STEVE KINSER & RICCI WIN ON OUTLAW NIGHT AT THE VALLEY
West Lebanon, NY-A tremendous sold-out crowd saw the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars return to the high banks of the Lebanon Valley Speedway on Sunday night. “The King of the Outlaws” Steve Kinser walked away with the 25-lap sprint A-Main. Rich Ricci Jr captured his first victory of the 2004 season at Lebanon Valley in the 30-lap modified feature. A special thanks once again goes out to Rich Pallai and CARQUEST for making this night possible. A record 50/50 drawing took place as well.
The first event to hit the track was the 25-lap World of Outlaw A-main. Trouble on the initial lap as Donnie Schatz got upside down in turn four and brought out the first red flag of the race. When the race resumed Steve Kinser jumped out into the lead over Danny Wood and Erin Crocker. The second red flag came out on lap five as the B-main winner Bob Bennett caught on fire on the backstretch. On the restart Joey Saldana tried to challenge Crocker for third. Steve Kinser caught the back of the field by lap 12 and had a half-straightaway lead on Wood by halfway.
Near disaster for Wood on lap 16 as he got a little but sideways coming off turn two, but he was able to save it and hang on to second. The race got interesting in the final laps as Kinser got hung up in lapped traffic and allowed Wood to get closer. But Kinser handles the traffic like the veteran he is and cruised home to his first victory in over a month. Wood finished in second and Saldana got third over Crocker at the line. Crocker’s fourth place finish was her first top five finish in a World of Outlaw feature and was extremely well received by the hometown fans. Jason Meyers rounded out the top five.
Denny Soltis took the lead at the start of the 30-lap modified feature with Rich Ricci Jr and nipping at his back bumper. Kenny Tremont moved into the runner-up position on lap nine. Problems for Eddie Marshal and Donnie Corellis on lap 10 as the made incidental contact and both dropped out of the top five. Tremont’s night ended prematurely on lap 12 as his racer slowed coming off turn two. A spark plug problem was deemed the culprit. At the halfway point it was Soltis, Ricci, J.R. Heffner, Wayne Jelley and Andy Bachetti.
Ricci started to pressure Soltis for the lead on lap 18 and made the pass stick on lap 20. Heffner made his way past Soltis for second on lap 25. Even with lapped traffic in the final stages no one could catch Ricci. It was the first win of the season for the Fall Fittings #55 of Ricci at Lebanon Valley. “I thought something was wrong with the car on lap ten. It shut off when Tremont got by me and I thought I was finished for the night.” Heffner finished second, Soltis third, Jelley fourth and Hector Stratton fifth.
7-25 CARQUEST AUTO PARTS MODIFED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1 Rich Ricci Jr, 2 J.R. Heffner, 3 Denny Soltis, 4 Wayne Jelley, 5 Hector Stratton, 6 Eddie Marshall, 7 Andy Bachetti, 8 Brett Hearn, 9 Donnie Corellis, 10 John Hewitt, 11 Guy Sheldon, 12 Stanley Wetmore, 13 Steve Hough, 14 Chris Whitehead, 15 Wes Powell, 16 Mike King, 17 John Alberti, 18 Ken Hanson, 19 Wayne Figler, 20 Billy Osta, 21 Skippy Fox, 22 John Ruchel, 23 Rob Pitcher, 24 Charlie Humes, 25 Kenny Tremont Jr, 26 Dave Leckonby, 27 Mel Schruffer, 28 Matt Quinn, 29 Ron Dwyer, 30 Ronnie Johnson, 31 Brian Berger
BOUNDLESS WORLD OF OUTLAWS A-MAIN (25 LAPS)- Steve Kinser, Danny Wood, Joey Saldana, Erin Crocker, Jason Meyers, Brandon Wimmer, Danny Lasoski, Mark Kinser, Paul McMahon, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, Craig Dollansky, Brian Carlson, Darryn Pittman, Lucas Wolfe, Brian Paulus, Mike Lutz, Tim Schaffer, Russ Bennett, Bob Bennett, Lance Yonge, Billy Pauch, John Karklin, Donny Schatz