Story By: DINO OBERTO / MAHONING VALLEY SPEEDWAY – LEHIGHTON, PA – Lou Strohl has been riding a wave of strong and consistent finishes throughout the season that has enabled him to sit atop the point standings, although the one thing he aimed at most, victory, had eluded the seasoned veteran.
That is all behind him now, however, as on Saturday evening he catapulted his way by Brian DeFebo with 11 laps remaining in winning the Greg and Rich Long Hall of Fame Tribute 97-lap Modified feature, his first win of 2023.
Strohl hovered for most of the race between fourth and fifth spot until 15 laps remaining. It was then that he speedily kicked in the afterburners on his Matt Higgins owned LFR chassis No. 88 and made haste towards the front.
Using the outside lane as his avenue of progression Strohl within a five lap run disposed of Bobby Jones, Roger Coss and Kyle Strohl before moving in on DeFebo. Getting by the leader would take only another pair of laps and once gaining his way to the front pulled away to a two car length margin of victory.
“I was a little snug in the beginning but I knew the fuel load was going to burn off and the guys ahead of me kept running side-by-side. But finally I got by Bobby (Jones) and after that I said I have to go and man what a race car we had tonight because we just blasted by those guys,” said Strohl, who picked up his 36th career win.
“LFR, if you don’t have one you probably should and we knew it was only a matter of time before we would start winning races with it.”
DeFebo drew the outside pole for the start and swiftly jumped to the lead over Thomas Flanagan at the outset.
Coss, Rod Snyder Jr., Jaden Brown, Jones and K. Strohl all kept in close check with DeFebo but none were able to make a pass. All the time L. Strohl was just hanging back and not showing his hand leaving the front runners to do battle among themselves.
And for DeFebo he was encircled constantly with pressure coming from his opponents. Coss and Snyder looked very strong to make their way by but the driver of the No. 53 was defensively clinging to his lead in keeping them all at bay.
Then when it came crunch time L. Strohl stepped up and put the power play to them all.
“I was okay just riding sixth and fifth there for a while. The guys ahead of me where running pretty hard and I just thought I’d let them go at it. We just bided our time,” said Strohl.
“I have to give a big shout out to my car owner Matt Higgins. What a hell of a race car he gives me and he puts the faith in me and I guess this result is why he does,” he continued.
“We’re going to take this baby home and we’re going to go over it, kiss it and hug it a little bit, polish it and come back next week and give ‘em another good whipping.”
DeFebo would hold off Coss in garnering second while K. Strohl and steady Jacob Kerstetter rounded out the top five.
The Street Stocks also partook in a special extra distance feature in honor of the Long brothers and Jon Moser scored his second win of the season, gaining the verdict in the 40-lapper.
Moser was entrenched in a fierce battle with Tommy Flanagan and Johnny Bennett and he would eventually take control of the lead after a wild three-wide restart on lap 28.
On that circuit the trio were all racing side-by-side and under close quarters Flanagan and Bennett got together and went around in a tandem spin while Moser kept himself below them and assumed the lead.
From there Moser had to contend with Frankie Althouse who would stay glued to his rear bumper the rest of the way.
In the August 12 Street Stock make-up feature Mark Deysher passed Geary Rinehimer Jr., at the halfway mark and then went on to win for the first time this year and 25th of his career.
The Pro 4 division had a big night as the class ran in the Ward Crozier Sr., Twin 26s along with a make-up show from August 12.
In the opening twin feature point leader Cody Kohler controlled the distance from start to finish and collected his class leading sixth win of the season, ahead of Bobby Kibler Sr.
There would be a full field invert for the second feature and for the first half of the race Bobby Kibler Jr., showed the way, albeit under tight conditions as his father, Bobby Sr., and Kohler, were all over him.
On a lap 13 restart the elder Kibler would take over the lead and then hold off Randy Schaffer en route to the checkers. However, there was a protest mounted at the conclusion of the race and after a lengthy post-race inspection his car was deemed to have an illegal internal engine part and he was disqualified, handing the victory over to Schaffer.
In the make-up 20-lap feature Kibler Jr., passed Kadie Pursell on lap two and went on the lead the rest of the way for his first class win since 2016. Kohler was runner-up.
Race #5 of the Evergreen Raceway/Mahoning Valley Speedway Dual Track Series for the The Hobby Stocks took place and it what was another thrilling and competitive event to say the least.
And the hottest driver in the class, Corey Edelman, continued his hot streak in winning the 40 lap feature. It was the third straight win for Edelman and fourth of the year.
Edelman moved in on leader Travis Solomon and second running Michael Wambold by lap 12 and the trio then remained under a very tight blanket continuously as the circuits clicked off.
Edelman, who positioned himself to the outside of Solomon and Wambold throughout that duration, finally put forth the thrust with five laps to go to take the lead and go on to victory. In the past seven races Edelman has picked up four wins and three runner-ups.
In the Futures main Adam Steigerwalt went around Sarabeth Mesko at the midway mark and sped away to his third win of the season. In the process he also padded his slim standings lead on Michael Klotz with just one point race remaining.
Mesko’s second place tally was a season best and the young talent continues to impress with each race she runs.
Tony Rispin, “The Racing Irishman”, held off Kevin Behler for the nightcap Junk Car race.
Modified feature finish (97 laps): 1. Lou Strohl, 2. Brian DeFebo, 3. Kyle Strohl, 4. Roger Coss, 5. Jacob Kerstetter, 6. Bobby Jones, 7. Jaden Brown, 8. Rod Snyder Jr., 9. Nick Schaeffer, 10. Thomas Flanagan, 11. Nick Baer, 12. Terry Markovic, 13. Jesse Strohl, 14. Zach Lenardo, 15. Frank Parastino, 16. Brody George
Make-up Street Stock feature from 8/12 (30 laps): 1. Mark Deysher, 2. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 3. Jillian Snyder, 4. Austin Santee, 5. Todd Ahner, 6. Josh Kuronya, 7. Jamie Smith, 8. Dennis Buss, 9. Randy Green DNS: Jacob Boehm, Mike Odwazny, Jeremy Scheckler
Street Stock feature (40 laps): 1. Jon Moser, 2. Frankie Althouse, 3. Brandon Christman, 4. Green, 5. Rinehimer Jr., 6. Santee, 7. Smith, 8. Tucker Muffley, 9. Jason Kuhn, 10. Deysher, 11. Tommy Flanagan, 12. Corey Edelman, 13. Kuronya, 14. Ahner, 15. Buss, 16. Snyder, 17. Johnny Bennett
Make-up Pro 4 feature from 8/12 (20 laps): 1. Bobby Kibler Jr., 2. Cody Kohler. 3. Aiden Boucher, 4. James Yons, 5. Richie Pursell, 6. Bobby Kibler Sr., 7. Kadie Pursell, 8. Colton Breiner
1st Pro 4 feature finish (26 laps): 1. Kohler, 2. Bobby Kibler Sr., 3. Randy Schaffer, 4. Breiner, 5. Bobby Jones, 6. Ken Reeder, 7. Kadie Pursell, 8. Boucher, 9. Richie Pursell, 10. Yons, 11. Ian Szalku, 12. Tyler Stangle, 13. Bobby Kibler Jr.
2nd Pro 4 feature (19 laps): 1. Schaffer, 2. Kadie Pursell, 3. Reeder, 4. Bobby Kibler Jr., 5. Kohler, 6. Yons, 7. Szalku, 8. Richie Pursell, 9. Breiner, 10. Boucher, 11. Jones DNS: Stangle DQ: Bobby Kibler Sr.
Hobby Stock DTS feature finish (40 laps): 1. Corey Edelman, 2. Travis Solomon, 3. Michael Wambold, 4. Jared Frye, 5. Dave Kerr, 6. Maggie Yeakel, 7. Jake Kibler, 8. Trisha Connolly, 9. BJ Wambold, 10. Don Bauder, 11. Lyndsay Buss, 12. Dave Imler Jr, 13. Brian Romig Jr, 14. James Tout, 15. Mallory Kutz, 16. Nick Kerstetter
Futures feature finish (15 laps): 1. Adam Steigerwalt, 2. Sarabeth Mesko, 3. Chaz Takacs, 4. Michael Klotz, 5. Al Gildner, 6. Arland Moyer Jr., 7. Rodney Breiner, 8. Brandon Eustice, 9. Zoe Kuchera
Junk Car feature finish (40 laps): 1. Tony Rispin, 2. Kevin Behler, 3. Fred Gimbi, 4. Brian Kunkel, 5. Jerry Evans, 6. Ty Weist, 7. Adam Kratzer, 8. Zach Wetzel, 9. Paul Mercante, 10. Neal Kunkle, 11. Clay Chilson, 12. AJ Light, 13. Todd Fulmer