LEHIGHTON, Pa. — Mahoning Valley Speedway took a gamble on Saturday by bumping up its program by three hours in an effort to beat the predicted rain and it paid off.
The speedway got five of the six events in the books before the heavy showers swept across the area.
The day would also involve setting several records. Broc Brown would become the first winner of the Evergreen Raceway/Mahoning Valley Speedway Dual Track Series (DTS) and set a new speed mark with the class at 10.517 seconds.
Thomas Flanagan beat his father, Tommy Flanagan. In doing so, the two became the first father/son dual to finish one-two in that division. When Cody Kohler won the Pro 4 feature, it tied the record for all-time class wins with 44.
Headlining the afternoon features was the DTS for the 602 Crate Modifieds, with an impressive field of 23 cars checked in to race.
By luck of the draw, Brown had the pole with Nick Baer to his outside. When the race commenced there would be no denying that the Brown’s No. 14 was going to be the car to beat as he wasted little time in taking quick charge of the race over Baer, Jayden Harman, Paulie Hartwig III and Troy Bollinger.
A steady pace began to unfold with Brown pulling away from the rest of the pack. He was able to extend his lead by a few car lengths over Baer who was holding off Harman and then Hartwig. With a dozen laps in, Brown began to deal with lapped traffic. Despite that, he meticulously worked by them with very little issues.
“It was like we hit a wall and some cars weren’t moving over enough but there wasn’t a whole lot you could do,” Brown said.
The first caution came on lap 19 when Bollinger spun in turn two.
After all was sorted out and the action resumed, Brown was able to out-gun Baer and remain in control.
For Baer he would have a few more tries on restarts — taking place on laps 27 and 28 — and although he worked his tail off to get by for the lead, Brown needed only one lap under green to get back into showing the way and doing so by a few car lengths yet again. As the laps wound down, it was clear that Brown was not to be denied as he cruised to his first win at Mahoning Valley since 2018 in a late model.
“It was pretty good out there despite the fact that it (car) pushes a little bit but we’ll get it figured out for next time,” said Brown, who is a three-time Street Stock champion at Evergreen Raceway. “We were definitely hooked up today and I want to thank my team and Gary Slusser who set the car up, he’s the man. It was great to come here and win the first race of the Series and we plan to run them all.”
Baer would hold off Hartwig to take second while Evan Rygielski was fourth and Jayden Harman completed the top five.
The Street Stock feature got underway with Jillian Snyder holding off Johnny Bennett over the opening laps.
The pair would stay nose-to-tail while Cody Geist and Geary Rinehimer Jr., fought for third.
By lap 10, the action was getting hot and heavy when Bennett began looking to the outside of Snyder. At the same time, Thomas Flanagan was now in the picture going at with Geist. At the halfway mark, the race would then take a turn as front runners Snyder and Bennett went side-by-side while Flanagan was able to dip to the inside of both of them.
Coming down the front straight, Bennett got into Snyder that led to most everyone scattering to get by. When the dust had settled, Snyder had to pit for body damage, Bennett had to restart form the rear and Thomas Flanagan was the new leader over his father Tommy.
When the race restarted, the two Flanagan’s would swap the lead before Thomas took control for good on a lap 17. At this point, weather was moving in quickly and under a lap-22 caution, rain hit hard. The day ended with Thomas Flanagan scoring his second Mahoning win.
Cody Kohler not only won for the second straight time with the Pro 4s, but also pulled even with Jake Kibler on the all-time winners list at 44 victories each. Jeff Parker sailed to his first dirt modified win and 15th career victory since October 6, 2017. It was also the 200th feature race for the division.
Gabrielle Steigerwalt took the lead at the outset of the Futures feature and would go on to lead every lap in picking up her first win of the season. She would beat out her brother, Adam Steigerwalt for the verdict.
The Hobby Stock feature will be made up at a later date.
602 Crate Modified Feature Results (25 Laps)
1. Broc Brown, 2. Nick Baer, 3. Paulie Hartwig III, 4. Evan Rygielski, 5. Jayden Harman, 6. Jaden Rogers, 7. Neal Rutt III, 8. Brody George, 9. Brian Osborn, 10. Mike Pollack, 11. Jaden Brown, 12. Brian Rygielski, 13. DJ Doyle, 14. Zac k Lenardo, 5. Jarret DiGiantomasso, 16. Deegen Underwood, 17. Makayla Kohler, 18. Bobby Jones, 19. Paul French Jr., DNS: Quinn Trimmer DNQ: Mackenzie Adams, Greyson Ahner DQ: Troy Bollinger