HEARN STILL UNDEFEATED AT LEBANON VALLEY IN '02, COLLINS CAPTURES 1ST IN SPORTSMAN

May 4, 2002, WEST LEBANON, NY - Brett Hearn continued his domination in the DIRT modified division by posting his third straight victory Saturday night. Hearn also picked up an extra five hundred bucks by winning a special six-lap dash for cash sponsored by MADSEN OVERHEAD DOOR. "The Alligator" Art Collins won the 20-lap sportsman feature and Rob Yetman was victorious in the 20-lap pro stock main. Joining Madsen Overhead Doors, as our night’s sponsors were Bilinski’s and Boomer’s Performance.

Two of the top modified drivers had problems before the green flag flew in the 30-lap modified feature. J.R. Heffner had ignition problems during the parade laps and was parked before the race started. Andy Bachetti also went pitside during the parade laps with transmission problems, but was able to get back out before the green flag and finished 14th.

Problems for Kenny Tremont on lap one, as he was involved in an incident with Sparky Lowe and Rob Pitcher. Tremont had to start the modified feature way back after breaking a rear axle in his heat race. He suffered left front suspension damage when he made contact with Lowe. Tremont did return without losing any laps and finished eighth.

John Alberti was the early race leader with Ron Blake and Mike King in tow. Brett Hearn worked his way up from his 15th starting spot to fifth by lap ten. Matt Quinn and Donnie Corellis had a great battle going on for third on lap 12. Hearn would join that battle on lap 13 as they went three wide down the backstretch. Hearn was able to get by both drivers and up into second just past the halfway point of the event.

Alberti would give up the lead to Hearn on lap 18, but continued to run a strong second. Rich Ricci Jr. moved into fourth on lap 22. Eddie Marshall was looking to repeat his runner-up performance of a week ago and cracked the top five on lap 23. With five laps to go Hearn had opened up a full straightaway advantage over Alberti. Ricci was able to make his way past Quinn for third with only two laps remaining. Ricci was able to pass Alberti for second in turn two on the final lap. Alberti tried to get back past Ricci in turn three, but wound up spinning out and making contact with the outside wall.

No one could touch Hearn as his Jody Gable owned, Budweiser sponsored #1 was in victory lane for the third consecutive week. Ricci came on very strong at the end of the event for second, Quinn was third, Marshall fourth and John Hewitt rounded out the top five.

With only two cautions in the modified feature the sportsman division must have thought they needed to make up for the lack of cautions. Eight caution flags plagued the 20-lap sportsman event. Three consecutive lap six yellows forced speedway officials to make the restarts single file. K.C. Goewey in his Sprint PCS #45 looked very strong in the 20-lap affair as he took the lead at the green flag. Art Collins was looking to run down the high flying Goewey and had his St. Lawrence Cement #68 up to second by lap seven. Collins and Goewey battled hard for lead on laps seven to ten. Collins would make the pass for the lead in turn four after a lap ten restart.

Collins and Goewey were left to settle this one amongst themselves and Collins held off every challenge by Goewey in the final stages to take home his first victory of the 2002 season. John Scarborough had another strong finish in third, with Lorne Browe fourth and Don Miller fifth.

Paul LaRochelle led the first twelve laps of the 20-lap pro stock feature Saturday night. Rob Yetman was looking for his second victory of 2002 and moved into the second position on lap eight. He was able to snag the lead form LaRochelle on lap 12 and never look back as his Beer Belly Bobs Beverage Center #7 graced victory lane for the second time in 2002. Jim Lagenback had a very strong run Saturday night. Lagenback was sent to the rear on lap four for a bumping incident. He recovered very nicely with a second place finish. LaRochelle hung on for third with last week’s winner Danny Sanchez in fourth. Bob Duzlak rounded out the top five.

The Rookie Pro Stock race was won by Jason DiBello for the third straight week. Pete DeFiglio, Scott Kilmer, Pete Wiegand and Chris Stalker were winners in the Pure Stock division.

Lebanon Valley Speedway will be back in action next Saturday night as IGA SUPERMARKETS and RONNIES CYCLES bring us another full night of racing excitement on the high banks. Race time is 6:15.

5-04 MADSEN OVERHEAD DOORS / BILINSKI / BOOMER'S PERFORMANCE MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Rich Ricci Jr, 3) Matt Quinn, 4) Eddie Marshall, 5) John Hewitt, 6) Donnie Corellis, 7) Mike King, 8) Kenny Tremont Jr, 9) Hector Stratton, 10) Ron Blake, 11) Chris Moore, 12) Denny Soltis, 13) Wayne Jelley, 14) Andy Bachetti, 15) Steve Devine, 16) John Alberti, 17) David Sanchez, 18) Paul Gilardi, 19) Hawley Smith, 20) Ernie Palmer Jr, 21) Stanley Wetmore, 22) Dave Mosher, 23) Wayne Fugler, 24) Charlie Humes, 25) Lucas Baker, 26) Russ Reckner, 27) Dave Leckonby, 28) Guy Sheldon, 29) Mark Hagadorn, 30) Rob Pitcher, 31) Sparky Lowe, 32) J.R. Heffner

MADSEN OVERHEAD DOOR'S MODIFIED DASH $500 TO WIN (6 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Rich Ricci Jr, 3) Matt Quinn, 4) Chris Moore, 5) Andy Bachetti, 6) J. R. Heffner

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

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

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

PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Pete DeFiglio, 2) Marcus Tifft, 3) Michael Middleton, 4) John Betz, 5) Fay Fachini, 6) Bob Chenette, 7) Jeff Kuhnow, 8) Bob Burl, 9) Todd Pelkey, 10) Jim Palmer, 11) Jim Fachini, 12) George Miles III, 13) John Rivers Jr, 14) Bill Gordon, 15) Kevin Dolan, 16) Ronny Jacobsen

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (10 LAPS) -1) Scott Kilmer, 2) Ronald Johnson, 3) Kory Sandstadt, 4) Ryan Coon, 5) John Connor Jr, 6) Kevin Hilt, 7) Larry Ball, 8) Steve Hatch, 9) Tom Murphy, 10) Michael Davis, 11) Dave Houser, 12) Dan Crosby, 13) Mike Eichstedt, 14) Shannon McDermott, 15) John Hubbard, 16) John Chapman, 17) Michael Dianda, 18) Lee Gallant

PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Peter Wiegand, 2) Jim Hankey, 3) Randy Myers, 4) George Miles Jr, 5) Jay Martin, 6) D.T. Pickard, 7) Ron Tritschler, 8) Joe DiStefano, 9) Bob Palmer, 10) Brian Sandstedt, 11) Robert Gibson, 12) Paul Handlowich, 13) Keith Barlow, 14) Earl Soulier Jr, 15) Chrissy Hilt, 16) Bruce Moffit

PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Chris Stalker, 2) John Denue, 3) Nick Hilt Jr, 4) Dave Atwater, 5) Phil Moffit, 6) Jeff Douglass, 7) Jim O'Neil, 8) Dwayne Dauski, 9) David Stickles, 10) Jeremy Pease, 11) Don Coon, 12) Chris Hutnik, 13) Rich Douglass, 14) Poncho Hankey, 15) Ray Pierre Jr, 16) Mark Huston, 17) Jeff Wilbur