HEARN TAKES GABLE TO VICTORY LANE ON THE TEAMS MAIDEN VOYAGE
SATURDAY APRIL 20, 2002
WEST LEBANON, NY- Lebanon Valley Speedway threw the green flag on their 50th anniversary of competition Saturday night. A tremendous opening day crowd braved the cool night and was rewarded with great high-banked racing action. Brett Hearn on his maiden voyage in the Gable Motorsports owned BUDWEISER sponsored #1 Modified started off the new season in style with a dominating victory in the 50-lap modified feature. Rob Yetman was equally as dominant with a victory in the 20-lap Pro Stock main. L&M MOTORS, MANE ATTRACTION and J.D. HANDLING / HEAVY HAULER were responsible for bringing us this opening night of racing.
Thirty-four cars took the green flag for the first modified feature of the season. Nassau’s, Guy Sheldon, took the lead at the start of the event and led the first fifteen laps. Sheldon would fade slightly in the second half of the race, but finished a very respectable seventh. Young DIRT sensation, Andy Bachetti, has decided to call Lebanon Valley his home for the 2002 season. Unfortunately, a heat race incident damaged his car severely and he had to park his car after completing one lap in the feature. Ten cars were involved in a turn one pileup on lap four. Defending track champion, Kenny Tremont Jr was involved, but continued with apparently no damage. The same could not be said for Rich Ricci Jr as his damaged car took him out of contention for the victory. Ricci did return to race, but was two laps down.
The caution flag flew early and often in this race as the third yellow came out on lap five. Dave McFeeters and Rob Pitcher got hooked together coming off turn four came to a stop. The rest of the field had to take drastic measure to avoid the disabled racers. While all this bumping and banging was going on the Budweiser #1 of Hearn was steadily moving up from his 20th starting spot. Hearn sat in the runner-up spot by lap 13. Dave Leckonby is fielding his own race team in 2002. His Pik-A-Nut sponsored #88 looked real sharp to start the evening, but heavy contact with the turn one wall on lap 15 ended his chances at a strong opening night finish. The ensuing restart was all Hearn needed to finish off the pack.
Hearn was able to drive under Sheldon on the restart and completed the pass going into turn three. The Queens Machine of Maynard Forrette was lightning fast on opening night as well. Forrette slipped by Sheldon for second on lap 19, but disaster struck on lap 27 as a left rear tire went flat, forcing him to retired from the event. Chris Moore was the benefactor of Forrette’s misfortune as he moved his Overbaugh #10 into second position. J.R. Heffner is back behind the wheel of the A. Colarusso & Son #74 in 2002. Heffner won his heat race and was considered one of the pre-race favorites. Heffner was extremely patient in the first half of the event, but moved into third on lap 29.
The last caution flag of the race came out on lap 30, effectively erasing the huge lead that Hearn had established. Tremont recovered from his early race woes to take over fourth on the restart. Tremont’s Emerick Associates #115 and #74 of Heffner were the show in the final stages of the race. The two battled side by side until Tremont was able to pull the slide job on lap 43. Tremont closed in on Moore in the final laps and even tried a pass on the final lap, but Moore held him off to take second. Tremont would have to settle for third, Heffner fourth and Pitcher fifth. John Hewitt finished a strong sixth in his Rifenburg #24. As mentioned before Sheldon was seventh, Matt Quinn eighth, Hector Stratton ninth and Steve Devine rounded out the top ten.
The modified drivers must have been a little anxious Saturday night as the caution flag flew seven times and only thirteen cars were running at the end of the race.
It was and impressive run for Hearn who took the checkered flag nearly a straightway ahead of Moore. It was the first outing for Hearn in his new Gable Motorsports ride. In victory lane Hearn thanked the crew for giving him such a potent car on opening night.
The Pro Stocks were also on hand for opening night and their feature was 20 laps in distance. Rob Yetman took command on the event from his front row starting spot and never looked back. Only two caution flags slowed the event (they must not have been as anxious as the modified drivers). Robbie Speed took over second on lap two and held that spot until Jim Lagenback made a pass on lap 14. Lagenback tired to run Yetman down, but he was much to strong tonight. Speed would settle for third with Tom Brandt fourth and Al Blackburn rounding out the top five.
The winners of the Pure Stocks races were George Miles Jr. Michael Middleton, Jim Hankey and Pete Wiegand. Jason Dibello of Averill Park, NY, won the Rookie Pro Stock feature.
Next Saturday night Waste Management and Sheldon Oil Services will bring us the action. The modifieds will be back in action as well as opening night for the Sportsman. Pro Stocks, Rookies and Pure Stocks are also on the card. A cannonball feature will cap off the night’s activities. Racing action gets underway at 6:15, don’t miss out on all the excitement that Lebanon Valley Speedway has to offer in 2002.
L & M MOTORS, MANE ATTRACTION, J. D. HANDLING / HEAVY HAULER MODIFIED FEATURE (50 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Chris Moore, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Rob Pitcher, 6) John Hewitt, 7) Guy Sheldon, 8) Matt Quinn, 9) Hector Stratton, 10) Steve Devine, 11) Denny Soltis, 12) K. C. Goewey, 13) Ernie Palmer Jr, 14) Stanley Wetmore, 15) Rich Ricci Jr, 16) John Alberti, 17) Eddie Marshall, 18) Maynard Forrette, 19) Jason Tompkins, 20) Jason Goff, 21) Donnie Corellis, 22) David Sanchez, 23) Sparky Lowe, 24) Dickie Larkin, 25) Dave Leckonby, 26) Mike King, 27) Hawley Smith, 28) Dave McFeeters, 29) Wes Powell, 30) Charlie Humes, 31) Ron Blake, 32) Paul Gilardi, 33) Andy Bachetti, 34) Dave Mosher,
PRO STOCK FEATURE (20 LAPS) - 1) Rob Yetman, 2) Jim Langenback, 3) Robbie Speed, 4) Tom Brandt, 5) Al Blackburn, 6) Bob Duzlak Jr, 7) Rich Colesanti, 8) Danny Sanchez, 9) Buddy Hencke, 10) Paul LaRochelle, 11) Dan Blackburn, 12) Jim Dellea, 13) Chris Crews, 14) Paul Rogers, 15) Tom Faxon, 16) Nick Rogers, 17) Dave Dowd, 18) Brian Keough, 19) Adam Haas, 20) Ed Bachand, 21) Don Ely
ROOKIE FEATURE (10 LAPS) - 1) Jason DiBello, 2) Bill Lobdell, 3) Bill Hammell, 4) Mark Forrest, 5) John Santolin, 6) Chris DeCiel, 7) Larry Megan, 8) Joe Mabb Jr, 9) John Danylicko, 10) Jay Corbin, 11) Chris Claus
PURE STOCK #1 (8 LAPS) - 1) George Miles Jr, 2) Ronny Jacobsen, 3) D.T. Pickard, 4) Bob Burl, 5) Jim O'Neil, 6) Mark Witherell, 7) Mike Eichstedt, 8) Bill Gordon, 9) Chris Stalker, 10) Mark Huston, 11) Dave Houser, 12) Michael Dianda, 13) David Stickles, 14) Mark Stevens, 15) John Chapman, 16) Fay Fachini,
PURE STOCK #2 (8 LAPS) - 1) Michael Middleton, 2) Jay Martin, 3) Keith Barlow, 4) Chrissy Hilt, 5) Kevin Dolan, 6) John Rivers Jr, 7) Nick Hilt Jr, 8) John Betz, 9) Dan Crosby, 10) Jeff Wilbur, 11) Jeremy Pease, 12) Kevin Hilt, 13) Phil Moffit, 14) Ryan Hover, 15) Rich Douglass, 16) Dave Atwater
PURE STOCK #3 (12 LAPS) - 1) Jim Hankey, 2) Bruce Moffit, 3) Brian Sandstedt, 4) Steve Hatch, 5) Joe DiStefano, 6) Ryan Coon, 7) Jim Fachini, 8) George Miles III, 9) Chris Hutnik, 10) Paul Harding, 11) Kory Sandstadt, 12) Don Coon, 13) Bob Chenette, 14) Dwayne Dauski, 15) Gene Cushman, 16) Scott Kilmer
PURE STOCK #4 (12 LAPS) - 1) Peter Wiegand, 2) Bob Palmer, 3) Randy Myers, 4) Chris Streeter, 5) Ronald Johnson, 6) Robert Gibson, 7) Earl Soulier Jr, 8) Michael Davis, 9) Brian Formel, 10) Ron Tritschler, 11) Shannon McDermott, 12) Lee Gallant, 13) Jeff Douglass, 14) Marcus Tifft, 15) John Denue, 16) Mike Gilliland
CANNONBALL - 1) Al Relyea, 2) Nathan Sanford, 3) Rick Dempsey, 4) Keri Van Denburg, 5) Mike Pfau, 6) John Hughes, 7) Robin Pough, 8) Dan Day, 9) Rich Sanford, 10) Ed Eldert, 11) David Trombley, 12) Rob Schroeppel, 13) Travis Sanford, 14) Bert Long, 15) Anthony Arcoleo, 16) Matt Mellan, 17) Rick Milanese, 18) Chris Gudath, 19) Frank Bruckman