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View Full Version : Keeping Track: Kochenash proves himself further with Mountain Late Model win



LongIslandJam
09-08-2011, 07:05 PM
By Dino Oberto …. “Keeping Track”



(St. Johns, PA) At just 15-years old Late Model racer Austin Kochenash of Danielsville is making quit a splash on the eastern Pennsylvania short track asphalt circuit. He currently is the point leader at Lehighton’s Mahoning Valley Speedway were over the past two seasons he has been racking up feature wins on a regular basis.

And, last Sunday afternoon (9-4-11) at Mountain Speedway in St. Johns he proved himself yet again by scoring a convincing victory, his first at the 1/3-mile oval.

“It feels great to win here. I never really had all that much luck at this track and to be able to win the way we did today, by pulling away from everyone, it felt really good,” said Kochenash who is a former quarter midget national champion.

“The car was just a tad loose because the track was slick in a few spots but overall it was one of the best setups I ever had here.”

After winning his heat, Kochenash lined up fifth for the 30-lap feature and once the race commenced he tucked in behind Travis Fisher and race leader Rick Smith with the previous night’s winner Craig Lutz in tow.

The front trio began to run under a tight blanket with Smith having to work hard in fending off Fisher and Kochenash. By lap four Kochenash was able to get alongside Fisher and the pair then went another lap side-by-side before he advanced to second.

He then set his sights on Smith and within three laps he moved to the front with an inside pass in turn one. After getting there he would show his might as he gradually pulled away from the pack.

“That was fun dicing it up with those guys. I knew though that I was a lot better than them and had to get up to first (place) in order to drive away and show it,” said Kochenash. “I could hear some of them until about halfway but after that I knew I was making headway on them.”

Kochenash had been ahead by as much as two seconds, however, near the end he was bogged down by lapped traffic. Lutz took second but it was no contest.

He raced with the same car he used in July at Oswego Speedway for the Race of Champions Late Model 100. There he finished fifth and was able to apply several things from that event to last Sunday’s winning setup.

“We learned a lot at Oswego. They are both fast, flat tracks and lack grip. But we applied much of the same settings and the car stuck like glue today,” he noted.

“Lanny Barnes and Ron Hutter (Hutter Racing Engines) gave us a great motor. I also want to thank VRP Shocks, Ironton Telephone Company, Wentz Auto Body and Performance Driveline for their great support.”

The win was special also in the fact that he is a third generation driver to race at the track. His grandfather, Roger Heffelfinger, Sr., and uncle, Roger, Jr., are well known for their expertise in Modifieds.

“It’s special to race and win at the same tracks they did. My uncle Roger especially, he won two championships and a lot of races at this place. They both gave me great advice on driving here and today it all paid off,” said Kochenash.

Grand pop and uncle also have titles from Mahoning Valley where Kochenash is closing in on a possible title of his own.

He almost pulled off a double weekend win too as the night before he came within a half-second of winning at Mahoning. Jim Wismer just edged him for the verdict.

“We really wanted to win at both tracks. That was our goal this weekend,” he said.

“Things are going great down there (Mahoning). I just wanted to get a win at another track and prove that I can win elsewhere. We came very close to winning last night at Mahoning and it would have been nice to win at both tracks in less than a day. I think if we come back here we can win again, I know we could.”