LEHIGHTON, Pa. — The final installment of the Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series (MVSHoFS) consisted of five unique race series that honored past greats inducted into the Dorney Park Speedway/Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame.
First, it was the Mike Muffley Tribute with the modifieds running twin features of 40 and 39 laps. A pair of future Hall of Famer’s collected respective wins as Matt Hirschman and Brian DeFebo chalked up victories.
In the companion events, three first time winners emerged as Matt Kocher, Dave Imler Jr. and Ryan Petro scored the outcomes in the street stocks, hobby stocks and futures respectively.
In the modified opener, Hirschman drew the pole position. When the race got underway, he jumped into the lead but would have Kyle Strohl hot on his heels.
Throughout the contest, Hirschman never was able to separate himself by much as Strohl stayed within striking distance lap after lap. Hirschman held on for his fifth consecutive Mahoning win in as many starts this season.
“I didn’t know just how close he (Strohl) was and I wasn’t happy with my handling on the car so I was just trying to keep it on the bottom and only allow him to go to the outside,” Hirschman said.
“We definitely have to improve on this if we’re going to win again tonight. This was probably the most unhappy I’ve been with his car in years here but this track is tough and to do what we’ve been doing is quite remarkable because this place changes a lot with weather and things like that. We’ll go back and adjust on it and see what we have for the next race.”
For Strohl, it would be his seventh runner-up of the season.
Hirschman picked an eight pill for the invert of the second feature which put DeFebo on the pole. This race became quite the contrast from the first, as all the while there was intense action at the front of the pack.
DeFebo led from the outset, but was contending with Bobby Jones over the first dozen circuits. At that juncture, Strohl and Hirschman came into play and the four titans then raced under a blanket.
The first of only two cautions waved when Rod Snyder Jr. spun in turn two on lap 23. That put Strohl alongside DeFebo for the restart with Hirschman lined up behind the leader. When the action resumed, DeFebo was able to uphold his spot albeit under the same intense hassling from Strohl and Hirschman.
On lap 33, the final caution slowed the pace when Terry Markovic spun in the first corner. As they set up for the restart once again, there was high expectations from the front trio as to who could hold off the other.
DeFebo swiftly showed he wasn’t about to give in to the persistence and went into a major defensive role in safeguarding his lead. Behind him Strohl and Hirschman ran side-by-side, each trying every way to get the top spot.
DeFebo held on for very narrow margin of victory — his first of the season.
“The best car doesn’t always win and we were just a little bit off. I just had to keep my line and make them try and go around me and it’s nice to see somebody else win a race down here besides Matt (Hirschman),” admitted DeFebo, who picked up his 108th career win.
“We started out front, played defense and I’m just glad to win a race. I was trying to slow the car down as much as I could and he (Hirschman) knows where the yellow line is and I do too and obviously he went down a little bit much.”
Hirschman would be named the overall champ of the Muffley race while Strohl took the MVSHoFS title.
“For Kyle and I it felt like the whole race went side-by-side and it was good racing. Each of us where looking for lane to get,” Hirschman explained. “The one time I got inside (DeFebo) and the last thing I wanted to do was spin him out. I went real low to make sure that didn’t happen and they (officials) let me know it. I’m glad it finished clean between the top three because this was a good race for the fans and that’s what we’re here to do.”
In the street stock main, Kocher and Josh Mooney shared the front row. A lead swapping battle soon began to take shape between them.
It would take until lap nine before Kocher would take control for good, but he still had plenty to deal with from Mooney and Cody Geist in third. Holding steady on the inside lane, Kocher was able to keep his pursuers at bay the rest of the distance and in doing so, collected his career first victory.
Mooney held on for a hard fought second with Rick Reichenbach close behind in third.
TJ Gursky won the MVSHoFS Street Stock points setting a track record with his unparalleled eighth career Mahoning championship.
The hobby stocks got off to a rough start as it took several tries to get the race underway, but once it did, there would be no stopping Imler Jr. who blasted out ahead of the pack and proceeded to author a stirring performance.
Imler was far and away the class of the field on this memorable evening as he put the family name in victory lane for the first time. His father, Dave Imler Sr., who was a long time Mahoning supporter, had come close over the years. The younger, however, eased that frustration with his flawless effort.
The 2018 champion Michael Wambold made a return back to racing after a long hiatus and impressively drove to a solid runner-up over Ryan Berger. The MVSHoFS crown went to Cody Boehm.
In keeping with the first time winners, Petro added his name to the list with a flag-to-flag run in the Futures.
The East Coast TQ Midgets race a pair of features with Jasper Zeigafuse and Tyler Wagner collecting top honors.
First Modified feature (40 laps):
1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Lou Strohl, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Austin Kochenash, 6. Bobby Jones, 7. Jaden Brown, 8. Brian DeFebo, 9. Nick Baer, 10. Cody Kohler, 11. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 12. Rod Snyder Jr., 13. Terry Markovic, 14. Brody George
Second Modified feature (39 laps):
1. DeFebo, 2. Hirschman, 3. K. Strohl, 4. Kochenash, 5. Wagner, 6. Jones, 7. L. Strohl, 8. Snyder Jr., 9. Brown, 10. George, 11. Markovic, 12. Kohler, 13. Baer, 14. Rinehimer Jr.