“Showtime” Jimmy Blewett made his first ever visit to Mahoning Valley worthwhile, scoring a rousing a $2950 victory in the John “Peepers” Yerger Tribute before a full house of fans.
Blewett was both good and lucking en-route to the verdict. Despite that fact that he never turned a lap on the tough ¼-mile bullring, he raced strong inside the top five from the drop of the green. Then while running third he caught a huge break when front runners Eric Beers and Matt Hirschman tangled and sent to the rear of the field.
From there on Blewett withstood the advances of track regular Josh Scherer on his way to scoring the popular win. The raced ended nine laps shy of the advertised 77 lap distance due to an ongoing rash of cautions.
Blake Barney did a great job in garnering a career best Mahoning finish of third. Austin Kochenash drove to a solid fourth while upstate New York invader Chuck Hossfeld battled his way to fifth.
By luck of the draw Beers and Todd Baer shared front row honor. This was the first time since August of 2017 that Beers was back in action here and he wasted little time in showing his prowess for getting around the tight confines of Mahoning Valley.
Eighth place starter Hirschman thrust forward in a hurry and was on Beers’ tail giving him quite a bit of pressure. Time and again he tried to grab the lead but each time his efforts where thwarted as Beers maintained a good line of defensiveness to hold back Hirschman’s advances.
Hirschman also had numerous occasions to utilize restarts to overtake Beers as an abundance of cautions plagued the race. All that while defending track champion Bobby Jones was hovering closely in third with Blewett fourth.
Interruptions would abound as the race wore on and take its toll on many including Jones who on lap 37 went spinning off turn four. With that Blewett was now third but ahead of him the Beers/Hirschman battle was still waging and all he could do was ride and watch.
Then on lap 60 the race broke wide open when the front pair got together in turn three. Hirschman was looking to seize an opening on Beers but as they drove into the corner the door got closed and there was contact. Beers went sliding and made a great save of hitting the inside wall off turn four. For his part Hirschman was directed to the rear with Beers for the restart.
For Blewett it was the right place at the right time as he inherited the lead with Scherer now second.
Unfortunately yellow fever would persist on and in the sake of longevity and a warning to drivers, the race was called with eight laps to go.
“This is like the complete opposite of what happens at my home track. I don’t think Matt (Hirschman) meant to take Eric (Beers) out. It was just hard racing there at the end and I’d rather be lucky,” said Blewett.
“My guys gave me a great car and I can’t thank Eric Beers enough for all the help he gave me going into this race. My crew chief Rob Ornsbee, my engine builder Tom Martino but most of all my car owner Scott Brannick. Between him and my grandfather the last four years they’ve really been there when I needed things.”
Known for his winning ways, Blewett notwithstanding entered the race optimistic never having turned a lap here. He practiced well, ran second in his heat then stayed steady in the race before coming into the lead. He then held off Scherer perfectly who kept the pressure on him to the checkers.
“The first thing coming here was to just make the show. There are really good regulars here and I did a lot of watching of videos and in-car cameras. I knew it was going to be stiff competition just to qualify,” said Blewett.
“I felt that if I can come out to this with a top five it will be great. I don’t go anywhere where that I don’t show up and don’t think I can win. This feels good and I look forward to coming back.”
In the Street Stock main Eric Kocher was no match for the rest of the pack as he drove away to a decisive win.
Kocher took the lead from Jillian Long on a lap one restart and was never headed the rest of the way. He had the power to easily distance himself from the pack and only had to deal with resistance during limited restarts. A few laps back under green and Kocher was again pulling away.
Defending class champ Jon Moser stepped up through the pack and claimed second with Randy Schlenker, TJ Gursky and Bobby Kibler Jr. rounding out the top five.
In the Hobby Stock main Justin Merkel parlayed his pole starting spot into a hard fought win.
Merkel led all 25 laps although he was in some thick company along the way as Ryan Berger, Trisha Connelly, Jacob Boehm and Rich Mutarelli provided plenty of opposition.
Despite that Merkel never wavered and held on for his third career win.
In the 20-lap Pro 4 feature no one could match the dominating performance of past champion Cody Kohler who easily pulled ahead of everyone and won for the 27th time with the division.
Kadie Pursell was second, equally her career best finish to date and showed that win number is close at hand.
The Rookie Hobby Stock class made its debut with an impressive 13 first time stock car racers and going into the history books as the inaugural winner was 11-year Micah Adams.
Adams, son of Evergreen Raceway star Scott Adams, made a mid-race winning pass on Makayla Kohler on the outside line and then cruised on to the crowd pleasing win.
Modified Feature Finish (77-laps): 1. Jimmy Blewett, 2. Josh Scherer, 3. Blake Barney, 4. Austin Kochenash, 5. Chuck Hossfeld, 6. Eric Beers, 7. John Markovic, 8. Rod Snyder Jr., 9. Tyler Truex, 10. Bobby Jones, 11. Matt Hirschman, 12. Todd Baer, 13. Eddie McCarthy, 14. Patrick Emerling, 15. Kyle Strohl, 16. Earl Paules, 17. Nick Baer, 18. Brian DeFebo, 19. Don Wagner, 20. Ron Silk, 21. Terry Markovic, 22. Jason Arthofer, 23. Austin Beers, 24. Jack Ely DNQ: Roger Coss, Lou Strohl, Heath Metzger, Gene Bowers, Sen Verwys, Jacob Kerstetter, Jim Gaver, Mike Stofflet, BJ Wambold
Street Stock Feature Finish (30-laps): 1. Eric Kocher, 2. Jon Moser, 3. Randy Schlenker, 4. TJ Gursky, 5. Bobby Kibler Jr., 6. Josh Mooney, 7. Johnny Bennett, 8. Mark Martini, 9. Cody Geist, 10. Jason Beers, 11. Jillian Long, 12. Brandon Christman, 13. Frank DelNero Jr., 14. Tucker Muffley, 15. Shayne Geist, 16. Mark Deysher, 17. Todd Ahner, 18. Jamie Smith, 19. Rick Reichenbach, 20. Randy Ahner Jr. DNQ: Rich Moser, Jay Gould, Justin Mooney, Todd Geist, Thomas Flanagan, Logan Boyer
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (25-laps): 1. Justin Merkel, 2. Ryan Berger, 3. Trisha Connolly, 4. Jacob Boehm, 5. Jacob Oswald, 6. Rich Mutarelli, 7. Travis Solomon, 8. Jesse Bollinger, 9. Cody Boehm, 10. Taylor Schmidt, 11. Kassidy Altemose, 12. Gary Woodring, 14. Clem Underwood, 15. James Tout, 16. Al Arthofer, 17. Micah Adams, 18. John Petro, 19. Eddie Jones, 20. Phil Sabatine DNQ: Lyndsay Buss, Mallory Kutz, Rebecca Barbush, Tad Snyder, Brandon Covert, Corey Edelman, Nicholas Kerstetter, Ralph Boger Jr., Brian Romig Jr., Austin Ahner, Doug DeHaven
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20-laps): 1. Cody, 2. Kadie Pursell, 3. Josh Kuronya, 4. Randy Schaffer, 5. Robert Derfler, 6. Jeremy Guerra, 7. Jake Kibler DNS: Tyler Stangle
Rookie Hobby Stock Feature Finish (12-laps): 1. Micah Adams 2. Mikayla Kohler, 3. Toby Behler 4. Jaden Brown 5. Jason Finkbein 6. Hallie Muffley, 7. Savannah Romig, 8. Paul French Jr., 9. Elia Tito, 10. Corey Gulich, 11. Zoe Kuchera, 12. Mia Guy DNS: Maggie Yeakel
MVS PR
