Blake Barney of Jackson, New Jersey, can finally check off his bucket list trying to win a Modified race at Mahoning Valley Speedway - something he’s been going after for the past six years.

It was a race for the ages, as Barney and Kyle Strohl battled neck-and-neck to the finish with the outcome decided by a mere .007-second margin of victory.

“I’ve been running this track since I was 16 years old, and we’ve come close a lot of times, and tonight it feels really good to be standing here in Victory Lane,” said the 22-year-old after winning the 50-lap Dave Schlenker Tribute, which was the first race of the Mahoning Valley Speedway Hall of Fame Series.

Barney actually came to Mahoning by chance. Earlier in the day, Wall Stadium Speedway had canceled due to weather issues, and the Dick Barney-owned team made the decision to head to Pennsylvania and take in the Schlenker race. Two weeks earlier, Barney had finished a strong second here to Matt Hirschman in the Tom Wanick Jr., Memorial.

“This was a little bit unexpected, and I didn’t even think I’d be here tonight, but so happy to get the monkey off my back at this track,” said Barney.

“Woke up ready to race Wall, and ended up winning Mahoning. Thank you to all my crew and sponsors for their support; this one feels good.”

With 10 laps remaining, Strohl re-claimed the second spot behind Barney and from there to the finish, it was game-on for the win.

Barney raced on the inside of Strohl in a thrilling side-by-side formation. There would even be a late-race caution with four laps to go that prompted a single file restart and could have given Barney a little breathing room, but it was to no avail as over the final two circuits, they again locked horns and sprinted to the checkers with Barney inching his way to victory.

“I just did everything I could to keep him behind me. Kyle (Strohl) is really good here, and credit to him. I knew he was good on the outside and my car was tight, so when I was on the bottom, he definitely could roll that thing and I kind of kept him honest out there, and if you didn’t like that finish, then you just don’t like short track racing,” said Barney.

Street Stocks

As part of the Dave Schlenker Tribute, the Street Stocks ran twin 38-lap features. That numeral was carried, as the signature car number by Schlenker’s sons Alan and Randy and also his grandson, Matt.

In what couldn’t have been played out any better as if Hollywood scripted, the nightcap was won by Matt in a close finish over TJ Gursky. The victory produced an emotionally-charged Victory Lane celebration as the entire Schlenker family, led by patriarch Dave, greeted the happy winner.

In the first 38, Josh Mooney came out of hiatus and drove the Rip and Vickie Ripkey’s-owned No. 56 to his first win since 2015.

Gursky produced the best overall finish in the two races and was named the champion.

Hobby Stocks

In the Hobby Stocks, Nick Schaeffer can finally rest easy in trying for the past few years to score a win.

Schaeffer was able to jump into the lead from his pole starting spot and then stayed the course the rest of the way. Late into the going, he had defending champion Trisha Connolly making a run at him, but the determined Schaeffer worked too hard for too long, and never wavered in his quest to park in Victory Lane.

Pro 4

The Pro 4 feature was a final lap shootout between top rivals Jake Kibler and Cody Kohler.

Kibler had been leading handily for most of the race, but in the closing laps, Kohler was coming on like gangbusters. Heading into Turn 3 on the final lap, Kohler tried to squeeze inside of Kibler and as he did, made slight contact and spun from contention. Kibler then drove on to his first win of the year, and 48th of his career.

Futures

For the third time in as many races, Parker Ahner proved best among the Futures. Ahner raced to the lead over Maggie Yeakel on lap five of 15 and once in front, was on cruise control. Second spot went to Makayla Kohler.

RESULTS

Modified feature finish (50 laps)

: 1. Blake Barney, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Lou Strohl, 4. Brian DeFebo, 5. Earl Paules, 6. Bobby Jones, 7. Carl Altemose, 8. Jaden Brown, 9. Austin Kochenash, 10. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 11. Rod Snyder Jr., 12. Nick Bear, 13. Eric Kocher, 14. Brody George, 15. Cody Kohler, 16. Josh Scherer, 17. Jacob Kerstetter, 18. Terry Markovic DNS: Tom Wanick III

1st Street Stock feature finish (38 laps)

: 1. Josh Mooney, 2. Matt Kocher, 3. Johnny Bennett, 4. TJ Gursky, 5. Mark Deysher, 6. Bob Kibler Sr., 7. Jon Moser, 8. Todd Ahner, 9. Jacob Boehm, 10. Matt Schlenker, 11. Mark Martini, 12. Jill Snyder, 13. Corey Edelman, 14. Logan Boyer, 15. Tommy Flanagan, 16. Frank DelNero Jr., 17. Bobby Kibler Jr., 18. Jeremy Scheckler, 19. Stacey Brown, 20. Brandon Christman, 21. Thomas Flanagan DNQ: Tucker Muffley, Randy Green, Jeremy Guerra, Randy Ahner Jr., Al Arthofer, Jamie Smith

2nd Street Stock feature finish (38 laps)

: 1. Schlenker, 2. Gursky, 3. Boehm, 4. Kocher, 5. T. Ahner, 6. Snyder, 7. Moser, 8. Deysher, 9. Martini, 10. T. Flanagan, 11. Edelman, 12. Bennett, 13. Christman, 14. Tm. Flanagan, 15. Brown, 16. Mooney, 17. Boyer, 18. Scheckler, 19. B. Kibler Sr., 20. B. Kibler Jr., 21. DelNero

Hobby Stock feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Nick Schaeffer, 2. Trisha Connolly, 3. Cody Boehm, 4. Jacob Boehm, 5. Ryan Berger, 6. Lyndsay Buss, 7. Tad Snyder, 8. Tyler Schmeltzle, 9. Ralph Boger Jr., 10. Mallory Kutz, 11. Don Bauder, 12. Travis Solomon, 13. Shayne Geist, 14. James Tout, 15. David Imler Jr., 16. Corey Edelman

Pro 4 feature finish (20 laps)

: 1. Jake Kibler, 2. Terry Peters, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Colton Breiner, 5. Ken Reeder, 6. Cody Kohler, 7. Kadie Pursell

Futures feature finish (15 laps): 1. Parker Ahner, 2. Makayla Kohler, 3. Michael Klotz, 4. Maggie Yeakel, 5. Mayson Moyer, 6. Steven Schlenker, 7. Gabi Steigerwalt, 8. Zoe Kuchera, 9. Adam Steigerwalt, 10. Lexus Kutz