HEARN RETURNS TO FORM, WINS FOURTH RACE OF THE SEASON AT
LEBANON VALLEY
HEARN RETURNS TO FORM, WINS FOURTH RACE OF THE SEASON AT LEBANON VALLEY
June 1, 2002
WEST LEBANON, N.Y.- Brett Hearn captured the 30-lap DIRT modified feature at
Lebanon Valley on Saturday night. Bobby Knipe took top honors in the 20-lap
Sportsman main and Danny Sanchez picked up his second win of the year in the
20-lap Pro Stock feature. The fine folks at Wells Fargo were the night's main
sponsor.
Problems started just after the green flag in the 30-lap modified feature
Saturday night. Three cars came together in turn two with Rich Ricci Jr.
suffering the worst damage. Ricci had a vicious crash on Monday night and was
using his backup car Saturday night. The damage was too severe and Ricci had
his second DNF in a row. John Hewitt ran down early race leader David Sanchez
and passed him for the lead on lap four. Problems for the Rifenburg #57 of
Donnie Corellis as he made contact with the turn one wall on lap five. This
brought out the second yellow flag of the race. Hewitt would restart in top
spot with Eddie Marshall along side in second. Marshall tried for the lead on
the restart, but the Rifenburg #24 of Hewitt was strong to the challenge.
Another caution flag slowed the pace on lap six.
The restart saw some great racing in the front of the pack as Marshall
challenged Hewitt for the lead again. Right behind them Kenny Tremont Jr and
Hearn were racing hard for third. Tremont made his way around Hearn for third
on lap seven. A restart after a lap eight caution allowed Hearn to get back
around Tremont and set his sights on the front two cars. The fans were on
their feet as the battle for the lead went three wide going down the
backstretch. Marshall took the lead on lap ten with Hearn in tow and Hewitt
still third. At the halfway point it was Marshall, Hearn, Tremont, Hewitt and
Andy Bachetti in the top five.
The leaders began to encounter heavy lapped traffic with ten laps remaining
in the race. With Hearn and Tremont right on his back bumper Marshall
navigated the traffic perfectly like the crafty veteran that he is. The final
caution of the race came out on lap 23 and it changed the complexion of the
race. On the restart Marshall's car drifted up the banking in turn one and
Hearn was able to dive under him and take the lead. Hearn quickly opened up a
big advantage and took his Gable-Budweiser #1 to victory lane for the fourth
time this season. Marshall had to contend with Tremont in the final stages of
the race but was able to hang on for second. Bachetti was able to get around
Hewitt for fourth. Hewitt round out the top five with a very solid
performance after a couple of weeks of really rotten luck.
Mike Molloy was the early race leader in the 20-lap Sportsman main. K.C.
Goewey spun around on lap four and seven cars were collected up in the
incident. Molloy and Frank Harper made contact on the restart with Harper
causing Harper to lose several positions. Several more caution flags in the
first five laps of the race forced officials to restart in single file
formation. Jeff Watson took the lead on lap six with Bobby Knipe right behind
him in second and Roy Bridge in third. Following the modified counterparts
the battle for the lead went three wide on lap nine, but Watson and Bridge
made contact two sending Bridge into the turn two wall.
Knipe used the high line to get passed Watson for the lead on lap 12. Goewey
was working his way back up through the field after his earlier problem and
was had moved back into the top five by lap eleven. Goewey was able to get
back up to third by the end of the race. Knipe was able to visit victory lane
for the first time in 2002 at Lebanon Valley. Watson was second, Joe Bennett
fourth and Harper rounded out the top five.
After a photo finish in last week's Pro Stock feature you would think that
that it could not be topped, but that was not the case Saturday night. Rich
Colesanti led the first lap on the race. Al Blackburn took the lead on lap
two, but he got turned around by Rob Yetman on lap three and had to go to the
back of the field. Yetman was sent to the rear of the field as well for his
role in the incident. Bob Duzlak took the lead on lap five with Danny Sanchez
in tow. Yetman took advantage of some early yellows to make his way back into
the top five by lap nine.
Yetman would work his way up to third by lap 12 as the top three cars pulled
away from the rest of the pack. With two laps to go the battle for the lead
went three wide between Duzlak, Sanchez and Yetman. They would remain side by
side for the final two laps. Coming down for the checkered flag Sanchez was
able to sneak ahead and snatch his second win of the year. The top three cars
were separated by inches at the flag. Duzlak had to settle for second with
Yetman third, Paul LaRochelle fourth and Robbie Speed fifth.
Jay Corbin from Castleton picked up the feature victory in the Rookie Pro
Stock feature. Pure Stock feature winners on Saturday night were Mike
Witherell, Chris Streeter, Bob Palmer and Pancho Hankey.
6-01 WELLS FARGO / MANULIFE MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) - 1) Brett Hearn, 2)
Eddie Marshall, 3) Kenny Tremont Jr, 4) Andy Bachetti, 5) John Hewitt, 6) Rob
Pitcher, 7) J.R. Heffner, 8) Denny Soltis, 9) Matt Quinn, 10) Jason Goff, 11)
Russ Reckner, 12) Hector Stratton, 13) David Sanchez, 14) Stanley Wetmore,
15) Chris Moore, 16) Mike King, 17) Maynard Forrette, 18) Ernie Palmer Jr,
19) Guy Sheldon, 20) Donnie Corellis, 21) Dave McFeeters, 22) Steve Devine,
23) John Alberti, 24) Charlie Humes, 25) Hawley Smith, 26) Ron Blake, 27)
Dave Leckonby, 28) Dickie Larkin, 29) John Ruchel, 30) Dave Mosher, 31)
Sparky Lowe, 32) Rich Ricci Jr
SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Bobby Knipe, 2) Jeff Watson, 3) K.C. Goewey,
4) Joe Bennett, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Ryan Larkin, 7) Mike Molloy, 8) John
Scarborough, 9) Ed Harkin, 10) Mike Keeler, 11) Art Collins, 12) Roy Bridge,
13) John Hotchkiss, 14) Rich Salisbury, 15) Tony Ferriero, 16) Ted Layton,
17) Whitey Slavin, 18) Earl Thitchener, 19) Walt McKay, 20) Kory Gurney, 21)
Bill Bahrite, 22) Dan Humes, 23) Lorne Browe, 24) Don Miller, 25) Carmon
Carnibucci
PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Danny Sanchez, 2) Bob Duzlak Jr, 3) Rob
Yetman, 4) Paul LaRochelle, 5) Robbie Speed, 6) Rich Colesanti, 7) Adam Haas,
8) Jim Langenback, 9) Jim Dellea, 10) Dave Colwell, 11) Dave Dowd, 12) Rick
Spencer, 13) Al Blackburn, 14) Dan Blackburn, 15) Buddy Hencke, 16) Don Ely,
17) Jeff Kelmel, 18) Tom Brandt, 19) Rick Fosby, 20) Jason DiBello, 21) Brian
Keough, 22) Ed Bachand, 23) Chris Crews
ROOKIE RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Jay Corbin, 2) Earl Mellan, 3) Bill Lobdell, 4)
Charlie Woodard, 5) Kim LaVoy, 6) Joe Mabb Jr, 7) John Santolin, 8) Chris
Claus, 9) Jerry Wright, 10) Bill Hammell, 11) Ralph Hotchkiss, 12) Henry
Warner, 13) Jery Helms, 14) Larry Megan, 15) Greg DeCamp
PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Mike Witherell, 2) Jim Fachini, 3) Guy
Hughes, 4) Ronny Jacobsen, 5) Jim O'Neil, 6) Larry Ball, 7) Ryan Coon, 8)
Earl Soulier Jr, 9) Pete DeFiglio, 10) Bob Burl, 11) Jim Hankey, 12) Michael
Dianda, 13) Shannon McDermott, 14) Chris Stalker, 15) Ross Zito, 16) Todd
Pelkey, 17) Marcus Tifft, 18) Ray Pierre Jr, 19) Mark Stevens
PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Chris Streeter, 2) Pete Everett, 3)
Michael Middleton, 4) Nick Hilt Jr, 5) John Betz, 6) Jay Martin, 7) Bill
Gordon, 8) Dan Crosby, 9) David Stickles, 10) Dave Houser, 11) John Hubbard,
12) Chrissy Hilt, 13) Dave Atwater
PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Bob Palmer, 2) Joe DiStefano, 3) George
Miles Jr, 4) Michael Davis, 5) Mark Huston, 6) Brian Sandstedt, 7) Robert
Gibson, 8) Kevin Dolan, 9) John Connor Jr, 10) John Denue, 11) Keith Barlow,
12) Paul Harding, 13) Chris Hutnik, 14) Ronald Johnson, 15) Peter Wiegand,
16) John Chapman, 17) D.T. Pickard, 18) Kevin Hilt
PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Poncho Hankey, 2) John Rivers Jr, 3) Jeff
Wilbur, 4) Mike Eichstedt, 5) Ron Tritschler, 6) Kory Sandstadt, 7) Don Coon,
8) Ron Hapeman, 9) Jeff Kuhnow, 10) John Fachini, 11) Eric Sbrega, 12) Bob
Copeland, 13) Robert Brown, 14) Bob Chenette, 15) Scott Kilmer
