The Marvin Bartholomew 85-lap Tribute marked the fourth race in the Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series (MVSHoFS) and for the third straight time Matt Hirschman was savoring in the accolades of victory.
Hirschman showed his prowess by coming from 14th on the grid and moving into the lead after 51 laps. From there on he drove smooth and steady, holding off Austin Beers by 1.286-seconds in claiming his 21st win at Mahoning Valley.
“We’re making a habit of this (MVSHoFS) and it’s a good thing. Each time we come we try to get better from Opening Night and through the last few times I feel we’ve improved. I keep trying and it’s paying off. Tonight we had to pass a lot of cars and use patience,” said Hirschman who collected $2850 for his efforts and also assumed the Series point lead with one event remaining.
Fittingly the pole, via a revenge draw, went to Lou Strohl, grandson of the night’s honoree Bartholomew and at the drop of the race commencing green he grabbed the lead over Todd Baer, Nevin George, Bobby Jones and Josh Scherer.
Jones would then use a lap 10 restart to charge by Strohl for the lead. Not long afterwards a thrilling side-by-side battle took place for second spot between George and Jack Ely while staying glued to the rear bumper of Jones. As the intense battle of that trio waged on Hirschman was gradually making his way frontward and by lap 22 was shown in fourth.
Ely, running the outside line, had finally gotten by George on lap 32 and then kept that push going as he pulled alongside Jones. Racing two-by-two Ely had just edged ahead to the lead when a caution waved for a spinning Earl Paules.
Two laps after the restart Ely found himself facing off with Hirschman and despite every effort to fend off the potent No. 60, it was not to be as the race winning pass was made just as the 51st circuit was completed.
“We had a good race with the 19 (Ely). I knew we had enough time and I was just waiting to see if he was going to open the door enough that we wouldn’t have an issue for space,” said Hirschman.
While Hirschman remained planted out front Beers was making headway. After a pit stop for a tire change near mid-race Beers then staged a charge. With 12 laps to go he was dueling with Don Wagner for second, eventually taking the spot with seven reaming. A caution five tours left gave reason for a shootout but Hirschman proved the better of the two in gaining the score.
“The car really worked well on the top once we got that tire and it was on rails,” said Beers who notched his best 2020 finish.
“I think if we had a double file restart on that last caution instead of single file I may have had something for him (Hirschman) but he was tough and always is.”
Austin Kochenash, who came into the event as the Series point leader, also put on a drive. He made several pit stops and each time back was picking off cars in moving towards the front. Time then ran out on him and he settled for third.
Wagner had a very strong run too, maintaining a top-5 spot for most of the race while Paules rounded out the top five
Brandon Christman is racing for the first time this year and the rookie driver has come a long way in a short time as he picked up a very popular career first victory in the Street Stock feature.
And even though he drew the pole and led every lap it was very thrilling none the less. With no cautions during throughout the distance Christman had to focus on lapped traffic and the fact division top gun Jon Moser was hot on his heels.
Over the final two laps Christman kept his guard up more than ever as Moser was making every attempt to get by. On the final circuit it almost happened too as they came upon a back maker but Christman used the outside lane to get around while Moser went low which slowed him up slightly. As they came to the checkers Christman barely held on for the unforgettable career moment.
A third generation driver, it marked the first time in 30 years that the family name was back in Victory Lane. The last time Corey Edelman led in a Hobby Stock feature is was in 2014, then notching his division leading 16th career win. He since had moved on to Street Stocks and Dirt Mods, however, when the MVSHoFS was announced he put together a car and was looking to take home one of those impressive big winner’s checks.
After struggling over the first three Hall of Fame races, Edelman was in top form on this night as he ran a feisty battle with Trisha Connolly over all 25-laps and held on for a very gratifying win.
And, not only did he finally get that check, but likewise a one of kind replica model of a Marvin Bartholomew car.
The Pro 4s where in action and what has become the norm this year it was another victory for Cody Kohler, his fourth in as many starts. Kohler needed only four laps to grab the lead and once there it was business as usual. The win was also the 30th with the class.
Afterwards Kohler had to go through a stringent inspection as a protest was filed, however, everything was as called for per rules and win stood.
The Rookie Hobby Stock class was celebrating an unprecedented eighth different winner in as many races gun.
Hallie Muffley led every lap and scored her first ever stock car victory and became the first fourth generation racer to win a race at Mahoning Valley.
Modified Feature Finish (85-laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Austin Beers, 3. Austin Kochenash, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Earl Paules, 6. Bobby Jones, 7. Gene Bowers, 8. Josh Scherer, 9. Jack Ely, 10. Nevin George, 11. Louis Horvath, 12. Blake Barney, 13. Todd Baer, 14. Jacob Kerstetter, 15. Brian DeFebo, 16. Nick Baer, 17. Joh Markovic, 18. Lou Strohl, 19. Sean Verwys, 20. Jesse Strohl, 21. Rod Snyder Jr., 22. Kyle Strohl DNQ: Terry Markovic, Jesse Strohl, BJ Wambold
Street Stock Feature Finish (30-laps): 1. Brandon Christman, 2. Jon Moser, 3. Randy Ahner Jr., 4. John Bennett, 5. Randy Schlenker, 6. Mark Martini, 7. TJ Gursky, 8. Todd Ahner, 9. Mark Deysher, 10. Eric Kocher, 11. Bob Kibler, 12. Jill Long, 13. Matt VanSyckle, 14. Tucker Muffley, 15. Jamie Smith, 16. Josh Mooney, 17. Rick Reichenbach, 18. Bobby Kibler Jr., 19. Kadie Pursell, 20. Thomas Flanagan.
DNQ: Dennis Buss, Jeremy Scheckler, Kevin Kromer
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20-laps): 1. Cody Kohler, 2. Randy Schaffer, 3. Jake Kibler, 4. Jeremy Guerra, 5. Kadie Pursell, 6. Josh Kuronya, 7. Robert Derfler, 8. Austin Ahner
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (25-laps): 1. Corey Edelman, 2. Trisha Connolly, 3. Cody Geist, 4. Jacob Boehm, 5. Travis Solomon, 6. Al Arthofer, 7. Jesse Bollinger, 8. Justin Merkel, 9. Ryan Berger, 10. Cody Boehm, 11. Nick Schaeffer, 12. Devin Schmidt, 13. Taylor Schmidt, 14. Jacob Oswald, 15. Kevin Behler, 16. Terry Peters, 17. Ralph Borger Jr., 18. Hunter Iatalese, 19. Lyndsay Buss, 20. Hallie Muffley, 21. Nicholas Kerstetter DNQ: Shayne Geist, Mallory Kutz, Kyle Troch, Tad Snyder, James Tout
Rookie Hobby Stock Feature Finish (12-laps): 1. Hallie Muffley, 2. Makayla Kohler, 3. Tobie Behler, 4. Corey Gulich, 5. Savannah Romig, 6. Elia Tito, 7. Maggie Yeakel, 8. Paul French Jr., 9. Brody George, 10. Zoe Kuchera, 11. Savannah Kutz, 12. Jaden Brown, 13. Josh Dise
MVS PR
