HEARN TWO FOR TWO IN ’02 AT THE VALLEY, HARKIN GETS CAREER FIRST

April 27, 2002, WEST LEBANON, NY- Brett Hearn made it two in a row capturing the 30-lap modified feature at Lebanon Valley Saturday night. Ed Harkin won the 20-lap sportsman feature. Danny Sanchez was victorious in the 20-lap Pro Stock main. Thanks to the fine folks at WASTE MANAGEMENT and SHELDON OIL SERVICES for sponsoring this night of racing.

Paul Gilardi took the lead at the start of the 30-lap modified feature. He would hand the lead over to Eddie Marshall after a lap three restart. Marshall had his Marshall Oil #98 hooked up and looked very strong early in the race. Meanwhile the Emerick Associates #115 of Kenny Tremont Jr. and the Budweiser #1 of Brett Hearn cracked the top five by lap four. Rich Ricci Jr moved up quickly from his seventh starting spot to second on lap five. Hearn made a dramatic pass from fifth to third on lap six. Meanwhile at the front of the pack Marshall began to encounter lapped traffic by lap eight.

Andy Bachetti had his Coors Light #4 into the top five by lap eleven. Hearn began to apply the pressure to the Fall Fittings #55 of Ricci on lap 14, but the bid was delayed by a caution flag that same lap. The fans were on their feet for the restart as Marshall was on the outside of the front row and Ricci on the inside and Hearn and Tremont right behind them. The four cars went into turn one two by two with Tremont moving around Hearn into third, but the caution flag flew again on lap 15. The next restart changed the complexion of the race.

Ricci bobbled coming off turn two on the restart which made Tremont check up to avoid running into the back of Ricci. Hearn pounced on the opportunity and blew by Ricci and Tremont into second place. Tremont was able to pass Ricci for third on lap 18 as Marshall and Hearn began to pull away from the pack. Hearn made his bid for the lead on lap 23 and was able to make the pass stick on lap 24 coming off the fourth turn. There were two caution periods in the final three laps of the race, but no one could catch Hearn as he took the checkered flag for the second time this season. Hearn is perfect in two starts for his new car owner Jody Gable at the Valley. According to the speedway historian, Hearn is only the third driver since 1961 to win on opening night and the second night of racing back to back. Marshall had a great second place finish followed in third by Tremont. Bachetti passed Ricci for fourth on the final lap and Ricci rounded out the top five. Dave Leckonby, Rob Pitcher, Denny Soltis, J.R. Heffner and Matt Quinn rounded out the top ten.

The sportsman division made its first appearance of the 2002 season Saturday night. Ed Harkin took the lead at the start of the 20-lap feature and never looked back. Three caution flags in the first half of the race did not deter the veteran driver, as he was able to pull away from the pack on each restart. He had the Harkin Mechanical, Bicknell 2002 #9 hooked up as he graced victory lane for the first time in his 32-year career. A great run for young driver Mike Keeler in the runner-up position. It was almost disaster for Keeler on lap four as he and Jeff Watson made contact on the frontstretch while battling for second. Both drivers did a great job of handling their respective machines without losing any positions. John Scarborough brought home his Casella #61 in the third position. Roy Bridge followed him across the line in fourth and Frank Harper was fifth.

Problems for several of the sportsman front runners in the feature on Saturday night. K.C. Goewey was behind the wheel of the Sprint PCS #45, but was eliminated in the opening lap of the race. Bobby Knipe finished second in the 2001 point’s standings by one point last season. He was involved in two incidents before retiring on lap nine.

Ed Bachand led the first five laps of the 20-lap pro stock main. Buddy Hencke had to check up coming off turn two while running in the second position. Paul LaRochelle ran into the back of Hencke and pitied to remove his crumpled hood. Hencke was able to continue in the runner-up position. Danny Sanchez took the lead from Bachand on a lap six restart. The top five at the halfway point were Sanchez, Hencke, Bachand, Bobby Duzlak and Robbie Speed. 2001 track champion made his way past Speed into fifth on lap 12. Speed slowed suddenly and dropped from the event the very next lap. The last caution flag of the race came out on lap 15 as Jim Dellea spun in turn four. While under the yellow flag Hencke relinquished his top five run top retire to the pits. Lagenback was able to make his way past Duzlak into third on the final lap of the race, but the night belonged to Sand Lake native, Sanchez as he took his first victory of 2002. Al Blackburn rounded out the top five.

Jason DiBello made it two-for-two in the Rookie Pro Stock main while Pure Stock races were won by Bob Palmer, Lee Gallant, John Denue and Ron Tritschler. The Cannonball was won by Rick Dempsey.

Lebanon Valley continues celebrating its 50th anniversary season next Saturday night as Madsen Overhead Doors, Bilinski and Boomers Performance bring us all the racing action. Racing gets underway at 6:15.

4-27 WASTE MANAGEMENT / SHELDON OIL SERVICES MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Eddie Marshall, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr, 4) Andy Bachetti, 5) Rich Ricci Jr, 6) Dave Leckonby, 7) Rob Pitcher, 8) Denny Soltis, 9) J.R. Heffner, 10) Matt Quinn, 11) Sparky Lowe, 12) Donnie Corellis, 13) Mike King, 14) Chris Moore, 15) Maynard Forrette, 16) Guy Sheldon, 17) John Hewitt, 18) Ernie Palmer Jr, 19) Hector Stratton, 20) Dave Mosher, 21) Hawley Smith, 22) Stanley Wetmore, 23) Lucas Baker, 24) Wayne Fugler, 25) Paul Gilardi, 26) Tom Sanchez Jr, 27) Wayne Jelley, 28) Steve Devine,

29) Dave McFeeters, 30) John Alberti, 31) David Sanchez, 32) Ron Blake, 33) Charlie Humes

SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Ed Harkin, 2) Mike Keeler, 3) John Scarborough, 4) Roy Bridge, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Art Collins, 7) Jeff Watson, 8) Joe Bennett, 9) Lorne Browe, 10) Jeff Carr, 11) Rich Salisbury, 12) Walt McKay, 13) Whitey Slavin, 14) Tony Ferriero, 15) Mike Mason, 16) John Hotchkiss, 17) Mike Molloy, 18) Ryan Larkin, 19) Pete Tucker, 20) Jay Casey, 21) Mike Visconti, 22) Bobby Knipe, 23) Don Miller, 24) K.C. Goewey

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

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

PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Ron Tritschler, 2) George Miles Jr, 3) D.T. Pickard, 4) Jeff Douglass, 5) Don Coon, 6) Mark Huston, 7) Jim O'Neil, 8) Chris Hutnik, 9) Mike Eichstedt, 10) Jeff Kuhnow, 11) Jeremy Pease, 12) Phil Moffit, 13) Fay Fachini, 14) John Hubbard, 15) Steve Hatch, 16) Mike Witherell, 17) Gene Cushman, 18) Jim Fachini

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Lee Gallant, 2) Earl Soulier Jr, 3) David Stickles, 4) Brian Sandstedt, 5) Dave Atwater, 6) Ronald Johnson, 7) Scott Kilmer, 8) John Rivers Jr, 9) Chris Streeter, 10) Paul Harding, 11) Kevin Hilt, 12) Ryan Coon, 13) Marcus Tifft, 14) Chris Stalker, 15) Ronny Jacobsen, 16) Dan Crosby, 17) Chip Martin

PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) John Denue, 2) Kory Sandstedt, 3) Jim Hankey, 4) Chrissy Hilt, 5) Keith Barlow, 6) Michael Davis, 7) Kevin Dolan, 8) Bruce Moffit, 9) Nick Hilt Jr, 10) John Connor Jr, 11) Bob Chenette, 12) Jeff Wilbur, 13) John Chapman, 14) Bill Gordon, 15) Shannon McDermott, 16) Mark Stevens

PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Bob Palmer, 2) Robert Gibson, 3) Joe DiStefano, 4) Pete DeFiglio, 5) Peter Wiegand, 6) Randy Myers, 7) John Betz, 8) Poncho Hankey, 9) Jay Martin, 10) Dwayne Dauski, 11) Bob Burl, 12) Michael Dianda, 13) Rich Douglass, 14) Todd Pelkey, 15) Dave Houser, 16) Ryan Hover, 17) George Miles III

CANNONBALL RESULTS - 1) Rick Dempsey, 2) Al Relyea, 3) Dan Day, 4) Travis Sanford, 5) David Delamater, 6) Robin Pough, 7) Jim Morris, 8) John Hughes, 9) Mike Pfau, 10) Frank Bruckman, 11) Bert Long, 12) Nathan Sanford, 13) Lloyd Burdick, 14) Anthony Arcoleo, 15) Ed Eldert