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HEFFNER WINS BIGGEST RACE OF HIS CAREER IN MR. DIRT TRACK, USA RACE




AUGUST 10, 2000

WEST LEBANON, NY- A capacity crowd was on hand to see J.R. Heffner become Mr. Dirt Track USA for 2000 winning the biggest race of his career. The Averill Park native pocketed $17,500 for the 100-lap Advance Auto Parts Super Dirt Series victory. The win also gave Heffner a guaranteed starting spot in the ECKERD 200 at Super Dirt Week in October. The 358-modifieds were also on hand Thursday night and Rich Ricci Jr was the winner of that 24-lap feature. BUDWEISER brought us all the great racing action.

Thirty-seven cars took the green flag in the 100-lap modified feature. Heffner took command of the event from his front row starting spot. Danny Johnson was on the charge quickly from his 14th starting position. He was up to tenth by lap four. Tim McCreadie had the dubious honor of being the first car out of the event. Dickie Larkin, Donnie Corellis and Randy Sherlock all dropped from the event on the next three laps. Heffner had to deal with lapped traffic as early as lap ten. Billy Decker and Danny Johnson raced hard for ninth on lap12. Decker would hold the advantage and moved up to seventh by lap 14. Danny Johnson continued his charge to the front and sat fifth by lap 20.

The first yellow of the night came on lap 22 for debris on the speedway. The top five at this point was Heffner, Jeff Heotzler, Chris Moore, Brett Hearn and Danny Johnson. The green flag came back out on lap 26 and Hearn rocketed into third. The green flag would not stay out long as Ron Blake got spun around in turn two. Green flag racing returned on lap 32 and Moore got around Hearn for third. Moore made the pass around Heotzler for the runner-up position on lap 33. Decker and Tremont were putting on a great side to side battle for seventh on lap 35. Moore was quickly running down the front running Heffner and he took the lead on lap 45.

The leaders began to encounter heavy lapped traffic again on lap 46. The third caution of the race came out again on lap 50 as Blake spun around again. Ten laps later the caution came out again as Mike Ricci tagged the turn one wall hard. The attrition rate was not very high, as there was still thirty cars running on lap 57. Decker and Tremont were still racing hard on lap 62, now it was for the sixth spot. Moore was motoring away from the rest of the field and opened up a half-straightaway lead by lap 67. Moore’s paced was slowed by lapped traffic on lap 70. The caution came out again on lap 72 once again for debris on the racetrack.

Guy Sheldon dropped out of the event on lap 86. Andy Bacchetti had a right rear flat tire go down on lap 88 and collected up Chris Kokosa. This would set-up a nine-lap battle to the finish. Danny Johnson made the pass on Hearn for third on the restart. Hearn came right back and took the spot back on the same lap coming off turn four. Tragedy struck for the leader as the motored expired on Moore’s car on lap 92. The cars all behind Moore’s car did a fantastic job of avoiding the disabled car. Heffner was able to get around Moore on the inside and take command of the event. Tremont looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he went from seventh to third in the final laps. Heffner had some anxious moments trying to hold off the veteran Hearn. Heffner was not to be denied as he took home the biggest win of his career.

Forty-four 358-modifieds were on hand for their 24-lap feature Thursday night. The field ran into trouble on the very first lap as Hector Stratton tagged the turn four wall. Dave Manny also got an assist into the frontstretch wall and was finished for the night. The field was able to settle down on the restart and Guy Sheldon was in command of the event with Rich Ricci and Brett Hearn in tow. Ricci began to apply the pressure on Sheldon and made the pass for the lead on lap five. Hearn wasted little time getting around Sheldon and sat second by lap six. Trouble for J.R. Heffner on lap seven as his left rear tire went flat. Right behind Heffner, John Hewitt got turned around in turn three and collected five other cars in the incident.

Kenny Tremont had dropped to the rear of the field at the drop of the green flag and was making steady progress towards the front. He was all the way up sixth after the lap seven restart. Andy Bacchetti suffered a right rear flat tire on lap ten while running in the top ten. This brought out the third caution flag of the event. The top five at the halfway point was Ricci, Hearn, Todd Wilkinson, Tremont and Sheldon. There was some good racing in the final stages of the race for the fifth position as Stratton and Sheldon battled hard. Leckonby recovered nicely from the lap seven melee to challenge for the fifth spot by lap 16. Tremont made the pass around Wilkinson for third on lap 17. Leckonby was able to take over fifth on lap 18. Ricci was never seriously challenged and was able to cruise home for his first 358-modified victory at the Valley this year. Hearn was second, Tremont third, Wilkinson fourth and Leckonby fifth.

BUDWEISER MR. DIRT TRACK USA SUMMARY (100 LAPS) - 1) J.R. HEFFNER, 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr, 4) Danny Johnson, 5) Jeff Heotzler, 6) Billy Decker, 7) Steve Paine, 8) Jack Johnson, 9) Tim Dwyer, 10) Tim Fuller, 11) Matt Quinn, 12) Doug Hoffman, 13) Rich Ricci Jr, 14) John Hewitt, 15) Alan Johnson, 16) Bobby Varin, 17) Ronnie Johnson, 18) Vic Coffey, 19) Rob Pitcher, 20) Donnie Ackner, 21) Andy Bachetti, 22) Chris Kokosa, 23) Dave Leckonby, 24) Chuck Bower, 25) Pat Ward, 26) Maynard Forrette, 27) Mike King, 28) Chris Moore, 29) Guy Sheldon, 30) Mike Ricci, 31) Ron Blake, 32) Frank Jashembowski, 33) Jimmy Horton, 34) Randy Sherlock, 35) Donnie Corellis, 36) Dickie Larkin, 37) Tim McCreadie

358 MODIFIED SUMMARY (24 LAPS) - 1) RICH RICCI JR., 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr., 4) Todd Wilkinson, 5) Dave Leckonby, 6) Hector Stratton, 7) Guy Sheldon, 8) Tony Paes, 9) Wayne Jelley, 10) Danny Watson, 11) Don Mattison, 12) Ronnie Johnson, 13) John Alberti, 14) John Hewitt, 15) Eddie Maxon, 16) Chad Miller, 17) Denny Young Jr., 18) Art Collins, 19) J.R. Heffner, 20) Lance Harting, 21) K. C. Goewey, 22) Jim Ryan, 23) Dave Manny, 24) Stan Jablonka