It seems that Week 2 at Mahoning Valley Speedway has become a favorite for Bobby Jones, as for the third straight season the veteran picked up a win in the Modified feature. The 35-lap main turned out to be a great showdown as well between he and Earl Paules as they battled down to the wire.

“For three years in a row we were terrible on opening night, and I could never understand why. After this year’s opener, we went back and did a lot of tweaking,” said Jones, who won for the 23rd time at Mahoning in a Modified and recorded his 40th-career overall victory.

Jones, who started second to pole sitter Ron Haring Jr., would place his No. 1J into the lead with a quick diving move off turn two on lap six. Two laps later after a restart, Paules advanced to second and from there on it was a cat-and-mouse game between the two journeymen.

Paules tried numerous attempts to get by, but as Jones would admit afterward, he was being very protective, especially on the inside lane where he chose to remain for most of the race.

“I slowed down to protect the bottom – I didn’t want to give that up because here once someone gets position on you on the bottom, they got you,” said Jones.

Over the final laps, the excitement was rousing, most notably on the last circuit. With the front pair locked tight, they came upon a slower car in turns three and four. Jones had to react quickly as to not get trapped as Paules had a clear line from the topside to make a pass. As fate would have it for Jones, he wisely stepped out enough to safeguard his spot, but just barely as he held off Paules by a mere half-car length.

“I actually thought we were OK, and we were just going to relax and stay there, and I kind of relaxed too much and shouldn’t have,” said Jones.

“At the last minute, I was going to go out on the lapped car because Earl was coming. As soon as I started to step out, I (saw) him and didn’t go out as high as I should to give him room. There was a lot of respect and it was fun and good racing for both of us.”

Matt Wentz would take the lead in the Late Model main on lap one and never looked back en route to his first win of 2019.

It was, however, no easy drive as Opening Night winner Frankie Althouse, Broc Brown and eventual runner-up Mike Sweeney all kept the leader on his toes.

In the end, however, Wentz was not to be denied as he picked up where he left off at the end of 2018 with a string of solid and winning runs to notch the verdict, his fourth win in his last five outings, dating back to last season.

Nineteen-year-old Kyle Strohl held off Roger Coss in a close finish, winning for the first time with a Sportsman Modified and the 35th time of his burgeoning career.

Defending Street Stock champion Mark Deysher moved to the lead after a lap one restart over Jeremy Scheckler, and from there on was practically unapproachable in scoring his 22nd class win.

Bobby Kibler Sr., first started winning in the Pro 4 class some 29 years ago and hasn’t stopped since. Kibler jumped into the lead at the outset, and then handily cruised the rest of the way for his 21st feature win.

In the Hobby Stocks, Cody Boehm gave early leader Daryl Rex a spirited run for his money, and would see it pay off after grabbing the lead midway through the race and then go on to score his first win of the young season.

MVS Results

Modified (35-laps)

1. Bobby Jones, 2. Earl Paules, 3. Josh Scherer, 4. Anthony Sesely, 5. Gene Bowers, 6. Kyle Strohl, 7. Todd Baer, 8. Brian DeFebo, 9. Austin Beers, 10. Kevin Rex Jr., 11. John Markovic, 12. Terry Markovic, 13. Jacob Kerstetter, 14. Ron Haring Jr., 15. Heath Metzger DNS: Scott Adams

Late Model (25-laps)

1. Mike Wentz, 2. Mike Sweeney, 3. Broc Brown. 4. Frankie Althouse, 5. Jeremy Miller, 6. Samantha Osborn, 7. Kenny Hein, 8. Avery Arthofer, 9. Geno Steigerwalt

Street Stock (30-laps)

1. Mark Deysher, 2. Billy Hunara, 3. Randy Ahner Jr., 4. Mark Martini, 5. Jill Long, 6. Todd Ahner, 7. Randy Schlenker, 8. Stacey Brown, 9. Jared Ahner, 10. Jon Moser, 11. Jamie Smith, 12. Tucker Muffley, 13. Bobby Kibler Jr., 14. Brennen Coulter, 15. Jeremy Scheckler, 16. John Bennett, 17. Shayne Geist, 18. Corey Edelman, 19 Eric Kocher, 20. Aaron Kromer DNQ: Ronald Herman, Cody Geist

Sportsman Mod (25-laps)

1. Kyle Strohl, 2. Roger Cross, 3. Johnathan Laureigh, 4. Joe King Jr., 5, Lorin Arthofer II, 6. BJ Wambold, 7. Mike Pollack, 8. Kassidy Altemose, 9. Danielle Paules

Pro 4 (20-laps)

1. Bobby Kibler Sr., 2. Randy Schaffer, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Tucker Muffley, 5. Jake Kibler, 6. Matt Clark, 7. Jeremy Guerra DNS: Colton Breiner

Hobby Stock (25-laps)

1. Cody Boehm, 2. Al Arthofer, 3. Devin Schmidt, 4. Travis Solomon, 5. Trisha Connolly, 6. Shawn Kistler, 7. Jacob Boehm, 8. Taylor Schmidt, 9. Philip Sabatine, 10. Daryl Rex, 11. Terry Peters, 12. John Petro, 13. Tyler Nemeth, 14. Austin Ahner, 15. Mallory Kutz, 16. Tad Snyder, 17. Peyton Arthofer, 18. Lyndsay Buss