AND THE BEAT GOES ON..TREMONT & MARCUS STAY UNDEFEATED IN '99
MAY 15, 1999
WEST LEBANON, NY- Kenny Tremont continued his dominance of the Lebanon Valley modified division by winning again Saturday night. George Marcus has a streak of his own as he won his second straight sportsman feature. Jim Langenback was the winner of the 20-lap street stock feature. Craig Simmons won the 15-lap IMCA modified feature. Rupp Rental was the sponsor for this very exciting evening of racing.
There was trouble early in the 30-lap modified feature. Todd Wilkinson spun in turn four, causing several cars to get on the brakes hard to avoid the spinning car. Fortunately no one made contact with him and everyone was able to continue. Tremont was one of the cars that had stopped to avoid Wilkinson and went to the rear of the field as a result. The yellow flew once again as Guy Sheldon hit the wall on the restart. Tremont used this caution to go to the pits to make some adjustments on his car. When the race restarted Tremont had dropped back all the way to 27th position.
Meanwhile at the front of the field Ron Blake was leading the way. Ronnie Johnson was strong throughout the race; he and Blake raced side by side for the lead for several laps. A bad case of yellow fever broke out in the early portion of the event. The caution flew on laps six, seven and twice on lap eight for various reasons. Johnson would use the first lap eight restart to wrestle the lead away from Blake. Eddie Marshall and Chris Moore were in the hunt early, they sat fourth and fifth respectively on lap eight.
While the field went under caution for the second lap eight yellow Donnie Corellis and Rich Ricci made contact and Ricci's wheel came flying off, both would go to the pits. Ricci would not return and Corellis would eventually return many laps down. Tremont had worked his way up to eleventh by this point in the race. Eddie Marshall got by Blake for second on lap nine. Tremont continued his charge forward taking sixth by lap eleven. Marshall began to challenge Johnson for the lead on lap 14. The top five at the halfway point looked like this: Johnson, Marshall, Moore, Mike Ricci and Tremont.
Mike Ricci and Tremont swapped fourth place between themselves on lap 16. Tremont got by Ricci and Moore on the very next lap and then set his sights on the leaders. Mike Ricci's top five run ended on lap 19 as he went pitside. This allowed Hewitt to move up into the top five. Tremont made short work of the top two as he passed Marshall on lap 23 and Johnson for the lead on lap 24. The leaders encountered heavy traffic for the final five circuits, but Tremont easily cruised home for the win. Great run for Ronnie Johnson, who finished second. Eddie Marshall took home third, with Moore fourth and Hewitt rounding out the top five. Tremont is now four for four at Lebanon Valley in 1999. This was his 70th career victory at the track.
Don Miller led the first three laps of the 20-lap sportsman feature. He would give the lead up to Lee Gagliardi on the third circuit. K.C. Goewey was strong early taking third on a lap five restart. George Marcus was up in the top five by lap five. Hawley Smith grabbed third on a lap eight restart, he would lose third to Marcus on the next lap. Smith and Goewey ran for fourth on lap ten, with Goewey making a great pass on lap eleven from fifth to third.
Gagliardi was strong on the lead opening up a fifteen-car lead by lap 12. Mike Boomhower drifted high in turn two losing several spots dropping him from the top five. The final five laps saw a three-car battle for the lead. Gagliardi, Marcus and Goewey all were racing strong for the win. Marcus broke the three-way battle for lead on lap 19 and was able to win his second sportsman race of 1999.
Dave Kokindo led the early laps of the 20-lap street stock feature. He would relinquish the led to Scott Govertsen on a lap five restart. Danny Sanchez was quickly moving forward, taking over the third position by lap five. Robbie Speed had a top five run abruptly come to an end as he broke on lap seven. Early race leader, Kokindo spun and hit the inside turn four wall on lap eight. The caution flew as a result of the spin. Langenback and Bobby Blackburn raced hard for the third spot after the restart. Langenback eventually took third and was able to move up to second by lap nine.
T.R. Bortle was running third when he spun on lap eleven, bringing out another caution. Tough break as Bobby Blackburn went to the pits on lap 12 while running in the top five. Bob Duzlak spun in a lap one incident and recovered to run fifth by lap 12. Govertsen and Langenback pulled away from the rest of the field by lap 14. The race for the lead began to heat up at the three-quarter mark. Langenback began to pressure Govertsen for the lead, trying to find a way around the leader.
The final two laps had the fans on the feet as Govertsen and Langenback went side by side to decide the winner. The two were still side by side as they took the white flag. Coming off the turn four on the final lap they were still door handle to door handle. Langenback was able to pull off the last lap pass, winning by less than half a car length. Danny Sanchez came home third with Butch Irwin fourth and Bob Miller rounded out the top five.
Sparks would fly early and often in the 15-lap IMCA modified feature. Paul LaRochelle and Steve Hough made contact while racing for the lead on lap one sending a shower of sparks. Hough came out of the rubbing incident with the lead. Craig Simmons was moving to the front in the early portion of the race, taking second on lap two. Two of the top five cars made contact going into turn one causing a hard crash that wound up involving four cars overall.
Simmons grabbed the lead on the restart and held the lead for the remainder of the race. Bill Lander spun out in turn four on lap seven and would recover to finish third at the finish. Simmons held on for his first victory on 1999 while Steve Hough crossed the line second. Hough was disqualified after the race for failure to go to technical inspection. Second was awarded to Brian Wilbur and third going to Lander. Donnie Denue finished fourth and Paul LaRochelle rounded out the top five.
RUPP RENTAL MODIFIED SUMMARY (30 Laps)-- Kenny Tremont Jr, Ronnie Johnson, Eddie Marshall, Chris Moore, John Hewitt, Mike Benson, Tim Dwyer, Brian Berger, Dickie Larkin, Ron Blake, Chris Kokosa, J.R. Heffner, Stan Jablonka, Todd Wilkinson, Jason Goff, Mike King, Jody Tornabene, Steve Devine, Dave Leckonby, Russ Blair, Maynard Forrette, Mike Ricci, Guy Sheldon, Chris Slots, Donnie Corellis, Rich Ricci Jr, Rob Pitcher, Russ Reckner
SPORTSMAN SUMMARY (20 Laps)--George Marcus, Lee Gagliardi, K.C. Goewey, Hawley Smith, Art Collins, Sparky Lowe, Chris Kokosa, Roy Bridge, Ed Riiska, Mike Boomhower, Stan Jablonka, Dave Sanchez, Jay Casey, Wayne Jelley, Mike Visconti, Lorne Browe, Carmon Carnibucci, Don Miller, Tony La Porta, Frank Harper, J.R. Delvechio, Mike Mason, Jason Tompkins, John Hotchkiss, Wes Powell, Ken Aanonsen, Bobby Knipe
IMCA MODIFIED SUMMARY (15 Laps)--Craig Simmons, Brian Wilbur, Bill Lander, Don Denue, Paul LaRochelle, Jim Rajczi, Rich Colesanti, Anthony Markou, Tom Faxon, Chris Crews, Kevin Buff, Jeff Carr, George Catanzano, Kevin Priest, Steve Hough
STREET STOCK SUMMARY (20 Laps)--Jim Langenback, Scott Govertsen, Danny Sanchez, Butch Irwin, Bob Miller, Chris Morris, Ray Hall, Tom Brandt, Dave Kokindo, Bob Duzlak, Victor Hopkins, Tim Emmons, Paul Rogers, Tom Bortle, Bobby Blackburn, Nick Rogers, Frank Twing, Robbie Speed, Tony Zullo, Kirk Stanaway, Rick Fosby
ROOKIE STREET STOCK SUMMARY (8 Laps)--Mike Bungay, Brian Keough, John Denue, Henry Warner, Phil Moffitt, Wayne Keyes, Dan Burl, Tom Bungay, Eric Wood, Wayne Hall, Joe Humet, Steve Kastner, Don Collins, Mike Halachick
PURE STOCK "A" SUMMARY (8 Laps)--Joe Mottoshiski, Wally Engel, Spencer Cushing, Rich. Schumann, Ron Tritchler, Tom Meltz Jr, Dan Gambacorta, Kevin Denue, Lee Gallant, Mark Houston, Tony Lopresti, Jason Saunders, Rich Kratt, David Stickles, John Foglia, Geo. Stalker Jr, Bruce Moffitt, Ryan Crellin
PURE STOCK "B" SUMMARY (8 Laps)--Joe Hallenbeck, Dave Colwell, Bill Hughes, Jonathan Coon, Carl Bailargeon, Brian Tator, Joe DiStefano, Michael Limoges, Jon Trudeau, Tom Currier, Jerry Lawton, Ramon Perry, Danny Ensign, Art Lafferty, Tony Gale, Josh Webb, Mike Garcia, Anthony Cotugno
PURE STOCK "C" SUMMARY (8 Laps)--Tom Sanchez Jr, Steve Hatch, Bob Palmer, Guy Hughes, Darryl Baker, Jim Hankey, Tim Drumm, Brian Sandstedt, Ted Mulberry, Charlie Woodard, George Miles Jr, Scott Kilmer, Jacob Coons, David Hall Jr, Peter De Figlio, William Hammell, Ray Pierre Jr
CANNONBALL SUMMARY-Gary Virgilio, Daniel Day, Al Relyea, Frank Bruckman, Richard Sanford, Nathan Sanford, Wuggle Burdick, Bob DeLarm, Chrissy Hilt, David Delamater, Fran Marchand Jr., Matthew Teixeria, Bill Devens, Ross Camburn, Ernie Bentley, Hans Zwyneberg, Ken Van Alphen, Bert Long, Larry Stickles, Chris Streeter, Robert Burl