9-09 Press Release & Results
DANNY JOHNSON CAPTURES THIRD CARQUEST 200 GLORY AT LEBANON VALLEY
SEPTEMBER 9, 2001
WEST LEBANON, NY- Danny Johnson put his Sweeteners Plus sponsored racer in
victory lane in the CARQUEST National 200 at Lebanon Valley. A capacity crowd
was on hand for this unusually hot event. NASCAR superstar, Tony Stewart
made his third appearance of the season at the Valley and had a top ten
finish. Dave Blaney did not feel well and did not make the trip. The Pro
Stocks were also on hand Sunday for a 20-lap feature that was part of the
ARANY Pro Stock Series. Danny Sanchez dominated that event and took the
victory. An extra special thanks to Rich Pallai and the folks at CARQUEST for
bringing us this great weekend of racing.
Time trials were held for forty-five cars to help determine the starting
lineup for the heat races. Brett Hearn turned in the fastest time of the
afternoon and Jimmy Horton was the second fastest. That exempted those two
drivers from having to run heat races, but they would have to draw for their
starting position. Thirty-six cars took the green flag for the 200-lap
feature. J.R. Heffner and Eddie Marshall brought the field down to Matt
Higgin's green flag. Marshall was able to grab the early advantage over
Heffner on the first lap. Heffner was pushing Marshall hard early as the two
ran side by side for the first couple of laps, but Marshall held off his
advances. Horton started fourth and quickly worked his way toward the front.
He moved passed Heffner for second on lap six and took the lead from Marshall
one lap later.
Horton set a torrid pace on the point and caught the back of the field by
lap 13 and quickly started putting cars a lap down. The first caution flew on
lap 21 as Hector Stratton slowed on the speedway. The green flag came back
out on lap 27, but only for one lap as Dave Camara and Jeff Trombley crashed
in turn one. Camara was able to continue on, but dropped out on lap 79. Danny
Johnson moved into the second position on lap 34. Stewart started 23rd in the
race and had worked his way up to challenge Chris Moore for eleventh by lap
45. Horton continued to set a torrid pace leading Johnson by a full
straightaway on lap 46.
Brian Weaver and Maynard Forrette came together bringing out the caution on
lap 47. Pit road was the busiest point on the speedway as most of the field
chose to make their mandatory pit stop. This gave the lead to Heffner
followed by Marshall, Stewart, Jerry Higbie and Ronnie Johnson.
Rich Ricci Jr and John Alberti hooked bumpers on the restart but were
able to continue without needing a caution flag. Danny Johnson had come out
of the pits in eleventh position and had moved into eighth. Horton would not
get a chance to get back to the front as he suffered a right rear flat tire
on lap 63. The damage was too significant to his car and his race would be
over. Heffner, Higbie, Ricci and Tremont all went pitside under this yellow.
Marshall inherited the lead on the restart with Stewart in second and Ronnie
Johnson third. Andy Bachetti moved passed Ronnie Johnson into third on lap
71. Marshall, Stewart, Bachetti and Forrette went pitside under yellow on lap
81.
Danny Johnson took the lead on a lap 85 restart. Billy Decker moved into
second on lap 87. At the halfway point it was Danny Johnson, Decker, Alan
Johnson, Donnie Corellis and Brett Hearn. The story line in the final half of
the race would be between Danny Johnson and Billy Decker. The two ran very
hard the remainder of the event. The caution came out on lap 111 for Will
Cagle in turn one. The Tampa Terror came out of retirement to run this race,
but his day ended on lap 111. While the field was under the caution flag the
lap counter clicked off lap 115. BOOMER'S PERFORMANCE sponsored the lap in
memory of Olivia Tremont. Danny Johnson picked up the special $1,000 bonus as
the leader of that very special lap.
Vic Coffey was looking for a strong finish Sunday and cracked the top
five on lap 128. Andy Bachetti was one of the strongest cars all day, but his
day came to an early end on lap 130 as he came to a stop in turn one. Ricci
had handling problems all race long and lost a lap in the pits on lap 134.
There was still twenty-six cars running on lap 138. Stewart was looking for
his second win of the season here at the Valley. Stewart had picked up a
victory earlier in the season in a 100-lap race for the 358-modifieds.
Stewart sat eighth on lap 145.
Decker continued to give Johnson fits in the final fifty laps of the
event. Alan Johnson started to reel in the top two on lap 166. Lapped traffic
began to play a factor again on lap 173, giving Johnson some breathing room.
Meanwhile Stewart started challenging Tremont for sixth on lap 178. Decker
tried a bonsai move on Johnson on lap 179, but once again could not make the
pass stick. Just as Decker stuck his nose under Johnson the caution flew
again. This time it was for the third place car of Alan Johnson as his right
rear tire went flat on lap 180. This allowed Donnie Corellis to move into
third. Corellis ran a patient race all day long and would be rewarded with a
podium finish. One last caution set up a ten-lap shootout, but Danny Johnson
was not to be denied as he took his third CARQUEST 200 victory of his career.
Decker had to settle for second, as mentioned Corellis finished third. Coffey
had a strong fourth place finish and Matt Quinn also had a strong run
rounding out the top five. The caution flag came out for a total of
sixty-four laps in the race, which was run in ninety-eight minutes.
The ARANY Pro Stocks took to the speedway for a 20-lap feature Sunday
afternoon. Thirty-one cars took the green flag for this caution plagued race.
Danny Sanchez was fresh off his win on Saturday night and was looking for his
second win of the weekend. Current Lebanon Valley points leader; Jim
Lagenback dropped from the race on lap five when he was involved in an
incident on the backstretch. Sanchez, Ed Bachand, Butch Irwin, Tom Faxon and
Scott Govertsen filled out the top five at the halfway point. Robbie Speed
started showing smoke just past halfway and stopped in turn two on lap 12.
The most serious incident of the weekend came on the restart as the
flagger threw the caution for a false start. The front cars saw the yellow
flag out, but the middle of the pack cars did not causing a huge mess on the
backstretch. Tom Kuck went over the top over Faxon and rolled his racer.
About ten cars in total were involved in the fracas. Fortunately no one was
harmed in the melee. Several more yellows slowed the pace, but no one could
touch Sanchez as he cruised to his second win of the weekend. Bachand came
home second Irwin third, Jipp Ortiz fourth. Jason Boyle recovered from an
early race spin to round out the top five.
Lebanon Valley will wrap up racing next Saturday night with an $1000 to
win race for sportsman. The Pro Stocks, Rookies and Pure Stocks will finish
off the respective point championships as well. There will also be a $1000 to
win cannonball run event.
CARQUEST NATIONAL 200 (200 LAPS) - 1) Danny Johnson, 2) Billy Decker, 3)
Donnie Corellis, 4) Vic Coffey, 5) Matt Quinn, 6) Kenny Tremont, 7) Tony
Stewart, 8) Brett Hearn, 9) Pat Ward, 10) Jerry Higbie, 11) Eddie Marshall,
12) Ronnie Johnson, 13) J. R. Heffner, 14) Jeff Heotzler, 15) Maynard
Forrette, 16) Alan Johnson, 17) Rich Ricci Jr, 18) Andy Bachetti, 19) Jason
Goff, 20) Chris Kokosa, 21) Chris Moore, 22) Tim Fuller, 23) Jeremy Markle,
24) Randy Sherlock, 25) Mike King, 26) Bobby Albert, 27) Guy Sheldon, 28)
Will Cagle, 29) Dave Camara, 30) Brian Weaver, 31) Jimmy Horton, 32) John
Alberti, 33) Dave Mosher, 34) Hector Stratton, 35) Jeff Trombley, 36) Meme
Desantis
DIRT PRO STOCK TOUR RACE (20 LAPS) - 1) Danny Sanchez, 2) Ed Bachand, 3)
Butchie Irwin, 4) Jip Ortiz, 5) Jason Boyle, 6) Scott Govertsen, 7) Tom
Barron, 8) Robbie Speed, 9) Al Blackburn, 10) Pete Stefanski, 11) Scott Kehr,
12) Marc Therrien, 13) Steve Devos, 14) Bill Pascual, 15) Kevin Ward, 16)
Paul LaRochelle, 17) Bob Duzlak Jr, 18) Ricky Duzlak, 19) Chris Morris, 20)
Andy Dembek, 21) Chris Crews, 22) Tom Faxon, 23) Tom Kuck, 24) Rob Yetman,
25) Dickie Colesanti, 26) Tom Dembek, 27) Tom Brandt, 28) Dave Therrien, 29)
Rob Noviczski, 30) Jim Langenback, 31) Ricky Breed
