Press Release
Brett "The Jet" Hearn won the 99-lap Pennzoil Showdown at the Cornwall Motor Speedway on Sunday night, July 25th. The Sussex, New Jersey driver started the 32-car field in 4th and worked his way into the lead by lap 8 and never looked back. That means he lead the feature for 91 laps. The real battle took place for 2nd through 5th. "Hurricane" Steve Paine finished 2nd but he had to fend off challenges from Alan Johnson (Phelps, New York), "Mr.Smallblock" Pete Bicknell and Kingston, Ontario's Danny O'Brien. O'Brien was the only regular driver at Cornwall to crack the top 10, finishing 5th.
Hearn gave himself some breathing room when he started lapping cars on lap 47. Less than a dozen laps later, Hearn had pushed in front of 6 other cars to distance himself from second place Alan Johnson. Hearn also liked the fact there were only 6 cautions throughout the race. "The track was slick but we (the race team) prepared the car for that," said an overjoyed Hearn.
The win pushes Hearn into 1st place in the points in the Super DIRT series.
Todd Burley, from Spencerport, New York, finished 6th but because all of the drivers in front of him had already done so, he qualified for the season ending championship series in Syracuse.
Denis Gauvreau, Aylmer, Quebec, returned to Cornwall after a 3- week absence to pick up the Late Model feature win. He had to hold off a charging Marc Therrien who was looking to win his 2nd feature in as many weeks. Lee Ladouceur finished in 3rd. Rounding out the top 5 were Cliff Merpaw Jr. and Dave Bissonette.
The Rookie Class ran a 20-lap feature, up from the usual 12. Robin Laframboise won his 5th Rookie feature of the season at Ron Morin's speedplant. Martin Walter, from Ottawa, came in 2nd with Kees Van Winden, from Moorewood, Ontario rounding out the top 3.
On Sunday, August 1, the "JR Fuels/Bear's Den Holiday Classic" hits the Speedway. The 358-modifieds will run a 50-lap, Syracuse qualifier. The Late Models, Duke and Rookie Stocks will run their regular features. Plus, the intermission will feature a kids tire race for children 12 and under. Racing starts at 7 p.m.