Eric
Beers and Matt Hirschman take all the Mahoning Cash Back to Mud Lane
The stock on Mud Lane in
Northampton took a spike Saturday evening thanks to neighbors Eric Beers and
Matt Hirschman who each picked up $3000 from winning Hands Three and Four of
the Modified 100 Poker Series at Mahoning Valley Speedway.
For Beers, who drives for
DeLange Racing, it was his second 100 lap win this season and the sixth such
time that he has scored a Mahoning century mark run as well as the 26th
Modified win at the Lehighton ¼-mile which he still calls his ‘home track.’
Hirschman meanwhile has
been trying for years to get a win at the close-to-home speedway. Victory
here has always eluded the talented Modified star which is one of the very
few tracks that he had yet to conquer.
Hand Three of the Poker
Series was a continuation from July 25 when after 37 laps the event was
postponed due to rain. When the remaining 63 circuits got back underway
track point leader John Bennett was the leader over Chip Santee, Beers, Rick
Reichenbach and Earl Paulus.
Beers moved right behind Bennett and immediately went to work on trying to
pass him. Bennett, however, was proving why he is the current Kingpin of
Mahoning as would not give Beers any chance to overtake him.
The two waged a classic
battle as lap after lap Beers would try every type of maneuver to get by but
Bennett continued to hold his ground.
With 20 laps to go Beers
started to look to the inside of Bennett and three laps later he finally had
enough power to drive by for the lead. Once in front he stayed smooth and
steady.
“I’ll tell you what, he
(Bennett) was fast. I was just riding him from the get-go and had a tough
time getting him. We put on a heck of a show running side-by-side. He kind
of slipped up a little bit in (turn) two and I saw my opening there. I got
down in the corner and we never touched. It was just a fun race,” said
Beers.
“I never want to settle for
second in any race I’m in. I was just trying to set him up so I could get a
good groove to pass him, try to find his weaknesses, pick a spot and get by
quick.”
Over the final laps Bennett
began to slip back as Lonnie Behler, Hirschman and Santee finished ahead of
him at the checkered flag.
Time trials were held in setting the grid for the second 100-lapper with
Hirschman setting fast time at 9.786 seconds. A redraw of the top 12 was
then held and Hirschman had some luck go his way when he pulled the pole.
Getting the pole was one
thing but leading was a whole other issue as Hirschman had a race long
bumper full of cars in pursuant of him.
While he defended his line there was the likes of Beers and John Markovic on
his tail. The two past Mahoning champs went back and forth with one another
while making repeated tries at the leader.
That was the tone for most
of the race too. Hirschman leading while intense side-by-side action was
going on behind him.
When Beers and Markovic
weren’t on his trail it was Zane Zeiner and Bennett who were putting the
pressure on. Zeiner looked as though he was about to make a pass several
times but somehow Hirschman found the needed muscle to stay ahead.
With ten laps to go
Markovic and Beers returned to their runner-up battle but could not make the
needed effort to advance any further as Hirschman piloted his J & J
Motorsports #59 to the long awaited Mahoning win.
“It’s about time. It feels
great to get that monkey off my back here. It shouldn’t have taken this long
and I don’t know why it did. When I had a great car something always seem to
happen and there where nights I didn’t have such a good car and left here
disappointed,” said Hirschman.
“We had some of the best to deal with. Eric (Beers) has been really dominant
here and Johnny (Markovic) has won here so many times and Zane (Zeiner) was
coming on real strong at the end and I knew we just had to pick it up to
keep them behind me.
“I really have to thank my
niece Amelia. She drew the pole for me and tomorrow is her second birthday.”
This marked the first time
that a Hirschman was back in Victory Lane at Mahoning in a regular division
race since Matt’s dad, multiple NASCAR Modified champion Tony, won in a Late
Model back in 1976.
“I’ve definitely taken my
ribbing from lack of success here from everybody so I’m glad to finally get
a win here. It’s a relief to get one so close to home,” said Hirschman.
“Finally. I bust on him all
the time that he can’t win here at Mahoning but can everywhere else and he
finally got one here,” added dad Tony Hirschman.
Markovic was second after
an outstanding run. Beers came home a close third with Zeiner and Santee
rounding out the top five.
In the 40-lap Late Model
main Lehighton’s Frankie Althouse may have won the race but it was seasoned
veteran Todd Stehle, of Jim Thorpe that won the coveted title.
Althouse passed Stehle for
the lead with nine laps to go and then held off Joe Mooney for his fourth
win of the season. Late into the race Joe Mooney worked his way around
Stehle and scored second.
This has been a breakout
year for Althouse, having won and more times in any one season he has raced
a stock car in and keeping pace most of the year with Stehle for the title.
Stehle came into the night
needing only to take the green in claiming the crown but he had his sights
set on feature victory. He snagged the top spot from early leader Austin
Kochenash on lap eight and then had his work cut out for him in dealing with
Althouse and then Mooney before settling for third. This was his third
straight championship and fourth overall at Mahoning.
Kristy Morone Arthofer of
Bath raced to her overdue first win of the season with the Street Stocks.
Arthofer was able to work into the lead after going to the high side and
pass Jamie Smith at the start of lap nine.
Once in front she made it a race for second as no one was able to make an
attempt on her. Brian Labar garnered second with Randy Ahner, Jr. third.
With just one point race to
go Ahner and Shawn Sitarchyk are deadlocked at the top of the standings.
In the make-up Dirt Mod
feature Chad Jones of Perkasie used late race lapped traffic to steal the
lead away from Bret Ballard with three laps to go and went on to score his
fifth win of the season.
The event was very exciting
as a season high 16 cars took the green with Steve Folk grabbing the early
lead and holding it until lap 15 when Ballard took over. All the while an
intense four car battle was being waged between Folk, Randy Thomas, Ballard
and Jones.
In the regular feature,
which was the season finale for the class, Bill Briggs of Pine Hill, NJ, in
just his fourth Mahoning start, led every lap and picked up his career first
asphalt win.
With his fourth place
tally, Thomas, of Palmerton, enters the history books as the first ever
champion of the Dirt Modifieds.
In the Pro4 Late Models,
Kevin Graver, Jr., of Lehighton closed out his remarkable season on a high
note as he not only won for an unparalleled 11th time, but he also secured
the championship as well.
Graver started seventh and
moved past early leader Mike Stringer on lap eight and then held off rival
Jeremy Miller the rest of the way. This marked Graver’s second class title
and fourth overall at the track.
Roger Snyder of Kempton won
a wild Micro Stock feature by inches over Bob and DJ Wagner.
Modified Feature Finish, 100 Laps: 1.Matt Hirschman 2.John Markovic 3.Eric
Beers 4.Zane Zeiner 5.Chip Santee 6.John Bennett 7.James Pritchard 8.Brian
DeFebo 9.Lou Strohl 10.Matt Wentz 11.Anthony Sesely 12.Earl Paulus 13.Jarred
Nace 14.Mike Sweeney 15.Lonnie Behler 16.Andy Szapacs 17.Stacey Brown
18.Matt Higgins 19.Rick Reichenbach 20.Don Wagner 21.Austin Kochenash
22.Ryan Russo Did not qualify: Todd Baer, Billy Swartz, Bill Teel
Modified Feature Finish,
(7/25) 100 Laps: 1.Beers 2.Behler 3.Hirschman 4.Santee 5.Bennett 6.DeFebo
7.Reichenbach 8.Baer 9.Pritchard 10.Wagner 11.Szapacs 12.Paulus 13.Higgins
14.Strohl 15.Russo 16.Tom Flanagan
Late Model Feature Finish,
40 Laps: 1.Frankie Althouse 2.Joe Mooney 3.Todd Stehle 4.Austin Kochenash
5.Jason Zatsko 6.Kristian Kalch 7.Geno Steigerwalt 8.Chub Steigerwalt 9.Todd
Geist 10.Troy Bollinger 11.Pat Hargan Did not start: Doug Bell
Street Stock Feature
Finish, 25 Laps: 1.Kristy Arthofer 2.Brain Labar 3.Randy Ahner, Jr.
4.Jillian Long 5.Shawn Sitarchyk 6.TJ Gursky 7.Matt May 8.Jamie Smith
9.Chris May 10.Jason Frey 11.Todd Ahner 12.Justin Mooney 13.Steve Hoffman
14.Adam Santee 15.Josh Mooney 16.Devin Gibson 17.Eric Danyluk 18.Denis Buss
19.Chip Wanamaker 20.Kevin Smith
Pro4 Late Model Feature
Finish, 20 Laps: 1.Kevin Graver, Jr. 2.Jeremy Miller 3.Dave Chapman 4.Jake
Kibler 5.Dennis Silfies 6.Bill Rooney 7.Kris Gruber 8.Mike Stofflet 9.Robert
Miller 10.Mike Stringer 11.Gene Bowers
Dirt Modified Feature
Finish, 20 Laps: 1.Bill Briggs 2.Chad Jones 3.Brett Ballard 4.Randy Thomas
5.Dave Thomas 6.Ryan Beltz 7.Tom Cremer 8.Mike Cogeil 9.Alex Mayer 10.Tim
Pitts 11.Jeff Parker 12.Steve Folk 13.Bill Sitler 14.Joe Stangle 15.DJ
Wagner Did not start: Don Hildebrandt
Make-up Dirt Modified
Feature Finish (7/25), 20 Laps: 1.Jones 2.Folk 3.Randy Thomas 4.Cogeill
5.Mayer 6.Ballard 7.Beltz 8.Parker 9.Pitts 10.Dave Thomas 11.Stangle
12.Sittler 13.Briggs 14.Wagner 15.Hildebrant 16.Cremer