Tracks: Heffner and Tremont share victory lane in modified twin bill at Lebanon Valley
21 May 2000
WEST LEBANON, NY--A very full card of racing action was on tap at Lebanon
Valley Saturday night. J.R. Heffner took the win in the 1st 30-lap modified
feature. Kenny Tremont won the modified nightcap. Wayne Jelley won the first
20-lap sportsman feature and Stan Jablonka won the second. Ricky Duzlak won
the first street stock feature and Butch Irwin won the second. J.D. Handling
brought us this fine night of action.
The modified drivers had to do double duty on Saturday night to make up
for last week's rainout. Trouble started before the first lap even flew as
Mike King and John Hewitt both got turned around in turn four. Chris Kokosa
took command of the race on the restart. J.R. Heffner shot from third to
first coming off turn two to take the lead on lap one. Donnie Corellis, Matt
Quinn, Ronnie Johnson and Ron Blake got all jingled up in turn four forcing
the caution to be thrown on lap one. Kenny Tremont was making progress
through the field rapidly; he was up to sixth by lap three. Another turn four
incident with four cars involved came on lap five. Russ Blair and Tim Dwyer
were the only two cars not to return to the event.
Rob Pitcher had a top five run going early in the race, but he slowed on
lap five and would stop on the backstretch. Rich Ricci looked very strong as
he took over second on lap nine with Tremont right in tow. The complexion of
the race changed drastically on lap ten. The yellow flag had been thrown once
again as Rob Pitcher spun in turn four. While the field was under yellow two
of the top five cars went to the pits. Guy Sheldon looked to have mechanical
problems and Tremont had mud in his right rear wheel. Both were able to
return, but mired deep in the pack. Quinn recovered from the lap one melee to
challenge Ricci for second on lap eleven. The top five at the halfway point
was Heffner, Ricci, Quinn, Corellis and Dickie Larkin.
Tremont was making steady progress from his pitstop as he was up to tenth
by lap 16. Ricci began to reel in Heffner and was knocking on his back bumper
by lap 19. The leaders began to head into lapped traffic by lap 22. Quite a
bit of excitement on lap 23 when Quinn got sideways in turn one. Corellis had
no where to go and hopped over the left front of Quinn's car. Corellis never
lifted and fell into the third position while Quinn dropped back a couple of
spots. The field regrouped when Jason Goff spun on lap 24. Corellis got a
jump on the restart and got by Ricci for second. Corellis made the pass on
Heffner the very next lap. Steve Devine brought out the caution on lap 25 as
smoke poured out of his car. While under the caution flag, Matt Higgins put
Corellis back two spots for jumping the lap 24 restart giving the lead back
to Heffner.
The top five on lap 25 were Heffner, Ricci, Corellis, Larkin and Tremont.
Ronnie Johnson had made his way back into the top ten from his early race
problems. He slowed while under caution on lap 25 and would retire from the
event on lap 28. Tremont was a man on a mission moving all the way up to
third by lap 26. Quinn also retired from the event on lap 28. Heffner had to
hold off the challenges on Ricci and Tremont through two restarts in the
final two laps. Heffner was strong to the challenge and took home his third
career victory in the modified division. Ricci held on for second with
Tremont third, Corellis fourth and Larkin fifth.
While the first modified feature was plagued with caution flags the same
could not be said for the second 30-lap modified feature. The only caution
flag of the second race came on lap six when Matt Quinn came to a stop on the
frontstretch and was finished for the evening. Dave Leckonby narrowly avoided
disaster a lap one as he brushed the turn wall one. He was able to save the
car and would finish the feature. Maynard Forrette had command of this event
from the drop of the green flag and he held the top spot until lap ten. Kenny
Tremont was on a mission early as he took over second on lap nine. Tremont
wasted little time as he passed Forrette for the lead on the next lap and
quickly pulled away from the field.
While the race for the win seemed already decided there was some great racing
behind Tremont. Chris Kokosa had a good run as he would pass Forrette for
second on lap 24 and would come home in the runner-up position. John Hewitt
was looking to improve on his eighth place finish in the first feature.
Improve he would as he came home third in the second feature. Chris Moore was
able to get around Forrette in the closing stages of the race to finish
fourth. Forrette held on to a top five finish.
Tremont crossed the finish line almost fifteen seconds ahead of second place
Kokosa. This was the 83rd career victory for Tremont, which ties him for
first on the all time win list at the speedway.
Trouble plagued the held over sportsman feature right from the start.
Five cars came together in turn two on the start. Last week's winner, K.C.
Goewey was done for the race as a result. Wayne Jelley was able to get around
Jeff Carr on the restart for the lead. Hawley Smith grabbed second on a lap
four restart with Stan Jablonka right in tow. The top five at the halfway
point were Jelley, Smith, Jablonka, Art Collins and George Marcus.
Smith tried on a couple of the restarts to get around Jelley but he could
not make the pass stick. Much of the remainder of the race was single file
with no positions really being threatened. Jelley was able to cruise on home
for the victory followed across the line by Smith, Jablonka, Collins and
Marcus.
The second sportsman feature ran almost as cleanly as the second modified
feature. John Alberti had the lead early in the race and held it through
three-quarters of the event. Stan Jablonka was making steady progress through
the field and was up to second by lap four. Lorne Browe had a strong top five
run going when he spun in turn one on lap seven. Jay Casey made heavy contact
with Browe but both were able to continue without the caution
Wayne Jelley had taken the win in the first sportsman, but blew the motor in
the process. He borrowed a car from Jeff Watson and looked like he might take
a win in that car as well. He made his way all the way up to second on a lap
16 restart and finished the race third. The car did not make weight however
and Jelley was disqualified. Jablonka was able to get around Alberti for the
lead on a lap 15 restart. Jablonka was never seriously headed and took home
his first career victory. George Marcus was able to get to second at the end
of the race. Bobby Knipe was third, Mike Visconti fourth and Jay Casey
rounded out the top five.
The first street stock feature was only eleven laps long as we had got
nine laps in last week before the rains came. Bobby Blackburn was the leader
of the race when it resumed. Major parking lot occurred on in turn four on
the first lap. Dan Burl, Robbie Speed and Rob Yetman all went to the pits,
but were able to return. Todd Goldstein had taken the lead before the caution
flew and led the field down to the restart. Ricky Duzlak took the lead from
Goldstein on lap 12.
Duzlak and Goldstein quickly motored away from the rest of the field by
lap 14. Goldstein tried several times to get around Duzlak but Duzlak held
off every challenge and took home his second win of the season. Goldstein
followed in second with Blackburn third, Jimmy Lagenback fourth and Ted Teal
fifth.
Butch Irwin started the 20-lap street stock feature from the pole and
never looked back. The top four pulled away from the rest of field by lap
five. Dan Burl and Robbie Speed were tracking Irwin but neither could run him
down. Todd Goldstein was looking for his second top five finish on the night
as he passed Speed for fourth on lap ten. Danny Sanchez was running second as
up lap 13 when he got into the back a car that was turning into pit road.
That allowed Burl to retake the second position.
No one ever made a serious challenge for the lead and Butch Irwin was
able to win his first career street stock feature. Rookie driver, Dan Burl,
had a fine performance with a second place finish. Scott Goversten came home
third, with Goldstein fourth and Speed fifth.
Paul LaRochelle was the winner for the third week in a row in the IMCA
modified division. Ronnie Jacobson won the Pure Stock "A" feature. Scott
Kilmer won the Pure Stock "B" feature and Bob Palmer won the Pure Stock "C".
The rookie feature was won by George Stalker Jr., Chrissy Hilt won the ladies
cannonball and Nathan Sanford won the regular cannonball race.
5-13 RUPP RENTAL / T-NET MODIFIED SUMMARY (30 LAPS) 1) J.R. HEFFNER, 2) Rich
Ricci Jr, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr, 4) Donnie Corellis, 5) Dickie Larkin, 6) Chris
Moore, 7) Dave Leckonby, 8) John Hewitt, 9) Maynard Forrette, 10) Chris
Kokosa, 11) Rob Pitcher, 12) Jason Goff, 13) Russ Blair, 14) David Sanchez,
15) Dave Mosher, 16) Chip Mitchell, 17) Wayne Figler, 18) Ronnie Johnson, 19)
Matt Quinn, 20) Steve Devine, 21) Denny Soltis, 22) Skip Fox, 23) Guy
Sheldon, 24) Mark Pullen, 25) Mike King, 26) Tim Dwyer, 27) Ron Blake
5-13 SPORTSMAN SUMMARY (20 LAPS) 1) WAYNE JELLEY, 2) Hawley Smith, 3) Stan
Jablonka, 4) Art Collins, 5) George Marcus, 6) Sparky Lowe, 7) Jeff Carr, 8)
Mike Visconti, 9) Roy Bridge, 10) Bobby Knipe, 11) Mike Boomhower, 12) Lorne
Browe, 13) Ed Harkin, 14) Darral Hulbert, 15) Paul Gilardi, 16) Danny Watson,
17) John Alberti, 18) Jason Tompkins, 19) Frank Harper, 20) Jay Casey, 21)
Mike Mason, 22) Carmon Carnibucci, 23) K.C. Goewey
5-13 STREET STOCK SUMMARY (20 LAPS) FINAL 11 LAPS COMPLETED ON 5-20 1) RICKY
DUZLAK, 2) Todd Goldstein, 3) Bobby Blackburn, 4) Jim Langenback, 5) Ted
Teal, 6) Rob Yetman, 7) Mike Halachick, 8) Ed Bachand, 9) Dan Burl, 10) Kirk
Stanaway, 11) Robbie Speed, 12) Tom Brandt, 13) John Denue, 14) Earl Mellan,
15) Henry Tanner, 16) Don Ely, 17) Al Blackburn, 18) Butch Irwin, 19) Danny
Sanchez, 20) Adam Haas, 21) Noel Osborn, 22) Wayne Oliver, 23) Nick Rogers
5-20 KEY BANK / J.D. HANDLING MODIFIED SUMMARY (30 LAPS) 1) KENNY TREMONT JR,
2) Chris Kokosa, 3) John Hewitt, 4) Chris Moore, 5) Maynard Forrette, 6) Russ
Blair, 7) Ronnie Johnson, 8) Rich Ricci Jr, 9) Dave Leckonby, 10) J.R.
Heffner, 11) Dickie Larkin, 12) Mike King, 13) Guy Sheldon, 14) Donnie
Corellis, 15) David Sanchez, 16) Dave Mosher, 17) Fred Besch, 18) Jason Goff,
19) Lee Gagliardi, 20) Rob Pitcher, 21) Dave McFeeters, 22) Skip Fox, 23)
Mark Pullen, 24) Chip Mitchell, 25) Matt Quinn, 26) Ron Blake, 27) Wayne
Figler, 28) Steve Devine
5-20 SPORTSMAN SUMMARY (20 LAPS) 1) STAN JABLONKA, 2) George Marcus, 3) Bobby
Knipe, 4) Sparky Lowe, 5) Mike Visconti, 6) Roy Bridge, 7) Hawley Smith, 8)
Jason Tompkins, 9) Lorne Browe, 10) Mike Mason, 11) Jay Casey, 12) Don
Miller, 13) Jeff Carr, 14) Frank Harper, 15) Ed Harkin, 16) Darral Hulbert,
17) Paul Gilardi, 18) Art Collins, 19) John Alberti, 20) Carmon Carnibucci,
21) Luke Badaracco, 22) Jeff Cassidy, 23) K.C. Goewey, 24) John Hotchkiss,
25) Wayne Jelley DQ
5-20 IMCA MODIFIED SUMMARY (12 LAPS) 1) PAUL LAROCHELLE, 2) Steve Hough, 3)
Jeff Heath, 4) Kevin Buff, 5) Phil Balmer, Chris Crews DNS
5-20 STREET STOCK SUMMARY (20 LAPS) 1) BUTCH IRWIN, 2) Dan Burl, 3) Scott
Govertsen, 4) Todd Goldstein, 5) Robbie Speed, 6) Rob Yetman, 7) Ricky
Duzlak, 8) Steve Brownell, 9) Mike Halachick, 10) Bobby Blackburn, 11) Tom
Brandt, 12) Al Blackburn, 13) Paul Rogers, 14) John Denue, 15) Ed Bachand,
16) Earl Mellan, 17) Don Ely, 18) Adam Haas, 19) Kirk Stanaway, 20) Danny
Sanchez, 21) Henry Tanner, 22) Ted Teal, 23) Jim Langenback, 24) Bob Duzlak
5-20 ROOKIE STREET STOCK SUMMARY (8 LAPS) 1) GEORGE STALKER JR, 2) Pete
DeFiglio, 3) Wayne Keyes, 4) Brian Keough, 5) Shawn Balestro, 6) Lawrence
Ball, 7) Dan Humes, 8) E.J. LeGeyt, 9) John Santolin, 10) Rick Spencer, 11)
Rick Fosby
5-20 PURE STOCK "A" SUMMARY (8 LAPS) 1) RONNIE JACOBSEN, 2) Brian Sandstadt,
3) Kevin Denue, 4) Ray Pierre Jr, 5) George Miles Jr, 6) Art Lafferty, 7)
Jonathan Coon, 8) Chris Streeter, 9) Randy Meyers, 10) Lloyd Fosby, 11)
Ronald Johnson, 12) Gary Ashley, 13) Mark Forrest, 14) Bruce Pecorella, 15)
Keith Barlow
5-20 PURE STOCK "B" SUMMARY (8 LAPS) 1) SCOTT KILMER, 2) Joe Mottoshiski, 3)
Jim Hankey, 4) Tom Sanchez Jr, 5) Jeff Douglas, 6) Ron Tritschler, 7) Tim
Drumm, 8) Donald Coon, 9) Dean Cushman, 10) John Fredsall, 11) Adam Unberger,
12) Marcus Tifft, 13) Doug Moore, 14) Philip Moffit, 15) Jon Routhier DQ
5-20 PURE STOCK "C" SUMMARY (8 LAPS) 1) BOB PALMER, 2) Ryan Crellin, 3) Fran
Marchand, 4) Brian Tator, 5) Wally Engel, 6) Rich. Schumann, 7) Bruce
Moffitt, 8) Mark Houston, 9) Guy Hughes, 10) Anthony Cotugno, 11) Jim Dellea,
12) Jay Martin, 13) Pete Wiegand, 14) Richard Harkins, 15) Bill Hughes DQ
TOP TEN MODIFIED POINTS AS OF 5-20-2000
1) Kenny Tremont Jr 276, 2) Rich Ricci Jr 244, 3) John Hewitt 234, 4) Chris
Moore 232, 5) Donnie Corellis 214, 6) Dickie Larkin 208, 7) J.R. Heffner 200,
8) Ronnie Johnson 191, 9) Dave Leckonby 185, 10) Matt Quinn 178.