There’s a saying in racing, ‘Second place is the first loser’.

Perhaps no one would know that better than Austin Beers, who was a runner-up five times this season, with most of those coming in close thrillers.

But in this one, the second-generation talent from Northampton was finally able to shake the runner-up finish with his victory on the 66-lap Roger Heffelfinger Sr., Tribute, which was race No. 3 in the Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series.

Much as it had been for him during his spell of seconds, it was once again a close battle to the wire, this time with Austin Kochenash en route.

“This means so much to me to win this tribute race for Roger (Heffelfinger). He ran for my grandfather (Dale Beers) back in the day, so it’s an honor to win this, and with Austin (Kochenash) coming in second and him being his grandson and all. It was a clean race, and it was awesome,” expressed an elated Beers.

Beers started second and ran behind early leader Matt Hirschman, while at the same time dealing with strong-running Zane Zeiner.

With Hirschman leading, it was looking as if he would be in position to chalk up another win, but that notion went away when he was pinched from behind by Zeiner on a lap 35 restart. Both drivers then pitted, which elevated Kochenash to the lead over Bobby Jones, Nevin George and Nick Baer. On the lap prior, Beers had checked into the pits also with his crew swapping around tires on his DeLange Racing No. 45.

As the action was back underway, there was a passionate feeling of excitement as Kochenash looked poised to see victory on a night honoring his legendary grandfather, who was watching attentively from the sidelines.

Beers, though, began a charge and began picking his way to the front, eventually closing in behind Kochenash by lap 51. He then began to apply pressure on him, and after several side-by-side laps, was able to slip underneath Kochenash with seven laps to go.

“We changed a tire and put the right front to the right rear, and this thing just came alive,” said Beers.

“He (Kochenash) gave me good room and ran me very clean, but I knew I had to get it done because I was tired of finishing second. I am very thankful too for Dave and Laura DeLange giving me the opportunity to give their car, and my dad and the whole crew for the hard work they put in.”

Nick Ross made it three wins in five starts on the season in the Late Models.

Ross was quick to pull in behind early leader Lorin Arthofer II as he gradually eased ahead by lap 11, and from then on he was in full control and cruised to the verdict.

In Street Stock action, Mark Deysher was able to parley his pole starting spot into his first win of the year. For Deysher, it was his 23rd career win, and first since April 2019.

The Hobby Stock feature went to Justin Merkel for his second win of 2021, pulling out a car-length victory.

Elsewhere, the long overdue wait is over for Kadie Pursell, as she captured her career-first feature win in the 20-lap Pro 4 main. Pursell held off Jake Kibler, while hitting her marks perfectly en route to the win.

Since the start of the season, Dave Kerr has continued to show marked improvement, and that steady going progress saw him collect his first ever win, notching the Rookie class feature. In the same race, Brody George gained his sixth Futures victory of the season.

Modified feature finish (66 laps)

: 1. Austin Beers, 2. Austin Kochenash, 3. Bobby Jones, 4. Nevin George, 5. John Markovic, 6. Earl Paules, 7. Matt Hirschman, 8. Terry Markovic, 9. Brian DeFebo, 10. Kyle Strohl, 11. Carl Altemose, 12. Zane Zeiner, 13. Lou Strohl, 14. Nick Baer, 15. Jesse Strohl, 16. Johnny Bennett, 17. Tommy Flanagan, 18. Cody Kohler

Late Model feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Nick Ross, 2. Lorin Arthofer II, 3. James Yons, 4. Geno Steigerwalt, 5. Seth VanFossen, 6. Brooks Smith

Street Stock feature finish (30 laps)

: 1. Mark Deysher, 2. Brandon Christman, 3. Mark Martini, 4. TJ Gursky, 5. Jon Moser, 6. Stacey Brown, 7. Cody Geist, 8. Rick Reichenbach, 9. Cody Boehm, 10. Jacob Christman, 11. Randy Ahner Jr., 12. Fran Del Nero Jr., 13. Jamie Smith, 14. Evan Rygielski, 15. Rich Moser, 16. Jillian Snyder, 17. Todd Ahner, 18. Tobie Behler, 19. Thomas Flanagan, 20. Logan Boyer, 21. Lonnie Behler Jr.

Hobby Stock feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Justin Merkel, 2. Devin Schmidt, 3. BJ Wambold, 4. Cody Boehm, 5. Trisha Connolly, 6. James Tout, 7. Taylor Schmidt, 8. Jake Oswald, 9. Tad Snyder, 10. Corey Edelman, 11. Lyndsay Buss, 12. Mallory Kutz, 13. Nicholas Kerstetter, 14. Ralph Borger Jr., 15. Don Roger, 16. Shayne Geist, 17. Herman Nuff, 18. Dave Imler Jr., 19. Travis Solomon, 20. Nick Schaeffer, DNS: Ryan Berger

Pro 4 feature finish (20 laps)

: 1. Kadie Pursell, 2. Jake Kibler, 3. Cody Kohler, 4. Josh Kuronya, 5. Mark Fister DNS: Terry Peters, Randy Schaffer

Futures/Rookie Hobby Stock feature finish (12 laps)

: 1. Dave Kerr, 2. Adam Steigerwalt, 3. Greyson Ahner, 4. Brody George, 5. Makayla Kohler, 6. Gabi Steigerwalt, 7. Josh Dise, 8. Reid Levengood, 9. Maggie Yeakel, 10. Brad Walsh, 11. Lexus Kutz, 12. Zoey Moyer, 13. Zoe Kuchera