The late Bob "Heavy" Scherer was a hard-as-nails type of racer and there is no question he was looking down and beaming from ear-to-ear after a pair of twin-50 lap features run in his honor took place Saturday night at Mahoning Valley Speedway.

Earl Paules and Austin Kochenash scored the respective wins on a hot and steamy night of racing that was a classic rough-and-tumble short track show with intensely close action and tempers flaring afterward. Yes, "Heavy" would have loved this.Most of the combating centered on Kochenash, who drew cheers and jeers by night's end.In the first 50, Kochenash was tailing leader Brian DeFebo. It was looking as if a long winless dry spell at Mahoning would soon come to an end as DeFebo's car was perfectly getting around.Then on lap 24, Kochenash nipped the back of DeFebo in turn two and sent him spinning. For his part, Kochenash was relegated to the rear."I want to apologize for that. It was just racing. He (DeFebo) got a good start and then drove into the corner a little too hard. His car seemed a little tight and he came up a little bit and I went to cross him over. When I was coming back down my front bumper got into him and I got on the brakes but it was too late. I was getting pushed from the other cars behind me and it was just unfortunate for both of us," said Kochenash.On the restart, Bobby Jones and Earl Paules were at the front and by the time they completed the first lap under green, Paules was leading. He would hold there the rest of the way."That 72 (Kochenash), he is one aggressive driver I'll tell you that. Man, he will drive the wheels right off that race car. He got into the back of (Brian) DeFebo and turned him around and that put him to the outside of Bobby (Jones) on the restart," said Paules, who won for the 45th time in a Modified.Paules then picked the pill for the redraw of the second 50 and pulled the number 12 for the invert. That gave Lou Strohl and DeFebo the front row. Once underway Strohl took the lead, but right alongside was DeFebo with Kochenash and Kris Graver going two-wide behind them.DeFebo worked hard to get by the leader by means of the outside lane and despite running even most of the time, he could not muster enough to make a pass. Kochenash shook off Graver and would join the front two. However, Strohl did a fine job of keeping both his pursuers at bay.That was until lap 29 when Kochenash got a burst of power and surged into the lead. Jones took a turn as the lead car on lap 41 but Kochenash responded.In the final five laps the race hit fever pitch when Wagner made it a three-car battle, applying pressure from the outside groove. He went by Jones with three laps to go and pushed Kochenash to the finish, but he couldn't make the pass and finished second by less than a half a car length.The win gave Kochenash a guaranteed starting spot for this year's Sunoco Race of Champions 250 at Oswego Speedway."He (Wagner) was beating on me and trying to spin me out for those last few laps. He got on the outside of me and I protected the lead. I gave him plenty of room out there," explained Kochenash.Wagner was clearly upset afterward, and while they parked in Victory Lane he quickly unstrapped from his car and rushed over to Kochenash, who was still in his mount. Heated words were exchanged and a brief scuffle took place between Wagner and members of Kochenash's crew."After the race he came into my window, pulling on my helmet and punching me and then he got hit. Every hero needs a villain and I guess I'm his villain. We'll go on from this. I can't thank Brent and Gary Wentz enough for giving me the opportunity to race their car and also the Scherer family for raising all the lap money and all that they do for this race in honor of Heavy," added Kochenash.Wagner said he never touched Kochenash and was just letting him know of his displeasure for the way he felt he was being forced near the wall."He's (Kochenash) a young driver and obviously he's been taught some bad lessons by some people, I don't know who but right now he's making no friends in racing," said Wagner."This is a sport where your longevity is because of two reasons. You earn respect from your fellow drivers or you have a lot of money. This kid is gaining no respect," he continued."We're racing for the win and I understand if you're the leader of the race you'll do what you have to in order to protect the lead and not move over for anybody. But that doesn't mean running to really block the guy next to you and trying to cause damage. That's not the way we race. We're all blue-collar working people that like their racing on a Saturday night. We all don't want to be fixing our cars every week because of stupidity."Kochenash opined his perspective while at his pit."I was keeping the car on the bottom and he was hitting me in the bumper, which was just racing. What I did to him is just racing. He's not afraid to run anyone up to the wall but when he gets it done to him he doesn't like it," said Kochenash. "People just don't like people that win, especially when they win and are half their age. He's how old now and getting tired."1st Modified (50 Laps)1. Earl Paules, 2. Eric Beers, 3. Don Wagner, 4. Bobby Jones, 5. Jack Ely, 6. Kris Graver, 7. Chip Santee, 8. Austin Kochenash, 9. Brian DeFebo, 10. Lou Strohl, 11. John Markovic, 12. JP Curry, 13. Kevin Rex Jr., 14. Nick Bear, 15. Terry Markovic, 16. Joey Jarowicz, 17. Kyle Strohl, 18.Mike Quinn, 19. Todd Baer2nd Modified (50 Laps)1. Kochenash, 2. Wagner, 3. Jones, 4. Strohl, 5. J. Markovic, 6. Graver, 7. DeFebo, 8. Beers, 9. Strohl, 10. Rex, 11. Paules, 12. Santee, 13. T. Baer, 14. Ely, 15. N. Baer, 16. T. Markovic, 17. Curry 18. Quinn DNS: JarowiczLate Model (25 Laps)1. Mike Sweeny, 2.Jeremy Miller, 3. Frankie Althouse, 4. Don Wagner, 5. Robbie Kutz, 6. Jacob Nemeth, 7. Chris Anderson, 8. Kenny Hein, 9. Jacob Kerstetter 10. Paul Koehler Jr., 11. Geno Steigerwalt, 12. Paul Skodacek, 13. Lorin Arthofer, 14. Josh Oswald, 15. George RamosStreet Stock (30 Laps)1. Jamie Smith, 2. Josh Mooney, 3. Jared Ahner, 4. Zach Graver, 5. Todd Ahner, 6. Jason Kuhn. 7. Jason Frey, 8. Rick Reichenbach, 9. Mark Martini, 10. Stacey Brown, 11. Jon Moser, 12. Corey Edelman, 13. Jon Tracy, 14. Randy Ahner Jr., 15. Greg Long, 16. Kristy Arthofer, 17. Dan Freundt, 18. Dennis Buss, 19. Eric Kocher, 20. Joe MooneyDirt Mod (25 Laps)1. Mike Stofflet, 2. Ricky Yetter, 3. Aleia Geisler, 4. Ray Deemer, 5. Billy Lasko, 6. Dave Gorbatuk, 7. Charles SabellaPro 4 (20 Laps)1. Kevin Graver Jr., 2. Josh Scherer, 3. Tyler Stangle, 4. Johnny Bennett, 5. Bobby Kibler Jr., 6. Brian Ahner, 7. Bob Kibler Sr., 8. Shawn Hoffman. 9. Bill Rooney, 10. Cody Kohler, 11. Kailyn Beers, 12. Jake Kibler, 13. Chase HoffmanHobby Stock (20 Laps)1. Travis Solomon, 2. Ken Reeder, 3. Avery Arthofer, 4. Shayne Geist, 5. Michael Wambold, 6. Rich Mutarelli, 7. Cody Geist, 8. Sam Ryan, 9. Tiffany Wambold, 10. Ryan Berger, 11. Jesse Strohl, 12. Nicolas Kerstetter, 13. Jeff Biegley, 14. Austin Beers, 15. Devin Schmidt