Through the first six races of 2019, John Markovic has barely made a mark in the results column, mustering a pair of 10th-place runs as his best effort to date, very uncommon-like to say the least for a driver of his caliber. Admittedly, he was the first to express how his signature No. 95M “Purple Bandit” was not performing to expectations.

After trying just about everything to make the car work to no avail, the seasoned veteran turned to the one person he felt could pull him from the doldrums — noted set-up specialists and top flight driver Zane Zeiner.

After Zeiner worked his magic, Markovic put all the hardship behind him as he stormed to his first win of the season Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway.

Markovic held off a very determined Austin Kochenash for the popular victory, which remarkably came one year after his last on Memorial Day weekend.

“I’ve been coming here the whole second half of my life, and I’ve never had such an awful car as I did this year. We threw everything at it, but in just one day Zane Zeiner came in, drove the car in early practice, diagnosed it, repaired it and fixed it and gave me a winning race car,” said Markovic. “It was on rails, it was fast and I owe it all to Zane. It’s that simple.”

The 35-lap affair saw Ron Haring Jr., pace the field for the first half-dozen laps, but noticeably quick was Markovic, who by lap five had passed Earl Paules for second and one lap later zipped by Haring for the lead.

When he did make the lead pass, it was soon clear that Markovic’s car was back to top status, confidently solid as he controlled the race. Meanwhile, Haring was holding his own in second over Paules until six laps from the end, when a caution waved for a three car scuffle.

On that restart, Paules took second and Kochenash blasted into third. Two laps later, he would gain second and wasn’t settling there as he immediately went after the leader.

With just enough on the bottom line, Kochenash moved alongside Markovic and began a thrilling final laps toward the finish and his effort looked like it was about to pay off. However, that same lap Brian DeFebo smacked the turn four wall and brought out the caution, setting up a green-white-checker restart. Try as he may, Kochenash could not get by as Markovic took the win by a narrow margin.

“It was good hard racing, and he raced me clean. He got underneath me there at the end, but the caution came out and we held on,” added Markovic.

In Late Model action, Jeremey Miller took advantage of his pole starting spot and raced to his first win of the season, his 42nd career win.

When it comes to extra distance Street Stock features at Mahoning Valley, one should never count out Jon Moser, and that certainly was again the case as he chalked up another one, going 75 laps to win $1,000. By taking the checkered flag, he is the first to repeat in the class this season, and added to his point lead in the process.

Ricky Yetter had quite the feisty battle with Mike Stofflet, as they went tooth and nail in the 25-lap Dirt Mod main. Despite the blitzing, Yetter kept his motivation on the big prize and raced to win number two of 2019.

In winning his third Pro 4 feature of the year, Jake Kibler went into the record books by becoming the division’s all-time career wins leader with 34. Kibler took the top spot from Jeremy Guerra on lap seven, and then resisted the ongoing pressure from Cody Kohler to take the win by less than half a car length.

Drive and determination best describes Jacob Boehm’s first career Hobby Stock feature victory.

Modified Feature (35 laps)

1. John Markovic, 2. Austin Kochenash, 3. Earl Paules, 4. Bobby Jones, 5. Zane Zeiner, 6. Josh Scherer, 7. Kyle Strohl, 8. Kevin Rex Jr., 9. Eric Kocher, 10. Gary Wentz, 11. Heath Metzger, 12. BJ Wambold, 13. Ron Haring Jr., 14. Brian DeFebo, 15. Gene Bowers, 16. Terry Markovic, 17. Jacob Kerstetter, 18. Nick Baer, 19. Lorin Arthofer II, 20. Lou Strohl DNQ: Devin Schmidt

Late Model Feature (25 laps)

1. Jeremy Miller, 2. Franke Althouse, 3. Mike Sweeney, 4. Dylan Osborn, 5. Samantha Osborn, 6. Avery Arthofer, 7. Kenny Hein, 8. Brandon Turbush, 9. Matt Wentz

Street Stock Feature (75 laps)

1. Jon Moser, 2. Todd Ahner, 3. Randy Schlenker, 4. Randy Ahner Jr., 5. Stacey Brown, 6. Jared Ahner, 7. Mark Deysher, 8. Mark Martini, 9. Jillian Long, 10. Eric Kocher, 11. Bobby Kibler Jr., 12. Jamie Smith, 13. Ken Erney III, 14. Johnny Bennett, 15. Beau Drobot, 16. Tucker Muffley, 17. Austin Santee, 18. Bill Hunara, 19. Corey Edelman, 20. Cody Geist DNQ: Brennen Coulter, George Ramos III, Shayne Geist

Dirt Modified Feature (25 laps)

1. Ricky Yetter, 2. Mike Stofflet, 3. Corey Edelman, 4. Colton Perry, 5. Larry Beers

Hobby Stock Feature (20 laps)

1. Jacob Boehm, Devin Schmidt, 3. Trisha Connolly, 4. Peyton Arthofer, 5. Cody Boehm, 6. Travis Solomon, 7. Taylor Schmidt, 8. Shawn Kistler, 9. Peter Maier, 10. Kassidy Altemose, 11. Rich Mutarelli, 12. Daryl Rex, 13. John Petro, 14. Terry Peters, 15. Mallory Kutz, 16. Tad Snyder, 17. Phil Sabatine, 18. Al Arthofer, 19. Austin Ahner

Pro 4 Feature (20 laps)

1. Jake Kibler, 2. Cody Geist, 3. Bobby Kibler Sr., 4. Tyler Stangle, 5. Jeremy Guerra, 6. Randy Schaffer, 7. Tucker Muffley, 8. Steven McDonough, 9. Matt Clark, 10. Kadie Pursell