HEARN MAKES IT A SWEEP AT FONDA
The 2002 racing season saw Brett Hearn make three starts in events at the Fonda Speedway. Last night he made the third start of 2002 in the McDonald’s 200 and led all 200 laps for the victory. It was the 4th time in his career that he has won the event after winning back in 1995, 1997, and 1998. It was also his 40th victory of the 2002 season.
“Fonda has been a good track for me,” Hearn said in victory lane. “We have used the same Budweiser car #3 to get all three victories here this year. It also didn’t hurt being lucky enough to start on the pole.” It may sound like Hearn had an easy time getting the win but that was not the case as one Fonda regular almost had enough to take the win away from him.
By the luck of the draw Hearn started on the front row and immediately took the lead at the drop of the green flag. As Brett stretched out his lead, Tim Fuller and Billy Decker battled side by side for the second position early in the event. Fonda regular A.J. Romano started the event in the sixth position but by lap 11 he was knocking on the door of Alan Johnson for the fourth spot which he took from Alan on lap 12.
When the first yellow of the event came out on lap 34 it closed up the field and relegated the straightaway lead that Hearn had already built up. Romano continued his march to the front on lap 46 as lap traffic came into play as A.J. got by both Decker and Fuller for the second position. Decker continued to fall back and eventually ended up in the turn one wall on lap 75 bringing out another caution. At that time another favorite, Tim McCreadie had fallen out with a fuel pickup problem.
On the restart, Bobby Varin who was in the H & H Motorsports #98V got by four cars for the fifth position with Ronnie Johnson also on the move after starting thirteenth. Ronnie was using the extreme outside groove to sweep around cars getting by Varin for the fifth spot on lap 94. As the yellow flag came out to signal the halfway point in the event, Hearn, Romano, Alan Johnson, Gary Tomkins, and Ronnie Johnson completed the top five.
The start of the second half of the event saw Hearn pull away to a big lead just as he had done on the original start of the event. Alan Johnson and Varin swapped the fourth position many times early in the second half before Varin finally got by a few laps later. But the story was Romano who closed in on the leader using the extreme outside of the track in between turns one and two to get the job done almost making contact with the wall many times.
A.J. got close enough to almost get alongside Hearn in turn four on lap 127 as he tried to make a sweeping move around the leader. It didn’t work that time but on lap 147 Romano tried the same move again and this time he got alongside of Hearn in turn four. The two cars made contact on the frontstretch with A.J. making contact with the frontstretch wall and Hearn continuing on with the lead. Luckily for Romano the contact with the wall didn’t end his day at that point as he was able to continue.
The contact with the wall did take away some of A.J.’s momentum as Hearn took off to a sizeable lead after that. One final yellow slowed the event on lap 192 allowing Romano one final shot at the leader. The restart was not beneficial to Romano but it was to Varin as Bobby got by both Alan Johnson and A.J. for the second position with two laps to go. After Varin had gotten by Romano, A.J. slid up high in turn one and made heavy contact with the wall but was able to continue to the end.
Hearn won the event by a comfortable margin followed by Varin, Alan Johnson, Romano, and Tony Pepicelli. “I definitely squeezed A.J. between myself and the wall but I didn’t see him alongside of me until the last minute,” Hearn said.
With his third place finish Alan Johnson became the 2002 Mr. DIRT Modified Champion last winning the title in 1983.
Nine caution flags slowed the thirty lap Pro Stock feature event but there was nothing slowing Chris Morris as he took the lead at the start of the event. Joe Mottoshiski started the event I the sixth position but by lap three he was sitting third on the grid behind Morris and Jay Resch.
Mottoshiski and Scott Govertsen battled side by side for one lap before Govertsen took over the third position on lap five. The battle between these two wouldn’t end until Mottoshiski made contact with the backstretch wall on lap 20 forcing him out of the event while in the fourth position.
Through all of the restarts Morris maintained his lead and pulled away to a big lead on each restart making it a race for second spot. Resch and Dave Schulz who made a strong run to the front after falling back to the fifth spot battled for the second position over the remaining laps as Morris went on to a straightaway win followed by Resch, Schulz, Govertsen, and Kenny Gates.
Race winner Morris also recently found out that his wife was pregnant with her due date being June 19, or 6/19 which is his car number.
With his third place finish Dave Schulz was crowned the 2002 Mr. DIRT Pro Stock Champion.
Most Popular Driver awards for 2002 were handed out during the intermission with Dave Lape (Modified), Jim Davis (Sportsman), Kenny Gates (Pro Stock), and Jeff Davis (Street Stock) the recipient of those awards which was voted on throughout the season by the fans.
MODIFIED TIME TRIALS – 54 cars took time top two cars locked into feature event – BOB MCCREADIE 19.363, Brett Hearn 19.421, Tim Fuller 19.429, Jack Johnson 19.539, Jeff Trombley 19.618, Alan Johnson 19.698, Chuck Bower 19.708, Dave Lape 19.811, Vic Coffey 19.889, Billy Decker 19.963, Steve Paine 19.976, Tim McCreadie 20.044, Gary Tomkins 20.045, Danny Johnson 20.050, Bobby Varin 20.083, Kenny Tremont 20.146, A.J. Romano 20.183, Ronnie Johnson 20.83, Randy Chrysler 20.231, Ronnie Holmes 20.240, Pat Ward 20.385, Tony Pepicelli 0.503, Jason Barney 20.504, Jerry Pennock, Jr. 20.724, John Bellinger 20.753, Mike Ward 20.923, Ken Hanson 20.939, Wayne Jelley 21.006, Joe Beyea 21.055, Craig Hanson 21.170, Ron Proctor 21.177, John McAuliffe 21.356, Billy Gray 21.371, John Kollar 21.382, Bob Sitterly 21.404, Tom Proctor 21.410, Mel Schruffer 21.442, John Marsh 21.451, Rick Mill 21.495, Jim Davis 21.503, Floyd Billington 21.548, Randy Hotaling 21.574, Erin Crocker 21.615, John Marsh, Jr. 21.675, Stan Wetmore 21.769, Tony Farone 21.806, John G. Wolfe 22.014, Ancel Collins 22.164, Shawn Donath 22.252, Elmo Reckner 22.254, Robert Perry 22.331, Stan Lemiesz 22.399, Skip Fox 23.286, Harry Shaffer 23.302
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 4 qualify 2 redraw
HEAT 1 – Tim Fuller, Gary Tomkins, Ronnie Johnson, Dave Lape
HEAT 2 – Jack Johnson, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Joe Beyea
HEAT 3 – Jeff Trombley, Billy Decker, Bobby Varin, Ronnie Holmes
HEAT 4 – Steve Paine, Alan Johnson, Pat Ward, Kenny Tremont
HEAT 5 – Tim McCreadie, A.J. Romano, Chuck Bower, Tony Pepicelli
MODIFIED CONSOLATIONS – 4 qualify
CONSI 1 – Jason Barney, John McAuliffe, Jim Davis, John Marsh
CONSI 2 – Randy Chrysler, Mike Ward, Bob Sitterly, Ken Hanson
MODIFIED FEATURE – 200 laps – BRETT HEARN, Bobby Varin, Alan Johnson, A.J. Romano, Tony Pepicelli, Ronnie Johnson (last car on lead lap), Jeff Trombley, Jack Johnson, Pat Ward, Gary Tomkins, Joe Beyea, John Marsh, Ken Hanson, Mike Ward, Chuck Bower, Danny Johnson, Tim Fuller, Randy Chrysler, John McAuliffe, Jim Davis, Vic Coffey, Billy Decker, Tim McCreadie, Steve Paine, Jason Barney, Bob McCreadie, Ron Holmes, Kenny Tremont, Bob Sitterly, Dave Lape
DID NOT QUALIFY – Ron Proctor, Craig Hanson, Rick Mill, Erin Crocker, Skip Fox, Mel Schruffer, Jerry Pennock, Jr., Randy Hotaling, Tom Proctor, Stan Wetmore, Harry Shaffer, John Marsh, Jr., Wayne Jelley, Floyd Billington, Ancel Collins, Elmo Reckner, Billy Gray, Stan Lemiesz, Tony Farone, Robert Perry
PRO STOCK QUALIFYING – 52 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Chris Morris, Joey Ladouceur, Rob Yetman, Steve Burega, Butchie Irwin
HEAT 2 – Scott Govertsen, Joe Mottoshiski, Roger Chrysler, Dave Bruno, Jim Normoyle
HEAT 3 – Dave Schulz, Kenny Gates, Rob Noviczski, Bobby Gile, Buddy Hencke
HEAT 4 – Jay Resch, Tom Cannizzaro, Jeremy Clark, Rick Fosby, Rob VanAernam
PRO STOCK CONSOLATIONS – 3 qualify
CONSI 1 – Mitchell Jock, John Lazore, Frank Twing
CONSI 2 – Dan Rickard, Steve Devos, Jim Langenback
PRO STOCK FEATURE – 30 laps – Chris Morris, Jay Resch, Dave Schulz, Scott Govertsen, Kenny Gates, Butchie Irwin, Jim Normoyle, Roger Chrysler, Buddy Hencke, Bobby Gile, Dave Bruno, Mitchell Jock, Jon Miller, Rob Yetman, Dan Mayer, Steve Devos, Dean Charbonneau, Steve Burega, Dan Rickard, Jeremy Clark, John Lazore, Henry Warner, Rob VanAernam, Joe Mottoshiski, Frank Twing, Tom Cannizzaro, Rob Noviczski, John Santolin, Jim Langenback, Rick Fosby, Joey Ladouceur
DID NOT QUALIFY – Eddie Pieniazek, Tom LaPlante, Dave Viall, Brian Keough, Erik Yager, Rod Slater, Chuck Dumblewski, Scott Liese, Erik Nelson, Randy Cannell, John Johnson, Bill Dona, Mark Lighthall, Don Ely