TREMONT MOTORS TO 1ST WIN OF SEASON

APRIL 14, 2001

WEST LEBANON, NY- L&M MOTORS, MANE ATTRACTION and Tire Warehouse helped kick off the 49th season opener Saturday night. A near capacity crowd saw a great 50-lap modified feature, which was won by Kenny Tremont Jr. The 20-lap street stock feature victory went to Jim Lagenback.

Matt Quinn and Dave Leckonby brought the modified filed to the start of the 50-lap feature. Quinn was able to take the lead and quickly motor away. Mike King moved pass Leckonby to take over the runner-up position. The first of eight caution flags came on lap four when Rob Pitcher encountered problems. Tremont used the ensuing restart to move from eighth to fifth. Steve Devine made contact with the wall and brought out the second caution flag on lap eight. Dickie Larkin made a strong move to take third on lap eleven with Tremont hot on his heels in fourth. K.C. Goewey came to stop on the front stretch on lap 12 slowing the field down once again. Tremont moved into the runner-up place on the restart.

The fans were on their feet with the battle for fifth on lap 16. J.R. Heffner, Jason Goff and Donnie Corellis went three wide through the first and second turn with Heffner coming out on top. Tremont began to apply some pressure on Quinn on lap 17. Heffner’s strong run came to an abrupt end on lap 17 when something in the rear end broke on lap 18. Heffner was able to return to the race on lap 22. Tremont made the move for the lead on lap 18 just before the caution flag flew for trouble in turn four.

Billy Decker was on hand for the modified feature Saturday night. Decker was making his way from deep in the field to seventh by lap 19. Defending modified track champion, Rich Ricci Jr, also started in the middle of the pack and had worked his way to eighth by lap 20. The caution flag came out again on lap 22. While the field was under the yellow flag a light rain began to fall, but stopped as quickly as it began.

Just past the halfway point Decker passed Larkin to take fourth. Decker moved passed Corellis on lap 33 and set his sights on Quinn. Tremont had to deal with lapped traffic with sixteen laps remaining in the race. Ricci was able to take fifth from Larkin on a lap 34 restart. The two continued to race side by side on lap 40. The biggest incident of the race came on lap 39 when Ricci, Johnson, Tim Dwyer and Mike King came together in turn one. All were able to continue but from the back of the field. Decker made the pass on Quinn on lap 42 and set after the front-running Tremont.

Decker was closing the gap between himself and Tremont in the final stages of the race. Lapped traffic started to become a factor in the final five laps allowing Decker to get right on the rear deck lid of Tremont. Things got real interesting on the final lap as the leaders went into turn three. Two lapped cars came together right in front of the leaders causing Tremont and Decker to take evasive action. Decker almost spun and Tremont bounced off one of the lapped cars but neither driver lost their position. This set up a one-lap shootout for the victory. Decker could not make a serious challenge and Tremont took home the victory. Quinn finished third with Corellis fourth and Larkin fifth.

Modified heat winners were Corellis, Quinn, Hewitt and Heffner

The ageless veteran, Jim Langenback, took the lead on the green flag of the 20-lap Pro Stock feature and never looked back. Several cars had trouble on opening night with Ed Bachand, Ray Hall and Don Ely all going up in smoke during the race. Hall had a real strong run going and was running down Langenback before his mechanical problems sidelined him. Danny Sanchez took over second just past the halfway point, followed by Jeff Kelmel, Butch Irwin and Al Blackburn. The cars stayed single file as the race reached the three-quarter point. Blackburn was the driver on the charge in the final stages as he went from fifth to finish a strong third. Langenback was untouchable as he took home the feature victory. Sanchez was second, Blackburn third, Irwin fourth and Kelmel fifth.

The winner of the pure stock features were Bob Palmer (A), George Miles (B) and Steve Hatch (C). Buddy Hencke won the rookie feature event and Gary Virgilio won the first cannonball race of the season.

Lebanon Valley is back in action next Saturday night with Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Rookies, Pure Stocks and a Cannonball Run. Race time is 6:15.

L & M MOTORS, MANE ATTRACTION, TIRE WAREHOUSE MODIFIED RESULTS (50 LAPS) 1. Kenny Tremont Jr, 2. Billy Decker, 3. Matt Quinn, 4. Donnie Corellis, 5. Dickie Larkin, 6. Guy Sheldon, 7. Eddie Marshall, 8. John Hewitt, 9. Jason Goff, 10. Mike Benson, 11. Mike King, 12. Dave Leckonby, 13. John Alberti, 14. Ronnie Johnson, 15. Rich Ricci Jr, 16. Denny Soltis, 17. Hawley Smith, 18. John Tucker, 19. Tim Dwyer, 20. Steve Devine, 21. Dave Mosher, 22. Wes Powell, 23. John Lutes Jr, 24. J.R. Heffner, 25. Maynard Forrette, 26. Rob Pitcher, 27. Denny Young Sr, 28. Stan Jablonka, 29. Mike Keeler, 30. K. C. Goewey, 31. Dave McFeeters, 32. Al McCoy, 33. Chris Moore

PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1. Jim Langenback, 2. Danny Sanchez, 3. Al Blackburn, 4. Butch Irwin, 5. Jeff Kelmel, 6. Rich Colesanti, 7. Steve Brownell, 8. Geo. Stalker Jr, 9. Robbie Speed, 10 Ricky Duzlak, 11. Howard Madsen, 12. Dan Burl, 13. Paul LaRochelle, 14. Don Ely, 15. Rob Yetman, 16. Ray Hall, 17. Adam Haas, 18. Ed Bachand, 19. Mike McDowell

ROOKIE PRO STOCK RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1. Buddy Hencke, 2. Lawrence Ball, 3. Dave Colwell, 4. Brian Keough, 5. Dan Blackburn, 6. Phil Moffit, 7. John Santolin, 8. Earl Farley, 9. John Ford

PURE STOCK "A" RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1. Bob Palmer, 2. Wally Engel, 3. Ronald Johnson, 4. Ronny Jacobsen, 5. Mark Huston, 6. Jay Martin, 7. Randy Myers, 8. Bruce Pecorella, 9. Gene Cushman, 10. Don Coon, 11. Ed Ashley, 12. Art Lafferty, 13. Lloyd Tomlin III, 14. Jason Casey, 15. Charlie Rose, 16. David Stickles, 17. Dwayne Dauski

PURE STOCK "B" RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1. George Miles Jr, 2. Brian Sandstadt, 3. Keith Barlow, 4. John Denue, 5. Ray Hall Jr, 6. Robert Gibson, 7. Jeff Douglass, 8. Phil Decker Jr, 9. Chris Streeter, 10. Ron Hapeman, 11. Marcus Tifft, 12. D.T. Pickard, 13. Doug Moore, 14. Dave Atwater, 15. Peter Wiegand, 16. Fran Marchand Jr

PURE STOCK "C" RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1. Steve Hatch, 2. Mike Garcia, 3. Bruce Moffit, 4. Jim Dellea, 5. Jim Hankey, 6. Joe DiStefano, 7. Rich Douglass, 8. Ron Tritschler, 9. Earl Soulier Jr, 10. Mark Forrest, 11. Jamie Reutenauer, 12. Jim O'Neil, 13. Ryan Coon, 14. Robert Brown, 15. Jim Fachini.

CANNONBALL RESULTS (30 LAPS) 1. Gary Virgilio, 2. Ken Van Alphen, 3. Joel Hunt, 4. Robert Burl, 5. Rick Dempsey, 6. Travis Sanford, 7. Grant Wescott, 8. John Hughes, 9. Daniel Day, 10. Dave Delamater, 11. Frank Boucher Jr. 12. Boyd Hunt, 13. Dom Calabro, 14. Jim Morris, 15. Mark Van De Carr, 16. Ted Layton, 17. Chuck Lampe, 18. Rich La Pierre Jr. 19. Bert Long, 20. Bob Delarm, 21. Josh Brandt, 22. Bill Mc Cann.