Through the first six races of 2019 John Markovic has barely made a mark in the results column, mustering a pair of 10th place runs as his best effort to date, very uncommon-like to say the least for a driver of his caliber. Admittedly he was the first to express how his signature No. 95M “Purple Bandit” was not performing to its expected expectations.
After trying just about everything to make the car work yet to no avail, the seasoned veteran turned to the one person he felt could pull him from the doldrums, noted set-up specialists and top flight driver Zane Zeiner and after working his magic, Markovic put all the hardship behind him as he stormed to his first win of the season Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway.
Markovic held off one very determined Austin Kochenash for the popular victory, which remarkably comes one year from his last on Memorial Day weekend.
“I’ve been coming here the whole second half of my life and I’ve never had such an awful car as I did this year and we threw everything at it but in just one day Zane Zeiner came in, drove the car in early practice, diagnosed it, repaired it and fixed it and gave me a winning race car,” deadpanned Markovic.
“It was on rails, it was fast and I owe it all to Zane, it’s that simple.”
The 35-lap affair saw Ron Haring Jr., pace the field for the first half dozen laps but noticeably quick was Markovic who by lap five had passed Earl Paules for second and one lap later zipped by Haring for the lead.
“It was still early at that point and I didn’t know how the car was going to react later on in the run. We were still working on the car when the feature before ours was being called out, the rear end was out of it but everything worked out,” expressed Markovic.
When he did make the lead pass it was soon clear that Markovic’s car was back to top status, confidently solid as he controlled of the race. Meanwhile Haring was holding his own in second over Paules until six laps from the end when a caution waved for a three car scuffle.
On that restart Paules took second and Kochenash blasted into third. Two laps later he would gain second and wasn’t settling there as he immediately went after the leader. Markovic was taking a higher line, leaving the bottom open for Kochenash and indeed that was his course of action.
“I was slowing my pace down and protecting the bottom. I knew he (Kochenash) wasn’t going to get me on top. He runs this track totally different then I do. My way of running is like a big oval and Austin has found a way to turn down to the left and drive a straightaway and beat a lot of the competitors and I wasn’t going to give him that opportunity,” explained Markovic.
With just enough on the bottom line Kochenash moved alongside Markovic and began a thrilling final laps towards the finish and his effort looked like it was about to pay off too as he had a good bite coming to the white flag. However, that same lap Brian DeFebo smacked the turn four wall and brought out the caution, setting up a green-white-checker restart. Try as he may Kochenash could not get by as Markovic took the win by a narrow margin.
“It was good hard racing and he raced me clean. He got underneath me there at the end but the caution came out and we held on,” added Markovic.
Paules, point leader Bobby Jones and Zeiner, driving a second Markovic car, rounded out the top five.
“It feels great and words can’t explain it how much this means to get Johnny (Markovic) a win. He’s been around a long time and a he’s great friend and is so respected by everyone,” noted Zeiner.
“We worked on this car all day, made a big change for the feature and brought it to life. I was behind him and watching that car dig.”
In Late Model action Jeremey Miller took advantage of his pole starting spot and raced to his first win of the season.
Miller may have started at the point but by no means was it an easy go. The entire time he was turning the hottest driver going, Frankie Althouse, who was throwing everything at Miller in an effort to get by.
Add in the fact that the race was caution free and Miller had his work cut out for him but it was all good at the end as he hit his marks with preciseness and perfection en route to his 42nd overall career win. Mike Sweeney and the Osborn twins, Dylan and Samantha, rounded out the top five.
When it comes to extra distance Street Stocks features at Mahoning Valley one should never count out Jon Moser and that certainly was again the case as he choked up another one.
Going 75 laps with $1000 to win, Moser used a lap 43 restart to maneuver around then leader Bill Hunara. The rest of the way he had a handful to deal with as Todd Ahner kept him closely in his sights as well as Randy Schlenker.
Moser, though, has never been one to give up the lead once it’s in his hands and it was no different this time. By taking the checkers he is the first to repeat in the class this season and add to his point lead in the process.
Ricky Yetter had quite the feisty battle with Mike Stofflet as they went tooth and nail in the 25-lap Dirt Mod main.
Despite the blitzing, Yetter kept his motivation on the big prize and raced to win number two of 2019.
In winning his third Pro 4 feature if the year Jake Kibler went into the record books becoming the division’s all-time career wins leader with 34.
Kibler took the top spot from Jeremy Guerra on lap seven and then resisted the ongoing pressure from Cody Kohler to take the win by less than half a car length.
Talk about drive and determination is unquestionably the best description of Jacob Boehm in his career first Hobby Stock feature.
Boehm had to duel several laps with Devin Schmidt for second while charging at leader Trisha Connolly. After 10 laps he took care of Schmidt and then kept the momentum going, using the inside to advance past Connolly at the halfway mark.
From then on it was smooth sailing for the elusive victory, one of what should be plenty more to follow.
Modified Feature Finish (35-laps): 1. John Markovic, 2. Austin Kochenash, 3. Earl Paules, 4. Bobby Jones, 5. Zane Zeiner, 6. Josh Scherer, 7. Kyle Strohl, 8. Kevin Rex Jr., 9. Eric Kocher, 10. Gary Wentz, 11. Heath Metzger, 12. BJ Wambold, 13. Ron Haring Jr., 14. Brian DeFebo, 15. Gene Bowers, 16. Terry Markovic, 17. Jacob Kerstetter, 18. Nick Baer, 19. Lorin Arthofer II, 20. Lou Strohl DNQ: Devin Schmidt
Late Model Feature Finish (25-laps): 1. Jeremy Miller, 2. Franke Althouse, 3. Mike Sweeney, 4. Dylan Osborn, 5. Samantha Osborn, 6. Avery Arthofer, 7. Kenny Hein, 8. Brandon Turbush, 9. Matt Wentz
Street Stock Feature Finish (75-laps): 1. Jon Moser, 2. Todd Ahner, 3. Randy Schlenker, 4. Randy Ahner Jr., 5. Stacey Brown, 6. Jared Ahner, 7. Mark Deysher, 8. Mark Martini, 9. Jillian Long, 10. Eric Kocher, 11. Bobby Kibler Jr., 12. Jamie Smith, 13. Ken Erney III, 14. Johnny Bennett, 15. Beau Drobot, 16. Tucker Muffley, 17. Austin Santee, 18. Bill Hunara, 19. Corey Edelman, 20. Cody Geist DNQ: Brennen Coulter, George Ramos III, Shayne Geist
Dirt Modified Feature Finish (25-laps): 1. Ricky Yetter, 2. Mike Stofflet, 3. Corey Edelman, 4. Colton Perry, 5. Larry Beers
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20-laps): 1. Jacob Boehm, Devin Schmidt, 3. Trisha Connolly, 4. Peyton Arthofer, 5. Cody Boehm, 6. Travis Solomon, 7. Taylor Schmidt, 8. Shawn Kistler, 9. Peter Maier, 10. Kassidy Altemose, 11. Rich Mutarelli, 12. Daryl Rex, 13. John Petro, 14. Terry Peters, 15. Mallory Kutz, 16. Tad Snyder, 17. Phil Sabatine, 18. Al Arthofer, 19. Austin Ahner
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20-laps): 1. Jake Kibler, 2. Cody Geist, 3. Bobby Kibler Sr., 4. Tyler Stangle, 5. Jeremy Guerra, 6. Randy Schaffer, 7. Tucker Muffley, 8. Steven McDonough, 9. Matt Clark, 10. Kadie Pursell
MVS PR
