FORRETTE WHIPS THE YOUNGSTERS, FLACH JR CAPTURES 1ST CAREER SPORTSMAN WIN
SATURDAY MAY 19, 2001
WEST LEBANON, NY- The ageless veteran, Maynard Forrette, won the 30-lap modified feature Saturday night. Sophomore campaigner, Mark Flach Jr won his first career feature in the 20-lap sportsman main. Dan Burl was victorious in the 20-lap pro stock feature.
Denny Soltis was the early race leader in the 30-lap modified feature. Problems for Steve Devine early on lap three as he broke in turn two. Donnie Corellis went low to avoid Devine and bounced off the left side of Devine’s car. Corellis continued on and would play a factor in the finish. While the top eight cars ran single file it was two and three wide from ninth on back as some of the top guns were trying to make their way to the front.
The first caution of the feature did not come until lap ten as John Alberti came to a stop on the frontstretch. Chris Moore went pitside during the caution flag, but returned to the race and would finish 14th. Problems for Soltis on the restart as his right rear tire went flat causing a major backup in turn one. Several cars were involved in the ensuing fracas including the point leader, Kenny Tremont. Tremont had a right rear flat tire, but he returned to finish eleventh.
Mike King inherited the restart as a result of the incident. He held the top spot very briefly as Forrette was able to skeeter around to take the lead. Near disaster in turn four as Dave Leckonby and Jason Goff made contact, but both continued on and only lost a couple of positions. J.R. Heffner had been in that lap ten mess and would drop from the event on lap 15. Forrette was still the leader at the halfway point with King, Matt Quinn, Corellis and Rob Pitcher in tow.
Eddie Marshall was looking to back up last week’s victory with another strong performance. He started the feature in 14th and had moved up to fifth by lap 17. Quinn made the passed by King for second on lap 17 as well. The caution flag flew for Chip Mitchell on lap 20. Quinn came to a slow stop on the frontstretch during the caution and would be done for the night. Corellis and Marshall made the pass around King on lap 21. Rich Ricci Jr cracked the top five just past the 20-lap mark and came home with another top five finish in third. The final caution of the race came out on lap 25 setting up a five-lap shootout to the finish. The top five were able to breakaway on the restart, but no one could touch Forrette. Corellis hung on for second, Ricci third, Marshall fourth and Tim Dwyer.
Mark Flach Jr. took the lead at the start of the 20-lap sportsman feature and never looked back. Danny Watson slowed suddenly and dropped from the race on lap five. K.C. Goewey made a three wide pass for eighth on lap six. Jay Casey was behind Flach and was slowly reeling him in by lap eight. The first half of the race went caution free and the top five at the halfway point were Flach, Casey, Joe Bennett, Jeff Carr and Goewey. Last weeks winner, Jeff Cassidy, suffered a right rear flat tire on lap 13 bringing out the first caution of the race.
Goewey jumped to third on the restart and Bobby Knipe cracked the top five. The top four pulled away in the final stages of the race. Knipe made the strongest challenge as he went from fifth to second by lap 19. Flach was strong to all challenges and was able to cross the finish line first for career victory number one.
Dan Burl led the 20-lap pro stock flag from start to finish. But to say that it was an easy victory would be wrong. Burl had to hold off many challenges by Al Blackburn. The two raced hard the whole event, but Burl held off every challenge. In victory lane, Burl was thankful that Blackburn raced him clean. Last weeks winner, Robbie Speed, suffered a right rear flat tire on lap nine. Danny Sanchez started smoking on lap eleven under the caution. He went pitside but did return to the race. Jim Lagenback had a right front flat on lap 12, but returned to finish ninth.
Burl took home his first win of the 2001 season. Blackburn had a strong runner-up finish, Ricky Duzlak third, Tom Brandt fourth and Steve Brownell rounded out the top five. Only six points separate the top seven in the pro stock points with Duzlak currently sitting on top of the standings.
The pure stock features went to Ron Tritchler (A), Keith Barlow (B), Mark Houston (C). The winner of the rookie feature was Scott Kilmer. There was a rollover contest as well Saturday night and Tony Zerbarini was the winner of that contest.
QUANDT'S FOOD SERVICE / RONNIE'S CYCLES MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Maynard Forrette, 2) Donnie Corellis, 3) Rich Ricci Jr, 4) Eddie Marshall, 5) Tim Dwyer, 6) Mike King, 7) Rob Pitcher, 8) Dave Leckonby, 9) Dickie Larkin, 10) Hector Stratton, 11) Kenny Tremont Jr, 12) John Hewitt, 13) Jason Goff, 14) Chris Moore, 15) David Sanchez, 16) Guy Sheldon, 17) Mike Benson, 18) Denny Soltis, 19) Dave Mosher, 20) Wes Powell, 21) Chip Mitchell, 22) John Tucker, 23) Matt Quinn, 24) Todd Wilkinson, 25) Ronnie Johnson, 26) J.R. Heffner, 27) John Alberti, 28) Steve Devine
SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Mark Flach Jr, 2) Bobby Knipe, 3) Jay Casey, 4) K.C. Goewey, 5) Joe Bennett, 6) Jeff Carr, 7) Art Collins, 8) Roy Bridge, 9) Hawley Smith, 10) Jeff Watson, 11) Wayne Jelley, 12) Jason Tompkins, 13) Frank Harper, 14) Ed Harkin, 15) Sparky Lowe, 16) Jeff Cassidy, 17) Mike Mason, 18) Tony Ferriero, 19) Mike Molloy, 20) Lorne Browe, 21) Mike Keeler, 22) John Scarborough, 23) Carmon Carnibucci, 24) Don Miller, 25) Danny Watson
PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Dan Burl, 2) Al Blackburn, 3) Ricky Duzlak, 4) Tom Brandt, 5) Rob Yetman, 6) Ed Bachand, 7) Jeff Kelmel, 8) Jim Langenback, 9) Buddy Hencke, 10) Howard Madsen, 11) Steve Brownell, 12) Robbie Speed, 13) Paul LaRochelle, 14) Danny Sanchez, 15) Paul Rogers, 16) Rick Spencer, 17) Bob Duzlak Jr
ROOKIE PRO STOCK RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Scott Kilmer, 2) Dan Blackburn, 3) Dave Colwell, 4) Charlie Woodard, 5) Lawrence Ball, 6) Phil Moffit, 7) Brian Keough, 8) Joe Mabb Jr, 9) John Santolin, 10) E. J. Legeyt, 11) Chris DeCiel, 12) Jason DiBello, 13) Henry Warner, 14) John Ford, 15) J. Schmidheini
PURE STOCK "A" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Ron Tritschler, 2) Randy Myers, 3) Earl Soulier Jr, 4) Chrissy Hilt, 5) Ramon Perry, 6) Joe DiStefano, 7) Gene Cushman, 8) Kyle Carr, 9) Steve Hatch, 10) Michael Davis, 11) Ron Hapeman, 12) Marcus Tifft, 13) D.T. Pickard, 14) Rich Kratt, 15) Eric Sbrega, 16) Ryan Coon, 17) Rich. Handlowich Jr, 18) David Stickles, 19) Chip Martin, 20) Jim O'Neil, 21) Mark Stevens
PURE STOCK "B" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Keith Barlow, 2) John Denue, 3) Bob Burl, 4) Fran Marchand Jr, 5) Dave Atwater, 6) Robert Gibson, 7) Don Coon, 8) Phil Decker Jr, 9) Jamie Reutenauer, 10) Larry Megan, 11) Dwayne Dauski, 12) Jake Coons, 13) Jonathan Coon, 14) Jason Casey, 15) Bruce Pecorella, 16) Jim Fachini, 17) Ronny Jacobsen, 18) Mark Forrest
PURE STOCK "C" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Mark Houston, 2) George Miles Jr, 3) Bruce Moffit, 4) Ray Hall Jr, 5) Wally Engel, 6) Rich Douglass, 7) Jim Dellea, 8) Joshua Brandt, 9) Brian Sandstadt, 10) Chris Streeter, 11) Bob Palmer, 12) Ed Ashley, 13) Art Lafferty, 14) Peter Wiegand, 15) Jim Hankey, 16) Jeff Douglass, 17) Jay Martin, 18) Mike Garcia