Zane Zeiner comes from 14th to 1st for Mahoning Modified win; Jeremy Miller holds on in wild 3-wide Late Model finish

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Zane Zeiner comes from 14th to 1st for Mahoning Modified win; Jeremy Miller holds on in wild 3-wide Late Model finish
By DINO OBERTO

(LEHIGHTON, Pa. 8-29-15) For the second time in as many weeks Bath’s Zane Zeiner was part of Mahoning Valley Speedway’s Victory Lane. On the previous Saturday night Chip Santee was victorious thanks in part to a set-up by Zeiner. This time around it would be himself enjoying the laurels as he drove his Atlantic Sprinkler No. 76 to a decisive victory in the 35-lap contest.
Coming from 14th on the grid, Zeiner made an inside pass on Lou Strohl with nine laps to go then pulled away to two second margin of victory over Don Wagner and Strohl.
“We actually struggled earlier in the night. We had motor issues in practice. We got that straightened out in the heat race but the car still wasn’t right. I have to give a big thanks to (crew chief) Barry Kuhnel who made the right call and here we are in Victory Lane,” said Zeiner.
For Zeiner it was a good month at Mahoning as he opened and closed with wins, scoring a verdict during the August 1 Twin 50’s.
When the race got underway Kevin Rex Jr., would take the early lead but Strohl made good use of a lap three restart to overtake him. Following in line was John Markovic who would then run alongside Rex.
Zeiner in the meantime was making haste in going frontward. Thanks to a caution on lap two that saw several cars ahead of him scatter about he was able to pick up five spots. For a brief time thereafter he was settled in a tight pack but his headway would soon continue as the outside lane would allow him the opportunity to reach the lead runners.
Up front the battle remained fierce as lap after lap Strohl was holding onto a slim lead. Markovic took sole possession of second by lap 12 while Wagner emerged to third and by lap16 Zeiner was also in on the action.
Zeiner would need one lap to get by Wagner and the emphasis was now on the top pair. Markovic was not backing down, however, as he ran a solid race and made Zeiner work his tail off.
A caution on lap 22 brought a halt to the action and on that restart Zeiner was finally able to unseat Markovic. It was now just Strohl that stood between him and victory.
While most of his advancement came from the outside, Zeiner tried to take that same course with Strohl but to no avail. With that in mind he then made the switch to the inside and powered past him ii turn three with nine laps to go. Once in front he was smooth and steady en route to the $1800 win.
“What a performance tonight. Everyone knows I love running the bottom here but for a while the outside was the lane of choice,” said Zeiner.
“I saw him (Strohl) getting tight and our car was getting tight too and I knew I would have to get him as soon as possible. I went underneath him and that was it. It was hard racing with Louie.”
While Zeiner was cruising to the win, Wagner was coming on in a rush and on the last lap went to the outside of Strohl, taking second spot at the line. That swift maneuver also put him back into the point lead with five regular shows to go.
“What a good fast bunch of cars this year. Congratulations to Zane (Zeiner), he only comes up here once in a while but he always brings his A-game,” said Wagner.
“It looks like it’s going to be right down to the end with the top four who are knocking on the door of the championship and we all want it.”
Jeremy Miller won his second Late Model feature that came in a 3-wide battle to the finish between he, Paul Koehler Jr., and Mike Sweeney.

With 10 laps to go Miller and Koehler began to swap the lead while Sweeney fought back from a pit stop and entered into the fray.

Over the final five laps it was an amazing battle with the trio. Miller had the edge while Sweeney was attacking low and Koehler did the same from the outside. On the final go-around Koehler pulled nearly even with Miller while Sweeney was still coming on from the bottom. With the checkers waving it was Miller by a scant .031-second margin of victory.

In a nonstop time of 6:06, Corey Edelman raced to his career first Street Stock victory. The two-time champion of the Hobby Stocks and now rookie with this class, was able to slip to the inside of early leader Joe Mooney and then stayed solid the rest of the way.

Point leader Zach Graver made up a handful of spots over the waning laps and took second with Jared Ahner third.

Dave Gorbatuk was within reach of his first ever Dirt Mod win, leading with two laps to go. However, on his tail was point leader Ricky Yetter who was able to use the outside line and rocket past for the win on the final lap.

The Pro 4 feature saw the lead change hands three times in the final four laps including the white flag circuit when Jake Kibler rebounded around Bobby Kibler Jr., for his third win of 2015.

In the make-up Hobby Stock main from July 18, Kyle Krempasky passed Lyndsay Buss with four laps to go and then went on to win his third feature of the season.

Rich Mutarelli returned for the regular show and picked up his second straight and fourth win of the year after motoring around Cody Geist with three laps to go.

Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Zane Zeiner, 2. Don Wagner, 3. Lou Strohl, 4. Kyle Strohl, 5. John Markovic, 6. Bobby Jones, 7.Austin Kochenash, 8. Kristopher Graver, 9.Mike Quinn, 10. Earl Paules, 11. Eric Kocher, 12. Chip Santee, 13. Brian DeFebo, 14. Rick Reichenbach, 15. Kevin Rex Jr., 16. Brian Romig Jr., 17. Matt Higgins, 18. Terry Markovic, 19. Lee Sharpsteen, 20. Eric Beers

Late Model Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Jeremy Miller, 2. Paul Koehler Jr., 3. Mike Sweeney, 4. Pat Hargan, 5. Darryl Bruenig, 6. Troy Bollinger, 7. Barry Kutz, 8. Kenny Hein, 9. Jacob Kerstetter, 10. Broc Brown, 11. Scott Kotran, 12. George Ramos, 13. Frankie Althouse, 14. Josh Oswald

Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Corey Edelman, 2. Zach Graver, 3. Jared Ahner, 4. Aaron Kromer, 5. Stacey Brown, 6. Randy Schlenker, 7. Todd Ahner, 8. Gene Bowers, 9. TJ Gursky, 10. Randy Ahner Jr., 11. Jillian Long, 12. Jonathan Tracey, 13. Brian Labar, 14. Joe Mooney, 15. Jason Kuhn, 16. Bernie Uphold, 17. Kristy Arthofer, 18. Jason Frey, 19. Josh Mooney, 20. Jamie Smith DNQ: George Ramos, Logan Boyer, Joe Stangle

Dirt Mod Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Ricky Yetter, 2. Dave Gorbatuk, 3. Jack Ely, 4. Billy Lasko, 5. Lorin Arthofer II, 6. Ray Deemer, 7. Aleia Geisler, 8. Scott Adams, 9. Bill Sittler Jr., 10. Scott Hyland, 11. Steve Shultz 12. Mike Stofflet

Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Jake Kibler, 2. Bobby Kibler Jr., 3. Nick Baer, 4. Cody Kohler, 5. Kevin Hoffman, 6. Bobby Kibler Sr., 7. Josh Scherer, 8. Kailyn Beers, 9. Johnny Bennett DNS: JD Light

Make-up 7/18 Hobby Stock Feature Finish (15 Laps): 1. Kyle Krempasky, 2. Lyndsay Buss, 3. Rich Mutarelli, 4. Shayne Geist, 5. Michael Wambold, 6. Jeff Biegley, 7. Daniel Hargan, 8. Ken Reeder, 9. Kyle Scisco, 10. TJ Kapish, 11. Seth VanFossen, 12. Cody Geist DNS: Colin Bollinger, Sam Ryan, Devon Schmidt, Tiffany Wambold, Jacob Oswald, Eddie Reeder, Sam Danaher, Dean Strohl

Regular Hobby Stock Feature Finish (15 Laps): 1. Mutarelli, 2. Shayne Geist, 3. Cody Geist, 4. Scisco, 5. Biegley, 6. Kapish, 7. Hargan, 8. Reeder, 9. VanFossen, 10. Krempasky, 11. Buss, 12. Thomas Hunsicker Jr., 13. Berger, 14. Waylon Speer, 15. Michael Wambold

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