Bobby Jones held off a very determined Kyle Strohl, and an equally fast Brian DeFebo, Saturday en route to his second Modified win of the season at Mahoning Valley Speedway.

The victory capped off a gratifying weekend for Jones, who won the night before at Evergreen Raceway.

“I came in here tonight a little more aggressive to get this win,” said Jones after collecting his 52nd-career victory. “We had a dominant win the night before, and that car was awesome. This car tonight was a little off, but it was good. Near the end, I just had to protect. I had Kyle (Strohl) and Brian (DeFebo) behind me, and they’re two of the best guys here, and I wouldn’t come off that bottom. I wanted to make sure they passed me on the outside, and we got it done.”

When the 35-lap contest got underway, pole sitter Carl Altemose jumped into the early lead while Cody Kohler, Nick Baer and fifth-starting Jones all ran tightly behind him. With the first 19 laps going nonstop, Altemose set out on a blistering pace with a solid handle on the lead while the aforementioned trio remained under a blanket.

The fast-paced affair was slowed when Mia Guy had a spin in Turn 3. Just prior to that, Baer and Jones got by Kohler and had been hot on Altemose’s tail. There would be another caution two laps later due to Kohler turning around in the second corner, and it would be on that restart when a change at the front would take place.

Altemose and Baer restarted side-by-side with Jones third. As they made their way off the final turn to complete lap 22, the low lane opened up as Altemose was fending off Strohl. That in turn allowed Jones to slip to the bottom and grab the lead. In the process, Altemose’s fine run came to an end as he was bumped by the oncoming cars and spun from contention.

“He (Altemose) was running good, and when I darted under him, everyone was checking up and it opened the bottom. I just mashed the gas and didn’t even think twice about it,” said Jones.

From there, it was an intense fight as Strohl tried several times to get by Jones. But each time, Jones held off his relentless charge. At the same time, DeFebo lurked closely in their tire tracks.

“There at the end, I just stayed glued to the bottom, and I wasn’t going to open it up for anyone to get under me,” said Jones. “This is the second time I’ve swept a weekend, and it’s been a long time since I’ve done that. It’s something to be proud of, and that was my goal tonight. I was coming here to win this race.”

The Street Stocks contested a 50-lap/$1,000-to-win race with the Mike Krempasky Tribute that honored the late championship car owner. For former division kingpin Lonnie Behler Sr., it was well worth the effort to return for the first time in over two years, as he raced out-front the entire distance and scored the popular win.

Despite leading every lap, this was by no means an easy run for Behler, as he would have Jon Moser and Mark Deysher on him the whole way through. For the fans, it was an opportunity to watch three outstanding drivers with the Street Stocks as they represented a combined 64 wins and eight championships.

Moser and Deysher applied nonstop pressure on Behler, who put his years of experience to work as he perfectly turned each circuit with accuracy, running the perfect line in keeping his equals at bay.

His win was the first since August 2013, and actually moved him into a tie for second all-time with Deysher at 23 victories.

In the Late Model feature, Nick Ross pulled off a thrilling late-race pass on Lorin Arthofer II and went on to score his third straight win of the season.

Arthofer had led from the drop of the green, but all the while had Ross hot on his trail. Lap-after-lap, they dueled with Arthofer fending off the constant insistence. Then with two laps remaining, Ross went to the outside, and with a burst of speed, thrust his way past Arthofer to a third consecutive win.

Justin Merkel took the lead from Lyndsay Buss on a lap four restart of the Hobby Stock main and powered away to a rousing third win of the season.

Merkel was far and away in control over the rest of the pack as he distanced himself out ahead, and had only lapped traffic to deal with on his way to a nearly four-second margin of victory over runner-up Trisha Connolly.

Josh Kuronya picked up his third Pro 4 win of the season, leading every lap in the process. The race could easily be considered one of the best of the season as the field ran smooth, clean and caution free.

In the Futures/Rookie Hobby Stocks, talented Brody George raced to his unprecedented seventh win of the season. In doing so, he continues to pad his point lead with the Futures class.

Third-place finisher Adam Steigerwalt had another solid outing and was credited with the Rookie victory.

Modified feature finish (35 laps)

: 1. Bobby Jones, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Brian DeFebo, 4. Austin Beers, 5. Jayden Brown, 6. Earl Paules, 7. John Markovic, 8. Nick Baer, 9. Cody Kohler, 10. Terry Markovic, 11. Kassidy Altemose, 12. Mia Guy, 13. Carl Altemose

Late Model feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Nick Ross, 2. Lorin Arthofer II, 3. James Yons, 4. Mike Stein

Street Stock feature finish (50 laps)

: 1. Lonnie Behler Sr., 2. Jon Moser, 3. Mark Deysher, 4. Cody Geist, 5. Jillian Snyder, 6. Mark Martini, 7. Randy Ahner Jr., 8. TJ Gursky, 9. Todd Ahner, 10. Tucker Muffley, 11. Rick Reichenbach, 12. Jamie Smith, 13. Rich Moser, 14. Cody Boehm, 15. Johnny Bennett, 16. Thomas Flanagan, 17. Jacob Christman, 18. Jeremy Scheckler, 19. Matt VanSyckle, 20. Tobie Behler, 21. Brandon Christman

Hobby Stock feature finish (25 laps)

: 1. Justin Merkel, 2. Trisha Connolly, 3. Cody Boehm, 4. Taylor Schmidt, 5. BJ Wambold, 6. Travis Solomon, 7. James Tout, 8. Nick Schaeffer, 9. Tad Snyder, 10. Corey Edelman, 11. Lyndsay Buss, 12. John Petro, 13. Mallory Kutz, 14. Ralph Borger Jr., 15. Herman Nuff, 16. Jacob Boehm 17. Devin Schmidt

Pro 4 feature finish (20 laps)

: 1. Josh Kuronya, 2. Randy Schaffer, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Kadie Pursell, 5. Terry Peters, 6. Cody Kohler, 7. Ken Reeder, 8. Jake Kibler DNS: Mark Fister

Futures/Rookie Hobby Stock feature finish (12 laps)

: 1. Brody George, 2. Hallie Muffley, 3. Adam Steigerwalt, 4. Makayla Kohler, 5. Gabrielle Steigerwalt, 6. Greyson Ahner, 7. Dave Kerr, 8. Maggie Yeakel, 9. Ryan Kresge, 10. Lexus Kutz, 11. Zoey Moyer, 12. Reid Levengood, 13. Zoe Kuchera, 14 Deegen Underwood