Northampton’s Austin Beers was able to add another victory to his collection at the season opener for the Race of Champions Modified Series Bunny Hop 75 at Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton this past Saturday evening.

Battling with mechanical issues from early in the night, Beers was forced to scratch not only from hot laps, but his heat race, as well, and then had to start 27th — and last — in the feature.

Not to be deterred, Beers put his years of track experience to the test, making a mad dash to the front. And with just two laps remaining, he passed Lou Strohl for the lead and victory.

“I’ve got to thank all of our guys, all the Blewett guys. We were kind of stumped on what the problem was. It ended up being the fuel pump, we think. What a hell of a race,” Beers said afterward.

“I have to thank Louie (Strohl) too, he ran me really clean. That was really fun coming through the pack there, I just had to bide my time. My dad did an amazing job being a spotter and he does really good, and it feels so great to get the win.”

Beers also expressed how the car still wasn’t to his liking but for him, luckily everything fell his way.

“I just didn’t really have enough drive, and I was tight, which built free toward the end of the run. I couldn’t get the run around the top and he (Strohl) was doing a good job of protecting the bottom out of turn two. I knew my opportunity would be out of turn four when he wouldn’t expect it, and he got a little high and the car just gripped up enough to where I could motor on next to him and break his momentum.”

Palmerton’s Strohl had to think smart about his strategy to muscle his way to the front from his 10th starting position.

Waiting for the right time to come, he found himself taking over the lead position on a lap 55 restart.

“I was like 14th or 15th there after that first caution, but I kept my strategy and passed them where I could and didn’t use the tires,” said Strohl. “The clutch was slipping so hard I couldn’t throttle up off of (turns) two or four. He (Beers) could and that’s how he got me, and you can only do so much, that’s racing and we were fast.”

Rounding out the podium was Blake Barney, from Jackson New Jersey, who kept his momentum in the front of the pack most of the race.

“It’s always good to come out here and have a good top three finish, but I’m just a little disappointed. I felt like there was a lot of opportunities for me to win and it kind of falls on me a little bit,” said Barney.

“I got that restart on the lead and I felt like he jumped it. I’m not mad at him, you know? He’s just trying to win the race, but it seems like it was a little egregious and had a full car on me at the line, but it’s whatever, it’s my fault, I should have maybe went earlier too,” he continued.

In an attempt to retain his title as track champion, Palmerton’s Cody Geist won the season’s first 30-lap Street Stock race. With only one caution leading to a single file green, white, checker, Geist — who led from the outset — never wavered and took his first win for the new season. Rookie Adam Steigerwalt of Lehighton finished second, putting up a strong fight for his first divisional race after moving up from the Futures.

It had been a few years since Palmerton’s Devin Schmidt had raced at Mahoning Valley, and from his Hobby Stock pole starting spot he showed no mercy to the 4-Cylinder field, never looking back once the race began. He led every lap and ended with a victory lane smoke show.

Slatington’s Bobby Kibler Jr. wasted no time passing Ian Szalku on the inside on the first lap of the Pro 4 feature. He held his lane to fend off Randy Schaffer to take home the win.

The Futures class competed in a tight 15-lap race to round out the evening with JR Merkel fending off Jeremy Henry, who showed no mercy to pass but didn’t have quite enough to complete it, ultimately ending with Merkel and Henry second.

MVS Results

Modified (75 Laps)

1. Austin Beers 2. Lou Strohl 3. Blake Barney 4. Ron Silk 5. Daren Schereer 6. Matt Hirschman 7. Brian DeFebo 8. Paulie Hartwig III 9. Jayden Brown 10. Don Wagner 11. James Blewett. 12. Earl Paules 13. Jayden Harman 14. Chris Finocchario 15. Austin Kochenash. 16. Jacob Kerstetter 17. Thomas Flanagan 18. Mark Miller 19. Cody Kohler 20 Jack Ely 21. Roger Coss 22. Tyler Wagner 23.Rod Snyder Jr 24. Kyle Strohl 25. John Bennett. 26. Nick Baer 27. Randall Richard

Street Stock (30 Laps)

1. Cody Geist 2. Adam Steigerwalt 3. Jacob Boehm 4. Jill Snyder 5. Jamie Smith. 6.Tommy Flanagan 7. Brandon Christman 8. Josh Kuronya 9. Jared Frye 10. Jon Moser 11. Gary Reinhemer, 12. Cody Boehm, 13. Frankie Althouse

Hobby Stock (25 Laps)

1. Devin Schmidt 2. Shayne Geist 3. Ryan Berger 4. Michael Wambold 5. Travis Solomon. 6. Cory Edelman 7. Jake Kibler 8. Trisha Connolly 9. James Tout 10. Al Gildner 11. Dave Kerr. 12. Brian Romig Jr 13. Arland Moyer Jr

Pro 4 (20 Laps)

1. Bobby Kibler Jr 2. Randy Schaffer 3. Cody Kohler 4. Bob Kibler 5. Ian Szalku 6. Tyler Poole 7. Robert Derfler 8. Kadie Pursell 9. Aiden Boucher 10. Rich Pursell 11. Tyler Stangle

Future (15 Laps)

1. Jr Merkel 2. Jeremy Henry 3. Sarabeth Mesko