It was Pack the Track Night at Mahoning Valley Speedway and unfortunately for Late Model driver Nick Ross he was unable to join in the Fanfest activities during intermission due to the fact of making repairs and adjustments to his car after his heat.
He did, however, make up for it by getting to personally thank all of the fans, doing so from Victory Lane after his rousing second win of the season.
“After our heat race we had to work on the car and I’m sorry we didn’t get to see all the fans during the meet and greet and I felt really bad about that but at least I can use this opportunity to personally say thank you to everyone for coming out tonight,” said Ross.
Taking the lead at the drop of the initial green second starting Ross was able to jump to the lead over pole sitter James Yons. The next time around Lorin Arthofer II was on his tail and looking for every opportunity to get past.
For Arthofer that chance came on lap seven when he slipped under Ross in Turn 3 and completed the lap as the new leader.
Looking to make it a second win in a row and three victories in four starts, Arthofer kept himself a car length ahead of Ross. But never dropping any further back and with the lead pair coming up on lapped traffic Ross was able to close in and by lap 15 was running beside Arthofer. Racing on the top lane he was then able to use a blast of momentum to power his way back out front and gradually pulled away to a two-plus second margin of victory.
“I think he (Arthofer) just started to get a little free in (turns) 1 & 2 and I knew I had to get a run there and it was just enough to get him. I really appreciate running against him and he actually helped me getting things set-up for down here,” said Ross.
Geno Steigerwalt, Yons and Roger Maynor rounded out the top five.
Mahoning Valley’s Sportsman Modified division continues to grow and prosper and it showed on this night with its best field to date and pair of rising stars battling closing for the win.
15-year old Jaden Brown and 10-year old Paulie Hartwig III put on a captivating race and despite very limited seat time with a combine seven class starts between them they raced like seasoned veterans.
Hartwig led the way early on but by lap seven Brown zeroed in on him and thus began the thrilling duel. Brown was making repeated attempts from both high and low sides but each time Hartwig shut him off.
Not giving up, Brown began to work the inside line and with five laps to go he bumped and squeezed underneath and in the process Hartwig got loose but and did an incredible save and rebound. Brown, who did back off when the occurrence began to allow Hartwig space and then held on for the exhilarating win.
Sophomore Street Stock driver Thomas Flanagan has had several very close opportunities in a short period of time to claim a win and tonight there was no doubt or uncertainties as he picked up his career first victory and over a pair of experienced veterans.
Flanagan took the lead from Logan Boyer two laps into the 30 lap contest and was soon fending off kingpin Jon Moser. By the second half of the race point leader Mark Martini joined in the fight but Flanagan remained focused in notwithstanding the heavy opposition.
Matter of fact he would let that pair combat it out amongst themselves while he held steady and smooth en route to this unforgettable first win. Meanwhile Martini took second from Moser.
In the Hobby Stocks BJ Wambold proved again that given the chance to start at the front of the pack he’s no match for the rest of the field.
Wambold replicated an earlier win, starting from pole and then leading the full distance even though Taylor Schmidt and Trisha Connolly kept in close with him.
Cody Kohler continued on his winning ways with the Pro 4s as he collected his class leading fourth win of the season. Kohler used a lap 11 restart to get by Tyler Stangle and then held off Kadie Pursell for career win number 35.
Greyson Ahner made a daring inside pass on Makayla Kohler which would prove to be the race winning move in the Futures/Rookie Hobby Stocks. And it was also his fifth such time winning this season under the Rookie line-up. Runner-up Hallie Muffley would be credited with her second straight Futures verdict.
The Micro Stocks joined the card and in nothing short of a dominating performance it was Alex Greenzweig leading the way from start to finish by ample distance over Roger Snyder.
Late Model feature finish (25-laps): 1. Nick Ross, 2. Lorin Arthofer, 3. Geno Steigerwalt, 4. James Yons, 5. Roger Maynor, 6. Seth VanFossen, 7. Randy Green, 8. Brooks Smith, 9. Mike Stein, 10. Rich Cooper
Sportsman Modified feature finish (25-laps): 1. Jaden Brown, 2. Paul Hartwig111, 3. Jared Ahner, 4. Jesse Strohl, 5. Payton Arthofer, 6. Avery Arthofer, 7. Kassidy Altemose, 8. Mia Guy, 9. Al Arthofer, 10. Paul French, 11. BJ Wambold, 12. Randy Ahner, 13. Troy Bollinger, 14. Bobby Jones DNS Kevin Kromer
Street Stock feature finish (30-laps): 1. Thomas Flanagan, 2. Mark Martini, 3. Jon Moser, 4. Mark Deysher, 5. Brandon Christman, 6. Randy Ahner Jr, 7. Rick Reichenbach, 8. Jacob Christman, 9. John Bennett, 10. Jamie Smith, 11. Lonnie Behler Jr., 12. Shayne Geist, 13.Tucker Muffley, 14. Todd Ahner, 15. Logan Boyer, 16. Jill Snyder, 17. Rich Moser, 18. Tobie Behler, 19 TJ Gursky
Pro 4 feature finish (14-laps): 1. Cody Kohler, 2. Kadie Pursell, 3. Tyler Stag le, 4. Lyndsay Buss, 5. Austin Webster 6. Josh Kuronya DNS: Terry Peters
Hobby Stock Feature finish (25-laps): 1. BJ Wambold, 2. Taylor Schmidt, 3. Trisha Connolly, 4. Cody Boehm, 5. Devin Schmidt, 6. Nick Schaffer, 7. Travis Solomon, 8. Corey Edelman, 9. Tad Snyder, 10. Dave Imler, 11. Justin Markel, 12. James Tout, 13. Nicholas Kerstetter, 14. Mallory Kutz, 15. Ralph Borger Jr., 16. John Petro, 17. Cody Geist, 18. Jacob Boehm, 19. Kevin Behler, 20. Jake Oswald, 21. Lyndsay Buss, DNQ: Ed Herman
Futures/Rookie Hobby Stock feature finish (12-laps): 1. Greyson Ahner, 2. Hailee Muffley, 3. Makayla Kohler, 4. Maggie Yeakel, 5. Gabi Steigerwalt, 6. Brody George, 7. Deegen Underwood, 8. Josh Dise, 9. Dave Kerr, 10. Jared Green, 11. Logan Sturgeon, 12. Lexus Kutz, 13. Adam Steigerwalt, 14. Reid Levengood
Micro Stock feature finish (20-laps) 1: Alex Greenzweig, 2. Roger Snyder, 3. Al Vanhart, 4. Chad Weaver, 5. Jarred Rehrig, 6. Anthony Wood, 7. John Koch, 8, Eddie Geiger Jr., 9. Adam Hess, 10. San Del Luff, 11. Phil Sabatine, 12. Matt Ackerman, 13. Mike Bowers, 14. DJ Fredricks
MVS PR
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