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By DINO OBERTO
(Lehighton, PA 7-23-22) The Sportsman Modifieds took center stage at Mahoning Valley Speedway and so too did Jaden Brown who for a third consecutive time claimed the checkers and the end of the 25-lap feature.
The race got underway with rookies Zach Lenardo and Greyson Ahner on the front row and at the drop of the race commencing green Lenardo jumped into the early lead. Showing continued improvement each time out, Lenardo was now leading for the first time with the Sportsman car while Brown was quick to pick up second spot.
With Lenardo holding the inside line Brown then started to challenge from him from the top groove and as they began lap three the lead changed hands. Brown soon began to make it a race for second as he progressively began to put distance on the rest of the field.
While Brown was setting the pace second spot was a good battle between point leader Nick Baer and Brody George. Running most laps side-by-side and a few times rubbing they provided some thrilling action. It wasn’t until 10 laps to go that Bear finally cleared himself of George but by then Brown was too far gone.
As the checkers waved Brown had a commanding four car length advantage on Bear, earning his sixth division win.
Mark Deysher has been one of the most consistent Street Stock drivers this season, finishing in the top 10 in 10 straight races. That kind of consistency also means good finishes and yes he’s had those but not the one he works the most for, that being a win.
In Saturday night’s 30-lap contest he finally got it done, putting his Deysher Farms No. 11 into the Winner’s Circle for the first time in 2022.
Deysher started 7th and after 10 laps moved to the runner-up spot over early leader Randy Green who was maintaining a great pace since the initial start.
Deysher was keeping the pressure on Green and kept peeking to the inside and by the halfway mark he had enough of an opening to compete the pass. From then on he made perfect laps and scored career win number 24, which came on he and wife Nikki’s wedding anniversary.
Cody Geist took second and put on a quite the drive to get there. Geist had been battling near the front but was relegated to the rear after a lap 10 incident. He then came through the pack with amazing speed and agility only to run out of time as he caught up with Deysher.
The Hobby Stock class at Mahoning Valley Speedway is filled with parity yet Corey Edelman once again was the car parked in Victory Lane, a seventh time this season in besting the equally paired group.
Edelman came from 9th to first in 15 laps. This week’s race winning move derived by way of an inside pass on Don Bauder – who had been leading since lap two – and afterwards was in a torrid fight to the finish with Lyndsay Buss as the pair went back and forth for the top spot.
It wasn’t until the final lap that Edelman was able to shake free and secure the verdict. Buss had to settle for her best finish to date.
The Ward Crozier Sr., Memorial for Pro 4s was held and picking up a fourth victory in seven 2022 starts was current point leader Cody Kohler.
Kohler worked around Tyler Stangle on lap 13 of 26 and then stayed perfect the rest of the way en route to his 40th overall Mahoning win. The win netted him $400, a huge trophy and one-of-a-kind scale model of the late Crozier.
Stangle, who continues to be the top contender to Kohler, held on for his fourth runner-up and seventh straight top five.
After reeling off four straight wins starting on week two, 11-year old Parker Ahner then had some “off-nights” the next three races but on Saturday Ahner was back to those winning ways as he took the lead from Lexus Kutz on lap two and then gradually pulled away.
At the checkers he was able to hold off fast closing Maggie Yeakel and in doing so padded his point lead over Makayla Kohler.
Sportsman Modified feature (25 laps): 1. Jaden brown, 2. Nick Baer, 3. Brody George, 4. Zach Lenardo, 5. Greyson Ahner, 6. Terry Markovic
Street Stock feature (30 laps): 1. Mark Deysher, 2. Cody Geist, 3. Todd Ahner, 4. Logan Boyer, 5. Tommy Flanagan, 6. Randy Green, 7. Jillian Snyder, 8. Tucker Muffley, 9. Thomas Flanagan, 10. Jamie Smith
Pro 4 feature (26 laps): 1. Cody Kohler, 2. Tyler Stangle, 3. Colton Breiner, 4. Terry Peters, 5. Ken Reeder, 6. Kadie Pursell, 7. Richie Pursell, 8. Alexis Jones, 9. Jake Kibler
Hobby Stock feature (25 laps): 1. Corey Edelman, 2. Lyndsay Buss, 3. Travis Solomon, 4. Dave Kerr, 5. Cody Boehm, 6. BJ Wambold, 7. Jacob Boehm, 8. Don Bauder, 9. Shayne Geist, 10. James Tout, 11. Jared Frye, 12. Mallory Kutz DNS: Ralph Boger Jr., Paul French Jr.
Futures feature (15 laps): 1. Parker Ahner, 2. Maggie Yeakel, 3. Michael Klotz, 4. Gabrielle Steigerwalt, 5. Makayla Kohler, 6. Adam Steigerwalt, 7. John Heinrich, 8. Zoe Kuchera
