It’s hard to imagine that when Brian DeFebo won Saturday night’s 35-lap Modified feature at Mahoning Valley Speedway, it ended a dry spell.

DeFebo had been on a roll, scoring 13 victories in a three-year span and earning back-to-back championships (2017-18). And that was just at Mahoning, as he’s been adding wins at Evergreen Raceway too.

However, 2020 turned out to be an off year for the 42-year-old Berwick driver as he went winless for the first time during a single season in recent memory.

DeFebo, though, put it all together with a solid performance. After passing Nick Baer on lap 16, he remained perfect the rest of the way and drove to his 18th Mahoning win and 106th overall.

“You just don’t realize how hard it is to win a race here until you go on a drought,” said DeFebo. “After having some good winning years and then last year we were just off so this is exciting and I’m so happy to get this first one out of the way.

“I have thousands of laps at other tracks and this is the toughest one we race at.”

At the outset, Terry Markovic led the way over Jesse Strohl, Cody Kohler, Nick Baer and DeFebo. Strohl utilized a lap three restart to take the lead, but was in some tight company as Baer came along with him and was running closely to his outside. Baer assumed the front spot thanks to a restart six laps in, and following him into second was DeFebo while Bobby Jones had dashed his way to third.

While Baer was continuing at the front, DeFebo and Jones connected in two-wide duel. In the process Jones was able to slip by, but only briefly before DeFebo retook the spot and now set his attention toward Baer. Waiting for just the right opportunity, DeFebo’s moment came with an inside pass on lap 15. Afterward, there was no looking back as he gained his first win of the season.

“You have such a good group of guys down here that always race you hard and you earn ever spot you get,” said DeFebo. “I want to thank my mom (Sophie Welsh) who makes this fun and makes racing fun.”

As DeFebo was on his way to victory, there was an amazing battle taking place for second between John Markovic and Austin Beers. Both had moved past Baer by lap 20 and from then on began a hard-fought battle. Beers was relentlessly doing all he could to work underneath Markovic and finally did so at the finish line by a mere few inches for his fifth runner-up of the year.

In the Late Model feature, Lorin Arthofer II picked up his second win of the season.

Arthofer took the lead away from Seth VanFossen nine laps into the 25-lap contest, but had to remain in a defensive mode the rest of the way as a number of opponents kept at him.

The most notable was Brandon Turbush, who was making a rare Mahoning appearance and who late into the race had his car zeroed in on the tail of Arthofer. With one lap to go, Turbush was beginning to move by for the lead when suddenly a multi-car tangle took place and the lap was called back, much to the benefit of Arthofer. It was a single file restart and Arthofer was able to hold his line and that of Turbush for the win.

Classy veteran racer Todd Ahner picked up his first Street Stock win of the season, doing so in a flag-to-flag lead spot fashion.

Ahner started on the pole and wasted no time in taking charge over Jamie Smith. With 10 laps to go Johnny Bennett was behind Ahner, and despite the close pressure being applied, he held his ground and collected career win No. 39.

Devin Schmidt is beginning to take a real liking to twin Hobby Stock features. For the second week in a row, he won the later and that coming after finishing third in the first main both weeks.

The night began with the postponed May 8 feature, which saw Justin Merkel grab the lead from Mallory Kutz on lap six. He had to then hold off the intense encounters of Cody Boehm and Schmidt en route to his first win of the season.

For the regular main, fifth-starting Schmidt needed only three laps to slip by early leader Lyndsay Buss. He would not waver from there on taking the victory over Boehm and Taylor Schmidt.

In Pro 4 action, Cody Kohler passed Randy Schaffer just past the midway juncture of the 20-lap run and went on to notch his second straight and third win of 2021.

Greyson Ahner went into the lead after just one lap and stayed there to the finish for his fourth Rookie Hobby Stock win over runner-up Dave Kerr. Makayla Kohler’s third place earned her a second victory with the Futures division.

Mahoning Valley Speedway Results

Modified feature finish (35 laps)

: 1. Brian DeFebo, 2. Austin Beers, 3. John Markovic, 4. Bobby Jones, 5. Nick Bear, 6. Cody Kohler, 7. Terry Markovic, 8. Eric Kocher, 9. Avery Arthofer, 10. Wes Gilbert, 11. Mia Guy, 12. Rich Cooper, 13. Lou Strohl, 14. Jesse Strohl, 15. Jayden Brown, 16. Jacob Kerstetter, 17. Kyle Strohl, 18. Carl Altemose

Late Model feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Lorin Arthofer, 2. Brandon Turbush, 3. Geno Steigerwalt, 4. Rick Giannino, 5. Nick Ross, 6. Mike Stein, 7. Rich Cooper, 8. James Yons, 9 Brian Romig Jr. 10. Brooks Smith, 11. Seth VanFossen

Street Stock feature finish (30 laps)

: 1. Todd Ahner, 2. Johnny Bennett, 3. Brandon Christman, 4 Mark Martini, 5. TJ Gursky, 6. Jon Moser, 7. Randy Ahner JR., 8. Lonnie Behler, 9. Mark Deysher, 10. Rick Reichenbach, 11. Jill Snyder, 12. Thomas Flanagan, 13. Rich Moser, 14. Jamie Smith, 15. Jacob Christman, 16. Tobie Behler, 17. Tucker Muffley, 18. Josh Oswald

Pro 4 feature finish (20 laps)

: 1. Cody Kohler, 2. Randy Schaffer, 3. Jake Kibler, 4. Kadie Pursell, 5. Bob Kibler Sr., 6. Bobby Kibler Jr., 7. Tyler Stangle, 8. Josh Kuronya, 9. Terry Peter

Make-up Hobby Stock feature finish from May 8 (25 laps)

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

Regular Hobby Stock Feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Devin Schmidt, 2. Cody Boehm, 3. Taylor Schmidt, 4. Geist, 5. Edelman, 6. Solomon, 7. Jacob Boehm, 8. Tout, 9. Snyder, 10. Wambold, 11. Oswald, 12. Connolly, 13. Buss, 14. Schaffer, 15. Herman, 16. Imler Jr., 17. Borger, 18. Hilliard, 19. Merkel, 20. John Petro, 21. Brenden Hiers DNQ: Kutz, Kerstetter

Futures/Rookie Hobby Stock feature finish (12 laps)

: 1. Greyson Ahner, 2. Dave Kerr, 3. Makayla Kohler, 4. Adam Steigerwalt, 5. Brody George, 6. Reid Levengood, 7. Deegan Underwood, 8. Gabrielle Steigerwalt, 9. Hallie Muffley, 10. Maggie Yeakel, 11. Tyler Aleckna, 12. Lexus Kutz, 13. Zoe Kuchera