Jon Kellner’s Return To Racing Complete With Grandview Speedway Modified Win On Saturday Night

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Story By: JEFF AHLUM / GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY – BECHTELSVILLE, PA. – It was an action packed night of racing from the qualifying heats through to the end of the features on Saturday night at Grandview Speedway!

When all the action was completed, Jon Kellner of Lansdale, Pa. emerged victorious in the 30-lap T.P. Trailer Modified feature, scoring his seventeenth career win in the division. The biggest story of the win was the fact that Kellner’s last T.P. Trailer Modified win at Grandview was August 17, 2013, which was soon followed by his announced retirement from driving. It was only last year that car owner Mike Casey asked Kellner to return to the seat of his race car, with the combination reaching victory lane on Saturday night.

Colin Cox of Perkasie, Pa., who is in his first season as a regular at Grandview Speedway, put on an exciting display of driving, racing from his seventeenth starting spot to the win in the 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman feature race on Saturday night, picking up his second win of the year in the process to strengthen his number one spot in the point standings.

The winners both received bonus money (Modified $300, Sportsman $200) from T.P. Trailers and Truck Equipment of Limerick, Pa., sponsors of the two divisions at Grandview Speedway, and sponsors of the night’s racing action, in a race program run under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner.

The T.P. Trailer Modifieds were in high gear in the entertainment mode on Saturday night, as they started the night with three wildly competitive qualifying heat races won by Eric Kormann of Carneys Point, N.J., Jon Kellner, and Ron Haring Jr. of Alburtis, Pa. to set the stage for what was to be an amazingly wild, competitive, and entertaining feature race.

Ron Haring Jr. took the lead at the drop of the green to start the main event, while Clay Butler of Bloomsbury, N.J. and Kellner battled for second spot, while Bob Trapper Sr. of Scranton, Pa., Eric Kormann, Brian Hirthler of Green Lane, Pa., and Tim Buckwalter of Douglassville, Pa. were all fighting for positions behind them.

By lap ten Haring Jr. had built up a comfortable lead, while Butler and Kellner were still engaged in the fight for second, with Trapper Sr., and Hirthler now joined by Jeff Strunk of Boyertown, Pa., and Mike Gular of Harleysville, Pa. who were advancing through the field and moving into contention.

At the half-way point, Haring Jr. had built up a straightaway advantage on the rest of the field, with Kellner finally winning the battle with Butler and grabbing the second spot.

Action behind the top two really heated up following Kellner’s pass for second, leaving Butler to engage in the fight for third, which soon saw the field tighten up and an eleven car battle developed for the third spot!

Butler, Trapper Sr., Hirthler, Strunk, Gular, Buckwalter, Jared Umbenhauer of Richland, Pa., Brett Kressley of Orefield, Pa., Logan Watt of Boyertown, Pa., Duane Howard of Oley, Pa., and Rick Laubach of Quakertown, Pa. were all swapping positions with each lap in an exciting display of racing action.

The entire outcome of the race would change on lap 21, while the intense action was raging for the top spots, Kressley would lose the handle on his car and spin in the middle of the pack, sending everyone in all directions, with Logan Watt having no place to go, making hard contact with Kressley.

The contact between the two cars turned Kressley back in the right direction allowing him to keep moving, but Watt ended up rolling over causing a red flag and the only stoppage of the feature event, wiping out the huge lead that Haring Jr. had built up.

On the restart, Kellner would take the outside lane and move around Haring Jr. to become the new race leader, with Strunk and Umbenhauer moving into second and third right behind Kellner, after they had secured top five spots in the previous wild eleven car battle.

The final nine laps were intense, as Kellner would lead leaving Strunk and Umbenhauer in a fight for second, while Butler, Gular, and Kressley were fighting for the top five spots right behind them.

With five laps to go Strunk was able to pull away from Umbenhauer and start applying some pressure to Kellner in an attempt to grab the lead. Kellner would change lanes in the final couple of laps to block any final attempts from Strunk and drove home to the exciting feature win, making his comeback to driving complete.

At the checkered flag Kellner would score the win, his seventeenth career NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series T.P. Trailer Modified win at Grandview, followed by Strunk, Umbenhauer, Kressley, Gular, last week’s winner Howard, Butler, Craig Von Dohren of Oley, Pa., Laubach and Trapper Sr.

In addition to the three qualifying heats for the 35 cars on hand, one consolation was run and won by Cody Manmiller of Philadelphia, Pa.

The 25-lap T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman feature was just as entertaining as the T.P. Trailer Modified feature, and saw Chase Gular of Pennsburg, Pa. take the lead on the opening green flag from Starter Ray Kemp.

Gular would lead Tom Miller Sr. of Gilbertsville, Pa, Lawson Szerencits of Catasauqua, Pa., Kenny Bock of Oley, Pa., Stephen Laubach of Bangor, Pa., and Nate Horn of Slatedale, Pa. in the early going as action throughout the field was intense.

A couple of skirmishes brought out a couple of quick cautions in the early going, shuffling the field, and by the time the field reset for a restart on lap three, Cox, who started in seventeenth position, was now sitting in eighth spot.

With the drop of the green, Cox took off in the top outside groove of the Speedway, passing cars with each lap and advancing through the field, reaching the Gular and Szerencits battle for the lead, now making for a three-car slugfest for the top spot.

For three intense laps, Gular led using the middle lane, Szerencits pressured him running the bottom grove, while Cox was trying to pass them both running the top groove, practically all running under a blanket in an entertaining race for the lead.

Cox was able to keep up his momentum on the outside, and move around both Szerencits and Gular and take the lead out of turn four to score lap seven.

With Cox leading, Gular and Szerencits would continue to fight for second and eventually be joined by Teague Miller of Barto, Pa. making for another three-car battle, while Bock, was joined by Brad Brightbill of Sinking Spring, Pa., Dylan Swinehart of Fleetwood, Pa. and a quickly advancing Brett Gilmore of Kutztown, Pa. who was moving forward from his 24th starting spot.

Cox would build up a huge lead and reach lapped traffic by lap fifteen, only to see a caution on lap sixteen reset the field, with Szerencits having to pit during the caution with a flat tire giving up his top five spot, and Gilmore now sitting in the fifth position.

On the restart Cox would again pull away to the lead with Gilmore sweeping the top lane and into second, and try to track down the leader, leaving Gular, Miller, Swinehart and a now late charging Mike Schneck Jr. of Lebanon, Pa. up from 19th starting spot to battle for the final spots in the top five.

At the finish it was Cox scoring his second career Grandview NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series feature win followed by Brett Gilmore, Chase Gular for his career best finish, Mike Schneck Jr. who was still charging at the end, Teague Miller, Dylan Swinehart, Kenny Bock, Jesse Landis of Gilbertsville, Pa., Brad Brightbill, and Kenny Gilmore of Fleetwood, Pa. who recovered from an early race mishap to score a top ten finish.

Qualifying heats for the 37 cars on hand were won by Chase Gular, Teague Miller, Brad Brightbill, and Nate Horn while Nathan Mohr of Reading, Pa. and Brett Grim of Coplay, Pa. won the consolations.

Grandview Speedway will be presenting another NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series program next week featuring the T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman in the 55th annual running of the Firecracker 40-lap Championship along with the T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds starting at 7:30 pm.

The Firecracker 40 will pay $2000 to the winner, PLUS a $400 bonus from Grandview Speedway track photographer Stave Sabo of SDS Photography, making for a great $2400 payday to the Firecracker 40 race winner!

The show on Saturday, July 12 sponsored by MacMillan Oil Company of Allentown will include qualifying events for both classes leading into a 30-lap T.P. Trailer Modified feature and the 40-lap Championship feature for the T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman.

Pit gates will open at 4 pm, with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm, warm-ups starting at 6:15 pm, and the first race of the evening getting the green flag at 7:30 pm.

Adult grandstand admission is $25, students 10-15 with ID are $12, while children ages 9 and under are admitted free of charge. Pit admission is $35 for NASCAR members and $45 for non-members.

The weekend of racing will actually begin with the Outlaw Racing Series Enduro and Outlaw Racing Series Vintage cars in action along with the Pro 4 Racing Series Four Cylinder Stock Cars on Friday, July 11 starting at 7 pm.

Pit gates open at 2 pm, with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm. Grandstand admission will be $10, with children ages 12 and under admitted for free. Pit admission is $35 for the Friday event.

The following Saturday, July 19 will be Back to the 90’s Night sponsored by A.D. Moyer Lumber Company, featuring just $10 grandstand admission for a complete show of T.P. Trailer Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman starting at 7:30 pm.

 

T.P. TRAILER & TRUCK EQUIPMENT NIGHT RACE SUMMARY – JULY 5, 2025

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps): JON KELLNER, Jeff Strunk, Jared Umbenhauer, Brett Kressley, Mike Gular, Duane Howard, Clay Butler, Craig Von Dohren, Rick Laubach, Bobby Trapper Sr., Tim Buckwalter, Brian Hirthler, Louden Reimert, Eric Kormann, Chris Esposito, Eddie Strada, Doug Manmiller, Ryan Grim, Craig Whitmoyer, Kyle Smith, Cody Manmiller, Bobby Trapper Jr., Ron Haring Jr., Logan Watt, Logan Bauman, Ryan Beltz, Chris Gambler, Eric Biehn

DID NOT QUALIFY: Justin Grim, Darin Schuler, Mike Laise, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Ray Swinehart, Ryan Watt, John Willman

T.P. TRAILERS WINNER’S BONUS ($300): Jon Kellner

VP RACING FUELS HARD CHARGER: Louden Reimert +14

PENSKE RACING SHOCKS CERTIFICATES: Jon Kellner ($75), Jeff Strunk ($50), Jared Umbenhauer ($25)

DAN’S DELI HALFWAY LEADER GIFT CERTIFICATE: Ron Haring Jr.

 

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): COLIN COX, Brett Gilmore, Chase Gular, Mike Schneck Jr., Teague Miller, Dylan Swinehart, Kenny Bock, Jesse Landis, Brad Brightbill, Kenny Gilmore, Kyle Hartzell, Nate Horn, Lawson Szerencits, Nathan Mohr, Gavyn Krupp, Parker Guldin, Mark Mohr, Kaitlyn Bailey, Decker Swinehart, Dakota Kohler, Steve Young, Adrianna Delliponti, Addison Meitzler, Tom Miller Sr., Mike Stofflet, Brayden Shelton, TJ Mayberry, DNS – Brett Grim

DID NOT QUALIFY: BJ Joly III, Jason Graber, Mark Behm, Stephen Laubach, Joey Vaccaro, Mark Gaugler, Shannon Slaughter, Dennis Graber, Colton Perry

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT WINNER’S BONUS ($200): Colin Cox

GRANDVIEW $100 HARD CHARGER: Brett Gilmore +22

PENSKE RACING SHOCKS CERTIFICATES: Colin Cox ($75), Brett Gilmore ($50), Chase Gular ($25)

DAN’S DELI HALFWAY LEADER GIFT CERTIFICATE: Colin Cox

DRIVEN RACE OIL/JOHN WILLMAN MOTORSPORTS OIL & FILTER KIT 7th PLACE: Kenny Bock

 

UPCOMING EVENTS –

Friday, July 11 – Outlaw Racing Series Enduro, Outlaw Racing Series Vintage, Pro 4 Racing Series – 7 pm

Saturday, July 12 – MACMILLAN OIL COMPANY OF ALLENTOWN NIGHT – T.P. Trailer Modifieds, 55th annual FIRECRACKER 40 – T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman 40 laps – 7:30 pm

Saturday, July 19 – A.D. MOYER LUMBER COMPANY NIGHT – T.P. Trailer Modifieds, T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman, BACK TO THE 90’S NIGHT, $10 Grandstand admission – 7:30 pm

Saturday, July 26 – T.P. Trailer Modifieds, T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman, Outlaw Racing Series Vintage – 7:30 pm

 
 
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