HEARN RETURNS TO FORM, WINS FOURTH RACE OF THE SEASON AT LEBANON VALLEY

June 1, 2002, WEST LEBANON, N.Y.- Brett Hearn captured the 30-lap DIRT modified feature at Lebanon Valley on Saturday night. Bobby Knipe took top honors in the 20-lap Sportsman main and Danny Sanchez picked up his second win of the year in the 20-lap Pro Stock feature. The fine folks at Wells Fargo were the night's main sponsor.

Problems started just after the green flag in the 30-lap modified feature Saturday night. Three cars came together in turn two with Rich Ricci Jr. suffering the worst damage. Ricci had a vicious crash on Monday night and was using his backup car Saturday night. The damage was too severe and Ricci had his second DNF in a row. John Hewitt ran down early race leader David Sanchez and passed him for the lead on lap four. Problems for the Rifenburg #57 of Donnie Corellis as he made contact with the turn one wall on lap five. This brought out the second yellow flag of the race. Hewitt would restart in top spot with Eddie Marshall along side in second. Marshall tried for the lead on the restart, but the Rifenburg #24 of Hewitt was strong to the challenge. Another caution flag slowed the pace on lap six.

The restart saw some great racing in the front of the pack as Marshall challenged Hewitt for the lead again. Right behind them Kenny Tremont Jr and Hearn were racing hard for third. Tremont made his way around Hearn for third on lap seven. A restart after a lap eight caution allowed Hearn to get back around Tremont and set his sights on the front two cars. The fans were on their feet as the battle for the lead went three wide going down the backstretch. Marshall took the lead on lap ten with Hearn in tow and Hewitt still third. At the halfway point it was Marshall, Hearn, Tremont, Hewitt and Andy Bachetti in the top five.

The leaders began to encounter heavy lapped traffic with ten laps remaining in the race. With Hearn and Tremont right on his back bumper Marshall navigated the traffic perfectly like the crafty veteran that he is. The final caution of the race came out on lap 23 and it changed the complexion of the race. On the restart Marshall's car drifted up the banking in turn one and Hearn was able to dive under him and take the lead. Hearn quickly opened up a big advantage and took his Gable-Budweiser #1 to victory lane for the fourth time this season. Marshall had to contend with Tremont in the final stages of the race but was able to hang on for second. Bachetti was able to get around Hewitt for fourth. Hewitt round out the top five with a very solid performance after a couple of weeks of really rotten luck.

Mike Molloy was the early race leader in the 20-lap Sportsman main. K.C. Goewey spun around on lap four and seven cars were collected up in the incident. Molloy and Frank Harper made contact on the restart with Harper causing Harper to lose several positions. Several more caution flags in the first five laps of the race forced officials to restart in single file formation. Jeff Watson took the lead on lap six with Bobby Knipe right behind him in second and Roy Bridge in third. Following the modified counterparts the battle for the lead went three wide on lap nine, but Watson and Bridge made contact two sending Bridge into the turn two wall.

Knipe used the high line to get passed Watson for the lead on lap 12. Goewey was working his way back up through the field after his earlier problem and was had moved back into the top five by lap eleven. Goewey was able to get back up to third by the end of the race. Knipe was able to visit victory lane for the first time in 2002 at Lebanon Valley. Watson was second, Joe Bennett fourth and Harper rounded out the top five.

After a photo finish in last week's Pro Stock feature you would think that that it could not be topped, but that was not the case Saturday night. Rich Colesanti led the first lap on the race. Al Blackburn took the lead on lap two, but he got turned around by Rob Yetman on lap three and had to go to the back of the field. Yetman was sent to the rear of the field as well for his role in the incident. Bob Duzlak took the lead on lap five with Danny Sanchez in tow. Yetman took advantage of some early yellows to make his way back into the top five by lap nine.

Yetman would work his way up to third by lap 12 as the top three cars pulled away from the rest of the pack. With two laps to go the battle for the lead went three wide between Duzlak, Sanchez and Yetman. They would remain side by side for the final two laps. Coming down for the checkered flag Sanchez was able to sneak ahead and snatch his second win of the year. The top three cars were separated by inches at the flag. Duzlak had to settle for second with Yetman third, Paul LaRochelle fourth and Robbie Speed fifth.

Jay Corbin from Castleton picked up the feature victory in the Rookie Pro Stock feature. Pure Stock feature winners on Saturday night were Mike Witherell, Chris Streeter, Bob Palmer and Pancho Hankey.

6-01 WELLS FARGO / MANULIFE MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Eddie Marshall, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr, 4) Andy Bachetti, 5) John Hewitt, 6) Rob Pitcher, 7) J.R. Heffner, 8) Denny Soltis, 9) Matt Quinn, 10) Jason Goff, 11) Russ Reckner, 12) Hector Stratton, 13) David Sanchez, 14) Stanley Wetmore, 15) Chris Moore, 16) Mike King, 17) Maynard Forrette, 18) Ernie Palmer Jr, 19) Guy Sheldon, 20) Donnie Corellis, 21) Dave McFeeters, 22) Steve Devine, 23) John Alberti, 24) Charlie Humes, 25) Hawley Smith, 26) Ron Blake, 27) Dave Leckonby, 28) Dickie Larkin, 29) John Ruchel, 30) Dave Mosher, 31) Sparky Lowe, 32) Rich Ricci Jr

SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Bobby Knipe, 2) Jeff Watson, 3) K.C. Goewey, 4) Joe Bennett, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Ryan Larkin, 7) Mike Molloy, 8) John Scarborough, 9) Ed Harkin, 10) Mike Keeler, 11) Art Collins, 12) Roy Bridge, 13) John Hotchkiss, 14) Rich Salisbury, 15) Tony Ferriero, 16) Ted Layton, 17) Whitey Slavin, 18) Earl Thitchener, 19) Walt McKay, 20) Kory Gurney, 21) Bill Bahrite, 22) Dan Humes, 23) Lorne Browe, 24) Don Miller, 25) Carmon Carnibucci

PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Danny Sanchez, 2) Bob Duzlak Jr, 3) Rob Yetman, 4) Paul LaRochelle, 5) Robbie Speed, 6) Rich Colesanti, 7) Adam Haas, 8) Jim Langenback, 9) Jim Dellea, 10) Dave Colwell, 11) Dave Dowd, 12) Rick Spencer, 13) Al Blackburn, 14) Dan Blackburn, 15) Buddy Hencke, 16) Don Ely, 17) Jeff Kelmel, 18) Tom Brandt, 19) Rick Fosby, 20) Jason DiBello, 21) Brian Keough, 22) Ed Bachand, 23) Chris Crews

ROOKIE RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Jay Corbin, 2) Earl Mellan, 3) Bill Lobdell, 4) Charlie Woodard, 5) Kim LaVoy, 6) Joe Mabb Jr, 7) John Santolin, 8) Chris Claus, 9) Jerry Wright, 10) Bill Hammell, 11) Ralph Hotchkiss, 12) Henry Warner, 13) Jery Helms, 14) Larry Megan, 15) Greg DeCamp

PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Mike Witherell, 2) Jim Fachini, 3) Guy Hughes, 4) Ronny Jacobsen, 5) Jim O'Neil, 6) Larry Ball, 7) Ryan Coon, 8) Earl Soulier Jr, 9) Pete DeFiglio, 10) Bob Burl, 11) Jim Hankey, 12) Michael Dianda, 13) Shannon McDermott, 14) Chris Stalker, 15) Ross Zito, 16) Todd Pelkey, 17) Marcus Tifft, 18) Ray Pierre Jr, 19) Mark Stevens

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Chris Streeter, 2) Pete Everett, 3) Michael Middleton, 4) Nick Hilt Jr, 5) John Betz, 6) Jay Martin, 7) Bill Gordon, 8) Dan Crosby, 9) David Stickles, 10) Dave Houser, 11) John Hubbard, 12) Chrissy Hilt, 13) Dave Atwater

PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Bob Palmer, 2) Joe DiStefano, 3) George Miles Jr, 4) Michael Davis, 5) Mark Huston, 6) Brian Sandstedt, 7) Robert Gibson, 8) Kevin Dolan, 9) John Connor Jr, 10) John Denue, 11) Keith Barlow, 12) Paul Harding, 13) Chris Hutnik, 14) Ronald Johnson, 15) Peter Wiegand, 16) John Chapman, 17) D.T. Pickard, 18) Kevin Hilt

PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Poncho Hankey, 2) John Rivers Jr, 3) Jeff Wilbur, 4) Mike Eichstedt, 5) Ron Tritschler, 6) Kory Sandstadt, 7) Don Coon, 8) Ron Hapeman, 9) Jeff Kuhnow, 10) John Fachini, 11) Eric Sbrega, 12) Bob Copeland, 13) Robert Brown, 14) Bob Chenette, 15) Scott Kilmer