Mike Sweeney dominates en route to “Pineapple 50” Late Model win
Story By: DINO OBERTO / MAHONING VALLEY SPEEDWAY Photos By: WALT SMITH / RACERSGUIDE.COM
LEHIGHTON, Pa. -July 2, 2016- Bobby Jones is easily considered one of the best racers Mahoning Valley Speedway showcases which makes it is hard to fathom that this classy veteran has not been a winner in over four years. A string of bad luck had a lot to do with it. Missed set-ups on his No. 1J more times than not can be taken into consideration for the Victory Lane absence too. No matter what the case may have been it is all behind him now after a solid drive brought him back to his winning ways in Saturday night’s 35-lap Modified feature.
And this was classic Jones. Jumping out front early and holding a commanding lead then withstanding the late race charge by Eric Beers.
Beers, who has been the class of the field, would put the pressure on but when you are a many time winner and have been shunned from victory as long as Jones, neither Beers nor anyone for that matter was going to get between him and those checkers.
Jones did what was expected of him, protecting the bottom while Beers was compelled to do his bidding from the top lane. Try as he may, Jones would hold off the point leader and make his triumphant return to glory.
“It’s been rough for us. We had a lot of good years where there was three or four years in a row we just couldn’t do any wrong and it went the other way the past few years,” said Jones.
During the early stages of the race Jones was holding a comfortable lead over Terry Markovic and Brian DeFebo. Over a stretch of green flag laps 13th place starter and previous week winner Austin Kochenash had advanced through the pack and up to second. Tagging along with him was Beers.
That duo soon went into a fierce two-wide battle for a number of laps while Jones continued to maintain a steady and smooth run. Then with nine laps to go a caution waved when Chip Santee had a spin in turn three. That allowed Beers to restart alongside Jones.
When the race resumed Jones knew he had to be up on the wheel. Beers tried but Jones clamped down tight and would keep Beers in check the rest of the way.
“I just wanted to keep on going and didn’t want to stop when that caution came out,” said Jones.
“I was protecting the bottom and didn’t want to get up to high and have someone slip underneath me. This is a brand new car and you don’t come out and do this. I didn’t know the speed I have with the car yet or how well it was working. But when I saw Eric (Beers) there and I knew I had to get going.”
Kochenash settled for third with Don Wagner and Earl Paules rounding out the top five.
The 4th Annual George Ramos Jr., “Pineapple 50” Memorial race for the Late Models was held and in each of the previous outings of the event that pays honor to the late car-owner, the current point leader at the time won. So for Mike Sweeney, he wasn’t about to change that routine.
Coming in number one in the standings, Sweeney had this race pinpointed on his schedule as a must win. And, not only was he able to claim the $1200 verdict, he did it in one of the most dominating performances he has ever had in earning his 40th career Late Model victory.
Jacob Kerstetter and Jeremy Miller dueled early on for the front spot but once Sweeney took control on lap 13 it became a race for second as he was simply no match for the rest of the pack.
By the midway point he had opened a half track lead and when he reached the finish he had lapped all but three cars. His margin of victory was a whopping 8.2-seconds over Frankie Althouse. Sweeney was actually in the process of edging by fourth place finisher Paul Koehler Jr., at the end of the race and could see Althouse and third placer Miller just ahead.
“Week in and week out we go home and work hard. It’s because of this great crew that I was able to put on a performance like that. I even had one of our crew guys who had to get rushed to the ER today and still made it back to be here. That’s the kind of dedication that this team is all about,” said Sweeney.
“This race had always eluded us and I really wanted to win it and not only for the team but everything that George (Ramos III) does for the Late Models and how his dad was so prominent, giving so many good guys the chance to drive his car. I’m very honored.”
Kerstetter, whose father, Wayne drover for Ramos, was putting in a great effort and Sweeney had to tackle him as well as Miller before taking command.
“Jacob (Kerstetter) gets better and better every week. He keeps his head about him and he’s only getting faster. Jeremy (Miller) and I raced clean tonight and he always makes it tough,” said Sweeney.
Dan Freundt has really come into his own since stepping into a Street Stock this season. For the second time in a month he has captured the checkers and leading every lap in doing so.
Freundt had the pole and darted out quickly, however, the whole while Corey Edelman was on his tail and matters got tougher when Jason Kuhn joined the fray. Freundt though stood solid and never wavered as he raced to win number two.
In the Pro 4 feature it was another victory being chalked up by Josh Scherer. And just as his previous victories have come Scherer did not move to the lead until late in the race, this time taking the lead away from one very impressive Johnny Bennett. Once in front Scherer then held off Cody Kohler and Bobby Kibler Jr.
Shayne Geist became the latest driver to earn a Hobby Stock win. Geist was able to take the lead from Austin Beers with a swift inside pass off turn four on lap three.
Not long afterwards Michael Wambold was challenging and doing everything possible to get by but Geist was able to keep it tight on the bottom which enabled him to hold his lead and go on to become the ninth different winner in 10 races.
Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Bobby Jones, 2. Eric Beers, 3. Austin Kochenash, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Earl Paules, 6. John Markovic, 7. Kris Graver, 8. Jack Ely, 9. Brian DeFebo, 10. Chip Santee, 11. Terry Markovic, 12. Sal Accardi, 13. Brian Labar, 14. Nick Baer, 15. Roger Heffelfinger Jr., 16. Billy Lasko, 17. Gene Bowers, 18. Kyle Strohl
Late Model Feature Finish (50 Laps): 1. Mike Sweeney, 2. Frankie Althouse, 3. Jeremy Miller, 4. Paul Koehler Jr., 5. Jacob Kerstetter, 6. Jacob Nemeth, 7. Geno Steigerwalt, 8. George Ramos III, 9. JR Roth, 10. Kenny Hein, 11. Chris Anderson, 12. Don Wagner, 13. Robbie Kutz, 14. Paul Effrig, 15. Troy Bollinger
Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Dan Freundt, 2. Corey Edelman, 3. Jason Kuhn, 4. Stacey Brown, 5. Kristy Arthofer, 6. Mark Martini, 7. Josh Mooney, 8.Zach Graver, 9. Rick Reichenbach, 10. Randy Ahner Jr., 11. Jon Moser, 12. Jared Ahner, 13. Aaron Kromer, 14. Todd Ahner, 15. Jamie Smith, 16. Jason Frey, 17. Greg Long, 18. Scott Adams, 19. Justin Mooney, 20. Dennis Buss DNQ: Logan Boyer
Dirt Mod Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Aleia Geisler, 2. Ricky Yetter, 3. Billy Lasko, 4. Scott Hyland, 5. Dave Gorbatuk, 6. Matt Curry, 7. Mike Stofflet DNS: Frank Parastino
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Josh Scherer, 2. Cody Kohler, 3. Bobby Kibler Jr., 4. Bryan Ahner, 5. Kevin Graver Jr., 6. Jake Kibler 7. Shawn Kistler, 8. Shawn Hoffman, 9. Tyler Stangle, 10. Mark Kohler, 11. Johnny Bennett, 12. Kailyn Beers
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Shayne Geist, 2. Michael Wambold, 3. Ryan Berger, 4. Rich Mutarelli, 5. Cody geist, 6. Randy Sicher, 7. Avery Arthofer, 8. Austin Beers, 9. Sam Ryan, 10. Tiff Wambold, 11. Nicholas Kerstetter, 12. Jason Gould, 13. Dean Strohl Jr., 14. Travis Solomon, 15. Jeff Biegley, 16. Devin Schmidt, 17. Jesse Strohl, 18. Dean Strohl Sr., 19. Brian Wambold DNS: Colton Perry
COMING EVENTS:
July 9 @ 6:00 pm All regular track classes + Micro Stocks
July 16 @ 6:00 pm All regular track classes + Jr. Enduro
July 23 @ 6:00 pm Bob “Heavy” Scherer Twin 50s for Modifieds $1800 to win each + all reg. track classes
