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A stout $45,000 Modified purse with additional bonuses was enough to draw in a full, 24 car field for the already heavily anticipated Fall Brawl at The Mahoning Valley Speedway. The season finale was dedicated to two beloved racing figures who have contributed so much to not only the Mahoning Valley racing community, but also extended their racing passion in the form of helping others at the speedway. Kevin Graver Sr. and Kevin Kromer were both pivotal parts in the local racing community, and with the help of of their families, friends, and sponsors, racers were able to compete for very generous payouts in their respective divisions.
Both the 101-Lap Modified event and the 30 lap Pro-4 event were held in memory of Kevin Graver Sr.. Likewise, the long time Street Stock competitor, Kevin Kromer, was honored by holding a 77-lap cone race for the Street Stocks in his name.
The 101 lap modified main event started off with the the original pole-sitter, Matt Hirschman, electing to start in the rear in an attempt to capture an additional $1,000 hard charger bonus in the event of a victory. The front row was then reshuffled to become the #41 of Nick Baer and the #8 of Earl Paules.
Paules would waste no time utilizing the outside lane to charge to the lead, taking the #19 of Austin Beers right along with him on lap one. Just a few laps in, the first yellow flag would wave, setting up for the ensuing restart with both Paules and Beers on the front row. Beers would make his way by the #8 of Paules by lap 10, which was where he would remain for the ensuing 50 laps.
A frightening incident involving the #51 of Jayden Harman who made hard contact with the front stretch wall brought out the yellow on lap 61. Fortunately, Harman exited the vehicle under his own power, and the field would shuffle back together double file for the remaining 41 laps.
By this point, it was go time for those who had been saving their equipment, especially so for Matt Hirschman who had found himself in the top ten for the first time all race. While Roger Coss was taking sole position of first place from Austin Beers, contact between the #25 of Brian Robie and the #66 of Austin Kochenash would collect the #60 of Matt Hirschman, cutting his left front tire.
From this point on, it was seemingly a two horse race, as the youngest driver of the field, Paulie Hartwig lll, emerged from the tightly contested top 5 and set his sights on the #17 of Roger Coss. Coss, to this point, had seemed untouchable since grabbing the lead from Beers, but as his tires began to fade, Hartwig lll reeled him back in with less than 15 to go. The 13 year old phenom began to apply pressure to Coss as they approached lapped traffic. Coss was using every trick he had up his sleeve to keep the #11 car at bay, using lap cars as picks and timing his corner entry, however, with two laps to go, Hartwig lll was able to give Coss just enough bumper to wash him up the track and sneak underneath for the lead. Hartwig lll would hold on for the last quarter mile to collect his first tour modified victory and come home with a $5,001 paycheck in the 101-lap Kevin Graver Sr. Tribute Race!
Next up were the Mahoning Valley Street Stocks to complete their 77-lap main event in memory of Kevin Kromer. Matt Kocher would lead the field to green in the 77 lap cone race in his pristine looking #12 machine. He was trailed by the #41 of Brandon Christman and the “X” car of Johnny Bennett, who would join him in separating from the rest of the field by a substantial margin.
Bennett would become the first caution of the night for the Street Stocks, as he was sent spinning in his own fluid coming out of turn 4, which resulted in a lengthy caution. With the rest of the field jumbling around with the cone race format, the front two never wavered as they would remain the top two competitors from start to finish.
With less than 5 laps to go, Kocher and Christman were bumper to bumper, approaching lapped traffic which proved to be the most opportune time for Christman to make his move, sending it three wide on the inside of the lapped traffic, capturing the lead from Kocher with 2 laps remaining. Christman would hold on to the end, capturing his second straight victory, this time, picking up the $1,077 paycheck in the Kevin Kromer Memorial feature!
The Mahoning Valley Hobby Stocks were also on the main event card, slated to run 40 laps under the lights in the season finale. The #79 of James Tout would lead the #18 of Jacob Boehm to the green flag, where he would separate himself early on, until the first yellow came out for a flat tire of the #23 of Travis Solomon. From then on, Corey Edelman would be the hard charger on the outside, capturing the lead from Tout with the #78 of Cody Boehm trailing behind him.
Contact between the #15 of Nick Kerstetter and the #88 of Terry Peters would bring out the longest yellow flag of the night, shaping up for a duel to the finish between Edelman and Cody Boehm. Boehm would take several looks to both the inside and outside of Edelman, however the #99 neon was simply too dominant for the rest of the field, capturing his first victory of the season at Mahoning Valley Speedway at the Fall Brawl!
The Future Hobby Stock division was one of the first divisions to take the track prior to intermission for their 20 lap main event. Justin Merkel Jr. would be at the helm of the field, with the #7 of Al Gildner right alongside him. Merkel was able to get out to an early lead, however, handling issues kept him from pulling away from the #7 of Gildner.
While the poor handling race car made things difficult for Merkel, it made it twice as difficult for the #7 of Gildner to attempt a pass. At several points, Gildner had a run on Merkel, however, passing the #18 of Merkel was simply too risky, as Merkel was able to hold on for his third victory of his rookie season at Mahoning Valley Speedway!
The Mahoning Valley Pro-4 division as provided so much excitement and enthusiasm for the fans of the speedway over the course of this season, and the Fall Brawl proved to be no different.
Entering the evening undefeated on the year, Cody Kohler had been on an absolute tear in the Pro-4 division. This would all come to an end when lap one contact between he and the #17 of Jason Finken sent the #29 of Kohler up to the turn 3 wall, where he would miss just before his car caught traction and rerouted to the inside wall coming out of turn 4. After a nasty collision with the inside wall, drama then spilled out onto the racetrack, ultimately resulting in the disqualification of Kohler, Finken, Bobby Kibler Jr., and Bobby Kibler Sr..
Randy Schaffer would inherit the lead on the following restart in the green #14 machine, where he would remain for the rest of the race to pick up the victory in the 30-lap Kevin Graver Sr. Memorial.
OFFICIAL RESULTS:
MODIFIEDS:
Paulie Hartwig lll, Roger Coss, Brian Robie, Austin Kochenash, Jack Ely, Matt Hirschman, Brian Defebo, Johnny Bennett, Bobby Jones, Austin Beers, Nick Baer, Thomas Flanagan, Rod Snyder Jr., Jaden Brown, Earl Paules, Brian Romig Sr., Kevin Graver Jr., Jacob Kerstetter, Lou Strohl, Jayden Harman, Tyler Wagner, Mark Miller, Brian Shulz, Kyle Strohl
STREET STOCKS:
Brandon Christman, Matt Kocher, Frankie Althouse, Johnny Bennett, Mark Deysher, Josh Kuronya, Jamie Smith, Jon Moser, Adam Steigerwalt, Randy Green, Aaron Kromer, Jacob Boehm, Cody Geist, Jill Snyder, Mike Odwazny
DQ: Shayne Geist
HOBBY STOCKS:
Corey Edelman, Cody Bame, James Tout, Jake Kibler, Ryan Graver, Jacob Boehm, Jared Frye, Brian Romig Jr., Shawn Hoffman, Nick Kerstetter, Terry Peters, Travis Solomon
PRO-4:
Randy Schaffer, Aiden Boucher, Ian Szalku, Joey Stangle, Tyler Poole, Chris Yob, Rich Pursell
DQ: Jason Finken, Cody Kohler, Bobby Kibler Jr., Bobby Kibler Sr.
FUTURES: Justin Merkel Jr., Al Gildner, Gabi Steigerwalt, Jeremy Henry, Arland Moyer Jr., Chaz Takacs
EAST COAST: Josh Patterson, Matt Janish, Kris Graver, Brian Shulz, Brandon Kressler, Mark Shulz, Don Zrinski, Graham Hughes, Ozzy Carlino, Vinny Testinaro, Howard Boss, Tyler Wagner
DNS: Bill Force Jr.
