Paules perfect at Mahoning

It was a banner night to what has already been a banner season for Palmerton's Earl Paules as he won both the Modified and Late Model features at Mahoning Valley Speedway, the first time a driver has done that fete. In doing so, he assumed the point lead in each division.

In the Modified main he started eighth. After two early skirmishes, Paules moved to fifth. He then began his progression to the front by moving to the outside groove where he would grab fourth by lap three and third the next time around.

It took Paules until lap eight to make his way ahead of early leader Matt Wentz. After that it was battle between him and Bobby Jones. On lap 15 Paules was able to take the lead and he held steady for his first Modified win of the year.

"It's just patience. You have that the wins will come. It's Mahoning Valley, it's a tough little race track," said Paules. "Bobby (Jones) and I are both hard racers. I know he will run you clean and he gave me plenty of room."

Defending class champion Tyler Haydt had a solid drive as he came from 14th to finish in second.

In the Late Models, Paules was racing in fourth on lap five and avoided a collision between Mike VanFossen, George Ramos and Ed Bauer.

There was only one opening for Paules and that was between the tangling cars and outside wall. It was a narrow escape and in the outcome gave him the lead.

Paules has now reeled off 14 straight top five feature finishes, eight in the Modified and six with the Late Model.

"Both our cars were amazing tonight. We've been slowly trying to get it all better and tonight we hit it pretty good," he said.

In the Street Stocks it was Todd Ahner of Palmerton taking his first win of the season. Ahner used a lap two restart to snag the top spot. Ahner became the sixth different winner in as many races and extended his all-time Street Stock wins to 27.

The Dirt Mods ran the remainder of a postponed race which picked up from lap three and had Kris Graver of Lehighton leading. Graver was perfect yet again as he stayed in front and notched his fifth victory.

In the regular run it was Mertztown's Mike Stofflet taking a very popular first win of the season. He jumped in front early and in the final laps held off Graver.

Defending 4-Cylinder Stock champ Barry Christman Jr. of Northampton burst through for his first win this year. Christman was the fourth different driver to lead the race, taking to the helm on lap nine. He then held off Jeremy Miller for his 23rd career win.

Lehighton's Dan Freundt was the highest finisher with the Front Wheel Drives and earned a bonus.

The Micro Stock Racing Series held a special 25-lap memorial event in honor of longtime supporter Richard Weiss. Bob Wagner of Rockaway, NJ took the win.

Modified Feature Finish, 35 Laps: 1. Earl Paules, 2. Tyler Haydt, 3. Roger Coss, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Nevin George, 6. Bobby Jones, 7. Kevin Rex Jr., 8. Brian DeFebo, 9. Troy Bollinger, 10. Shawn Sitarchyk, 11. Chip Wanamaker, 12. Matt Wentz, 13. Todd Geist, 14. Lonnie Behler, 15. Joe Mooney, 16. John Bennett, 17. James Pritchard Jr., 18. Tom Flanagan, 19. Eric Beers, 20. Scott Meckes

Late Model Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Earl Paules, 2. Dave Wallace, 3. Paul Kohler Jr., 4. Mike Sweeney, 5. Kenney Hein, 6. Pat Hargan, 7. George Ramos, 8. Paul Effrig, 9. Tony Zatsko, 10. Glenn Slocum, 11. Geno Steigerwalt, 12. Casey Creyer, 13. Rick Wallace, 14. Mike VanFossen 15. Mark Simon, 16. Ed Bauer

Street Stock Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Todd Ahner, 2. Gene Bowers, 3. Kevin Smith, 4. Jason Kuhn, 5. Joe Steigerwalt, 6. Jason Frey, 7. Chip Wanamaker, 8. Chis Parry, 9. BJ Wambold, 10. Randy Ahner, Jr., 11. Jillian Long, 12. Josh Mooney, 13. TJ Gursky, 14. Kyle Strohl, 15. Joe Stamm, 16. Jonathan Tracy, 17. Steve Hoffman, 18. Mike Bugarewicz, 19. Mike Garris Jr., 20. Joe Roberts

Dirt Modified Feature Finish, (Makeup from 6/3) 20 Laps: 1. Kris Graver, 2. Randy Thomas, 3. Ricky Yetter, 4. Mark Levy, 6. Mike Stofflet, 7. Joe Stangle, 8. Dave Thomas

Dirt Modified Feature Finish, (reg. feat.) 20 Laps: 1. Stofflet, 2. Graver, 3. Randy Thomas, 4. Stangle, 5. Yetter, 6. Ronnie Krex, 7. Levy, 8. Dave Thomas, 9. Sittler, 10. Dave Gorbatuk

4-Cylinder Stock Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Barry Christman, Jr., 2. Jeremy Miller, 3. Nick Baer, 4. Dan Freundt, 5. Jake Oswald, 6. Dan Biegley, 7. Bobby Kibler Jr., 8. Robert Miller, 9. Justin Martison, 10, Tyler Stangle, 11. Stone Wentz, 12. Jake Kibler, 13. Doug Knauss, 14. Taya Wentz, 15. Arland Moyer Jr., 16. Kyle Strohl, 17. Dillon Kibler

Micro Stock Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Bob Wagner, 2. Roger Snyder, 3. Wayne Krenn, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Walt Mueller, 6. Mario Oberto, 7. Tyler Wagner, 8. John Rakos, 9. Bill Darling, 10. Joey Pritchard, 11. Mike Duffy, 12. Taylor Santee, 13. Calvin Carroll, 14. Josh Heiser, 15. Joe Carroll, 16. Suzie Carroll