DANNY JOHNSON CAPTURES THIRD CARQUEST 200 GLORY AT LEBANON VALLEY
SEPTEMBER 9, 2001
WEST LEBANON, NY- Danny Johnson put his Sweeteners Plus sponsored racer in victory lane in the CARQUEST National 200 at Lebanon Valley. A capacity crowd was on hand for this unusually hot event. NASCAR superstar, Tony Stewart made his third appearance of the season at the Valley and had a top ten finish. Dave Blaney did not feel well and did not make the trip. The Pro Stocks were also on hand Sunday for a 20-lap feature that was part of the ARANY Pro Stock Series. Danny Sanchez dominated that event and took the victory. An extra special thanks to Rich Pallai and the folks at CARQUEST for bringing us this great weekend of racing.
Time trials were held for forty-five cars to help determine the starting lineup for the heat races. Brett Hearn turned in the fastest time of the afternoon and Jimmy Horton was the second fastest. That exempted those two drivers from having to run heat races, but they would have to draw for their starting position. Thirty-six cars took the green flag for the 200-lap feature. J.R. Heffner and Eddie Marshall brought the field down to Matt Higgin’s green flag. Marshall was able to grab the early advantage over Heffner on the first lap. Heffner was pushing Marshall hard early as the two ran side by side for the first couple of laps, but Marshall held off his advances. Horton started fourth and quickly worked his way toward the front. He moved passed Heffner for second on lap six and took the lead from Marshall one lap later.
Horton set a torrid pace on the point and caught the back of the field by lap 13 and quickly started putting cars a lap down. The first caution flew on lap 21 as Hector Stratton slowed on the speedway. The green flag came back out on lap 27, but only for one lap as Dave Camara and Jeff Trombley crashed in turn one. Camara was able to continue on, but dropped out on lap 79. Danny Johnson moved into the second position on lap 34. Stewart started 23rd in the race and had worked his way up to challenge Chris Moore for eleventh by lap 45. Horton continued to set a torrid pace leading Johnson by a full straightaway on lap 46.
Brian Weaver and Maynard Forrette came together bringing out the caution on lap 47. Pit road was the busiest point on the speedway as most of the field chose to make their mandatory pit stop. This gave the lead to Heffner followed by Marshall, Stewart, Jerry Higbie and Ronnie Johnson.
Rich Ricci Jr and John Alberti hooked bumpers on the restart but were able to continue without needing a caution flag. Danny Johnson had come out of the pits in eleventh position and had moved into eighth. Horton would not get a chance to get back to the front as he suffered a right rear flat tire on lap 63. The damage was too significant to his car and his race would be over. Heffner, Higbie, Ricci and Tremont all went pitside under this yellow. Marshall inherited the lead on the restart with Stewart in second and Ronnie Johnson third. Andy Bachetti moved passed Ronnie Johnson into third on lap 71. Marshall, Stewart, Bachetti and Forrette went pitside under yellow on lap 81.
Danny Johnson took the lead on a lap 85 restart. Billy Decker moved into second on lap 87. At the halfway point it was Danny Johnson, Decker, Alan Johnson, Donnie Corellis and Brett Hearn. The story line in the final half of the race would be between Danny Johnson and Billy Decker. The two ran very hard the remainder of the event. The caution came out on lap 111 for Will Cagle in turn one. The Tampa Terror came out of retirement to run this race, but his day ended on lap 111. While the field was under the caution flag the lap counter clicked off lap 115. BOOMER’S PERFORMANCE sponsored the lap in memory of Olivia Tremont. Danny Johnson picked up the special $1,000 bonus as the leader of that very special lap.
Vic Coffey was looking for a strong finish Sunday and cracked the top five on lap 128. Andy Bachetti was one of the strongest cars all day, but his day came to an early end on lap 130 as he came to a stop in turn one. Ricci had handling problems all race long and lost a lap in the pits on lap 134. There was still twenty-six cars running on lap 138. Stewart was looking for his second win of the season here at the Valley. Stewart had picked up a victory earlier in the season in a 100-lap race for the 358-modifieds. Stewart sat eighth on lap 145.
Decker continued to give Johnson fits in the final fifty laps of the event. Alan Johnson started to reel in the top two on lap 166. Lapped traffic began to play a factor again on lap 173, giving Johnson some breathing room. Meanwhile Stewart started challenging Tremont for sixth on lap 178. Decker tried a bonsai move on Johnson on lap 179, but once again could not make the pass stick. Just as Decker stuck his nose under Johnson the caution flew again. This time it was for the third place car of Alan Johnson as his right rear tire went flat on lap 180. This allowed Donnie Corellis to move into third. Corellis ran a patient race all day long and would be rewarded with a podium finish. One last caution set up a ten-lap shootout, but Danny Johnson was not to be denied as he took his third CARQUEST 200 victory of his career. Decker had to settle for second, as mentioned Corellis finished third. Coffey had a strong fourth place finish and Matt Quinn also had a strong run rounding out the top five. The caution flag came out for a total of sixty-four laps in the race, which was run in ninety-eight minutes.
The ARANY Pro Stocks took to the speedway for a 20-lap feature Sunday afternoon. Thirty-one cars took the green flag for this caution plagued race. Danny Sanchez was fresh off his win on Saturday night and was looking for his second win of the weekend. Current Lebanon Valley points leader; Jim Lagenback dropped from the race on lap five when he was involved in an incident on the backstretch. Sanchez, Ed Bachand, Butch Irwin, Tom Faxon and Scott Govertsen filled out the top five at the halfway point. Robbie Speed started showing smoke just past halfway and stopped in turn two on lap 12.
The most serious incident of the weekend came on the restart as the flagger threw the caution for a false start. The front cars saw the yellow flag out, but the middle of the pack cars did not causing a huge mess on the backstretch. Tom Kuck went over the top over Faxon and rolled his racer. About ten cars in total were involved in the fracas. Fortunately no one was harmed in the melee. Several more yellows slowed the pace, but no one could touch Sanchez as he cruised to his second win of the weekend. Bachand came home second Irwin third, Jipp Ortiz fourth. Jason Boyle recovered from an early race spin to round out the top five.
Lebanon Valley will wrap up racing next Saturday night with an $1000 to win race for sportsman. The Pro Stocks, Rookies and Pure Stocks will finish off the respective point championships as well. There will also be a $1000 to win cannonball run event.
CARQUEST NATIONAL 200 (200 LAPS) - 1) Danny Johnson, 2) Billy Decker, 3) Donnie Corellis, 4) Vic Coffey, 5) Matt Quinn, 6) Kenny Tremont, 7) Tony Stewart, 8) Brett Hearn, 9) Pat Ward, 10) Jerry Higbie, 11) Eddie Marshall, 12) Ronnie Johnson, 13) J. R. Heffner, 14) Jeff Heotzler, 15) Maynard Forrette, 16) Alan Johnson, 17) Rich Ricci Jr, 18) Andy Bachetti, 19) Jason Goff, 20) Chris Kokosa, 21) Chris Moore, 22) Tim Fuller, 23) Jeremy Markle, 24) Randy Sherlock, 25) Mike King, 26) Bobby Albert, 27) Guy Sheldon, 28) Will Cagle, 29) Dave Camara, 30) Brian Weaver, 31) Jimmy Horton, 32) John Alberti, 33) Dave Mosher, 34) Hector Stratton, 35) Jeff Trombley, 36) Meme Desantis
DIRT PRO STOCK TOUR RACE (20 LAPS) - 1) Danny Sanchez, 2) Ed Bachand, 3) Butchie Irwin, 4) Jip Ortiz, 5) Jason Boyle, 6) Scott Govertsen, 7) Tom Barron, 8) Robbie Speed, 9) Al Blackburn, 10) Pete Stefanski, 11) Scott Kehr, 12) Marc Therrien, 13) Steve Devos, 14) Bill Pascual, 15) Kevin Ward, 16) Paul LaRochelle, 17) Bob Duzlak Jr, 18) Ricky Duzlak, 19) Chris Morris, 20) Andy Dembek, 21) Chris Crews, 22) Tom Faxon, 23) Tom Kuck, 24) Rob Yetman, 25) Dickie Colesanti, 26) Tom Dembek, 27) Tom Brandt, 28) Dave Therrien, 29) Rob Noviczski, 30) Jim Langenback, 31) Ricky Breed