Austin Kochenash survives to win Mahoning Modified slugfest; Frankie Althouse does the same for Late Model glory
Story By: DINO OBERTO / MAHONING VALLEY SPEEDWAY Photos By;WALT SMITH / RACERSGUIDE.COM
LEHIGHTON, Pa. – June 26, 2016- At the bullring ¼-mile Mahoning Valley Speedway on a sizzling Saturday night, there was beating and banging, there was spins and dings and there was action galore, and that was just in the Modified feature. It was a race that was a slugfest in every sense of the word and after all was said and done standing tall in Victory Lane after a hard fought battle was Austin Kochenash, claiming his first win of the season.
Kochenash, who was wheeling the Gary and Brent Wentz No. 72, held off point leader Eric Beers by less than a half car length while very close in third was Earl Paules.
A more than usual number of cautions interrupted the 35-lap contest. Kochenash was involved in one such in a lap 10 pile-up. His keen skill was put to the test afterwards as he would need to maneuver accurately past ensuing incidents in in his march towards the front.
One of those was a grinding crash by Gene Bowers who smacked the turn four wall head-on on lap 20. Although his car was badly damaged, Bowers thankfully walked away unscathed.
Due to that calamity the track was in need of a major cleanup from all the liquid that was deposited from Bowers’ car. The good part was that the considerable amount of speedy dry that was put down was just high enough off the racing groove and allowed drivers two doable lanes of racing.
Kochenash was in ninth when the race resumed and he meticulously drove the right lanes and did a perfect job of avoiding any further collisions, reaching the top five by lap 21. With 10 laps to go he would be handed first place due to a Don Wagner and Jack Ely scrape while battling for the lead. Kochenash had just made his way by Paules and Beers at the same time for third spot.
He then kept his sights on maintaining his lead while Beers and Paules contested for second. Beers did shake free and soon zeroed in on the leader and made it a great dogfight to the finish.
Kochenash had no choice but to push the issue with Beers in the closing laps too as he continued to force him high in order to stay protective of his spot.
“I knew Eric (Beers) and Earl (Paules) were going to be real tough to beat especially with how bad the front of the car is. We were able to get the lead and it was a matter of just holding on the rest of the way,” said Kochenash.
“There’s nothing straight on the car after that incident in the beginning. But once I got the lead I realized it’s a $900 difference from first to second and I needed the money to fix the car. I may have been a little rough but that was no different than anyone else would have run.”
Beers, who like nearly everyone else was caught up in a tangle, came up a few feet short from scoring another win.
“That was a rough one tonight. We’d been pretty clean all year until tonight. Austin (Kochenash) did what he had to do in order to get the win. Both of our cars where a little damaged and my front end is all dinged up and Earl (Paules) is battle scorn too so we were all running around with roughed-up equipment,” said Beers.
“We were on the edge all night and with the speedy dry over in turn four that made it a little leery but Austin gave me just enough room and hats off to him. It was fun.”
Kris Graver had another solid outing despite being gathered in a few caution scenes and was fourth. Likewise with John Markovic who bounced back several times on his way to rounding out the top five.
In the Late Model feature it was a tough go for the race leaders as one by one the front runners all fell from grace due to scuffles. That was until Frankie Althouse got there and he would not fall victim to the bad luck. Althouse inherited the top spot with four circuits to go and held off Paul Koehler Jr. for the verdict.
Lorin Arthofer II, Koehler, Jeremy Miller, Mike Sweeney and Arthofer again all led but all had their time at the front cut short due to mishaps that came from close encounters with second and third place cars at those respective times.
Althouse, who has been the mark of consistency all season thus far, notched his ninth consecutive top five.
“It feels really good and our car was spot on tonight. We made a boatload of changes and went back to basics. We did a few more adjustment before the feature and the car was phenomenal,” said Althouse.
“I knew even when we got the lead with four laps to go that Paul (Koehler) was right there and that Mike (Sweeney) could get there too because he’s been the class of the field. I just figured that I was going to hold the bottom and try and make them go around me. This has me real excited for next week’s 50 lapper.”
Miller, Sweeney and Kenny Hein completed the top five.
Mark Martini finally, after 10 years of trying, got the proverbially monkey off his back as he won his career first feature at Mahoning Valley Speedway in the nonstop 30-lap Street Stock main.
Starting third, Martini squeezed by Jamie Smith on the inside off turn four and with the completion of that lap he was in front and for good.
Martini kept determined the next 20 laps despite some very intense pressure from Justin Mooney and eventually his teammate Randy Ahner Jr. The caution free race was completed in a time of 6:18.
If there is a way to best describe Mike Stofflet and his 2016 season it would be resilient. Stofflet has been able to bounce back time and again after suffering one set back after another but each time it’s been with a resounding run that ends with a victory.
He did it once again on this night, leading all 25 laps of the Dirt Mod main while manhandling a car that had no power steering after the second lap and then having to hold off the fast approaching Billy Lasko en route to his third feature win of the year.
Josh Scherer worked his tail off to get around Kevin Graver Jr., but once he did there was not stopping him in gaining his third Pro 4 win of the season.
For the first time this year a repeat winner has emerged in the Hobby Stocks. Ryan Berger grabbed the lead from his front row starting spot at the get-go and held it the rest of the way, becoming the first to repeat after nine races.
Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Austin Kochenash, 2. Eric Beers, 3. Earl Paules, 4. Kris Graver, 5. John Markovic, 6. Brian Labar, 7. Don Wagner, 8. Jack Ely, 9. Nick Baer, 10. Terry Markovic, 11. Brian DeFebo, 12. Gene Bowers, 13. Bobby Jones, 15. Kyle Strohl, 16. Jon Moser
Late Model Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Frankie Althouse, 2. Paul Koehler Jr., 3. Jeremy Miller, 4. Mike Sweeney, 5. Kenny Hein, 6. Josh Oswald, 7. Chris Anderson, 8. Jacob Nemeth, 9. Lorin Arthofer II, 10. Jacob Kerstetter, 11. JR Roth, 12. Don Wagner, 13. Paul Effrig, 14. Robbie Kutz
Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Mark Martini, 2. Randy Ahner Jr., 3. Jason Kuhn, 4. Justin Mooney, 5. Jon Moser, 6. Jared Ahner, 7. Stacey Brown, 8. Rick Reichenbach, 9. Josh Mooney, 10. Corey Edelman, 11. Jason Frey, 12. Aaron Kromer, 13. Todd Ahner, 14. Kristy Ahner, 15. Zach Graver, 16. Greg Long, 17. Dan Freundt, 18. George Ramos, 19. Lindsay Buss, 20. Jamie Smith
Dirt Mod Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Mike Stofflet, 2. Billy Lasko, 3. Ricky Yetter, 4. Aleia Geisler, 5. Scott Hyland, 6. Dave Gorbatuk
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Josh Scherer, 2. Kevin Graver Jr., 3. Bobby Kibler Jr., 4. Jake Kibler, 5. Johnny Bennett, 6. Shawn Kistler, 7. Cody Kohler, 8. Kailyn Beers, 9. Tyler Stangle
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Ryan Berger, 2. Avery Arthofer, 3. Rich Mutarelli, 4. Shayne Geist, 5. Austin Beers, 6. Randy Sicher, 7. Devin Schmidt, 8. Tiff Wambold, 9. Jesse Strohl. 10. Michael Wambold, 11. Cody Geist, 12. Colton Perry, 13. Nicholas Kerstetter, 14. Jeff Biegley. 15. Ken Reeder, 16. Trisha Connolly, 17. Dean Strohl Sr., 18. Travis Solomon
COMING EVENTS:
July 2 @ 6:00 pm George Ramos Jr. “Pineapple 50 Memorial” for Late Models, $1200-to-win + all regular track classes
July 9 @ 6:00 pm All regular track classes + Micro Stocks
July 16 @ 6:00 pm All regular track classes
