RPW Exclusive: Jeff Strunk Storms to First Win of Season at Grandview Speedway

RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Mark Hackett – RACEPROWEEKLY – BECHTELSVILLE, PA  – Jeff Strunk moved forward from his 14th starting position and passed Cody Manmiller on lap 25 to pick up his first win of the season for the newly formed “HBH Racing team” at Grandview Speedway.

Polesitter Bobby Trapper Senior took a strong  early lead; but after two 2-car tangle cautions on lap 11; Cody Manmiller moved into the lead from his 7th starting position.  Manmiller held a solid lead, but Strunk tracked him down in 7 laps and made the pass for the lead on lap 25.  Logan Watt came with Strunk into 2nd place and lapped traffic on the final lap and allowed Watt to close in, but Strunk took the checkered by a car length for win number one for HBH Racing after only 5 races at Grandview with 46 modifieds on the grounds this week.

Back at the trailer Jeff Strunk commented “ We had a great night starting 11th in the heat and advancing to 4th on a last lap pass to make the handicap which was a key to our night.”

“The feature was typical Grandview with wheel to wheel hard racing, and we took advantage of a couple of restarts to advance to the lead from 14th and held off a hard charging Logan Watt on the final lap for the win,” a pleased Strunk explains, “it’s always great to win at Grandview and so very hard to do so there. The competition this year is tougher than ever.  There are more talented and fast cars than ever before.”

“Bobby Gunther Waish is supplying an SY Murray engine that runs great and we have the same crew guys that have been with me for many years,” a grateful Strunk says, “I’m very thankful for everyone that have made this team happen and all our sponsors and supporters that helped to get us here. I’m super proud of the fact we won in only our 5th race as a team, and I am looking forward to the rest of the season.” 

Logan Watt finished 2nd from his 13th starting position to post his second straight runner up finish to Jeff in this race and followed-up to his dad in the previous week.

Logan reflected “The heats have become more challenging with higher car counts this year which in turn sends us to a deeper starting position like 11th or 12th in a heat field that only takes 5 qualifiers.  We got a couple of lucky breaks in our heat and went from 10th to 1st this week.”

“We didn’t change a lot for the feature and stayed pretty much baseline.  The car was really, really good, and I could put it anywhere I wanted too.  Got banged up in that 2nd caution restart jingle and the car wasn’t 100 % after lap 11but we were still able to hang in and have a good race with Strunk and Manmiller,” a happy Logan Watt explains.

Cody Manmiller finished 3rd from his 7th starting position to post his best finish of the season.

Back at the trailer Manmiller stated “It’s no secret we haven’t been very good to start the season. Some of it was bad luck, some driver mistakes, and just not having the car as good as it should be. We’ve been making changes and were so much better this week.  Finally, the heat worked out and I drove up to 2nd – that’s the first time I’ve made the handicap all season.  I figured from 7th that I would be able to get to the front, so I was patient getting there.  I had no idea where I needed to be in turns 1 and 2 towards the second half of the race.  I didn’t feel very comfortable in either lane, but I knew I was getting big runs off 4. When I saw Jeff, I dropped to the bottom which was probably a mistake, but after the season we’ve had, a third was almost as good as a win for us.”

PIT NOTES

Eddie Strada finished 6th from 15th starting position and ever since August of 2025 has been red hot consistent; coming back to front in the field virtually no matter where he starts.  Eddie is the current points leader, posting 5 top ten finishes and has a 200 point lead over Rich Laubach in 2nd place.

Rick Laubach continues to maintain his 2nd place in the points standings with consistent back to front feature runs which this week was 22nd starting position to an 11th place finish.  His son Matthew is doing the same thing in the crate division going from 26th to 8th this week and maintaining 4th place in the point standings through five races in his rookie season in the crate division.

Anthony Perrego was the hard charger, finishing 7th from his 23rd starting position after flipping over his nose in a heat race two weeks ago which ended his night.

Kyle Smith posted his 2nd top ten finish of the season and is expected to be moving into the top 15 in the points standings this week.

Mike Gular continues to literally run into tough luck this season with a lap 11 hard head on tangle which sent him to the tail of the field and he managed to run back to 15th place finish in the final 18 green flag laps.

Billy Pauch Jr. battled to secure the 28th and final qualifying only to have the car not fire for the feature for a DNS.

UPCOMING GRANDVIEW EVENTS:

Tuesday, May 19 – THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES – High Limit 410 Sprint Car Series – $20,000 to win 410 Sprints – 7:30 pm – (Rain date Wednesday 5/20)

Saturday, May 23 – T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Modifieds, T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Sportsman, Outlaw Racing Series Vintage, TRIVIA NIGHT – 7:30 pm

Saturday, May 30 – T.P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Modifieds TWIN 25-LAP FEATURES, T. P. Trailers & Truck Equipment Sportsman – 7:30 pm