The Official Site of Area Auto Racing News and Len Sammons Productions Area Auto Racing News
(LEHIGHTON, PA 7-5-14) Talk about being on a roll. Lehighton’s Kris Graver has won for a third straight week and second time in a Modified.
The second year division driver has been wicked fast in the past month. In four features over a three week span he clicked off two Modified victories and was second and fifth in the others. Plus he annexed the SpeedSTR victory last Sunday. In the process Graver has pocketed in excess of $7000 in earnings and is only 14 points behind standings leader Earl Paules.
“The wins are good but we need the cash more than anything. Personally I don’t worry about the points. As long as I get the good finishes then the points will come right along with it,” said 21-year old Graver.
Starting 10th, by lap five Graver was in the top five. Racing at the front was Lou Strohl who had Chip Santee right next to him as well as Kyle Strohl. Santee and K. Strohl went back and forth for second while also in two-wide action was Nevin George and Graver.
Frontrunner L. Strohl was trying to end a five year winless spell but Santee and K. Strohl where making it extremely difficult on him. Still he managed to guard himself against the nonstop blitz.
As the race was nearing the end, things looked as though L. Strohl was going to pull off the overdue win. However, the unending battle between K. Strohl and Santee became a three car fight after Graver replaced George for fourth and the pressure on the leader now tripled.
For Santee, he backed out of the fight due to a broken sway bar. That gave Graver the chance to take third on lap 27. With four laps to go he passed K. Strohl and one lap later made quick work of L. Strohl with a turn three pass the next time around. Graver and L. Strohl did touch slightly but stayed concentrated on their route.
“I’m pretty sure we touched a little bit. I knew if I would have pulled alongside of Louie (Strohl) he would have got a little antsy. It was just racing. We were really close and we’re turning 9-seocnd laps and you can’t help that, you’re going to bump and bang,” noted Graver.
K. Strohl nipped L. Strohl on the final lap while George and Don Wagner rounded out the top five.
Graver almost made it three weeks in a row of winning with the Modified. He was leading in last Saturday night’s main when Wagner sprung past him on a restart with four laps to go and he settled for second.
“This really helps to put all that behind us. Like I said I can’t thank my crew enough and we have this thing honking right now,” said Graver.
“These past few weeks have been amazing. I needed just a little bit of room to get by Chip (Santee) there. I got that room and then took off,” said Graver.
The “George Ramos Jr., Pineapple 50” for Late Models took place and for a second year in a row Earl Paules took home the top prize of $1200 plus lap money and contingencies.
Paules raced into the lead on lap nine and was at first holding off Paul Effrig. Not long after Paul Koehler Jr and Frankie Althouse became his biggest provokers as they each tried to hustle around him. Try indeed but neither could successfully make a pass.
In the last 10 laps Althouse got to second and made every move possible but Paules stood firm, picking up is fifth win of the year and seventh straight top two finish.
Randy Ahner Jr., held off an unwavering Jillian Long in capturing his second Street Stock win of the year.
After a great battle with Cody Roth, Ahner was able to take the lead on lap 17. Long followed suit and from there on those two would race closely the rest of the way. Several times Long would pull alongside Ahner but she never had enough of a push to get by. It was the 27th career win for Ahner.
Jake Kibler won a Pro 4 feature for a fourth time this season but he felt he didn’t have the best car in doing. Watching him lead every lap one would beg to differ.
Kibler took the lead on lap one and never looked back, holding off point leading Nick Baer for the win.
In the Hobby Stocks Alton Snyder Jr., had a dream come true as he won his career first feature race and he did it in dominating fashion by leading every lap. Once the green waved there was no stopping Snyder as he pulled further away on each passing lap and took the checkers by over 3-seconds ahead of Corey Edelman.
Modified Feature Finish (35 Laps): 1. Kris Graver, 2. Kyle Strohl, 3. Lou Strohl, 4. Nevin George, 5. Don Wagner, 6. Earl Paules, 7. Kevin Rex Jr., 8. Brandon Oltra, 9. John Markovic, 10. Rick Reichenbach, 11. Brian Romig, 12. Chip Santee, 13. Todd Baer, 14. Mike Quinn, 15. Roger Coss, 16. Terry Markovic, 17. Joe Mooney
DNQ:
Late Model Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Earl Paules, 2. Frankie Althouse, 3. Paul Koehler Jr., 4. George Ramos, 5. Mike Sweeney, 6. Nevin George, 7. Jeremy Miller, 8. Jacob Nemeth, 9. Geno Steigerwalt, 10. Danielle Paules, 11. Jacob Kerstetter, 12. Paul Effrig
Street Stock Feature Finish (30 Laps): 1. Randy Ahner Jr., 2. Jillian Long, 3. Jared Ahner, 4. Cody Roth, 5. Steven Steigerwalt, 6. Jonathan Tracey, 7. Jason Kuhn, 8. Justin Mooney, 9. TJ Gursky, 10. Lonnie Behler Sr., 11. Stacey Brown, 12. Zach Graver, 14. Dave Chapman, 15. DJ Wagner, 16. Chip Wanamaker, 17. Todd Ahner, 18. Josh Mooney, 19. George Ramos, 20. Lonnie Behler Jr., 21. Rich Emel, 22. Dan Freundt DNQ: Aaron Kromer, Gene Bowers, Tiff Wambold
Dirt Modified Feature Finish (25 Laps): 1. Kevin Graver Jr., 2. Ray Deemer, 3. Billy Lowden Jr., 4. Jack Ely, 5. Jeff Parker, 6. Mike Stofflet, 7. Ricky Yetter, 8. Aleia Geisler, 9. Billy Lasko, 10. Joe Stangle, 11. JP Curry, 12. Mark Martini
Pro 4 Feature Finish (18 Laps): 1. Jake Kibler, 2. Nick Baer, 3. JD Light, 4. Jesse Snyder, 5. Chad Miller, 6. Tyler Stangle, 7. Cody Kohler, 8. Kailyn Beers DNS: Dave Chapman
Hobby Stock Feature Finish (20 Laps): 1. Alton Snyder Jr., 2. Corey Edelman, 3. Shayne Geist, 4. Tim Oswald, 5. Rich Mutarelli, 6. Cody Geist, 7. Devin Gibson, 8. Shawn Hoffman2
