Lebanon Valley Results 4-24-04

HEARN WASTES NO TIME IN FINDING VICTORY LANE AT THE VALLEY

April 24, 2004

West Lebanon, NY- Defending modified champion Brett Hearn was victorious in the 30-lap modified feature Saturday night at Lebanon Valley. It was the 55th career victory for the driver of the Gable Auto Stores-Budweiser #1. The sportsman division made their first appearance of 2004 and K.C. Goewey won that 20-lap feature. Rob Yetman scored his second victory of the year in the 20-lap pro stock main. The 10-lap rookie pro stock winner was Larry Megan. The four winners in the 8-lap pure stock features were Jim O'Neil, Pete Wiegand, Pete Defiglio and Ryan Coon. The winner of the 20-lap cannonball race was Steve Haire from Ancram, NY. A special thanks to the folks at WASTE MANAGEMENT for sponsoring the night's racing action.

Dave Leckonby and Ron Dwyer led the field to the green flag in the 30-lap modified feature. Leckonby would hold the early advantage over Dwyer and Hector Stratton. Yellow seemed to be the color of the night as the caution flag flew on nine occasions. The "big one" came on lap four and eliminated the chances of several drivers for victory. One of the drivers involved was Kenny Tremont, but he would return to finish tenth. All these early cautions allowed Hearn to work toward the front of the pack. He was on Leckonby's back bumper by lap seven and took the lead for good on lap 15. At the halfway point it was Hearn, Leckonby, Eddie Marshall, Wayne Jelley and J.R. Heffner. 

Marshall got by Leckonby for the runner-up position on lap 25 and tried to run down Hearn. A restart on lap 26 allowed Marshall to briefly get alongside Hearn, but he could not make the pass stick and had to settle for second. Hearn easily cruised home for his first win of the season at the Valley. Hearn was pleased with the performance after dropping out from last week's event with a motor problem. This week Hearn had his backup Teo with an old Enders motor under the hood. Leckonby, Heffner and Jelley rounded out the top five at the finish.

K.C. Goewey was never able to find victory lane at Lebanon Valley last season. Goewey decided that 2004 would not be a repeat performance in that department and found victory lane with his Team Goewey KIA #2 on opening night. Goewey's 2004 Teo with a Bedell-Chrysler motor was hooked up and won going away. " I just like to pass cars and to have a car like this is fun and makes me look forward to the rest of the season" Goewey said after the race. 

Ryan Larkin was running in the top five early in the race, but broke and made heavy contact with the turn two wall. Frankie Harper was another driver that was running in the top five when he had trouble. With only three laps to go Harper caught the berm on the inside of turn one and sheared the left front tire off the car. Jeff Watson ran over the tire and was done for the night as well. Defending champion Art Collins looked strong and came from deep in the field to finish second. Jason Tompkins, Marc Johnson and Lorne Browe crossed the line to third through fifth. Post race inspection saw Tompkins and Johnson disqualified for being underweight at the scales.

Rob Yetman picked up where he left off last Saturday night with his Troy Management Group #7. He took the lead on lap ten on the 20-lap race and had to fend off a challenge from Bill Lobdell late in the race to score the win. It looked like it was going to be a great battle between Robbie Speed and Yetman just around halfway. Speed had taken the lead on lap five with Yetman in hot pursuit. Just as the battle started to heat up Speed slowed suddenly in turn four. For the second straight week a flat tire took Speed out of contention for the victory. Speed did recover to finish fourth. It was a rough night for defending co-champion Danny Sanchez. He got parked in the turn four wall on lap two and got spun out on lap 12. Lobdell was able to challenge Yetman in the final stages of the race until the two made contact on lap 14. Lobdell's hood came flying off on lap 16 and he would not finish in the top ten. Following Yetman across the line was Jim Langenback, Paul LaRochelle, Speed and Tom Brandt.

Lebanon Valley will be back in action next Saturday night. Madsen Overhead Doors and Boomers Performance Night will see a regular card on tap. In addition there will be a $500 to win modified pit crew competition. For more information about the speedway check us out online at www.lebanonvalley.com or call the speedway at (518) 794-9606 for more info.