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BRETT HEARN ONLY NEEDED TWO LAPS TO TAKE THE WIN AT AUTODROME GRANBY



EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE FOR STEVE POIRIER

GRANBY, Qué., June 24, 2003 – In all his appearances at Autodrome Granby in the past six years, Brett Hearn has never been able to visit the winner’s circle, but he did it in his own way, last Monday night in the third race of the Turning Stone Casino DIRT Series. It’s with only two laps remaining in this 100-lap feature that Hearn was able to take the lead and registered his seventh success at this very popular speedplant. It might have been Hearn’s success, but it was without a doubt the excellent performance of regular Steve Poirier who grabbed the fans’ attention. After a perfect race, the Teo/FM Industries driver was able to take place on the third step of the podium.

Tenth on the starting grid, Hearn slowly started his way through traffic while a second place draw for Poirier allowed him to take the lead at the drop of the green flag. Poirier led the first 16 laps before being passed by Tim Fuller. Then, following a first yellow flag on lap 40, Hearn was already in fourth place. A second caution flag came out just before the halfway mark and at the restart, Hearn was able to move up two positions only in only one lap.

While Fuller had an easy lead on the field, the second portion of the race gave the fan an interesting battle between Hearn and Poirier, the local favorite. On lap 72, Hearn’s car slidded a little bit, but the opening was enough for Poirier to take back his second place. Seven laps later, it was Hearn’s turn to make the same move. Poirier never gave up and both drivers were gaining the on Fuller’s lead.

Then with two laps remaining, Fuller was slowed by lapped cars and this was enough for Hearn to move in command of the race and in the winner’s circle. Dale Planck and Todd Burley completed the top five.

There was only three caution flags in the race and 14 drivers were able to finish on the same lap as the winner. As for the other Quebec drivers in that race, Clément Therrien finished 10th, Alain Boisvert 12th, Kayle Robidoux 14th, Martin Roy 15th, Ian Bussière 16th, Jasmin Léveillé 17th while Claude Brouillard, Luke Plante, Christian Salvas, Leon Gonyo and Richard Chauvin could not make it to the checkered flag due to mechanical problems.

Earlier in the evening, Brett Hearn, Tim Fuller, Todd Burley, Alain Boisvert and Dale Planck were the winners in their respective heats while at the occasion of the time trials, Frank Cozze was the fastest driver followed by Luke Plante and Justin Haers.

In the other regular divisions at Autodrome Granby, it was a night of premieres. After a successful karting career, Steve Bernard in his first season in stock-car racing, scored his first victory in the Sportsman division. He was followed by Benoit Courchesne and Martin Hébert. Steve Coderre in the Semi-Pro and Sylvain Gagnon in the 4 Cylinders class also made their first appearance of the season in the winner’s circle.

RESULTS

EBCHÈRES ST-PIERRE/AUTO HEBDO 100: 1-20, Brett Hearn; 2-M1, Tim Fuller; 3- 61p, Steve Poirier; 4- 77x, Dale Planck; 5-89b, Todd Burley; 6-7x, Steve Paine; 7- 28s, Matt Sheppard; 8- 7h, Alex Hoag; 9- 3, Justin Haires; 10- 39, Clément Therrien; 11- 124, Pierre Dagenais; 12- 73, Alain Boisvert; 13- 3b, Chad Brachmann; 14- 46, Kayle Robidoux; 15- 90,Martin Roy (99); 16- 21, Ian Bussière (98); 17- 4K, Jasmin Léveillé (96); 18- 21k, Randy Chrysler (96); 19- 66w, Wallace Stacey (96); 20-44, Frank Cozze (95); 21- 5w, Ron White (95); 22- 35, Mike Perrotte (74); 23- 99k, Danny Johnson (71); 24- 4, Leon Gonyo (65); 25- 31, Richard Chauvin (61); 26- 3, Claude Brouillard (54); 27- 2, Luke Plante (37); 28- 14j, Alan Johnson (36); 29- 8s, Christian Salvas (22); 30- 66m, Mario Lajoie (20)