RGeeProductions
08-07-2016, 01:15 PM
Bobby Jones and Eric Beers thrilled Mahoning Valley Speedway fans with close Modified duel
Respect – it’s what Bobby Jones and Eric Beers share closely with one another. They are great friends off the race track and great competitors on and they clearly displayed that on Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway as they battled within inches of one another in a thrilling contest between two elite veterans who know the value of what a good race should be.
Both drivers ran wheel-to-wheel over the final 10 laps, giving each other just the right amount of space while electrifying the fans with their dazzling duel that ended with Jones taking a scant margin of victory, which was his second of the season.
“It shows what type of guy Eric Beers is. He seen what was happening there and he let me have the room I needed. He could have pinched me down several times but he’s a classy guy and you won’t get anyone better or nicer to race against then him,” said Jones, who scored his 26th career Mahoning win.
Part of what Jones was referring to was the lapped car of Earl Paules who was making things a bit on edge when the leaders came upon him. As Jones and Beers were in their fierce two-wide battle, they also had to tip-toe past Paules in order to avoid a mishap of sorts. Once cleared they again drove hard and clean and as they reached starter Bob Stull’s waving checkers, Jones was a mere .052-seconds better over Beers.
“We’re still tweaking on this car and haven’t found that little bit that I’d like it to be. We’re sure improving on it though and making gains,” noted Jones.
The race began with Todd Bear jumping to the early lead over Jack Ely. Jones, who started fifth, was soon alongside Ely and they ran together directly behind Baer.
Seeing that the leader’s car was tight, Jones made a diving move off turn two on lap three and was about to take over until a spinning Roger Heffelfinger Jr., negated his effort. On the restart Jones again new the inside would be the key for passing only this time Baer was a bit more cautious and defended his spot much better. By lap nine, however, his car began to step up and Jones took that at his moment to overrun him.
“I knew he (Bear) was trying to stay tight and I waited and waited because I felt that was going to be the way. The lane opened up for me and we seized it,” said Jones.
A hard-charging Kris Graver was then on Jones’ rear bumper while Beers had moved up to third. Graver had a very strong car and kept right in line with Jones but at the same time he was also busy fending off Beers.
Beers, the current point leader, then made haste with 11 laps reaming rushing past Graver and soon after began the intense fight to the finish with Jones.
“Bobby (Jones) ran a great race and we were side-by-side and banged rub rails and wheels once or twice and man what fun that was,” explained Beers.
“I thought I could get a good run off (turn) four but it got to the point where it wasn’t worth wrecking the car to get there. We were just a tick off tonight and we’ll come back next week and get ‘em.”
Don Wagner held off Austin Kochenash for third while John Markovic completed the top five.
In the Street Stock feature Greg Long was looking to end an over 20-year absence since his last win. However, Jon Moser would spoil his valiant try.
In a race that went nonstop from lap after a lap one caution, Long was well in charge for most of it. Late into the race though Moser was gaining momentum and after a good battle for several laps with Todd Ahner, he picked up second spot on lap 24 and then zeroed in on Long. Using the outside lane, Moser then powered by with two laps to go and drove to his second win of the season.
“If there’s a guy I would love to see win it would be Greg (Long). He led all those laps but got tighter and tigher and I just started to get a run on him. It was a great battle that’s for sure. What a race,” said Moser.
Long had to settle for his best effort to date while Todd Ahner, Dan Freundt and Randy Ahner Jr., rounded out the top five.
The Dirt Mod feature was 25-lap slam-fest to say the least and hitting hard to get the win was Mike Stofflet.
The entire race saw hard racing between Billy Lasko and Ricky Yetter and included numerous stints with them by Stofflet as well as Ray Deemer.
However, twice Stofflet had to restart from the rear due to skirmishes but with a never say die attitude and a will to win, he used a gangbuster style effort to thrust back to the front.
Without holding back, he rapidly picked off spots and with three laps to go stormed under Yetter and then Lasko en route to a rousing fifth win of 2016.
Jake Kibler held the point for all 20 laps in the Pro 4 event and notched his second win of the year.
Hobby Stock point leader Cody Geist annexed his third victory of the season thanks to a late race pass on Jesse Strohl.
Bobby Wagner was the Micro Stock winner after a great clash with Alex Greenzweig.
Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Bobby Jones, 2. Eric Beers, 3. Don Wagner, 4. Austin Kochenash, 5. John Markovic, 6. Jack Ely, 7. Kris Graver 8. Kyle Strohl, 9. Lou Strohl, 10. Todd Baer, 11. Nick Baer, 12. Kevin Rex Jr., 13. Terry Markovic, 14. Earl Paules, 15. Roger Heffelfinger, 16. Jon Moser, 17. Tom Flanagan
Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Jon Moser, 2. Greg Long, 3. Todd Ahner, 4. Dan Freundt, 5. Randy Ahner Jr., 6. Rick Reichenbach, 7. Jason Frey, 8. Stacey Brown, 9. Josh Mooney, 10. Zach Graver, 11. Justin Mooney, 12. Jonathan Tracy, 13. Aaron Kromer, 14. Jason Kuhn, 15. Kristy Arthofer, 16. Mark Martini, 17. Mark Deysher, 18. Corey Edelman, 19. Eric Kocher, 20. Jamie Smith, 21. Jared Ahner DNQ: Mike Piechota, Steve Hoffman, Jacob Kerstetter, Dennis Buss
Dirt Mod Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Mike Stofflet, 2. Ray Deemer, 3. Billy Lasko, 4. Frank Parastino, 5. Ricky Yetter, 6. Aleia Geisler, 7. Scott Hyland, 8. Dave Gorbatuk
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Jake Kibler, 2. Josh Scherer, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Cody Kohler, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Shawn Hoffman, 7. Kailyn Beers, 8. Johnny Bennett, 9. Chase Hoffman, 10. Bobby Kibler Sr., 11. Bobby Kibler Jr., 12. Darren Woolf
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Cody Geist, 2. Michael Wambold, 3. Shaye Geist, 4. Rich Mutarelli, 5. Avery Arthofer, 6. Travis Solomon, 7. Austin Beers, 8. Jacob Kerstetter, 9. Ryan Berger, 10. Ken Reeder, 11. Randy Sicher, 12. Jeff Biegley, 13. Devon Schmidt, 14. Jesse Strohl, 15. Tiffany Wambold, 16. Travis Nothstein
Micro Stock Feature Finish (15 Laps): 1. Bob Wagner, 2. Tyler Wagner, 3. Roger Snyder, 4. Al Vanhart, 5. Larry Ealey, 6. Alex Greenzweig
Dino Oberto
Respect – it’s what Bobby Jones and Eric Beers share closely with one another. They are great friends off the race track and great competitors on and they clearly displayed that on Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway as they battled within inches of one another in a thrilling contest between two elite veterans who know the value of what a good race should be.
Both drivers ran wheel-to-wheel over the final 10 laps, giving each other just the right amount of space while electrifying the fans with their dazzling duel that ended with Jones taking a scant margin of victory, which was his second of the season.
“It shows what type of guy Eric Beers is. He seen what was happening there and he let me have the room I needed. He could have pinched me down several times but he’s a classy guy and you won’t get anyone better or nicer to race against then him,” said Jones, who scored his 26th career Mahoning win.
Part of what Jones was referring to was the lapped car of Earl Paules who was making things a bit on edge when the leaders came upon him. As Jones and Beers were in their fierce two-wide battle, they also had to tip-toe past Paules in order to avoid a mishap of sorts. Once cleared they again drove hard and clean and as they reached starter Bob Stull’s waving checkers, Jones was a mere .052-seconds better over Beers.
“We’re still tweaking on this car and haven’t found that little bit that I’d like it to be. We’re sure improving on it though and making gains,” noted Jones.
The race began with Todd Bear jumping to the early lead over Jack Ely. Jones, who started fifth, was soon alongside Ely and they ran together directly behind Baer.
Seeing that the leader’s car was tight, Jones made a diving move off turn two on lap three and was about to take over until a spinning Roger Heffelfinger Jr., negated his effort. On the restart Jones again new the inside would be the key for passing only this time Baer was a bit more cautious and defended his spot much better. By lap nine, however, his car began to step up and Jones took that at his moment to overrun him.
“I knew he (Bear) was trying to stay tight and I waited and waited because I felt that was going to be the way. The lane opened up for me and we seized it,” said Jones.
A hard-charging Kris Graver was then on Jones’ rear bumper while Beers had moved up to third. Graver had a very strong car and kept right in line with Jones but at the same time he was also busy fending off Beers.
Beers, the current point leader, then made haste with 11 laps reaming rushing past Graver and soon after began the intense fight to the finish with Jones.
“Bobby (Jones) ran a great race and we were side-by-side and banged rub rails and wheels once or twice and man what fun that was,” explained Beers.
“I thought I could get a good run off (turn) four but it got to the point where it wasn’t worth wrecking the car to get there. We were just a tick off tonight and we’ll come back next week and get ‘em.”
Don Wagner held off Austin Kochenash for third while John Markovic completed the top five.
In the Street Stock feature Greg Long was looking to end an over 20-year absence since his last win. However, Jon Moser would spoil his valiant try.
In a race that went nonstop from lap after a lap one caution, Long was well in charge for most of it. Late into the race though Moser was gaining momentum and after a good battle for several laps with Todd Ahner, he picked up second spot on lap 24 and then zeroed in on Long. Using the outside lane, Moser then powered by with two laps to go and drove to his second win of the season.
“If there’s a guy I would love to see win it would be Greg (Long). He led all those laps but got tighter and tigher and I just started to get a run on him. It was a great battle that’s for sure. What a race,” said Moser.
Long had to settle for his best effort to date while Todd Ahner, Dan Freundt and Randy Ahner Jr., rounded out the top five.
The Dirt Mod feature was 25-lap slam-fest to say the least and hitting hard to get the win was Mike Stofflet.
The entire race saw hard racing between Billy Lasko and Ricky Yetter and included numerous stints with them by Stofflet as well as Ray Deemer.
However, twice Stofflet had to restart from the rear due to skirmishes but with a never say die attitude and a will to win, he used a gangbuster style effort to thrust back to the front.
Without holding back, he rapidly picked off spots and with three laps to go stormed under Yetter and then Lasko en route to a rousing fifth win of 2016.
Jake Kibler held the point for all 20 laps in the Pro 4 event and notched his second win of the year.
Hobby Stock point leader Cody Geist annexed his third victory of the season thanks to a late race pass on Jesse Strohl.
Bobby Wagner was the Micro Stock winner after a great clash with Alex Greenzweig.
Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Bobby Jones, 2. Eric Beers, 3. Don Wagner, 4. Austin Kochenash, 5. John Markovic, 6. Jack Ely, 7. Kris Graver 8. Kyle Strohl, 9. Lou Strohl, 10. Todd Baer, 11. Nick Baer, 12. Kevin Rex Jr., 13. Terry Markovic, 14. Earl Paules, 15. Roger Heffelfinger, 16. Jon Moser, 17. Tom Flanagan
Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Jon Moser, 2. Greg Long, 3. Todd Ahner, 4. Dan Freundt, 5. Randy Ahner Jr., 6. Rick Reichenbach, 7. Jason Frey, 8. Stacey Brown, 9. Josh Mooney, 10. Zach Graver, 11. Justin Mooney, 12. Jonathan Tracy, 13. Aaron Kromer, 14. Jason Kuhn, 15. Kristy Arthofer, 16. Mark Martini, 17. Mark Deysher, 18. Corey Edelman, 19. Eric Kocher, 20. Jamie Smith, 21. Jared Ahner DNQ: Mike Piechota, Steve Hoffman, Jacob Kerstetter, Dennis Buss
Dirt Mod Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Mike Stofflet, 2. Ray Deemer, 3. Billy Lasko, 4. Frank Parastino, 5. Ricky Yetter, 6. Aleia Geisler, 7. Scott Hyland, 8. Dave Gorbatuk
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Jake Kibler, 2. Josh Scherer, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Cody Kohler, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Shawn Hoffman, 7. Kailyn Beers, 8. Johnny Bennett, 9. Chase Hoffman, 10. Bobby Kibler Sr., 11. Bobby Kibler Jr., 12. Darren Woolf
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Cody Geist, 2. Michael Wambold, 3. Shaye Geist, 4. Rich Mutarelli, 5. Avery Arthofer, 6. Travis Solomon, 7. Austin Beers, 8. Jacob Kerstetter, 9. Ryan Berger, 10. Ken Reeder, 11. Randy Sicher, 12. Jeff Biegley, 13. Devon Schmidt, 14. Jesse Strohl, 15. Tiffany Wambold, 16. Travis Nothstein
Micro Stock Feature Finish (15 Laps): 1. Bob Wagner, 2. Tyler Wagner, 3. Roger Snyder, 4. Al Vanhart, 5. Larry Ealey, 6. Alex Greenzweig
Dino Oberto