HEARN IN SEVENTH HEAVEN AT LEBANON VALLEY

July 27, 2002, West Lebanon, NY-Brett Hearn’s dominance of the local dirt tracks continued Saturday night as he piloted his Budweiser #1 into victory lane for the third week in a row at Lebanon Valley. K.C. Goewey and the #45 Sprint PCS crew celebrated in victory lane after the 20-lap sportsman feature. The Beer Belly Bob’s #7 of Rob Yetman took top honors in the 20-lap Pro Stock main. National Planning Associates and T-NET brought us this great night of dirt track racing.

Nassau’s Mike King led the first fourteen laps of the 30-lap modified feature Saturday night. His Thoma Tire #55 was fast in the early going on he would record a strong sixth place finish. Hearn, Kenny Tremont Jr. and Rich Ricci Jr were quickly working up through the field from the middle of the pack. Hearn got through the pack the quickest however and was up to fifth by lap seven. Just four laps later Hearn moved into second while Tremont was up to fourth. Hearn grabbed the lead from King on lap 14 and quickly pulled away. Tremont moved into second on lap 16, but could he catch Hearn?

With no caution flags in the first half of the event Hearn quickly encountered lapped traffic by lap 17, which allowed Tremont to close in a little. Only two caution flags would slow the event and they both came on lap 19. Matt Quinn made his way into third after the second lap 19 restart. J.R. Heffner moved into fourth on lap 23 with Ricci right on his back bumper. With only five laps remaining the top two cars had pulled away from the rest of the field. Hearn had the edge on this night, as Tremont could never mount a serious challenge. It was the seventh win of the season for Hearn at Lebanon Valley as he quickly closes in on the six hundred-career victory mark. Tremont still maintains the point lead with a slim nine-point advantage over Hearn. Rounding out the top five in the feature was Quinn, Heffner and Ricci.

Before the start of the program the sportsman drivers were summoned to the pit shack for a meeting. They were warned about the reckless driving that has plagued their features as of late. Apparently some of them were not listening as NINE caution flags slowed the 20-lap feature. Frank Harper was the early race leader and would hold the lead for thirteen laps. Lorne Browe moved into second on lap four while K.C. Goewey took third from Jeff Watson on lap five. Harper was able to stave off a challenge from Browe on a lap nine restart. Goewey made his way into second on lap ten. Bobby Knipe moved into the top five on lap 11, but lost that spot to Art Collins the very next lap.

Goewey began challenging for the lead on lap 12 and was able to get it on lap 13. Knipe’s top ten run came to a halt as something in the rearend broke on lap 14. The next restart saw Browe and Harper make contact dropping Harper back to sixth, while Browe held onto second. Under the next caution Browe was penalized two spots for the incident with Harper. The current point leader going into the feature was Art Collins. He used the lap 17 restart to vault into second, but could not catch Goewey in time and had to settle for second. Browe came back to third, with Roy Bridge fourth and Willie Galm fifth.

A great start to the 20-lap Pro Stock feature saw a four-wide battle for the lead. Robbie Speed came out of the fracas with the early lead. The caution flew on lap two for not one, but two Blackburns. Al and his brother Dan both had problems and went pitside. Al did return to the race two laps down, but Dan was done for the evening. Rob Yetman made his way passed Paul LaRochelle into second on lap three and took the lead from Speed on lap four. Speed suffered a left front flat tire on lap five ending his top five run. Jim Langenback was up to third by lap eight, but appeared that his car might not be one hundred percent. The right front bodywork appeared to be rubbing on his tire possible slowing his car.

The final caution of the race was for debris on the speedway on lap 13. The best race for position in the final laps was for fourth between Bob Duzlak and LaRochelle. Yetman cruised home for his third win of the season. Danny Sanchez was second, Langenback third, Duzlak fourth and LaRochelle fifth.

Other winners Saturday night included Mike Fachini in the Rookie Pro Stock feature and Eric Sbraga, Brian Sandstedt, Pete Wiegand and Jason Casey in the four Pure Stock mains. Carolyn Miles took the victory in the nightcap Ladies cannonball feature.

NATIONAL PLANNING ASSOCIATES / T-NET TACONIC TECNOLOGIES MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Kenny Tremont Jr, 3) Matt Quinn, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Rich Ricci Jr, 6) Mike King, 7) Guy Sheldon, 8) John Hewitt, 9) Rob Pitcher, 10) Andy Bachetti, 11) Denny Soltis, 12) Chris Moore, 13) Hector Stratton, 14) Donnie Corellis, 15) Eddie Marshall, 16) Maynard Forrette, 17) Sparky Lowe, 18) Stanley Wetmore, 19) Dave McFeeters, 20) Mel Schruffer, 21) Ernie Palmer Jr, 22) Lucas Baker, 23) Charlie Humes, 24) Hawley Smith, 25) Russ Reckner, 26) Ron Blake, 27) Steve Devine, 28) Paul Gilardi, 29) Dave Leckonby

SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) K.C. Goewey, 2) Art Collins, 3) Lorne Browe, 4) Roy Bridge, 5) Will Galm, 6) Frank Harper, 7) Mike Keeler, 8) Jeff Watson, 9) Earl Thitchener, 10) Tony Ferriero, 11) Joe Bennett, 12) Mike Molloy, 13) Whitey Slavin, 14) Bill Bahrite, 15) Walt McKay, 16) Dan Humes, 17) Jeff Carr, 18) K. C. McCoy, 19) Ted Layton, 20) Kevin Heath, 21) Bob Matthews, 22) Dave Tanguay, 23) Ed Harkin, 24) Jay Haviland, 25) Bobby Knipe, 26) Fred Pendergast, 27) John Hotchkiss, 28) Mike Mason, 29) Don Miller, 30) Carmon Carnibucci, 31) Ryan Larkin

PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Rob Yetman, 2) Danny Sanchez, 3) Jim Langenback, 4) Bob Duzlak Jr, 5) Paul LaRochelle, 6) Tom Brandt, 7) Frank Twing, 8) Adam Haas, 9) Jason DiBello, 10) Robbie Speed, 11) Victor Hopkins, 12) Chris Crews, 13) Jeff Kelmel, 14) Rick Fosby, 15) Rick Spencer, 16) Brian Keough, 17) Don Ely, 18) Ed Bachand, 19) Al Blackburn, 20) Dan Blackburn

ROOKIE RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Mike Fachini, 2) Jery Helms, 3) Henry Warner, 4) Jay Corbin, 5) Kim LaVoy, 6) Ray Hall Jr, 7) Bill Lobdell, 8) Charlie Woodard, 9) Jim Hankle, 10) Jim Keough, 11) Ralph Hotchkiss, 12) Jerry Wright, 13) Chris Claus, 14) John Santolin, 15) Wayne Hall, 16) Bill Hammell

PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Eric Sbrega, 2) Bob Burl, 3) Bob Chenette, 4) Chris Hutnik, 5) Steve Hatch, 6) Ryan Coon, 7) Nick Hilt Jr, 8) Rich Harkins, 9) Ron Hapeman, 10) Bob Copeland, 11) William Fuchs, 12) Shannon McDermott, 13) Alan Hill, 14) John Chapman, 15) Mike Eichstedt, 16) Randy Myers, 17) Dave Houser

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Brian Sandstedt, 2) John Fachini, 3) Jeff Douglass, 4) Poncho Hankey, 5) John Betz, 6) Chris Streeter, 7) David Stickles, 8) John Connor Jr, 9) George Miles III, 10) Mike Grehl Jr, 11) Jeff Wilbur, 12) Michael Dianda, 13) Rich Douglass, 14) Chrissy Hilt, 15) Mark Huston, 16) Guy Hughes

PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Peter Wiegand, 2) Pete DeFiglio, 3) Keith Barlow, 4) Bob Palmer, 5) D.T. Pickard, 6) George Miles Jr, 7) Jim Hankey, 8) Michael Middleton, 9) Marcus Tifft, 10) Kory Sandstadt, 11) Michael Davis, 12) Jeremy Pease, 13) Dan Crosby, 14) Ed Hubbard, 15) Ray Pierre Jr, 16) Earl Soulier Jr

PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Jason Casey, 2) Jay Martin, 3) John Rivers Jr, 4) Ron Tritschler, 5) Ronny Jacobsen, 6) John Hubbard, 7) Jim O'Neil, 8) Kevin Dolan, 9) Mark Stevens, 10) Jim Fachini, 11) Chris Stalker, 12) Don Coon, 13) Ross Zito, 14) Dave Shepard, 15) Larry Ball, 16) Paul Harding, 17) Josh Brandt