LEBANON VALLEY RESULTS 5-17-03
"PRESS RELEASE" For Immediate Release May 17, 2003 RON DWYER GETS 1ST CAREER MOD VICTORY AT LEBANON VALLEY West Lebanon, N.Y.- Ron Dwyer won his first career DIRT big block modified victory in the 30-lap feature at Lebanon Valley Speedway last Saturday night. Rob Pitcher won the 24-lap 358-modified feature. Willie Galm was victorious in the 20-lap sportsman feature and Ed Bachand won the 20-lap pro stock main. BENJAMIN MOORE PAINTS joined the Lebanon Valley family of sponsors for the first time Saturday night. They along with long time sponsor WORHLES QUALITY FOODS brought us the night's action. Paul Gilardi was the early race leader in the 30-lap modified feature. He held the top spot for the first three laps, before Denny Soltis made a power move from third to take the lead. Donnie Ackner had a strong mount as well and took second from Gilardi on lap five. The first caution flag period of the race came on lap eight for the disabled car of Steve Hough. Only one more lap was completed before the caution flag flew again for a chain reaction incident in turn two. Rich Ricci Jr. had the worst damage as he to pit for a new right front tire. Ken Tremont Jr. cracked the top five for the first time on lap ten when all hell broke loose behind him. Another chain reaction incident off turn two on lap eleven sent the #5 of Russ Reckner flying over Andy Bachetti. Reckner's car was as high as the top of the billboards on the backstretch as it went flipping through the air. Reckner landed on the top of Bachetti's car which helped lessen the impact of the landing. Both drivers were able to walk away from the melee, but their cars were heavily damaged. At the halfway point of the race it was still Soltis out front, but now he had the LAPINE & SONS TRUCKING #88 of Ronnie Dwyer right behind him. Ackner was third, Tremont fourth and Donnie Corellis was fifth. On the very next lap Dwyer made a power move on the outside of Soltis in turn two for the lead. Brett Hearn cracked the top five for the first time on lap 18. Tremont grabbed second from Soltis on lap 20, while Hearn moved passed Corellis for fourth at the same time. Dwyer continued to hold a strong advantage as he began to encounter lapped traffic for the first time. Slowly but surely Tremont was running down the leader, but with only five laps left time was not on his side. Tough break for the RIFENBURG #57 of Corellis as he dropped from the race on lap 25 while running in the top ten. Tremont got to Dwyer's back bumper in the final laps, but could never mount the challenge needed to take the lead and Dwyer held on for his first career big block modified win in only his fourth big block start at Lebanon Valley. A very enthusiastic roof dance by Dwyer signified what this victory meant for him and his whole team. Hearn was able to get to third by races end with Soltis fourth and Eddie Marshall fifth. The 358-modifieds ran for the first time in 2003 with a 24-lap feature on Saturday night. Many of the modified drivers were doing double duty running in both divisions. Rob Pitcher made the most of his front row staring spot leading flag to flag in his VALLEY OIL #17. Pitcher had to hold off the challenges of Dickie Larkin all race long to claim the victory. Seven caution flags slowed the event. "The Flying Farmer", Jason Herrington made hard contact with the turn four pit entrance and suffered heavy damage to the front of his racer. Ken Tremont got passed Andy Bachetti on a late race restart to finish third. Bachetti settled for fourth with Brett Hearn rounding out the top five. The first non-modified driver was Wayne Jelley in eighth. Only three caution flags slowed the 20-lap sportsman feature, but one of them included half the field on lap three. A couple of cars towards the front of the pack got turned sideways collecting everyone else up in the fray. Walt McKay held the lead from lap one until a lap six restart. That was when Jason Tompkins made his way passed McKay in turn two. Willie Galm took second on the very next lap as McKay faded back through the field. At the halfway point it was Tompkins followed by Galm, Joe Bennett, Bobby Knipe and Frank Harper. Galm hounded Tompkins through the second half of the race, but both drivers were running the topside of the speedway and Galm could not make a clean pass. Knipe moved into third on lap eleven. The top three had pulled away from the pack with three-quarters of the race completed. Galm made a last ditch effort on Tompkins going into turn three on lap 18. He blasted past for the lead and drove on to victory. Tompkins had to feel like the victory was his, but had to settle for a respectable runner-up performance. Phil Balmer led the first two laps of the 20-lap pro stock main. Ed Bachand took the lead from him on a lap two restart. Only three cautions slowed the pace of this event as well, with the last coming out on lap five. Bachand had things pretty well under control in his brand new racer and went on to win fairly easily. Defending champ, Paul LaRochelle was second with Danny Sanchez rounding out the podium in third. A very busy weekend is set for the Memorial Day Weekend at Lebanon Valley. Saturday night all divisions are in action with double features for the modifieds. Then the Valley is right back in action on Memorial Day with the O'Reilly World of Outlaws sponsored by CARQUEST. The modifieds will also be on tap Monday. Call the speedway now for tickets or visit us online at www.lebanonvalley.com. BENJAMIN MOORE PAINTS & WORHLES QUALITY FOODS MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH - (30 LAPS) - 1) RONNIE DWYER, 2) KEN TREMONT JR., 3) BRETT HEARN, 4) DENNY SOLTIS, 5) EDDIE MARSHALL 358-MODIFIED TOP FIVE SUMMARY- (24 LAPS)- 1) ROB PITCHER, 2) DICKIE LARKIN, 3) KEN TREMONT JR, 4) ANDY BACHETTI, 5) BRETT HEARN SPORTSMAN TOP FIVE SUMMARY- (20 LAPS)- 1) WILLIE GALM, 2) JASON TOMPKINS, 3) BOBBY KNIPE, 4) JOE BENNETT, 5) FRANK HARPER PRO STOCK TOP FIVE SUMMARY - (20 LAPS) - 1) ED BACHAND, 2) PAUL LAROCHELLE, 3) DANNY SANCHEZ, 4) ROB YETMAN, 5) SCOTT GOVERTSEN ROOKIE PRO STOCK FEATURE WINNER - (12 LAPS) - 1) JIM CRONK PURE STOCK #1 WINNER - (8 LAPS) - 1) JIM O'NEILL PURE STOCK #2 WINNER - (8 LAPS) - 1) BOBBY BURL PURE STOCK #3 WINNER - (8 LAPS) - 1) PETE WIEGAND PURE STOCK #4 WINNER - (8 LAPS) - 1) MIKE EICHSTEDT