RPW Exclusive: Louden Reimert & Anthony Perrego Split Twin 25 Wins at Grandview – Quotes & Notes from Grandview

RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Mark Hackett – RACE PRO WEEKLY – BECHTELSVILLE, PA  – In the first feature; Brian Hirthler held the lead over Louden Reimert for 19 laps but on the lap 20 restart Hirthler didn’t fire and Reimert took over the lead for the final 5 laps to take the win over a podium of Logan Watt and Mike while Hirthler held on for 4th place.

The second feature saw Brian Hirthler out in front again until another restart on lap 12 when he again didn’t fire due to a broken steering box which handed the lead over to Anthony Perrego who then took control of the race.  Perrego took the checkered flag holding off a late charge from Ryan Watt in 2nd and Duane Howard in 3rd.  

 Heat race winners for the 43-car field were Brian Hirthler, Ryan Grim, Chris Espositio & Eric Biehn.

Consolation Winners: Craig Von Dohren & Jeff Strunk

HARD CHARGER: Logan Watt +9

Louden Reimert won the first twin 25 feature from his 11th starting position.  Louden moved into 2nd on lap 7 and chased Brian Hirthler to the 2nd caution on lap 20 taking the lead on the restart when Hirthler couldn’t fire.

In victory lane Louden reflected “It was pretty dicey out there, but it was good hard fast racing which is what you get here every week.  There is no doubt that this place is the greatest place to race in the world.  I knew I had to come up with a tactic on the restart.  I also knew the bottom was pretty good from a few laps that I went down during the heat so when he went to the top I went to the bottom because I knew I couldn’t pass him if I followed him.”

Back at the trailer Louden commented “Our car was good all night long and we made minimal changes from hot laps through feature one.  We did over adjust for the 2nd feature and finished 11th from a 15th starting position.  It was still about as smooth of a night at Grandview that you could ask for.”

The second feature was won by Anthony Perrego who started from 5th starting position and posted his first Grandview win of the season.  He also had an excellent points night with a 7th in first feature and a win in the 2nd feature.

In victory lane Anthony commented “It’s been a rough start here and we got upside down in the heat a few weeks ago which wasn’t a good start at our new Saturday night track, but we’ve been gaining on it every week since the wreck.”

“Tonight we were good in the heat and made the handicap which was crucial with two points paying events on the line tonight.  We struggled in the first feature because we tried something a little different, but it didn’t work for us.”

“In the second feature we went back to our normal Grandview setup.  Brian Hirthler was out in front of us and was setting a good pace until he broke on the restart and I moved into the lead and then held Howard and Watt at Bay for 12 laps which is never easy.”

Logan Watt finished 2nd and 4th in his twin 25 features.  

Back at the trailer Logan stated “We had a good heat and made the invert which got us the 15th starting position in the first feature.  We didn’t make any changes all night long including running the same tires in both features.  I was really happy with the car tonight.”

“In the 2nd feature we started 13th, picked our way around the bottom and filed in some holes on my way to a 4th place finish in the 2nd feature.”

Ryan Watt finished 15th and 2nd in his respective twin 25 features.

Ryan reflected “We were in the first heat race without any cautions and only got up to 7th from 10th, so we had to qualify from the consolation.

“The car wouldn’t start and we had to jump a dead battery to get out for the consolation.  In the consolation we were going slower and slower as the battery continued to fade but we held on for the 4th and final transfer position to the feature.”

“In feature 1 we started 27th and the car was a handful for the entire 25 laps.  We finished 15th but when we came in, we found the RF had only 5 pounds of air. The 15th position turned out to be important because it put us in the final handicap spot for the 2nd feature.

“For the second feature we fixed the RF tire and changed to a harder compound on the RR tire.  The car was far better, and we were able to run from 9th starting position to a 2nd place finish.  In the end we were too tight to catch Anthony.”

MODIFIED PIT NOTES –  5/30/25

On lap 3 of feature # 1; the first “big one” multi-car tangle of this season occurred when Eric Biehn and Chris Esposito got hooked together while running 4th and 5th and the ensuing check-up chain reaction ended up with Ryan Grim flipping down the back stretch and seven other cars involved with various degrees of contact – Craig Von Dohren, Duane Howard, Jim Houseworth, Jared Umbenhauer, Carol Hines and Ron Haring.

In the first feature a usual occurrence occurred from the rear of the field with starting positions 21 to 25 landing in the top 10 composed of some of Grandview’s finest:

Craig Von Dohren 21st to 8th

Jeff Strunk 22nd to 5th

Duane Howard 23rd to 10th

Rich Laubach 24th to 9th (again)

Eddie Strada 33rd to 6th (again)

The NASCAR Grandview points championship paid over $18,000 last year and this double points race is a critical race that can make or break a season for the top ten cars in points.  The points battled raged as several in the points top ten delivered in both features.

Points leader Eddie Strada posted 6th and 8th to maintain his points lead over Logan Watt by nearly 197 points.

Logan Watt had the best composite finish in both features of any driver posting a 2nd and a 4th and holding 2nd in the overall points standings.

Jeff Strunk had a strong night with two 5th place finishes surging him into 3rd in the points standings.

Anthony Perrego posted a 7th and a win, moving him into seventh in the season point standings.

Craig Von Dohren posted an 8th and 6th and is quietly moving forward in the points standings into 8th.

Brian Hirthler had a good news bad news night.  Good news was that car is running best that it has all season long and he led over 30 laps of the 50 feature laps.  Bad news was that gremlins found him on restarts in both features, taking him out of the lead both times.  A fuel pickup issue caused the 4 star to not fire on the restart but then leveled off and he finished 4th.

Brian’s 2nd feature again ended on another restart while leading only to having the steering box break on the restart.