09/17/17 - Mahoning Valley Speedway Results

Don Wagner, Bobby Jones, Todd Baer and John Markovic take Bill Teel Memorial wins; Wagner is overall champion



The Bill Teel Memorial far and away lived up to all of the pre-race hype as was to be expected. With a unique format consisting of 4 16-lap features and paying a respectable $1116 to win each plus an additional $1116 to the overall champion, the supportive group of fans and teams all came out of the night with a plate full of satisfaction and content.

The event was in memory of the late 3-time Modified driving and one-time car owner champion. When all was said and done the winners would have made Bill proud as they all had close ties to the former great.

Don Wagner, Bobby Jones, Todd Baer and John Markovic scored the respective victories. Wagner also merited the champion title for his best overall finish across the four features.

With only 16 laps to get things done there would be little time to contemplate the right moves. Drivers had to act quickly in order to get positions and none more so than that of the lead. Each race would have that intenseness for the top spot and outcome.

In race one Troy Bollinger had the pole and would lead early on. But there would be an onslaught of competition bearing down on him, Ron Haring Jr., and Wagner especially. On the sixth lap Wagner motored by Haring and two laps later made a swift dash by Bollinger for the lead and eventually the win.

“We set this up for a short race and we just laid on the right front tire to make it turn,” said Wagner on his first win of the season. “The next three features should be interesting.”

Interesting was more of an understatement as the hard charging excitement continued to peak.

In race two Joey Jarowicz was on the pole and primed to get his career first Modified win after coming close several times this season.

He would get the lead but was immediately pressured by Jones and Kris Graver. Jarowicz was not giving in despite cars on either side of him. However, while exhaustedly defending his spot, Jones executed an outside pass while Jarowicz was holding back Graver.

There was five laps to go by then and Jones was now the lead defender and held back Jarowicz for his second victory of 2017.

“I set my turns up just right and I waited as long as I could to make the pass,” said Jones.

“I really wanted to win one of these tonight. Billy was a good friend and I miss him every day and I think a lot of people miss him, that was evident by the great turnout here this evening. I learned so much of what I do here from him. The most significant thing was how to act. He was a very classy person and he taught you how to behave.”

For the third feature the redraw put Baer on the pole and once again when the racing commenced things got right down to business in a furious fashion.

Baer was in tough company as Brian DeFebo was making a bold effort to drive by him. Baer would not waver as he led the distance and squeaked out a mere .083-margin of victory.

“The car was getting tight as we went on and had we not have had the starting spot that we did we not have gotten this,” said Baer, who helped out as a co-sponsor.

“Dene Smith put a lot of work into this event and I felt I wanted to jump on board too. It was a blast and I hope this is just the first of many more Bill Teel Memorial races to come.”

In the finale it would be the always classy Markovic winning a race in honor of an equally classy guy.

Markovic would get the jump at the start over Kevin Graver Jr., who had a slight hiccup. That enabled Markovic to seize the moment and he would be solid through all 16 laps, netting his first win since 2014.

“Bill was a great guy, a great competitor and great person all around,” said Markovic. “We love what we do here and it’s a tough sport. There no field fillers anymore, everyone is top of the line. And here at Mahoning Valley all these guys run fair together, it’s always a nice place to come and race.”

Taking the four race best finish average to determine the overall champion, Wagner bested DeFebo and the rest of the field for the added bonus money and trophy.

“It’s just an honor. Bill Teel was a great guy who I was lucky to race against quite a bit over the years. I learned a lot from him too. Guys like him are the ones you always admired and I was lucky to have known him,” said Wagner, who also earned a guaranteed starting spot for the season ending Octoberfast 200.

Mike Sweeney swept into the lead at the outset and would lead every lap en route to his eighth Late Model win of the year. Frankie Althouse was second.

In the Street Stocks point leader Jon Moser helped his efforts of repeating as champion with a division leading third win. Moser went to the lead over Jared Ahner on a lap 22 restart and then cruised home the winner afterwards.

Jeff Parker notched his second Dirt Mod win in three starts. Parker led from the get-go and would hold off Mike Stofflet and Ricky Ross Jr., en route to his 13th career victory.

The Pro 4 feature went to Kevin Stein. Stein raced into the lead on lap four and then held back the persistence of Jake Kibler. Briggs Danner had an impressive showing, driving the Kohler No. 29 to a respectable third.

Paul Effrig is making his first season with the Hobby Stock quite the enjoyable one as he led all 25 laps and recorded his third win thus far.



1st Modified Feature Finish (16 Laps) 1. Don Wagner, 2. Troy Bollinger, 3. Brian DeFebo, 4. Ron Haring Jr, 5. Gene Bowers, 6. Kyle Strohl, 7. Tyler Haydt, 8. Lou Strohl, 9. Terry Markovic, 10. John Markovic, 11. Bobby Jones, 12. Kristofer Graver, 13. Joey Jarowicz, 14.Todd Bear, 15. Nick Bear, 16. Kevin Graver, 17. Brian Labar, 18. Vincent Biondilillo, 19. Jacob Kerstetter, 20. Jon Moser

2nd Modified Feature Finish (16 Laps): 1. Jones, 2. Jarowicz, 3. Kris Graver, 4. J. Markovic, 5. Haydt, 6. L. Strohl, 7. Bowers, 8. Wagner, 9. DeFebo, 10. K. Strohl, 11. T. Baer, 12. Kevin Graver, 13. Labar, 14. T. Markovic, 15. Biondilillo, 16. Haring, 17. Kerstetter, 18. N. Bear, 19. Moser, 20. Bollinger

3rd Modified Feature Finish (16 Laps): 1. T. Bear, 2. DeFebo, 3. K. Strohl, 4. Haydt, 5. Bowers, 6. Kris Graver, 7. Jones, 8. Wagner, 9. L. Strohl, 10. J. Markovic, 11. Kevin Graver, 12. Jarowicz, 13. N. Bear, 14. Biondilillo, 15. Haring, 16. Labar, 17. Moser, 18. Kerstetter, 19. T. Markovic, 20. Bollinger

4th Modified Feature Finish (16 Laps): 1. J. Markovic, 2. Wagner, 3. Jones, 4. Kris Graver, 5. Bowers, 6. DeFebo, 7. K. Strohl, 8. Kevin Graver, 9. Biondilillo, 10. T. Baer, 11. L. Strohl, 12. Haydt, 13. Kerstetter, 14. Jarowicz, 15. Moser, 16. Labar, 17. N. Bear, 18. Haring DNS: T. Markovic, Bollinger

Late Model Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Mike Sweeney, 2. Frankie Althouse, 3. Lorin Arthofer II, 4. Dylan Osborn, 5. George Ramos, 6. Kenny Hein DNS: Jeremy Miller

Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Jon Moser, 2. Jared Ahner, 3. Alan Schlenker, 4. Stacey Brown, 5. Todd Ahner, 6. Cody Geist, 7. Mark Deysher, 8. Rick Reichenbach, 9. Corey Edelman, 10. Jill Long, 11. Josh Scherer, 12. Jamie Smith, 13. Ken Erney lll, 14. Steven Steigerwalt, 15. BJ Wambold, 16. Dennis Buss, 17. Joe Mooney

Dirt Mod Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Jeff Parker, 2. Mike Stofflet, 3. Ricky Ross, 4. Corey Edelman, 5. Patrick Corrigan

Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Kevin Stein, 2. Jake Kibler, 3. Briggs Danner, 4. John Bennett, 5. Ken Redder, 6. Josh Kuronya, 7. Tucker Muffley, 8. Randy Schaffer, 9. Kailyn Beers

Hobby Stock Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Paul Effrig, 2. Devin Schmidt, 3. Travis Solomon, 4. Avery Arthofer, 5. Al Arthofer, 6. Austin Beers, 7. Trisha Connolly, 8. Carl Altemose, 9. Rich Mutarelli, 10. Michael Wambold, 11. Ryan Berger, 12. Kevin Behler, 13. Justin Merkel, 14. Samantha Osborn, 15. Peyton Arthofer, 16. Nicholas Kerstetter, 17. Matt Fisher


Dino Oberto