Alex Yankowski Big Winner of the Night, Pockets $5,525, as von Dohren & Pauch Also Cash In on Triple Roaring 20’s

The NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series presented the Triple Roaring 20’s on Tuesday Night at Grandview Speedway where Craig Von Dohren, Billy Pauch Jr., and Alex Yankowski picked up Modified victories.  Yankowski claimed the bulk of the spoils with a $3,000 bonus – courtesy of Pioneer Pole Buildings — for winning his first Thunder on the Hill event, bringing his total earnings for the night to $5,525.

 

This event marked the 149th NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series event at Grandview since the series started in 1990

 

The top-five monies earned for Modified racers for this event were Alex Yankowski with $5,525, Craig Von Dohren with $3,050, Billy Pauch Jr. with $3,000, Brett Kressley with $2,700, and Doug Manmiller with $2,135.  A highly talented field of  twenty-eight 358 Modifieds were on hand.  A total purse in excess of $37,000 was distributed.

“Anytime you look at the scoreboard and see Strunk behind you, you have to be ready,” Yankowski said in Victory Lane for the third feature event. “We got lucky with the invert spot and I just had to watch out and make sure He didn’t put a nose below me.”

With the invert from Feature 2 offering a front row starting position, Yankowski set a rapid pace from the opening as Jeff Strunk moved into the second position.

With Strunk hot on his heels, Yankowski weaved the Rich Stankiewicz-owned machine in-and-out of lapped traffic to claim the victory and the $3,000 Pioneer Pole Buildings First-Time Thunder winner bonus, for a $5,000 payday.

Jeff Strunk finished in second, Rick Laubach in third, Mike Gular in fourth, and Brett Kressley in fifth.

In the first feature event, Craig Von Dohren and John Willman started on the front row as a result of the 12-driver redraw that set the line-up for the 20-lap main event.

Von Dohren took the lead heading down the backstretch of the Grandview Speedway, but action was halted quickly for a turn 2 accident that collected Duane Howard, Jeff Strunk, Mike Gular and Ron Kline – however, all competitors were able to continue.

On the restart, Von Dohren remained in control while John Willman was challenged and overtaken by Brett Kressley for the second position.  As Von Dohren approached lapped traffic the caution flew for the second time for the stopped car of Jack Butler.

Von Dohren held off Kressley to claim his 11th Thunder on the Hill Feature win.  Kressley finished in second, Ryan Watt in third, Kevin Hirthler in fourth, and Billy Pauch Jr. in fifth.

An invert of 6 cars gave Doug Manmiller the pole position for the second 20-lap feature event, but Billy Pauch Jr. won a drag race down the frontstretch to pick up the top spot.

While Pauch set a rapid pace, all eyes were on Craig Von Dohren, who moved into the third position on the third circuit aiming for that Pioneer Pole Buildings multi-win bonus.

The only caution flag flew on lap 5 for the slowing car of Kevin Hirthler.

Pauch Jr. held control on the restart and dominated the 20-lap event, despite a late race charge from Manmiller, Von Dohren, and Kressley.  Pauch went on to take the $2,000 winner’s share.  Doug Manmiller finished in second, Brett Kressley in third, Craig Von Dohren in fourth, and Ryan Watt in fifth.

Doug Manmiller, Brett Kressley, and Ron Kline claimed $200 Heat Race win bonuses courtesy of GT Radiator Repair.  Billy Pauch Jr. was Quick Time on the evening claiming the GT Radiator Repair $200 Quick Time Bonus.

Ryan Grim won the 602 Sportsman 25-lap feature event, where a caution slowed the action with one lap to go offering up a fight for the $1,000 payday.  Ryan Grim led Brad Grim in the single-lap shootout to the checkered flag.

Brad Grim led the early stages of the feature event, before Ryan Grim took control just passed the halfway point, followed almost immediately by a yellow flag for Jon Josko – who was running in the top five.

Ryan Grim held his position on the restart before the lap-24 caution flag slowed the action for the final time.

With their eyes on the checkered, Ryan Grim and Brad Grim made contact on the restart – but Ryan Grim was able to pick up the win and the $1,000 payday.  Brad Grim finished in second, Kyle Smith in third, Joe Toth in fourth, and Jesse Landis in fifth

Big-Block/358 Modified Results
GT Radiators Heat 1 (10 Laps) – 1. Doug Manmiller  2. Mike Gular  3. Ryan Watt  4. Billy Pauch Jr.  5. Alex Yankowski  6. Bobby Trapper Jr.
GT Radiators Heat 2 (10 Laps) – 1. Brett Kressley  2. Steve Young  3. Frank Cozze  4. Duane Howard  5. Justin Grim  6. Jack Butler
GT Radiators Heat 3 (10 Laps) – 1. Ron Kline  2. Kevin Hirthler  3. John Willman  4. Craig Von Dohren  5. Jeff Strunk  6. Brian Hirthler
GT Radiators Consi (10 Laps) – 1. Kyle Smith  2. Craig Whitmoyer  3. Rick Laubach  4. Jesse Leiby  5. Joe Funk  6. Ryan Beltz
Feature 1 (20 Laps) – 1. Craig Von Dohren  2. Brett Kressley  3. Ryan Watt 4. Kevin Hirthler  5. Billy Pauch Jr.  6. Doug Manmiller 7. Rick Laubach  8. Mike Gular  9. Jeff Strunk  10. John Willman  11. Frank Cozze  12. Brian Hirthler  13. Bobby Trapper, Jr.  14. Craig Whitmoyer  15. Duane Howard  16. Jesse Leiby  17. Kyle Smith  18. Alex Yankowski  19. Ron Kline  20. Joe Funk  21. Justin Grim  22. Jack Butler  23. Ryan Beltz  24. Steve Young

Feature 2 (20 Laps) – 1. Billy Pauch, Jr.  2. Doug Manmiller  3. Brett Kressley  4. Craig Von Dohren  5. Ryan Watt 6. Mike Gular  7. Jeff Strunk  8. Rick Laubach  9. Alex Yankowski  10. Bobby Tapper, Jr.  11. Frank Cozze  12. Craig Whitmoyer  13. John Willman  14. Duane Howard  15. Dylan Swinehart  16. Jesse Leiby  17. Brian Hirthler  18. Kyle Smith  19. Justin Grim  20. Ron Kline  21. Joe Funk 22. Steve Young 23. Ryan Beltz 24. Kevin Hirthler

Feature 3 (20 Laps) – 1. Alex Yankowski  2. Jeff Strunk  3. Rick Laubach 4. Mike Gular  5. Brett Kressley  6. Bobby Trapper, Jr.  7. Craig Von Dohren  8. Doug Manmiller 9. Ryan Watt 10. Billy Pauch, Jr.  11. Frank Cozze  12. Craig Whitmoyer  13. Jesse Leiby  14. Brian Hirthler 15. Kyle Smith  16. John Willman  17. Justin Grim  18. Ron Kline 19. Joe Funk 20. Steve Young 21. Ryan Beltz 22. Duane Howard  23. Kevin Hirthler  24. Jack Butler

 
602 Sportsman Results
Heat 1 (8 Laps) – 1. Jimmy Leiby  2. Jesse Hirthler  3. Kenny Bock  4. Jesse Landis  5. Cody Manmiller 6. Joey Vaccaro
Heat 2 (8 Laps) – 1. Jon Josko  2. Ryan Grim  3. Jesse Leiby  4. David Burns  5. Mike Toth  6. Zane Roth
Heat 3 (8 Laps) – 1. Nathan Horn  2. Kyle Smith  3. Brad Grim  4. Dylan Swinehart  5. Logan Bauman  6. Talan Carter

Feature (25 Laps) – 1. Ryan Grim  2. Brad Grim  3. Kyle Smith  4. Joe Toth 5. Jesse Landis  6. Dylan Swinehart  7. David Burns  8. Jesse Leiby  9. Cody Manmiller 10. Jesse Hirthler  11. Logan Watt 12. Jimmy Leiby  13. Kenny Bock  14. Nathan Horn  15. Logan Bauman 16. Talan Carter  17. Ryan Graver  18. Josh Adams  19. Mark Mohr  20. Keith Harring 21. Mark Gaughler  22. Mike Toth  23. Zane Roth  24. Jon Josko  25. Joey Vaccaro.

 

This concludes the 2022 NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series.  More details to follow on our schedule for 2023.

Grandview Speedway PR