STOCKS: Larkin, Kokosa & Colesanti Among This Week's Winners at Lebanon Valley
11 July 1999
WEST LEBANON, NY- Dickie Larkin got an early Christmas present as Lebanon Valley celebrated Christmas in July on Saturday night. Larkin took home his first modified win of the 1999 season. Chris Kokosa took the victory in the 20-lap sportsman feature. Chris Morris was the winner of the 20-lap street stock main and Rich Colesanti won the 15-lap IMCA modified feature. Freihofer Baking Co. and Funplex Funpark were the headline sponsors for the evening. The good folks at Funplex paid a bonus of $200 to the winner of the Modified feature and $100 to the winner of each of the Sportsman, IMCA Modified and Street Stock features also. Brian Berger and Dickie Larkin led the modified field down to the green flag in the 30-lap modified feature. Jody Tornabene quickly moved up into second right behind Berger. The top three pulled away from the rest of the field as some of the heavy hitters were making their way the through the field. J.R. Heffner cracked the top five when he passed Chris Kokosa on lap nine. The leaders began to encounter lapped traffic by lap 13. The top five at halfway were Berger, Tornabene, Larkin, Mike Ricci and Heffner. Rich Ricci and Kenny Tremont sat just out of the top five in sixth and seventh place. Dave Leckonby narrowly avoided disaster when the front end of his racecar collapsed on lap 24. Leckonby was able to keep the car from hitting the frontstretch wall, but his disabled car did bring out the first caution of the event. Larkin tried to get around Tornabene for second on the restart, but could not make the pass. Tremont was able to move all the way up to fourth by lap 27 and put himself in contention for the victory. As the leaders took the white flag, Tornabene attempted to make the pass on Berger for the win. The two made contact and both headed for the turn one wall, bringing out the final caution and setting up a last lap shootout between Larkin and Tremont. Tremont tried to make the pass underneath Larkin, but Larkin was able to hold on to his first win of the season. Tremont had to settled for second with Mike Ricci third, Heffner fourth and Berger was able to hold onto a top five finish. Lee Gagliardi was the early race leader in the 20-lap sportsman main. Chris Kokosa was looking for a good run; one reason was because his sponsor, Funplex was a co-sponsor of the nights racing activities. Kokosa put himself into contention by taking over second on lap eight. The field was slowed on lap ten for a four-car incident on the backstretch. The restart allowed Art Collins to take third from Frank Harper. Kokosa made his bid for the lead on lap 14 and made the pass a couple of laps later. Collins was able to also get around Gagliardi for second, but could not catch Kokosa. George Marcus made a late race pass for third, while Gagliardi held on to fourth and Sparky Lowe was fifth. Chris Morris took home his first win of the 1999 season in the 20-lap street stock feature. The victory was not easy by any means as early in the race Morris had to hold off a hard charging Robbie Speed. Tragedy nearly struck for Morris on lap seven as he got into a lapped car. Speed was able to get around Morris to take the top spot. Current point leader, Jim Lagenback was charging through the pack at the midway point of the event, he was up to fourth by lap nine. Morris began to challenge Speed for the lead again on lap 12 and he would make a pass to regain the lead on lap 13. Something was amiss on Speed's car, as Butch Irwin and Lagenback were both able to get around him as well. Speed used a caution flag on lap 14 to go pitside to change a right rear tire. Ed Bachand saw a top ten run disappear on the restart as he blew a motor. Scott Govertsen would also see a good run come to an end as his right front tire came off his car on lap 15. Lagenback got up to second by lap 16 and set his sights on the front-running Morris. Lagenback tried several times to get around Morris but could never make the pass stick. Butch Irwin came in third with Bubba Tanner fourth and Dave Kokindo fifth. Kevin Buff was the early race leader in the 15-lap IMCA modified feature. Craig Simmons took the lead away from Buff on the fourth circuit. The second caution of the race flew on lap five as four cars crashed in turn four. Rich Colesanti made the pass for the lead on the restart as the top four cars motored away from the rest of the field. Steve Hough and Donnie Denue made contact going down the backstretch and there was heavy damage on Hough's racer. Fortunately both drivers were not hurt. Simmons would try to challenge Colesanti for the lead but could never mount a serious challenge and would have to settle for second. Jim Rajczi and Brian Wilbur were both involved in the lap five incident and both returned to finish third and fourth respectively. Early race leader Buff rounded out the top five. FRIEHOFER BAKING CO./FUNPLEX FUNPARK MODIFIED SUMMARY (30 Laps)-Dickie Larkin, Kenny Tremont Jr, Mike Ricci, J.R. Heffner, Brian Berger, Tim Dwyer, Rich Ricci Jr, Donnie Corellis, John Hewitt, Eddie Marshall, Chris Moore, Ronnie Johnson, Mike King, Chip Mitchell, Maynard Forrette, Chris Kokosa, Rob Pitcher, Jody Tornabene, Dave Mosher, Wayne Figler, Steve Devine, Todd Wilkinson, Denny Young Sr, Dave Leckonby, Ron Blake, Guy Sheldon, Jason Goff, Chris Soltis SPORTSMAN SUMMARY (20 Laps)-Chris Kokosa, Art Collins, George Marcus, Lee Gagliardi, Sparky Lowe, Hawley Smith, Wayne Jelley, Stan Jablonka, K.C. Goewey, Dave Sanchez, Mike Mason, Tony La Porta, Mike Boomhower, Bobby Knipe, Jay Casey, Jason Tompkins, Ernie Palmer, Don Miller, Ed Riiska, Frank Harper, Lorne Browe, Ken Aanonsen, Mike Visconti, Tom Overbaugh IMCA MODIFIED SUMMARY (15 Laps)-Rich Colesanti, Craig Simmons, Jim Rajczi, Brian Wilbur, Kevin Buff, Tom Faxon, Don Denue, Anthony Markou, Bud Hernberg, Steve Hough, Jeff Carr, George Catanzano, Chris Crews, Kevin Priest DNS STREET STOCK SUMMARY (20 Laps)-Chris Morris, Jim Langenback, Butch Irwin, Bubba Tanner, Dave Kokindo, Bob Duzlak, Bob Miller, Phil Sherman, Bobby Blackburn, Mark Lighthall, Tom Brandt, Spencer Hughes, Robbie Speed, Tom Bortle, Rick Fosby, Scott Govertsen, Mike Halachick, Ed Bachand, John Palcher, Mike Bungay, Kirk Stanaway, Tim Emmons ROOKIE STREET STOCK SUMMARY (8 Laps)-E.J. LeGeyt, Don Collins, John Denue, Dan Burl, Henry Warner, Wayne Hall, Earl Mellan, Eric Wood, Don Shepard, Chris Claus, Brian Keough, Don Ely, Ken Parker PURE STOCK "A" SUMMARY (8 Laps)-Jim Hankey, Carl Bailargeon, Charlie Woodard, Brian Tator, Lee Gallant, Fran Marchand, Ted Mulberry, Tom Currier, William Fuchs, Brian Sandstedt, Rich Douglass, Darryl Baker, Jason Garner PURE STOCK "B" SUMMARY (8 Laps)-William Hammell, Josh Webb, Tony Gale, Joe Mottoshiski, Ron Tritchler, Phil Wood, Ryan Crellin, Bill Hughes, Ramon Perry, Tom Meltz Jr, Joe Hallenbeck, Rich. Schumann, Dave Colwell, Mark Houston PURE STOCK "C" SUMMARY (8 Laps)-Kevin Denue, Steve Hatch, Spencer Cushing, Bob Palmer, Tom Sanchez Jr, Ray Pierre Jr, Anthony Cotugno, George Miles Jr, Jonathan Coon, Jacob Coons, Peter De Figlio, Tim Drumm, Scott Kilmer, Dave Gambacorta TOP 15 MODIFIED POINTS AS OF 7-10 1 Kenny Tremont Jr 115 740 2 Tim Dwyer 1A 586 3 Donnie Corellis 57 535 4 J.R. Heffner 74 533 5 John Hewitt 24 519 6 Mike Ricci 5 465 7 Dave Leckonby 1 461 8 Ronnie Johnson 21 448 9 Dickie Larkin 99 439 10 Todd Wilkinson 47 437 11 Rich Ricci Jr 55R 436 12 Guy Sheldon S 428 13 Eddie Marshall 98 414 14 Jason Goff 73 414 15 Chris Moore 10 408
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