Since first strapping into a Modified a year ago, it’s safe to say that Josh Scherer has come full circle after his impressive end-to- end run to victory Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway.

Just five races into last season, Scherer was involved in a grinding wreck that destroyed his car and abruptly ended his year. He vowed right then and there to rebuild and return. Steadily, things began coming together, and four starts back into action, Scherer realized a personal dream of winning a Modified feature.

“I can’t even describe the way it feels right now. I always wanted to race a Modified, and right now, I wouldn’t want to race anything else,” said Scherer, who is a former Pro 4 champion.

Starting on the pole, Scherer blasted to the front and soon began to make it a race for second as he was sailing way ahead of the pack with ease during a stretch of 18 nonstop laps. When a caution flew on lap 20, Scherer had to give up a nearly four-second lead.

As the race restarted, Bobby Jones and Lou Strohl would be on Scherer’s tail, but again he gunned it and would power ahead.

As Scherer was commanding the way, Jones and Strohl had a nice duel going for second spot. Jones would eventually secure the position and then take advantage of a few cautions afterward to work on overtaking the leader. He actually came close on the final restart of the race with six laps to go.

Jones attempted to crisscross Scherer, but the leader was on his toes and over the deciding laps stayed solid on his way to stamping his name among Modified winners. Interesting was a fact that Jones actually set the winning car up.

“The car was prefect,” bottomed-lined Scherer. “This is just so unreal, and I can’t believe we put it all together tonight. There was so many hours and nights that went into getting this car back together, and I can’t thank everyone enough for the amazing help and support, especially Bobby Jones, who set the car up for tonight.”

Taking third was point- leader Brian DeFebo, with Austin Kochenash and Strohl completing the top five.

Jeremy Miller came into the 2018 season with a personal objective of challenging for the Late Model title, and over the second half of the year, he has been making a firm statement toward that goal, as for a second-consecutive week and fourth time this season, he parked his No. 98 in the Winner’s Circle.

The Street Stocks put on a special 75-lap feature that was fast paced for most of the event thanks to just one caution. That meant hard racing for the lead, and Jon Moser was doing that and more.

Moser was dogging Rick Reichenbach for the better part of the first 25 laps, many of them in a near side-by-side battle. With 28 laps in, he finally poked his nose ahead and after clearing him for good, it was game over.

Austin Beers picked up his third Sportsman Modified, and in the process, unseated Earl Paules for the division point lead with two races to go.

Dirt Mod point leader Mike Stofflet is looking more and more like a repeat champion as he raced a cut above the rest in picking up his sixth victory of 2018.

Bobby Kibler Sr., broke the hold on winning between Cody Kohler and Jake Kibler in the Pro 4s as he notched his first win of the year in a flag-to-flag effort out front.

For a time during the Hobby Stock feature it appeared as though Lyndsay Buss was poised to win her first main event as she led from the outset and had the upper hand on the field. However, a restart on lap nine would see her chances dashed as Justin Merkel used the outside lane to drive past her. He would then hold the lead the rest of the way.

Modified (35 Laps)

1. Josh Scherer, 2. Bobby Jones, 3. Brian DeFebo, 4. Austin Kochenash, 5. Lou Strohl, 6. John Markovic, 7. Kyle Strohl. 8. Jack Ely, 9. Joey Jarowicz, 10. Nick Bear, 11. Earl Paules, 12. Kristy Arthofer, 13. Ron Haring Jr., 14. DJ Wagner, 15. Gene Bowers, 16. Kevin Rex, 17. Zane Zeiner

Late Model (25 Laps)

1. Jeremy Miller, 2. Frankie Althouse, 3. Mike Sweeny, 4. Paul Kohler Jr., 5. Samantha Osborn, 6. Dylan Osborn, 7. Jacob Kerstetter, 8. Matt Wentz, 9. Avery Arthofer, 10. Kenny Hein, 11.Matt Senica, 12. Geno Steigerwalt

Street Stock (75 Laps)

1. Jon Moser, 2. Jared Ahner, 3. Randy Schlenker, 4. Todd Ahner, 5. Mark Deysher, 6. Rich Reichenbach, 7. Mark Martini, 8. Randy Ahner Jr., 9. Jill Long, 10. Matt Schlenker, 11. Corey Edelman, 12. Stacey Brown, 13. Jamie Smith, 14. Cody Geist, 15. John Bennett, 16. Kevin Kromer, 17. Bobby Kibler Jr., 18. Josh Mooney, 19. Wild Bill, 20. Shayne Geist, 21. Ken Erney III

Dirt Modified (25 Laps)

1. Mike Stofflet, 2. Billy Lowden Jr., 3. Ricky Yetter, 4. Vince Fegley Jr., 5. Colton Perry, 6. Corey Edelman, 7. Bill Sittler Jr. DNS: Heath Metzger, Paul Martin

Sportsman Modified (25 Laps)

1. Austin Beers, 2. Kassidy Altemose, 3. Earl Paules, 4. BJ Wambold, 5. Joseph Popovich, 6. Blair Culhane, 7. Avery Arthofer

Pro 4 (20 Laps)

1. Bobby Kibler Sr., 2. Jake Kibler, 3. Randy Schaffer, 4. Tucker Muffley, 5. Cody Kohler, 6. Josh Kuronya, 7. Matt Clark, 8. Steve McDonough

Hobby Stock (20 Laps)

1. Justin Merkel, 2. Peyton Arthofer, 3. Ryan Berger, 4. Michael Wambold, 5. Lyndsay Buss, 6. Devin Schmidt, 7. Trisha Connolly, 8. Cody Boehm, 9. Shawn Kistler, 10. Al Arthofer, 11. Rich Mutarelli, 12. Travis Solomon, 13. Tad Snyder, 14. Shane Troutman