RGeeProductions
08-26-2012, 12:29 PM
Winning for a division best fifth time this season, Don Wagner of Wharton, NJ was able to gain precious ground on Earl Paules as the quest for the 2012 Modified crown at Mahoning Valley Speedway continues to heat up heading into the final month of racing.
Wagner went into the lead after a lap 22 restart and then withstood a barrage of overtaking attempts by Tommy Flanagan in his effort to secure the victory.
“Tommy (Flanagan) is a great racer and he knows how to get around this track. I love the side-by-side racing we had going on out there and that’s what you get here,” said Wagner who is having his best season in terms of wins since 1992 when he won six times.
The race was a thriller from start to finish. Over the first 20 laps there was nonstop action between Shawn Sitarchyk and Flanagan. They ran over that span in two-wide formation and traded the front spot several times in the process.
Flanagan took the lead for a second time on lap 16 and while their torrid battle waged on, in their shadow was Wagner. He was able to slip by Sitarchyk on lap 21. The next time by the yellow waved after for Sitarchyk spun on the front straight.
On the restart Wagner had just the right amount of horsepower needed to make the pass on Flanagan. For the rest of the way he would be hounded and there were a few occasions that Flanagan tried to slip underneath for the lead.
Wagner stayed strong and steady though and held on for the victory which was by less than a half second.
“It was a battle up front that was for sure. We’re point racers and we go for championships. This Earl (Paules) is so dam tough that you have to go for the wins,” said Wagner, who for the second week has been able to cut into his points deficit on Paules.
Matt Wentz continues to come close to a win as he got third for a second week in a row. Kevin Rex, Jr., just barely held off Paules for fourth.
“The clutch started slipping after a couple of restarts and on that last one it was slipping the whole time and that’s why Donny (Wagner) got me. We were battling that whole time but I just couldn’t put the power down to the car,” said Flanagan.
Wagner made it a full success night as he also won his heat. Sitarchyk and Rex also won qualifiers.
While Paules may have lost some ground with the Modified, he advanced even further in the Late Models as he picked up his eighth feature win of the season.
Paules, who hails from Palmerton, started fourth and took the lead from Paul Koehler, Jr., on a lap two restart. Afterward all Koehler could do was watch from his second place as Paules was solid the rest of the way.
It was his eighth win in 16 starts with the class and fifteenth top five to boot. Koehler held on to second with Rick Wallace third. Mike Sweeney and George Ramos scored heat wins.
Sweeney continued his hot streak at the beginning of the night as he rolled to his third straight win in the make-up Late Model feature.
He started third, took the lead on the opening lap, gave it up to Kenny Hein on lap two and then after a restart on the same circuit went back out-front and remained there the rest of the way. Hein took second followed by Dave Wallace in third.
In a race that served as a preamble to next week’s Mike Krempasky Memorial Street Stock 100, Palmerton’s TJ Gursky notched his second win of the season and has great momentum heading into the big event being held in honor of his late car owner.
Gursky worked his tail off in his effort to get the lead from Gene Bowers and it wasn’t until six laps to go that he finally got the job done. He then held back Joe Steigerwalt by a scant .277-second margin of victory. Steve Hoffman turned in a solid run to annex third.
Street Stock heat winners included Jason Kuhn, Kyle Strohl and Gursky. The consi race was won by Jonathan Tracey.
Before coming into the fold with the Dirt Mods, Aleia Geisler of Emmaus tried and came very close to winning with the 4-Cylinder Stock class.
When the 2012 season got underway she had stepped up from the 4-Cylinder and into a Dirt Mod and over most of the year was a regular in the Crate Modified division at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Speedway.
Last month she returned to pavement racing at Mahoning and after eventually getting the proper set-up, on this night she proved simply unstoppable, leading all 20 laps and authored an impressive career first Mahoning win. Dave Thomas nipped Mike Stofflet on the final lap to take second.
After front runners Jake Kibler and Jeremy Miller tangled on lap six of the 4-Cylinder Stock main, 14-year old Nick Baer of Germansville then inherited the lead and held on for his second victor of the season.
For a ninth time this year Dan Freundt took the bonus money for being the highest front wheel drive car across the line. He also equaled his best effort to date with his runner-up tally.
Bob Wagner of Rockaway, NJ, continued his dominating season with the Micro Stocks as he won for a third time in five starts. Wayne Krenn road Wagner’s bumper to the finish in earning second spot.
Wagner and Krenn were heat winners.
Modified Feature Finish, 35 Laps: 1. Don Wagner, 2. Tommy Flanagan, 3. Matt Wentz, 4. Kevin Rex, Jr., 5. Earl Paules, 6. Scott Meckes, 7. Lou Strohl, 8. Nevin George, 9. Shawn Sitarchyk, 10. Terry Markovic, 11. Matt Higgins, 12. John Bennett, 13. John Markovic, 14. Rick Reichenbach, 15. Bobby Jones, 16. Roger Coss, 17. DJ Wagner, 18. Chip Santee
Late Model Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Earl Paules, 2. Paul Koehler, Jr., 3. Rick Wallace, 4. Frankie Althouse, 5. Dave Wallace, 6. George Ramos, 7. Mike Sweeney, 8. Geno Steigerwalt, 9. Jennifer Kutz, 10. Glenn Slocum, 11. Mark Simon, 12. Paul Effrig, 13. Kenny Hein
Make-up Late Model Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Sweeney, 2. Hein, 3. Dave Wallace, 4. Paules, 5. Koehler, 6. Althouse, 7. Ramos, 8. Rick Wallace, 9. Steigerwalt Did not: Austin Kochenash, Ed Bauer
Street Stock Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. TJ Gursky, 2. Joe Steigerwalt, 3. Steve Hoffman, 4. Willie Knappenberger, 5. Gene Bowers, 6. Jason Frey, 7. Jason Kuhn 8. Todd Ahner, 9. Joe Mooney, 10. Jillian Long, 11. Jonathan Tracey, 12. BJ Wambold, 13. Joe Stamm, 14. Guy Ackerman, 15. Lonnie Behler, 16. Kyle Strohl, 17. Josh Mooney, 18. Jason Beers, 19. Dale Santee, 20. Joe Roberts
Did not qualify: Cody Roth
Dirt Modified Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Aleia Geisler, 2. Dave Thomas, 3. Mike Stofflet, 4. Kris Graver, 5. Randy Thomas, 6. Mark Levy, 7. Joe Stangle, 8. Frank Parastino, 9. Bill Sitler, Jr.
4-Cylinder Stock Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Nick Baer, 2. Dan Freundt, 3. Bobby Kibler, Jr., 4. Kyle Strohl, 5. Jeremy Miller, 6. Justin Martison, 7. Stone Wentz, 8. Robert Miller, 9. Dillon Kibler, 10. Tyler Stangle, 11. Jake Kibler, 12. Doug Knauss
Micro Stock Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Bob Wagner, 2. Wayne Krenn, 3. Roger Snyder, 4. Walt Mueller, 5. Alex Greenzweig, 7. Robert McGuire, 8. Josh Heiser, 9. Tyler Wagner, 10. John Rakos, 11. Kenny Dengler, 12. Barry Greenzweig, 13. Mario Oberto, 14. Taylor Santee
Dino Oberto
Wagner went into the lead after a lap 22 restart and then withstood a barrage of overtaking attempts by Tommy Flanagan in his effort to secure the victory.
“Tommy (Flanagan) is a great racer and he knows how to get around this track. I love the side-by-side racing we had going on out there and that’s what you get here,” said Wagner who is having his best season in terms of wins since 1992 when he won six times.
The race was a thriller from start to finish. Over the first 20 laps there was nonstop action between Shawn Sitarchyk and Flanagan. They ran over that span in two-wide formation and traded the front spot several times in the process.
Flanagan took the lead for a second time on lap 16 and while their torrid battle waged on, in their shadow was Wagner. He was able to slip by Sitarchyk on lap 21. The next time by the yellow waved after for Sitarchyk spun on the front straight.
On the restart Wagner had just the right amount of horsepower needed to make the pass on Flanagan. For the rest of the way he would be hounded and there were a few occasions that Flanagan tried to slip underneath for the lead.
Wagner stayed strong and steady though and held on for the victory which was by less than a half second.
“It was a battle up front that was for sure. We’re point racers and we go for championships. This Earl (Paules) is so dam tough that you have to go for the wins,” said Wagner, who for the second week has been able to cut into his points deficit on Paules.
Matt Wentz continues to come close to a win as he got third for a second week in a row. Kevin Rex, Jr., just barely held off Paules for fourth.
“The clutch started slipping after a couple of restarts and on that last one it was slipping the whole time and that’s why Donny (Wagner) got me. We were battling that whole time but I just couldn’t put the power down to the car,” said Flanagan.
Wagner made it a full success night as he also won his heat. Sitarchyk and Rex also won qualifiers.
While Paules may have lost some ground with the Modified, he advanced even further in the Late Models as he picked up his eighth feature win of the season.
Paules, who hails from Palmerton, started fourth and took the lead from Paul Koehler, Jr., on a lap two restart. Afterward all Koehler could do was watch from his second place as Paules was solid the rest of the way.
It was his eighth win in 16 starts with the class and fifteenth top five to boot. Koehler held on to second with Rick Wallace third. Mike Sweeney and George Ramos scored heat wins.
Sweeney continued his hot streak at the beginning of the night as he rolled to his third straight win in the make-up Late Model feature.
He started third, took the lead on the opening lap, gave it up to Kenny Hein on lap two and then after a restart on the same circuit went back out-front and remained there the rest of the way. Hein took second followed by Dave Wallace in third.
In a race that served as a preamble to next week’s Mike Krempasky Memorial Street Stock 100, Palmerton’s TJ Gursky notched his second win of the season and has great momentum heading into the big event being held in honor of his late car owner.
Gursky worked his tail off in his effort to get the lead from Gene Bowers and it wasn’t until six laps to go that he finally got the job done. He then held back Joe Steigerwalt by a scant .277-second margin of victory. Steve Hoffman turned in a solid run to annex third.
Street Stock heat winners included Jason Kuhn, Kyle Strohl and Gursky. The consi race was won by Jonathan Tracey.
Before coming into the fold with the Dirt Mods, Aleia Geisler of Emmaus tried and came very close to winning with the 4-Cylinder Stock class.
When the 2012 season got underway she had stepped up from the 4-Cylinder and into a Dirt Mod and over most of the year was a regular in the Crate Modified division at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Speedway.
Last month she returned to pavement racing at Mahoning and after eventually getting the proper set-up, on this night she proved simply unstoppable, leading all 20 laps and authored an impressive career first Mahoning win. Dave Thomas nipped Mike Stofflet on the final lap to take second.
After front runners Jake Kibler and Jeremy Miller tangled on lap six of the 4-Cylinder Stock main, 14-year old Nick Baer of Germansville then inherited the lead and held on for his second victor of the season.
For a ninth time this year Dan Freundt took the bonus money for being the highest front wheel drive car across the line. He also equaled his best effort to date with his runner-up tally.
Bob Wagner of Rockaway, NJ, continued his dominating season with the Micro Stocks as he won for a third time in five starts. Wayne Krenn road Wagner’s bumper to the finish in earning second spot.
Wagner and Krenn were heat winners.
Modified Feature Finish, 35 Laps: 1. Don Wagner, 2. Tommy Flanagan, 3. Matt Wentz, 4. Kevin Rex, Jr., 5. Earl Paules, 6. Scott Meckes, 7. Lou Strohl, 8. Nevin George, 9. Shawn Sitarchyk, 10. Terry Markovic, 11. Matt Higgins, 12. John Bennett, 13. John Markovic, 14. Rick Reichenbach, 15. Bobby Jones, 16. Roger Coss, 17. DJ Wagner, 18. Chip Santee
Late Model Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Earl Paules, 2. Paul Koehler, Jr., 3. Rick Wallace, 4. Frankie Althouse, 5. Dave Wallace, 6. George Ramos, 7. Mike Sweeney, 8. Geno Steigerwalt, 9. Jennifer Kutz, 10. Glenn Slocum, 11. Mark Simon, 12. Paul Effrig, 13. Kenny Hein
Make-up Late Model Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Sweeney, 2. Hein, 3. Dave Wallace, 4. Paules, 5. Koehler, 6. Althouse, 7. Ramos, 8. Rick Wallace, 9. Steigerwalt Did not: Austin Kochenash, Ed Bauer
Street Stock Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. TJ Gursky, 2. Joe Steigerwalt, 3. Steve Hoffman, 4. Willie Knappenberger, 5. Gene Bowers, 6. Jason Frey, 7. Jason Kuhn 8. Todd Ahner, 9. Joe Mooney, 10. Jillian Long, 11. Jonathan Tracey, 12. BJ Wambold, 13. Joe Stamm, 14. Guy Ackerman, 15. Lonnie Behler, 16. Kyle Strohl, 17. Josh Mooney, 18. Jason Beers, 19. Dale Santee, 20. Joe Roberts
Did not qualify: Cody Roth
Dirt Modified Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Aleia Geisler, 2. Dave Thomas, 3. Mike Stofflet, 4. Kris Graver, 5. Randy Thomas, 6. Mark Levy, 7. Joe Stangle, 8. Frank Parastino, 9. Bill Sitler, Jr.
4-Cylinder Stock Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Nick Baer, 2. Dan Freundt, 3. Bobby Kibler, Jr., 4. Kyle Strohl, 5. Jeremy Miller, 6. Justin Martison, 7. Stone Wentz, 8. Robert Miller, 9. Dillon Kibler, 10. Tyler Stangle, 11. Jake Kibler, 12. Doug Knauss
Micro Stock Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Bob Wagner, 2. Wayne Krenn, 3. Roger Snyder, 4. Walt Mueller, 5. Alex Greenzweig, 7. Robert McGuire, 8. Josh Heiser, 9. Tyler Wagner, 10. John Rakos, 11. Kenny Dengler, 12. Barry Greenzweig, 13. Mario Oberto, 14. Taylor Santee
Dino Oberto