Tracks: Pitcher takes first win of the season at Lebanon Valley
25 June 2000
WEST LEBANON, NY- A capacity crowd was on hand as Lebanon Valley hosted their
first fireworks show of the year. Rob Pitcher was a rocket on the track and
took home the 30-lap modified feature win. Art Collins was the winner of the
sportsman main and Scott Govertsen won the street stock feature. Don Denue
was the victor of the IMCA modified feature. Tremont Lumber, Zappala Block
and WXXA-Fox 23 brought us all the great racing action.
Rob Pitcher took command of the 30-lap modified feature and never looked
back. If he had he would have saw some great two and three wide racing as the
rest of the field tried to run him down. Dickie Larkin snuck around Mike King
for the second position on the fourth lap of the race. Jason Goff got spun
around in turn one and brought out the first caution of the race on lap four.
J.R. Heffner and Guy Sheldon both went pitside under the caution and only
Sheldon was able to return to the trenches. Matt Quinn used the restart to
pass King for third. The field would complete only one more lap before the
caution came out again. Donnie Corellis spun around in turn one and collected
Eddie Marshall and John Lutes in the process.
The top five began to string out single file but there was some hard
racing for seventh on back as the heavy hitters made their way to the front.
Rich Ricci made his way into fifth on lap nine. Ricci was charging hard to
the front as he was up to third just before the halfway point. The top five
at the halfway point was Pitcher, Larkin, Ricci, Dave Leckonby and Chris
Moore. Dave McFeeters came to a stand still on the backstretch and brought
out the yellow flag on lap 15.
Moore and Tremont had a great side by side battle for two laps with
Tremont taking fourth on lap 18. Larkin took a quick look under Pitcher on
lap 21 but could not make the pass. Tremont made his way up to third by lap
22 and passed Larkin for second on lap 24. Tremont began to pressure Pitcher
for the top spot as the leaders got into heavy lapped traffic. Tremont tried
to get between Pitcher and a lapped car in turn two and hopped over the
lapped cars right rear tire. Tremont dropped back to fifth as the field went
down the backstretch. Something obvious broke on Tremont's mount went he got
airborne in turn two. He was trying to go outside of Moore in turn three and
his car never turned and he drove straight into the turn three wall.
Tremont's car suffered serious damage and had to be cradled off the track.
The remainder of the race went rather uneventful as Pitcher held on for
his first victory on the season. Larkin had a strong second place finish as
well. Moore and Ricci had a good battle for third with Moore holding the
advantage at the end of the race. Ricci would finish fourth and Quinn rounded
out the top five. Dave Leckonby, Chris Kokosa, John Hewitt, Corellis and Russ
Blair completed the top ten.
Luke Badaracco led the first four laps of the 20-lap sportsman nightcap.
Art Collins passed him for the lead on a lap four restart. Badaracco had a
strong top five running going until he spun out just before the halfway point
and had to go to the rear. Wayne Jelley looked to be a contender early in the
race and was all the way up to second by lap five. Something in the motor
went away on Jelley's car and he slowed on the frontstretch. The rest of the
field was sent scrambling to avoid Jelley's car. Jeff Cassidy and Hawley
Smith both made contact with the turn one wall. Cassidy was able to continue
on, but Smith was done for the night. Bobby Knipe was also involved in the
incident. The caution flag flew again before another lap was completed as
four cars came together in the back of the pack. K.C. Goewey took over the
second position on a lap nine restart and he tried to run down Collins.
George Marcus started the feature deep in the pack and was making a
charge towards the front. He took fifth on lap eleven and would get up to
fourth by the end of the race. Collin and Goewey crossed the line about a
half-straightaway ahead of Mike Visconti. Marcus was fourth and Roy Bridge
rounded out the top five.
The distance was 20-laps for the street stock feature Saturday night. Dan
Burl and Todd Goldstein both took turns leading the first lap and Goldstein
was able to hold the top spot as the field completed lap one. The top five
quickly pulled away from the rest of the pack while Danny Sanchez and Bob
Duzlak raced hard for sixth. The first of five cautions came on lap four as
several cars came together in the back of the pack. Scott Govertsen used the
restart to rocket into the runner-up position. If he had a rearview mirror he
would have seen a great three wide battle for third behind him. Dave Kokindo
dropped from the event on lap five.
Dave Striebel made his return to competition Saturday night in the car
normally driven by Kirk Stanaway. He had a little trouble getting back into
and brought out a caution when he spun on lap five. Bob Duzlak tried to get
around Govertsen on the restart, but he could not make the pass stick. Jimmy
Lagenback cracked the top five for the first time on lap six and took over
fourth the next lap. Lagenback saw his good run come to a halt on that same
lap as the air decided to exit his right rear tire.
The field was sent scrambling trying to avoid the disabled racer of
Lagenback. Robbie Speed bounced off Lagenback and made hard contact with the
turn one wall. Lagenback went pitside during the caution to change the flat
tire. He made a charge back to the front and sat seventh at the end of the
race. Bob Duzlak attempted to pass Govertsen again on lap eleven. The two
made contact sending Duzlak into the frontstretch wall and out of the event.
Goldstein drifted high in turn three and Govertsen was able to take the
lead on lap twelve. The race slowed for the final time on lap 14. Govertsen
and Goldstein pulled away from the rest of the pack to settle the victory
amongst themselves. Govertsen was able to hold on to take the victory
followed by Goldstein Rob Yetman, Burl and Ed Bachand.
6-24 TREMONT LUMBER, ZAPPALA BLOCK, FOX23TV NIGHT MODIFIED SUMMARY (30 LAPS)
- 1) ROB PITCHER, 2) Dickie Larkin, 3) Chris Moore, 4) Rich Ricci Jr, 5) Matt
Quinn, 6) Dave Leckonby, 7) Chris Kokosa, 8) John Hewitt, 9) Donnie Corellis,
10) Russ Blair, 11) Tim Dwyer, 12) Mike King, 13) Ronnie Johnson, 14) Jason
Goff, 15) Maynard Forrette, 16) Ron Blake, 17) Dave Mosher, 18) Chip
Mitchell, 19) Al McCoy, 20) Mike Molloy, 21) Wes Powell, 22) John Lutes Jr,
23) Kenny Tremont Jr, 24) Dave McFeeters, 25) Eddie Marshall, 26) Guy
Sheldon, 27) J.R. Heffner, 28) David Sanchez
SPORTSMAN SUMMARY (20 LAPS) - 1) ART COLLINS, 2) K.C. Goewey, 3) Mike
Visconti, 4) George Marcus, 5) Roy Bridge, 6) Jeff Carr, 7) Jeff Cassidy, 8)
Jay Casey, 9) Darral Hulbert, 10) Bobby Knipe, 11) John Hotchkiss, 12) Stan
Jablonka, 13) Sparky Lowe, 14) Mike Boomhower, 15) Don Miller, 16) Frank
Harper, 17) Paul Gilardi, 18) Jeff Watson, 19) Danny Watson, 20) Neal
Erickson, 21) Luke Badaracco, 22) Mike Mason, 23) Wayne Jelley, 24) Hawley
Smith, 25) Ed Harkin, 26) Jason Tompkins
IMCA MODIFIED SUMMARY (8 LAPS) - 1) DON DENUE, 2) Paul LaRochelle, 3) Joe
Fachini, 4) Chris Crews, 5) Pete Tucker
STREET STOCK SUMMARY (20 LAPS) - 1) SCOTT GOVERTSEN, 2) Todd Goldstein, 3)
Rob Yetman, 4) Dan Burl, 5) Ed Bachand, 6) Danny Sanchez, 7) Jim Langenback,
8) Al Blackburn, 9) Ricky Duzlak, 10) Steve Brownell, 11) Dave Striebel, 12)
Robbie Speed, 13) Earl Mellan, 14) Tom Brandt, 15) Pete DeFiglio, 16) Bob
Duzlak, 17) Ted Teal, 18) Dave Kokindo, 19) Wayne Oliver, 20) Paul Rogers,
21) Don Ely, 22) Mike McDowell, 23) Ted Rescott
ROOKIE STREET STOCK SUMMARY (8 LAPS) - 1) PHIL DEFIGLIO, 2) Dave Colwell, 3)
Brian Keough, 4) Walt Clark, 5) Lawrence Ball, 6) Dan Humes, 7) Chris Claus,
8) Jerry Wright Jr, 9) John Santolin, 10) Geo. Stalker Jr
PURE STOCK "A" SUMMARY (8 LAPS) - 1) STEVE HATCH, 2) Jim Dellea, 3) Jeff
Douglas, 4) Art Lafferty, 5) Mark Houston, 6) Ron Tritschler, 7) Tony
Lopresti, 8) Peter Robinson, 9) Gary Ashley, 10) Chad Ritrovato, 11) Ken
Scofield, 12) Dean Cushman, 13) Kevin Dolan, 14) Adam Unberger, 15) Lloyd
Fosby, 16) Bruce Pecorella
PURE STOCK "B" SUMMARY (8 LAPS) - 1) RICHARD HARKINS, 2) Anthony Cotugno, 3)
Pete Wiegand, 4) Brian Sandstadt, 5) George Miles Jr, 6) Scott Kilmer, 7)
Wally Engel, 8) Ronald Johnson, 9) Donald Coon, 10) P. Fitzpatrick, 11) Phil
Decker Jr, 12) Mark Forrest, 13) Jim Hankey, 14) Jacob Coons Jr, 15) Lloyd
Tomlin, 16) Doug Moore
PURE STOCK "C" SUMMARY (8 LAPS) - 1) RYAN CRELLIN, 2) Bob Palmer, 3) Ronnie
Jacobsen, 4) Fran Marchand, 5) Philip Moffit, 6) Rich. Schumann, 7) Earl
Soulier, 8) Rich Douglass, 9) Chris Crane, 10) Marcus Tifft, 11) Joe
Mottoshiski, 12) Bruce Moffitt, 13) Keith Barlow, 14) Bill Hughes, 15) Brian
Tator
TOP TEN Modified Points as of 6-24-00 1) Kenny Tremont Jr 548, 2) Rich Ricci
Jr 512, 3) John Hewitt 482, 4) Chris Moore 460, 5) Donnie Corellis 454, 6)
Dickie Larkin 445, 7) Dave Leckonby 413, 8) J.R. Heffner 406, 9) Ronnie
Johnson 390, 10) Chris Kokosa 389