At just 11 years and three months old, Paulie Hartwig III of Galloway, New Jersey, became the youngest driver to win in a Modified stock car at Mahoning Valley Speedway. The rising star won the 25-lap Sportsman Modified feature ahead of veterans Nick Baer and Earl Paules.

“This car was just so fast tonight, and I love this place. My dad (Paul Hartwig Jr.) works his butt off every day in the shop with Bobby Geiger, and they do the best they can to give me such a great car, and I can’t thank them and everyone enough,” said Hartwig, who swept the night by also winning in his heat.

“We had trouble in warm-ups and couldn’t quite figure it out, but we worked on it right up until the feature and in a way, I’m glad we went out last tonight because it gave us a little extra time to work on the car. This is a really tough class with guys like Earl Paules and all these guys who are very good.”

At the outset, Terry Markovic led from the pole while fourth-starting Hartwig moved quickly into second over Greyson Ahner. Hartwig then lingered close behind Markovic and on lap six, went low and in making his race winning pass.

“We started fourth, and I thought we were going to drop back. I was just riding behind him (Markovic), and then I saw the door open and I cut down and took the bottom,” noted Hartwig.

Once in the lead, Hartwig began to set sail as he was well ahead of the pack and easily cruising each lap.

“It feels really neat to be the youngest driver to win in a Modified here at Mahoning,” Hartwig said. “Two years ago I did the same thing with the Rookie Hobby Stocks.”

Street Stocks

Hartwig wasn’t the only driver on this night celebrating a first. In the Street Stocks, Logan Boyer of New Tripoli collected his career first victory. Boyer parlayed his pole starting spot into a night he won’t soon forget as he led all 30-laps en route to the unforgettable victory.

“I tried my best, that’s for sure. For the past couple years I wasn’t really a factor, but I never gave up either. I tried to race a clean race, and I want to thank everyone who’s helped me to get to this point,” said Boyer, who has been racing the class since 2015.

Hobby Stock

In the Hobby Stock main, Shayne Geist of Lehighton can finally breathe a sigh of relief. In the previous two features he was locked in torrid battle for the checkers, each time with Corey Edelman and each time having to settle for a close second place.

For Geist, the third time would be the charm and although Edelman was out of the race with mechanical woes, the fight for the win was still a tough one nonetheless.

Cody Boehm was glued to the rear of Geist and would push him to the finish with no room between them. Likewise, Travis Solomon was in tow as well, but Geist was not to be denied. It was his first win in hree years, and the victory also gave him sole control of the point standings.

Pro 4

Defending Pro 4 champion Cody Kohler of Schnecksville picked up his first win of 2022, and worked hard to get it too.

Kohler’s race got off to a rough start when he was called for making contact with pole sitter Terry Peters and sent to the rear. Afterward, Jake Kibler was leading early, but Kohler had come up through the field and was racing latterly with Tyler Stangle for second, which soon became a three-car battle for the lead.

Maintaining the outside line, Kohler was able to check by Stangle and continued doing so in catching and passing Kibler with six laps to go. He then held his line on the way to scoring his 37th-career win.

Futures

Parker Ahner of Palmerton was able to slip underneath Makayla Kohler on lap seven of the Futures feature and went on to collect his second straight win in just his third start.

TQ Midgets

The East Coast TQ Midgets made their first appearance of the season, and taking a rousing victory was current point leader and defending club champion Tyler Wagner of Rockaway, New Jersey. Wagner passed his uncle, Don Wagner, on a lap seven restart and from then on was never headed.

Sportsman Modified Feature finish (25 laps):

1. Paulie Hartwig III, 2. Nick Baer, 3. Earl Paules, 4. Al Arthofer, 5. Troy Bollinger, 6. Greyson Ahner, 7. Jaden Brown, 8. Terry Markovic, 9. Zach Lenardo

Street Stock feature finish (30 laps):

1. Logan Boyer, 2. Stacey Brown, 3. Tucker Muffley, 4. Todd Ahner, 5. Mark Deysher, 6. Jamie Smith, 7. Jillian Snyder, 8. Tommy Flanagan, 9. Thomas Flanagan, 10. Jon Moser, 11. Randy Green, 12. Cody Geist

Hobby Stock feature finish (25 laps):

1. Shayne Geist, 2. Cody Boehm, 3. Travis Solomon, 4. Lyndsay Buss, 5. Trisha Connolly, 6. Tad Snyder, 7. Mallory Kutz, 8. Nick Kerstetter, 9. Jared Green, 10. Ralph Boger, Jr., 11. Jared Frye, 12. Corey Edelman, 13. Dave Kerr, 14. Don Bauder, 15. James Tout DNS: Josh Oswald

Pro 4 feature finish (20 laps):

1. Cody Kohler, 2. Jake Kibler, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Randy Schaffer, 5. Terry Peters, 6. Colton Breiner, 7. Kadie Pursell

Futures feature finish (15 laps):

1. Parker Ahner, 2. Makayla Kohler, 3. Gabrielle Steigerwalt, 4. Lexus Kutz, 5. Maggie Yeakel, 6. Zoe Kuchera, 7. Adam Steigerwalt, 8. Zach Wetzel DNS: Mayson Moyer

East Coast TQ Midget feature finish (20 laps):

1. Tyler Wagner, 2. Jasper Ziegafose, 3. Jason Hentrich, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Austin Santee, 6. Cody Geist, 7. Ozzie Carlino, 8. Brandon Kressler, 9. Don Zirinski