QUINN TAKES FEATURE, HEARN MODIFIED CHAMP AT LEBANON VALLEY
QUINN TAKES FEATURE, HEARN MODIFIED CHAMP AT LEBANON VALLEY AUGUST 31,2002 WEST LEBANON, NY-Matt Quinn was victorious in the 30-lap DIRT modified feature Saturday night at Lebanon Valley and Brett Hearn was crowned the 2002 modified point champion. Art Collins won the battle and the war Saturday night as he picked up the victory in the 20-lap sportsman feature and the 2002 sportsman track championship. Wayne Jelley was the winner of the 24-lap 358-modified feature. The ageless veteran Jim Langenback won the 20-lap pro stock main. Mark Forest and Jim Cronk were the two winners of the rookie features. The pure stock winners on Saturday night included Keith Barlow, Kory Sandstedt, D.T. Pickard and Mike Witherell. Gable Auto Stores brought us this championship night of racing. Anticipation was high as the modifieds took to the speedway for their 30-lap main event. Kenny Tremont Jr. held a twenty-three-point lead over Brett Hearn going into the race. All Tremont needed was to finish tenth or better to secure his 13th track championship. The Gable Motorsports, Budweiser #1 of Hearn started eighth while the Emerick #115 of Tremont started 14th. Hector Stratton held the lead until Guy Sheldon passed him on lap three. Things did not look promising for Hearn as Tremont had charged up to seventh by lap five. Tremont and Hearn were side by side battling for sixth going into turn three on lap six. Suddenly Tremont slowed and his car came to a stop the end of pit road. Tremont had blown the engine and along with it his chance for another track title. The Card Shaq II entry of Matt Quinn wrestled the lead from Sheldon on the restart. Rich Ricci Jr slowed on lap seven and retired from the event. Hearn had worked his way up to third and was challenging Sheldon for second by lap eight. Sheldon was able to hold Hearn off for now. The second caution of the race came on lap 12 as Steve Devine made heavy contact with the turn one wall. Danny Johnson was making a rare appearance Saturday night preparing for the CARQUEST 200 next weekend. Johnson retired from the event on lap 12. Denny Soltis was able to grab third from Hearn on the restart. The caution flag flew on lap 14 twice. The top five at halfway were Quinn, Hearn, Soltis, Andy Bachetti and Rob Pitcher. Soltis and Bachetti waged a great battle for third between lap 16 and lap 19 with Soltis holding off Bachetti. Lapped traffic became a factor for Quinn on lap 23. Soltis got high in turn four and tagged the wall, which allowed Bachetti to scoot by for third on lap 24. The final caution flag came out on lap 26, which gave Hearn four laps to try for the victory. But Quinn held strong and took home his first victory of the 2002 season. Hearn wrapped up the 2002 title with his runner-up performance. Bachetti, Soltis and Pitcher rounded out the top ten. Hearn said that he didn't know the Tremont had dropped from the event and was disappointed the he finished second in the race. It was not until he got to the scale area that he was told he was the track champion and was pretty happy with second after learning that information. He said going into the race winning the title was the furthest thing from his mind, especially with the performance record that Tremont has at the Valley. It was also an early birthday present to himself as Hearn celebrated his 44th birthday on Sunday. This is the second modified track championship for car owner Jody Gable at Lebanon Valley. To top it off Gable was the sponsor of the night's activities. Wayne Jelley took his Sprint PCS #45 into the lead of the 24-lap 358-modified feature and never looked back. It was a green to checkered run for the Vermont native. Matt Quinn had a strong car and was in second by the halfway point of the race. Quinn started to close ground on Jelley just past the halfway point with Hearn, Ricci and Bachetti in tow. The only thing that slowed Jelley was some heavy lapped traffic with four laps remaining in the event. Quinn got loose and tagged the wall allowing Hearn to get by on lap 21. Quinn was able to maintain control and only lost one spot on the track. Hearn closed in on Jelley in the final laps, but ran out of time and had to settle for second. Quinn had yet another strong run in the Testos #32 in third. Rich Ricci Jr finished fourth and Andy Bachetti was fifth. All Art Collins had to do Saturday night is start the 20-lap sportsman feature and he would lay claim to his fifth sportsman track championship. That was not sufficient for the driver of the St. Lawrence Cement #68 however. Collins charged quickly into the top five and took the lead on a lap five restart from K.C. McCoy. Problems for Ryan Larkin as he and Whitey Slavin came together while the field was under caution on lap seven. K.C. Goewey moved his Sprint PCS #45 into second on lap eight and was looking to make it a sweep for the Sprint-backed entries. Goewey could not stay with Collins and had to settle for second. One of the fastest cars in the second half of the race was Roy Bridge. He was able to get up to third when the checkered flag fell. Lorne Browe had a strong top five performance in fourth and Willie Galm rounded out the top five. It was a wild night in the 20-lap pro stock feature. Adam Haas held the lead until he a Danny Sanchez came together, which forced Sanchez to go pitside for a new tire. Haas still maintained the lead at this point with Jim Langenback and Bob Duzlak in tow. Langenback began his assault on Haas just before the halfway point of the race. Langenback made the pass for the lead on lap eleven. Al Blackburn moved into fifth on lap 15, but got turned around by Paul LaRochelle that same lap sending both cars to the rear. Sanchez recovered from his early race difficulties and was back in the top five with five laps remaining. He made a bonsai move for second on lap 17 going into turn three and promptly spun out in front of the pack collecting up Duzlak and Chris Crews in the process. Langenback celebrated his birthday on Friday and gave himself a late present in victory lane Saturday night. Haas finished second, Victor Hopkins was third, LaRochelle was fourth and Robbie Speed was fifth. Lebanon Valley is now set for the biggest weekend in speedway history. Three full nights of racing for the CARQUEST 200 WEEKEND September 6th-8th will be on tap for the fans. NASCAR stars Tony Stewart and Dave Blaney will be on hand Sunday for the CARQUEST 200 for big block modifieds. Check out www.lebanonvalley.com or call the speedway at (518) 794-9606 for ticket information and the updated racing schedule. Lebanon Valley Speedway is located 20 minutes east of Albany, NY on US Rt. 20 in West Lebanon, NY. 8-31 GABLE AUTO STORES / PROFIT CONCEPTS / PEPSI COLA MODIFIED RESULTS (30 LAPS) FINAL MODIFIED POINTS RACE - 1) Matt Quinn, 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Andy Bachetti, 4) Denny Soltis, 5) Rob Pitcher, 6) Guy Sheldon, 7) J.R. Heffner, 8) John Hewitt, 9) Sparky Lowe, 10) Eddie Marshall, 11) Dave Leckonby, 12) Mike King, 13) Hector Stratton, 14) Mel Schruffer, 15) Hawley Smith, 16) Charlie Humes, 17) Dave McFeeters, 18) Ernie Palmer Jr, 19) Wayne Figler, 20) Jeff Sukup, 21) Chris Moore, 22) John Alberti, 23) Mark Bird, 24) Donnie Corellis, 25) Skippy Fox, 26) Russ Reckner, 27) John Ferrier, 28) Scott Ferrier, 29) Danny Johnson, 30) Steve Devine, 31) Rich Ricci Jr, 32) Kenny Tremont Jr 358 MODIFIED RESULTS (24 LAPS) - 1) Wayne Jelley, 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Matt Quinn, 4) Rich Ricci Jr, 5) Andy Bachetti, 6) Donnie Corellis, 7) Mike Benson, 8) Guy Sheldon, 9) Danny Johnson, 10) Eddie Marshall, 11) J.R. Heffner, 12) Jason Herrington, 13) Danny Watson, 14) John Ferrier, 15) John Lutes Jr, 16) Denny Young Jr, 17) Lance Harting, 18) Lee Gagliardi, 19) Lucas Baker, 20) Ron Dwyer, 21) Ted Teal, 22) Ken Baker, 23) Wes Powell, 24) Stan Lemiesz, 25) Mark Pullen, 26) Maynard Forrette SPORTSMAN RESULTS (20 LAPS) FINAL SPORTSMAN POINT RACE - 1) Art Collins, 2) K.C. Goewey, 3) Roy Bridge, 4) Lorne Browe, 5) Will Galm, 6) Ed Harkin, 7) K. C. McCoy, 8) Bobby Knipe, 9) Jeff Watson, 10) Jay Haviland, 11) Frank Harper, 12) Mike Mason, 13) Ted Layton, 14) Jack Gentile, 15) Jeff Carr, 16) Dave Dillworth, 17) Mike Keeler, 18) Joe Bennett, 19) Whitey Slavin, 20) Ryan Larkin, 21) John Hotchkiss, 22) Mike Molloy, 23) Walt McKay, 24) Skip Travis PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Jim Langenback, 2) Adam Haas, 3) Victor Hopkins, 4) Paul LaRochelle, 5) Robbie Speed, 6) Al Blackburn, 7) Danny Sanchez, 8) Tom Brandt, 9) Jason DiBello, 10) Brian Keough, 11) Jeff Kelmel, 12) Rob Yetman, 13) Bob Duzlak Jr, 14) Chris Crews, 15) Don Ely, 16) Ed Bachand, 17) Dan Blackburn, 18) Rick Fosby ROOKIE "A" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Mark Forrest, 2) Jim Hankle, 3) Mike Fachini, 4) Fran Marchand, 5) Jery Helms, 6) Ben Britch, 7) Ralph Hotchkiss, 8) Rod Slater, 9) Ray Hall Jr ROOKIE "B" RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Jim Cronk, 2) Jay Corbin, 3) Bill Hammell, 4) Bill Lobdell, 5) Henry Warner, 6) Joe Mabb Jr, 7) John Santolin, 8) Kim LaVoy, 9) Larry Megan PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Keith Barlow, 2) John Denue, 3) Jason Casey, 4) Ronny Jacobsen, 5) Michael Middleton, 6) Nick Hilt Jr, 7) Jeff Wilbur, 8) Todd Pelkey, 9) Marcus Tifft, 10) Ryan Coon, 11) Jim O'Neil, 12) Dan Crosby, 13) Roger Keeny, 14) Michael Dianda, 15) John Hubbard, 16) Dave Houser, 17) Joe Landry, 18) Chris McMurray PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Kory Sandstedt, 2) Steve Hatch, 3) John Betz, 4) Jeff Douglass, 5) Chrissy Hilt, 6) Mike Eichstedt, 7) Dave Shepard, 8) Guy Hughes, 9) Chris Streeter, 10) John Fachini, 11) Bruce Moffit, 12) Pet e Everett, 13) Randy Myers, 14) Chris Stalker, 15) Paul Handlowich PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) D.T. Pickard, 2) Peter Wiegand, 3) Chris Hutnik, 4) Michael Davis, 5) Bob Palmer, 6) Jay Martin, 7) George Miles Jr, 8) Jim Hankey, 9) Pete DeFiglio, 10) Bob Burl, 11) Shannon McDermott, 12) Henry Dickinson, 13) Mark Huston, 14) Mike Grehl Jr, 15) Mike Blanchard, 16) Brian Sandstedt, 17) Earl Soulier Jr PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (8 LAPS) - 1) Mike Witherell, 2) Eric Sbrega, 3) Poncho Hankey, 4) Paul Harding, 5) Larry Ball, 6) Rich Douglass, 7) Don Coon, 8) Phil Wood, 9) Jeremy Pease, 10) Kevin Dolan, 11) John Rivers Jr, 12) Phil Moffit, 13) John Chapman, 14) George Hill, 15) Bruce Bartholomew, 16) Ron Tritschler, 17) Dave Atwater