BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — In under a 24-hour period and working off minimal hours of sleep, Austin Beers capped off his weekend of racing with a second straight win coming at Evergreen Raceway in a 50-lap Tour Type Modified feature.
The evening prior he drove the same Beers Motorsports car to victory at Chemung Speedrome in the Night Before the Glen Rod Spaulding Classic 75 with the Race of Champions Modified Series.
“It was a really great weekend and this crew did an amazing job,” Beers said. “We did have some power steering problems but fortunately it got fixed in time for the race and yeah, it was a little bit tiring with the long weekend for us but I’m very happy to get back in victory lane here at Evergreen.”
Lou Strohl started on the pole and led the way and thanks to a rapid pace of green flag laps, was able to advance to a comfortable gap over Roger Coss, Brian DeFebo, Beers and Blake Barney.
That running order stayed in line until the first caution waved with 26 laps complete. With it being a ‘cone race’ second running Coss opted to take the inside lane for the restart and go behind Strohl while Beers made the choice to procure the outside and line-up alongside the leader.
When the action resumed Strohl was again up on the wheel and showing the way while Coss and Beers began a torrid side-by-side battle. They would trade-off second spot several times over the next dozen laps. By lap 35, Beers then locked the position and set his sights on Strohl.
Despite losing one spot Coss remained close as well as Barney. With 10 laps remaining Beers was now hounding Strohl, and as they were about to begin the 45th tour, Beers was in the motion of making a pass for the lead only to see it called back when the final caution waved at the same time.
On the ensuing restart, however, there was little doubt that Beers was going to strike again and that he did. Off the fourth turn he squeezed to the inside of Strohl and then completed the race winning pass at the opposite corner. Once in front he was perfect across the concluding laps and put the punctuation mark on his sweeping weekend.
“I always like the top here and when Roger (Coss) gave it to me on that one restart I was pretty happy for that. It didn’t work the first time but the second time I was able to get in,” said Beers.
“This was a first for us to win twice in the same weekend and it’s really sweet. This one is also for George Wambold. He was a legend and his passing this past week was sad news and we send our condolences to his entire family.”
Strohl and Coss raced hard in the closing laps in taking second and third. Points leader Barney was fourth while James Pritchard Jr. rounded out the top five.
“It was bittersweet and second is always good but we wanted to win,” Strohl said. “The car was super good in the beginning and then we had those two cautions and I don’t know if it just glazed the tires over but the car just got loose after that and was a bit of a handful.
“We were just riding at that point and my son Jesse was telling me on the radio to ease it up and it still felt like we were driving away when I was backing it down and I really didn’t care who took the outside at that point because I felt they had nothing for me.
“It was a great race and it just got to free towards the end and we’ll go back and fix it and be ready for the next time.”
For Mike Sweeney, winning his third late model feature in five starts was one for the record books as he becomes the all-time leader in class wins among eastern Pennsylvania asphalt racers, earning his 73rd victory.
In the Street Stocks the unfortunate misfortune of Mitch Hawk, who had been leading over the first 22 laps but got turned thereafter, led to the good fortune of his teammate Dan Pawlicki who would inherit the lead and go on to score his second win of the year ahead of point leader Mike Pollack.
The 4 Cylinder Stock feature was won by T.J. Kapish. Noah Jensen won the Rotten and Forgotten feature.
Feature Finish (50 Laps)
1. Austin beers, 2. Lou Strohl, 3. Roger Coss, 4. Blake Barney, 5. James Pritchard Jr., 6. Justin Gumley, 7. Nick Baer, 8. Jacob Kerstetter, 9. Jayden Harman, 10. Jaden Brown, 11. Brian DeFebo, 12. Thomas Flanagan