RICCI, GOEWEY AND DUZLAK ALL WIN FOR FIRST TIME THIS SEASON AT THE VALLEY

June 16, 2001

WEST LEBANON, NY-Rich Ricci Jr won the 30-lap modified feature Saturday night at Lebanon Valley, his first of the 2001 season at the Valley. K.C. Goewey also scored his first win of the season in the 20-lap sportsman feature. Bob Duzlak also won his first race of the season in the 20-lap pro stock main. FANE CONCRETE was the sponsor of this great night of racing. All the predictions of rain Saturday night failed to materialize and the fans were treated to some great racing action.

Hector Stratton was the early race leader in the 30-lap modified feature. He was able to hold the top spot for the first quarter of the event. The first caution of the race came on lap three as Rob Pitcher and Dave McFeeters got hooked together in turn four. While under caution Chris Moore went pitside and was done for the evening. Rich Ricci Jr. was on the charge early as he took over fourth on lap six. A four-car tangle in turn two would slow the field down again on lap seven. Ricci had a good run on the restart and vaulted into the second spot.

Dave Leckonby was able to hold off Denny Soltis and Kenny Tremont in a three-wide battle for fifth on lap eight. Meanwhile Ricci began to apply the pressure to Stratton on lap ten and made the pass for the lead the very next lap. That same lap Tremont cracked the top five for the first time. Eddie Marshall and Leckonby would bring out the caution flag on lap 12; both were able to continue in the race. The top five in the running order at the halfway point were Ricci, Ronnie Johnson, Tremont, Stratton and J.R. Heffner. Tremont made his way around Johnson for second on lap 17, but Ricci had opened up a half-straightaway lead. The lapped traffic Ricci began to encounter on lap 20 did little to slow him up. However, a caution flag on lap 22 brought Tremont right to his back bumper.

Ricci was able to catch Tremont napping a little on the restart and opened up a ten-car length lead. Tremont was able to close that gap up in the final stages of the race, but could not make the pass as Ricci went on to his first victory of the season in the GABLE MOTORSPORTS #1R. Johnson had a strong third place finish, Heffner was fourth and Stratton rounded out the top five.

Three cautions in the first three laps of the 20-lap sportsman feature had speedway officials restarting the race single file. K.C. Goewey made little work of the rest of the field as he took the lead on lap five and never looked back. Sparky Lowe looked like he might give Goewey a run as he took over second on lap nine. Roy Bridge also had a strong run as he moved into fourth on lap 12. Goewey ran into lapped traffic by lap 14, but they did not impede his progress.

By the three-quarter mark of the race Goewey had opened a half-straightaway led over second and a full straightaway over third. Bobby Knipe made a great move from fifth to third on lap 15. Mike Keeler lost his right front wheel on the frontstretch on lap 16. The field did a great job of avoiding the loose wheel. Goewey was able to motor away again on the restart and easily took his first win of the season. Lowe was second, Knipe was third and Roy Bridge was fourth. Hawley Smith was able to finish fifth after an early race incident sent him to the rear.

Buddy Hencke led the first lap of the 20-lap pro stock main. Al Blackburn got turned around in turn two on the first lap while running fourth. Somehow the whole field missed his car and he was able to continue on form the rear. Ricky Duzlak used the restart to motor passed Hencke in turn one, but Hencke muscled his way back to the lead in turn four. That lead was short-lived as Bob Duzlak made his bid and took the lead on lap four. Rob Yetman looked strong early in the race and had made his way as high as third. His night came to an early end as he went pitside on lap nine. Problems just passed the halfway point for the cars running fourth through sixth. Ricky Duzlak, Danny Sanchez and Dan Burl all came together in turn two. Blackburn made a great move to miss the incident and move into fourth.

Near disaster on lap 12 as Hencke, Jim Lagenback and Blackburn all bounced off each other, but no one lost any positions. Duzlak was strong at the front of this event and opened a half-straightaway lead in the final stages of the race. Lagenback and Blackburn made the pass around Hencke for second and third on lap 14. Two cautions in the final five laps bunched the field up but no one had anything for Bob Duzlak on this night. Lagenback was second, Blackburn was third, Hencke fourth and Burl rounded out the top five.

There were four pure stock features Saturday night. The A-feature went to Chrissy Hilt. The B-feature winner was Marcus Tifft. The C-feature winner was Ray Hall Jr. and Pete Wiegand won the D-feature. The rookie pro stock feature win went to Scott Kilmer.

6-19 FANE CONCRETE MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Rich Ricci Jr, 2) Kenny Tremont Jr, 3) Ronnie Johnson, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Hector Stratton, 6) Denny Soltis, 7) Tim Dwyer, 8) Donnie Corellis, 9) Matt Quinn, 10) Guy Sheldon, 11) Eddie Marshall, 12) John Hewitt, 13) Rob Pitcher, 14) Dickie Larkin, 15) Mike King, 16) Jackie Brown Jr, 17) Steve Devine, 18) Bobby Chalmers, 19) Dave Mosher, 20) Dave McFeeters, 21) Dave Leckonby, 22) Jason Goff, 23) John Tucker, 24) Dave Baranowski, 25) John Lutes Jr, 26) Mike Benson, 27) Wes Powell, 28) Link Petit, 29) Chris Moore

SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) K.C. Goewey, 2) Sparky Lowe, 3) Bobby Knipe, 4) Roy Bridge, 5) Hawley Smith, 6) Paul Gilardi, 7) Ted Teal, 8) Art Collins, 9) Lorne Browe, 10) John Scarborough, 11) Mike Mason, 12) Frank Harper, 13) Joe Bennett, 14) John Hotchkiss, 15) Tony Ferriero, 16) Jeff Watson, 17) Ernie Palmer Jr, 18) Jay Casey, 19) Mike Keeler, 20) Jeff Carr, 21) Jeff Cassidy, 22) Walt McKay, 23) Jason Tompkins, 24) Ed Harkin

PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Bob Duzlak Jr, 2) Jim Langenback, 3) Al Blackburn, 4) Buddy Hencke, 5) Dan Burl, 6) Steve Brownell, 7) Danny Sanchez, 8) Ed Bachand, 9) Jeff Kelmel, 10) Tom Faxon, 11) Mike Bradley, 12) Paul LaRochelle, 13) Ricky Duzlak, 14) Rob Yetman, 15) Dave Striebel, 16) Rick Spencer

ROOKIE RESULTS (15 LAPS) - 1) Scott Kilmer, 2) Jason DiBello, 3) Dan Blackburn, 4) Dave Colwell, 5) Henry Warner, 6) Charlie Woodard, 7) Wayne Keyes, 8) Jery Helms, 9) Joe Mabb Jr, 10) Lawrence Ball, 11) John Santolin, 12) E. J. Legeyt, 13) Brian Keough, 14) Phil Moffit, 15) Bill Hammell, 16) Chris DeCiel, 17) Michael Kratz

PURE STOCK "A" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Chrissy Hilt, 2) Jim Fachini, 3) Fran Marchand Jr, 4) Robert Brown, 5) Ronald Johnson, 6) Bruce Moffit, 7) Earl Soulier Jr, 8) Dwayne Dauski, 9) Ron Hapeman, 10) Dave Atwater, 11) Doug Moore, 12) D.T. Pickard, 13) Jason Casey, 14) Jeff Douglass, 15) Art Lafferty

PURE STOCK "B" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Marcus Tifft, 2) Kyle Carr, 3) John Denue, 4) Robert Gibson, 5) Bruce Pecorella, 6) Jay Martin, 7) Gene Cushman, 8) Larry Megan, 9) Jim O'Neil, 10) Todd Pelkey, 11) Ed Ashley, 12) Mark Forrest, 13) Mark Stevens, 14) Mike Witherell, 15) Ramon Perry

PURE STOCK "C" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Ray Hall Jr, 2) Bob Palmer, 3) Brian Sandstadt, 4) Jim Hankey, 5) Mike Garcia, 6) Randy Myers, 7) Wally Engel, 8) Chris Streeter, 9) Kevin Dolan, 10) George Miles Jr, 11) Don Coon, 12) Rich Douglass, 13) Jim Dellea, 14) Joe DiStefano

PURE STOCK "D" RESULTS (8 LAPS) -1) Peter Wiegand, 2) Ryan Larkin, 3) Rich Kratt, 4) Bob Burl, 5) Guy Hughes, 6) Ronny Jacobsen, 7) Ron Tritschler, 8) Mark Houston, 9) Steve Hatch, 10) John Connor Jr, 11) Ryan Coon, 12) Keith Barlow, 13) Phil Decker Jr, 14) Joshua Brandt, 15) Kory Sandstadt