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Beers, Koehler continue their winning ways

Two of Mahoning Valley Speedway's iconic stars, Eric Beers and Paul Koehler Jr., have forged a legacy of winning races and championships in the Modifieds and Late Model classes at the paved quarter-mile oval in Lehighton.

On Saturday they showed that same style of racing superiority that has elevated them to the top of the winners list in each division after pulling away to decisive victories.Beers sailed to his sixth main of the season while Koehler notched a second straight and fifth of 2016, giving the two veterans a combined 150 wins.In the Modified contest, Nick Baer took control at the drop of the green. Earl Paules was keeping things close and on a 10-lap restart he got a jump on Baer to assume the lead. Kyle Strohl also moved by and would soon be giving Paules a terrific fight.Strohl had the inside line and by lap 17 had taken the lead. By lap 20 Beers was now third and had a close eye on the front pair.On lap 21 the caution waved. On the restart Paules blasted back to the front. Beers likewise got by Strohl. On the very next circuit he dropped to the bottom of turn three and came out ahead of Paules. There was no looking back from there as he cruised home to the victory.When Koehler won last week's Late Model feature, it was under immense conditions as he was locked in an exhausting three-wide battle to the checkers with Mike Sweeney and Frankie Althouse. This week it was with much more ease as he cruised handily to the win.Koehler, who started eighth, went around early leader Jacob Nemeth on lap 10 and steadily pulled away from there to add to his growing list.Behind Koehler, however, was a whole other story as Nemeth was under fire from a host of opponents. Althouse was also there, as was impressive rookie Chris Anderson. With Nemeth showing the way, the action stayed extremely close and it wasn't until the final two laps that Althouse would land second spot. For Anderson, it would be his first top five finish with fourth. Point leader Mike Sweeney suffered his first DNF in nearly two years when he was collected in a wreck on five. That also ended a streak of top fives dating back to September of last season.The popular Street Stock Triple 20s were held and, as expected, the three 20-lap features, which are part of the American Rental Street Stock Gamblers Series, were filled with an abundance of tightknit racing.The first main went nonstop with Randy Ahner Jr. picking off Jared Ahner with five laps to go to score his second win of the season.Race number two saw point leader Zach Graver add his fifth win of the year, which is the most in a single season since 2007. Graver unseated a strong running Rich Reichenbach from the lead with three laps to go.In the nightcap, Stacey Brown started on the pole and held on despite a torrid battle early with Jason Kuhn and then in the waning laps with Jon Moser. It was a year ago in this same event that Brown last won a feature.Last year Ricky Yetter entered into the Mahoning Valley record books as a Dirt Mod champion.On Saturday "The Law" added another entry when he notched his 20th win and rose to No. 1 in career wins in the class.Yetter started from the pole and would go out and lead all 25 laps for his fifth win of the year.In the Pro 4 race it was a another impressive run turned in by point leader Josh Scherer, who drove away to his fifth win of the season.Scherer had a great side-by-side duel with Bobby Kibler Sr. before acquiring the lead with nine laps to go. He then pulled away for his eighth top-two finish in the last nine starts.Ken Reeder was a career-first winner in the Hobby Stocks, and in doing so became the 12th different driver to collect a feature victory this year. Using a restart on lap four to take the lead from Jesse Strohl, Reeder withstood Kevin Behler and Shane Geist to post his memory-making win.Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Eric Beers, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Earl Paules, 4. John Markovic, 5. Jack Ely, 6. Don Wagner, 7. Kristopher Graver, 8. Brian Labar, 9. Brian DeFebo, 10. Nick Bear, 11. Todd Bear, 12. Danielle Paules, 13. Terry Markovic, 14. Kevin Rex, 15. Joey Jarowicz.Late Model Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Paul Kohler Jr., 2. Frankie Althouse, 3. Jacob Nemeth, 4. Chris Anderson, 5. Lorin Arthofer, 6. Broc Brown, 7. Jacob Kerstetter, 8. Kenny Hein, 9. Jeremy Miller, 10. George Ramos, 11. Don Wagner, 12. Mike Sweeney, 13. Robbie Kutz.1st Street Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Randy Ahner Jr., 2. Jared Ahner, 3. Zach Graver, 4. Jamie Smith, 5. Aaron Kromer, 6. Jason Kuhn, 7. Steve Hoffman, 8. Jason Frey, 9. Rick Reichenbach, 10. Mark Martini, 11. Todd Ahner, 12. Jon Moser, 13. Josh Mooney, 14. Dan Freundt, 15. Greg Long, 16. Stacey Brown, 17. Joe Mooney, 18. Corey Edelman, 19. Eric Danyluk, 20. Mark Deysher DNQ.2nd Street Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Graver, 2. Reichenbach, 3. Todd Ahner, 4. Randy Ahner Jr., 5. Frey, 6. Jared Ahner, 7. Moser, 8. Josh Mooney, 9. Kuhn, 10. Freundt, 11. Brown, 12. Kromer, 13. Edelman, 14. Long, 15. Joe Mooney, 16. Martini, 17. Hoffman, 18. Deysher, 19. Danyluk, 20. Smith.3rd Street Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Brown, 2. Moser, 3. Todd Ahner, 4. Jared Ahner, 5. Randy Ahner Jr., 6. Kuhn, 7. Frey, 8. Edelman, 9. Graver, 10. Josh Mooney, 11. Freundt, 12. Joe Mooney, 13.Hoffman, 14. Kromer, 15. Martini, 16. Reichenbach, 17. Deysher, 18. Long, 19. Smith, 20. Danyluk.Dirt Mod Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Ricky Yetter, 2. Billy Lasko, 3. Ray Deemer, 4. Rich Coons, 5. Charles Sabella.Pro 4 Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Josh Scherer, 2. Jake Kibler, 3. Bob Kibler Sr., 4. Bobby Kibler Jr., 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Cody Kohler, 7. Tyler Stangle, 8. Brian Ahner, 9. Shawn Hoffman, 10. Chris Kuronya, 11. Kailyn Beers, 12. Cory Edelman, 13. Chase Hoffman.Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Ken Reeder, 2. Kevin Behler, 3. Shayne Geist, 4. Tiffany Wambold, 5. Travis Solomon, 6. Michael Wambold, 7. Cody Geist, 8. Randy Sicher, 9. Avery Arthofer, 10. Nicholas Kerstetter, 11. Jeff Biegley, 12. Austin Beers, 13. Ryan Berger, 14. Jesse Strohl.