TREMONT CHECKS OUT VICTORY LANE, GOEWEY SPRINTS TO SPORTSMAN WIN

May 11, 2002, WEST LEBANON, NY-Kenny Tremont Jr. captured the victory in the 30-lap modified feature at Lebanon Valley Saturday night ending Brett Hearn’s win streak at three. K.C. Goewey took top honors in the 20-lap sportsman main. The ageless veteran, Jim Lagenback was victorious in the 20-lap pro stock feature. IGA SUPERMARKETS and RONNIES CYCLES were the night’s sponsors.

Jason Goff was the early race leader in the 30-lap modified feature. Some great three and four wide racing in the pack as the big guns were trying to get to the front. Rich Ricci Jr. had a super fast car early in the race. His Fall Fittings #55 was into the top five before lap ten, after starting 13th. Two caution flag periods were required on lap ten. The first was for Steve Devine as he got turned around on the frontstretch. The second incident saw several cars get tangled up in turn two on the restart. The remainder of the event would go caution free. Sparky Lowe took the lead from Goff on the restart with Kenny Tremont moving right with him into second. While Tremont was battling Lowe for the lead, Brett Hearn and Ricci were slugging it out for third.

Tremont finally ended the three-lap battle for the lead by taking the front spot on lap 16. John Hewitt has had a very strong start to the 2002 season. Unfortunately he was one of the drivers that got caught up in the second lap ten incident. The effects of that would force him pitside for good on lap 18. Ricci made his way past Hearn for third on lap 19. There appeared to be a problem with the right rear brake on Hearn’s car in the last half of the event. The right rear brake rotor must have been stuck because it was glowing cherry red. Ricci moved into the runner-up spot on lap 21, but could not run down the high flying Tremont and he had to settle for second two weeks in a row. Lowe was able to hold off a late race challenge from Hearn to finish third. Goff held off Matt Quinn in the final stages of the race to round out the top five.

The Emerick Associates-Freihofer Baking #115 of Tremont graced victory lane for the first time in 2002. A jubilant Tremont said he was beginning to have doubts if his five-year old Troyer could still get the job done. Those worries were answered with a trip to victory lane. Tremont is now just three victories away from the century win mark at Lebanon Valley.

Kory Gurney was the early race leader of the 20-lap sportsman feature. Ryan Larkin was right in tow behind Gurney in second. K.C. Goewey had his Sprint PCS #45 hooked up as he went from eighth to third on lap two. Problems for sophomore driver, Mike Keeler on lap 2 as he spun around in turn two collecting Walt McKay. Keeler would drive away from the incident and was in the top five before the end of the race. Goewey used the lap two restart to take the lead just before hell broke lose behind him. A three-wide battle for second resulted in disaster on lap six. A huge melee ensued as at least eleven cars were collected in the incident. Tempers were hot, as several of the cars were several damaged, fortunately no one was injured. Speedway officials parked Roy Bridge for the night for his role in the incident.

The caution flew again on lap six as Pat O’Hanlon changed lanes on the restart. That is a violation of the speedway’s zero tolerance policy and he was sent to the rear of the field. Goewey was able to pull away after each restart and looked to run away and hide. And hide he did, after a second place finish last week Goewey was able to improve that by one and visited victory lane for the first time in 2002. Joe Bennett ran second most of the second half of the race, holding off every challenge from last week’s winner, Art Collins. Mike Keeler recovered very nicely from his lap two problems to finish fourth and opening night winner Ed Harkin rounded out the top five.

Adam Haas led over half of the 20-lap pro stock main on Saturday night. Al Blackburn looked strong early in the race moving into second on lap seven. Robbie Speed’s bad luck continued as he dropped from the event on lap eight. Meanwhile Jim Lagenback, Ed Bachand and Rob Yetman were three-wide for third. Bachand and Yetman made contact forcing Yetman to lose several positions. Lagenback continued his forward charge passing Blackburn for second on lap 12 and taking the lead from Haas on the very next lap. Yetman made his way passed Blackburn for third on lap 16, but he got turned around coming off turn four. Blackburn was sent to the rear of the field by speedway officials for his role in the incident.

Lagenback cruised home easily for his first victory of 2002. He dedicated the victory to long time engine builder, Denny Raspuzzi, who passed away in the off season. Haas finished second, Paul LaRochelle third, Bob Duzlak fourth and Danny Sanchez rounded out the top five.

Brett Hearn was not the only driver at Lebanon Valley who saw his win streak halted at three. Henry Warner took top honors in the rookie pro stock feature, ending Jason Dibello’s stranglehold on that division.

Saturday May 18th is Double Trouble night at Lebanon Valley. Anderson Equipment and T-Net will bring us double features in the modifieds, sportsman and pro stocks. Race time is 6:15.

5-11 IGA SUPERMARKETS / RINNOE'S CYCLES MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Kenny Tremont Jr, 2) Rich Ricci Jr, 3) Sparky Lowe, 4) Brett Hearn, 5) Jason Goff, 6) Matt Quinn, 7) J.R. Heffner, 8) Maynard Forrette, 9) Donnie Corellis, 10) Dave Leckonby, 11) Andy Bachetti, 12) Ron Blake, 13) Stanley Wetmore, 14) Chris Moore, 15) Eddie Marshall, 16) Rob Pitcher, 17) John Alberti, 18) Guy Sheldon, 19) Steve Devine, 20) Charlie Humes, 21) Dave Mosher, 22) Hawley Smith, 23) Tom Sanchez Jr, 24) John Lutes Jr, 25) Mike King, 26) Russ Reckner, 27) John Hewitt, 28) Paul Gilardi, 29) Hector Stratton, 30) Wayne Fugler, 31) Dave McFeeters, 32) Denny Soltis, 33) John Ruchel,

SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) K.C. Goewey, 2) Joe Bennett, 3) Art Collins, 4) Mike Keeler, 5) Ed Harkin, 6) Whitey Slavin, 7) Don Miller, 8) Tony Ferriero, 9) John Hotchkiss, 10) Kory Gurney, 11) Pat O'Hanlon, 12) Ryan Larkin, 13) Dan Humes, 14) Ted Layton, 15) Graham Howes, 16) Bobby Knipe, 17) Lorne Browe, 18) Frank Harper, 19) John Scarborough, 20) Mike Molloy, 21) Mike Visconti, 22) Jeff Carr, 23) Will Galm, 24) Walt McKay, 25) Roy Bridge, 26) Jeff Watson

PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Jim Langenback, 2) Adam Haas, 3) Paul LaRochelle, 4) Bob Duzlak Jr, 5) Danny Sanchez, 6) Ed Bachand, 7) Chris Crews, 8) Dan Blackburn, 9) Buddy Hencke, 10) Jim Dellea, 11) Mark Therrien, 12) Al Blackburn, 13) Rob Yetman, 14) Brian Keough, 15) Robbie Speed, 16) Rich Colesanti

ROOKIE PRO STOCK RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Henry Warner, 2) Jason DiBello, 3) Bill Hammell, 4) Bill Lobdell, 5) Jery Helms, 6) Jim Hankle, 7) Joe Mabb Jr, 8) Chris Claus, 9) John Santolin, 10) Mark Forrest, 11) Chris DeCiel, 12) Jay Corbin, 13) Kim LaVoy, 14) Larry Megan

PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Mike Witherell, 2) Pete DeFiglio, 3) Chris Streeter, 4) Don Coon, 5) John Connor Jr, 6) Keith Barlow, 7) Chris Hutnik, 8) Larry Ball, 9) John Betz, 10) David Stickles, 11) John Chapman, 12) Dan Crosby, 13) Alan Hill, 14) Shannon McDermott, 15) Brian Sandstedt, 16) Kevin Hilt

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Mike Eichstedt, 2) Earl Soulier Jr, 3) Scott Kilmer, 4) Eric Sbrega, 5) Rich Douglass, 6) Michael Middleton, 7) Paul Harding, 8) Jeff Douglass, 9) Mike Fachini, 10) John Hubbard, 11) John Rivers Jr, 12) Marcus Tifft, 13) Ray Pierre Jr, 14) Dwayne Dauski, 15) Dave Atwater, 16) Jeff Kuhnow, 17) Jay Martin, 18) Chip Martin

PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) George Miles Jr, 2) Randy Myers, 3) Peter Wiegand, 4) Ronald Johnson, 5) Bob Palmer, 6) John Denue, 7) Joe DiStefano, 8) Michael Davis, 9) Kory Sandstadt, 10) Mark Huston, 11) Jim Fachini, 12) Jim O'Neil, 13) Josh Brandt, 14) Michael Dianda, 15) Ryan Hover, 16) D.T. Pickard, 17) Jeff Wilbur, 18) Jim Hankey, 19) Jeremy Pease

PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Chrissy Hilt, 2) Bob Chenette, 3) Roy Kilmer, 4) Robert Gibson, 5) Ron Tritschler, 6) Ronny Jacobsen, 7) Poncho Hankey, 8) Ron Hapeman, 9) Dave Houser, 10) Nick Hilt Jr, 11) Mark Stevens, 12) Ryan Coon, 13) Tom Murphy, 14) Kevin Dolan, 15) Bob Burl, 16) Todd Pelkey, 17) Lee Gallant