It was the first ever visit to Mahoning Valley for “Showtime” Jimmy Blewett, and he made it worthwhile by scoring a rousing $2,950 victory in the John “Peepers” Yerger Tribute before a full house of fans.

Blewett was both good, and lucky, en route to the verdict.

Despite the fact that he never turned a lap on the tough ¼-mile bullring, Blewett raced strong inside the top five from the drop of the green. Then, while running third, he caught a huge break when front-runners Eric Beers and Matt Hirschman tangled and were sent to the rear of the field.

From there on, Blewett withstood the advances of track regular Josh Scherer on his way to scoring the popular win. The raced ended nine laps shy of the advertised 77-lap distance due to an ongoing rash of cautions.

Blake Barney did a great job in garnering a career-best MVS finish of third. Austin Kochenash drove to a solid fourth, while upstate New York invader Chuck Hossfeld battled his way to fifth.

By luck of the draw, Beers and Todd Baer shared front row honor. This was the first time since August 2017 that Beers was back in action at this speedway, and he wasted little time in showing his prowess for getting around the tight confines of Mahoning Valley.

Hirschman thrust forward in a hurry and was on Beers’ tail, giving him quite a bit of pressure. Time and again he tried to grab the lead, but each time his efforts where thwarted as Beers maintained a good line of defense to hold back Hirschman’s advances.

Hirschman also had numerous occasions to utilize restarts to overtake Beers as an abundance of cautions plagued the race - all that while defending track champion Bobby Jones was hovering closely in third with Blewett fourth.

Interruptions would abound as the race wore on and took its toll on many, including Jones who went spinning off turn four on lap 37. With that Blewett found himself in third, but ahead of him the Beers/Hirschman battle was still waging and all he could do was ride and watch.

Then on lap 60, the race broke wide open when the front pair got together in turn three. Hirschman was looking to seize an opening on Beers but as they drove into the corner, the door got closed and there was contact. Beers went sliding and made a great save of hitting the inside wall off turn four. For his part, Hirschman was directed to the rear with Beers for the restart.

For Blewett, it was the right place at the right time as he inherited the lead with Scherer now second. Unfortunately, yellow fever would persist on and in the sake of longevity and a warning to drivers, the race was called with eight laps to go.

“This is like the complete opposite of what happens at my home track,” said Blewett. “I don’t think Matt (Hirschman) meant to take Eric (Beers) out. It was just hard racing there at the end, and I’d rather be lucky.

“My guys gave me a great car, and I can’t thank Eric Beers enough for all the help he gave me going into this race. (I have to thank) my crew chief Rob Ornsbee, my engine builder Tom Martino, but most of all my car owner Scott Brannick. Between him and my grandfather the last four years, they’ve really been there when I needed things.”

Known for his winning ways, Blewett entered the race optimistic despite never having turned a lap at Mahoning Valley. He practiced well, ran second in his heat, and then stayed steady in the race before coming into the lead. He held off Scherer, who kept the pressure on to the checkers.

“The first thing coming here was to just make the show. There are really good regulars here, and I did a lot of watching of videos and in-car cameras. I knew it was going to be stiff competition just to qualify,” said Blewett.

“I felt that if I can come out of this with a top five it will be great ... This feels good and I look forward to coming back.”

In the Street Stock main, Eric Kocher was no match for the rest of the pack as he drove away to a decisive win.

Kocher took the lead from Jillian Long on a lap one restart, and was never headed the rest of the way. He had the power to easily distance himself from the pack, and only had to deal with resistance during limited restarts. A few laps back under green and Kocher was again pulling away.

Defending class champ Jon Moser stepped up through the pack and claimed second with Randy Schlenker, TJ Gursky and Bobby Kibler Jr. rounding out the top five.

In the Hobby Stock main, Justin Merkel turned his pole starting spot into a hard-fought win.

Merkel led all 25 laps, although he was in some thick company along the way as Ryan Berger, Trisha Connelly, Jacob Boehm and Rich Mutarelli all provided plenty of opposition.

Despite that, Merkel never wavered and held on for his third career win.

In the 20-lap Pro 4 feature, no one could match the dominating performance of past champion Cody Kohler, who easily pulled ahead of everyone and won for the 27th time within the division.

Kadie Pursell was second, equaling her career best finish.

The Rookie Hobby Stock class made its debut with an impressive 13 first-time stock car racers, and going into the history books as the inaugural winner was 11-year-old Micah Adams.

Adams, son of Evergreen Raceway star Scott Adams, made a midrace winning pass on Makayla Kohler on the outside line and then cruised on to the crowd-pleasing win.

MVS Results

Modified Feature Finish (77-laps)

: 1. Jimmy Blewett, 2. Josh Scherer, 3. Blake Barney, 4. Austin Kochenash, 5. Chuck Hossfeld, 6. Eric Beers, 7. John Markovic, 8. Rod Snyder Jr., 9. Tyler Truex, 10. Bobby Jones, 11. Matt Hirschman, 12. Todd Baer, 13. Eddie McCarthy, 14. Patrick Emerling, 15. Kyle Strohl, 16. Earl Paules, 17. Nick Baer, 18. Brian DeFebo, 19. Don Wagner, 20. Ron Silk, 21. Terry Markovic, 22. Jason Arthofer, 23. Austin Beers, 24. Jack Ely DNQ: Roger Coss, Lou Strohl, Heath Metzger, Gene Bowers, Sen Verwys, Jacob Kerstetter, Jim Gaver, Mike Stofflet, BJ Wambold.

Street Stock Feature Finish (30-laps)

: 1. Eric Kocher, 2. Jon Moser, 3. Randy Schlenker, 4. TJ Gursky, 5. Bobby Kibler Jr., 6. Josh Mooney, 7. Johnny Bennett, 8. Mark Martini, 9. Cody Geist, 10. Jason Beers, 11. Jillian Long, 12. Brandon Christman, 13. Frank DelNero Jr., 14. Tucker Muffley, 15. Shayne Geist, 16. Mark Deysher, 17. Todd Ahner, 18. Jamie Smith, 19. Rick Reichenbach, 20. Randy Ahner Jr. DNQ: Rich Moser, Jay Gould, Justin Mooney, Todd Geist, Thomas Flanagan, Logan Boyer.

Hobby Stock Feature Finish (25-laps)

: 1. Justin Merkel, 2. Ryan Berger, 3. Trisha Connolly, 4. Jacob Boehm, 5. Jacob Oswald, 6. Rich Mutarelli, 7. Travis Solomon, 8. Jesse Bollinger, 9. Cody Boehm, 10. Taylor Schmidt, 11. Kassidy Altemose, 12. Gary Woodring, 14. Clem Underwood, 15. James Tout, 16. Al Arthofer, 17. Micah Adams, 18. John Petro, 19. Eddie Jones, 20. Phil Sabatine DNQ: Lyndsay Buss, Mallory Kutz, Rebecca Barbush, Tad Snyder, Brandon Covert, Corey Edelman, Nicholas Kerstetter, Ralph Boger Jr., Brian Romig Jr., Austin Ahner, Doug DeHaven.

Pro 4 Feature Finish (20-laps)

: 1. Cody Kohler, 2. Kadie Pursell, 3. Josh Kuronya, 4. Randy Schaffer, 5. Robert Derfler, 6. Jeremy Guerra, 7. Jake Kibler DNS: Tyler Stangle.

Rookie Hobby Stock Feature Finish (12-laps)

: 1. Micah Adams 2. Mikayla Kohler, 3. Toby Behler 4. Jaden Brown 5. Jason Finkbein 6. Hallie Muffley, 7. Savannah Romig, 8. Paul French Jr., 9. Elia Tito, 10. Corey Gulich, 11. Zoe Kuchera, 12. Mia Guy DNS: Maggie Yeakel.