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By DINO OBERTO
(Lehighton, PA 4-8-23) Jack Ely of Wall, NJ made an inside pass on Zane Zeiner for the lead during a lap 57 restart and once there was able to remain in control en route to the Opening Night win at Mahoning Valley Speedway in the 75-lap Spring Meltdown for the Race of Champions (RoC) Modified Series. It was Ely’s first win on the RoC and first at Mahoning since September of 2017.
“It’s absolutely amazing and we’ve been running on this Tour for five years now and to pick up my first win at this race track is something special to me. This is where I cut my teeth and where I started my full size stock car career and to have the Race of Champions come here and be able to park it in Victory Lane it’s nothing short of amazing,” relayed a very happy Ely after his $4000 win.
“This is our first time here with this car so coming into the day I knew we were going to be close but I didn’t think it was going to be that good for the feature and overall I’m so happy for this entire team and I can’t thank them enough and I also want to thank Joe Skotnicki and the entire Race of Champions family for coming back to this race track and putting on a great Series for us to race in.”
When the action began Zeiner jumped out front over Daren Scherer, Roger Coss, Austin Kochenash and Lou Strohl. Strohl, who has a record four Opening Night wins at Mahoning, soon began a charge to the front as by lap 10 he worked into second and in that offensive drive brought Ely with him.
It was then a torrid three car battle that ensued as Zeiner had plenty to deal with against the latter two. Strohl then flexed his muscle even more when he powered his way to the outside of Zeiner on lap 20 and three laps later took over as the leader. And while that was taking place Austin Kochenash came into the hunt grabbing third spot from Ely.
With the race moving along at a steady pace Strohl continued to lead although Zeiner and Kochenash stayed very close and likewise with Ely and Scherer hovering.
There then came a thrilling moment on lap 43 when Strohl got slightly loose on the back straight and saw Zeiner and Ely go three wide for the lead. The heart stopping moment played out with Zeiner getting back the lead and Ely falling into second.
From there Ely was persistently putting the pressure on Zeiner. Time and again as the laps clicked of Ely tried to get by and the successful opportunity finally presented itself on the lap 57 restart.
“Lou (Strohl) got real loose and that opened the door for that three wide move. And then I knew we were better than Zane and I just didn’t have quite enough drive to make the move work but on that restart he just slipped up enough in turn two that I was able to get my nose in there and I wasn’t giving it up after that,” said Ely.
When Ely got the lead he clearly showed that his car was performing at its peak as he was able to pull away from Zeiner and the rest of the pack, crossing the finish line by a solid two car lengths.
Zeiner would hold onto second as in the waning laps Kochenash was making numerous attempts to take the spot from him.
“We just struggled a bit after the restarts and I don’t know if the right front (tire) went away on us and got super tight and it’s a shame because we worked real hard to get this car out here and we haven’t raced it since 2017 but we’ll take it. It was a nice hard fought second place and congrats to Jack (Ely) on his win, he deserves it and was a better car then us tonight,” said Zeiner.
Kochenash was indeed dialed in over the second half of the race as he was in constant sight of the leaders and his third place tally was well-earned. Likewise with Strohl who was a strong runner all race long and settled for fourth. Rounding out the top five was Blake Barney.
Earl Paules, Scherer, Matt Hirschman, Austin Beers and Brian DeFebo completed the top five in the 26 car field. Timmy Catalano, Hirschman, Ely and Beers annexed heat wins.
In a very exciting conclusion to the Street Stock feature Randy Green went from fourth to first in the last corner of the last lap and scored his career first victory.
All race long saw Cody Geist leading over Johnny Bennett and Green. But in the final few laps a hard charging Jon Moser was making headway and after taking third spot on the white flag lap he then used the outside lane to motor past Green and Bennett.
However, when he reached Geist in turn three he got pinched and went into a spin. As the field began to take evasive action Green would stay low of the mayhem and edged out Bennett for the memorable win. Jacob Boehm, Logan Boyer and Jillian Snyder completed the top five.
Officials relegated Geist to the tail end of the lead lap cars for his part in the incident.
In the Dirt Modifieds Xavier Sprague was making just his second start on asphalt but you would have been hard-pressed to tell otherwise as the 14-year old – who in less than 24 hours had been racing on dirt at Big Diamond Speedway – drove a flawless race leading from start to finish and cruised to a solid victory.
Former class champion Jeff Parker tried but just couldn’t find the power needed to overtake Sprague and settled for second spot.
It was not surprising that the Harry’s U-Pull-It Hobby Stock feature was yet another barnburner.
The record will show that Travis Solomon led every lap but it would be under constant pressure through the 25 lap distant as he faced an onslaught of combatants.
The Boehm brothers, Jacob and Cody where insistently making passing attempts on him and late in the going it would be Scott Adams who would do the same.
But Solomon would never waver as he held his ground and hold on for his second straight Opening Night win and eighth of his career.
In the Pro 4s it was four-time and defending champion Cody Kohler collecting yet another win.
Kohler raced into the lead at the start and never was headed as he cruised to his 43rd class win. Terry Peters took second with Colton Breiner third.
The Futures main went to Michael Klotz who seamlessly drove ahead of the pack from start to finish. First-timer Rodney Breiner had an impressive debut as he took second while Adam Steigerwalt notched third.
Modified Feature Finish (75 laps): 1. Jack Ely, 2. Zane Zeiner, 3. Austin Kochenash, 4. Lou Strohl, 5. Blake Barney, 6. Earl Paules, 7. Daren Scherer, 8. Matt Hirschman, 9. Austin Beers, 10. Brian DeFebo, 11. Jacob Kerstetter, 12. Paulie Hartwig III, 13. Rod Snyder Jr., 14. Roger Coss, 15. TJ Potrzebowski, 16. Tyler Catalano, 17. Andrew Lewis Jr., 18. Timmy Catalano, 19. Don Wagner, 20. Frank Parastino, 21. James Pritchard Jr., 22. Danny Knoll Jr., 23. Andy Jankowiak, 24. Kyle Strohl, 25. Sean Verwys, 26. Nick Baer
Street Stock Feature Finish (30 laps): 1. Randy Green, 2. Johnny Bennett, 3. Jacob Boehm, 4. Logan Boyer, 5. Jillian Snyder, 6. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 7. Brandon Christman, 8. Jamie Smith, 9. Todd Ahner, 10. Tommy Flanagan, 11. Shayne Geist, 12. Shawn Hoffman, 13. Jon Moser 14. Cody Geist, 15. Josh Kuronya, 16. Jeremy Scheckler, 17. Bobby Kibler Jr., 18. Thomas Flanagan, 19. Randy Mathews
Dirt Modifieds Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. Xavier Sprague, 2. Jeff Parker, 3. James Counterman Jr., 4. Heath Metzger, 5. Scott Hyland, 6. Paulie Hartwig III
Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. Cody Kohler, 2. Terry Peters, 3. Colton Breiner, 4. Ken Reeder, 5. Richie Pursell, 6. James Yons DNS: Kadie Pursell
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (25 laps): 1. Travis Solomon, 2. Scott Adams, 3. Cody Boehm, 4. Jacob Boehm, 5. Ryan Berger, 6. Michael Wambold, 7. Shawn Kistler, 8. Parker Ahner, 9. Jared Frye, 10. Sam Ryan, 11. Don Bauder, 12. Maggie Yeakel, 13. James Tout, 14. Ed Herman, 15. Trisha Connolly, 16. Jake Kibler, 17. Mallory Kutz, 18. Tony Hilliard, 19. Nick Schaffer, 20. Lyndsay Buss DNQ:
Futures Feature Finish (15 laps): 1. Michael Klotz, 2. Rodney Breiner, 3. Adam Steigerwalt, 4. Chaz Takacs, 5. Gabrielle Steigerwalt, 6. Keith Bilder, 7. Adam Heckman, 8. Russ Breiner, 9. Al Gildner, 10. Sarabeth Mesko, 11. Lexus Kutz
