline