Hearn Claims Victory with Optimized Chassis
Story By: PHIL ALLAWAY / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY MEDIA Photos By: DAVE DALESANDRO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
WEST LEBANON, NY- May 16, 2016- Lebanon Valley was just about the only track in New York to race on Saturday night. Nearly all of the scheduled features were completed before the rains finally came. That action was quite fast and furious.
Olden Dwyer started from pole with a hard-charging Lorne Browe alongside. Browe clearly wanted the lead early and went into turns 3 and 4 hard on the inside. Unfortunately, Browe lost control and spun in front of the field. Steve Hough, Paul Gilardi, Brian Berger and Andy Bachetti were all collected in the resulting crash. Everyone was ok, but only Bachetti was able to continue.
As a result of the crash, Kyle Hoffman moved up to second, but quickly lost it to Mike King. Meanwhile, Brett Hearn took advantage of the crash to move up the order quickly. By lap 5, he was knocking on the door of the top 5 after starting 14th. A couple of laps later, he was right up on the leaders.
Hoffman regained second on lap 8 and put the pressure on Dwyer for the lead. At the same time, Hearn moved in on them both. Lapped traffic held up Hearn and allowed Hoffman to get past Dwyer for the lead on lap 12. That advantage was short-lived as Hearn got by Hoffman a lap later and began pulling away.
A yellow on lap 21 for Bachetti cutting a tire brought the field back together. This allowed Kenny Tremont, Jr. to enter the fray. Tremont passed Dwyer for third with seven laps to go. An exhaust pipe on the backstretch created a Green-White-Checker situation. On that final restart, Tremont was able to get by Hoffman for second, but could not keep Hearn from taking the win.
Afterwards, Hearn stated that getting his car optimized was key.
“It’s a new car for us here for the first time in about four years,” Hearn said. “It was a matter of finding out what this car likes. Every car has a different personality that I have to relate to, and then adjust from there.”
Hoffman held on for third, followed by Keith Flach. Elmo Reckner was fifth.
In the Small Block Modifieds, an early incident set the tone. On the initial start, a pile-up involved a number of drivers including Brett Haas, Demetrios Drellos, Kim LaVoy, and J.R. Heffner, among others. Jeseo was done for the night, but Haas and others continued after repairs.
Following another yellow, Tremont was able to get past pole-sitter Chad Pierce to take the lead. Another chain reaction put that pass in stone when Jason Herrington slowed in turn 1. The aftermath resulted in Alan Houghtaling spinning out.
As well as Drellos’ opening night went, race No. 2 was the opposite. After getting caught in the first wreck, Drellos was angry at himself. On lap 7, Drellos ran over the left rear of LaVoy’s No. 5. The result was that Drellos put himself hard in the wall. He was ok, but done for the night.
For the rest of the race, Haas was the man on the move. After pitting and dropping to the rear after the first lap crash, Haas made a methodical move towards the front. A late yellow bunched the field and allowed Haas to move up to second, but he could do nothing with Tremont, who held on for the win.
Behind Tremont and Haas was Hough in third. Heffner charged back for fourth, while Harper was fifth.
In Pro Stock, veteran Victor Hopkins started from the pole with his longtime competitor Frank Twing alongside. The 55-year old Hopkins was able to get out to the advantage while Steven LaRochelle moved to second. A slip by LaRochelle on lap 4 ended up dropping him right out of the hunt, though.
LaRochelle’s slip put Rick Dempsey in second. Dempsey slowly reeled in Hopkins, but ultimately could not a move on him at first. Meanwhile, Jay Corbin was slowly making progress towards the front, one position at a time.
The only yellow of the race came when Jon Routhier spun in turn 4. He would continue, but eventually finished 12th.
After the restart, Hopkins pulled out a lead while Corbin continued to move forward. Eventually a great battle erupted between Corbin and Dempsey for second. Contact was made on the frontstretch. This fierce battling allowed Hopkins to get away and take his first win of the year.
Corbin was able to get past on the final lap to finish second, while Dempsey settled for third. Twing was fourth, while Rob Yetman was fifth.
In Pure Stock, Gary O’Brien, Dom Denue and Al Relyea each earned wins. The Sportsman feature was officially rained out with no laps completed. As a result, the Sportsman class will have double features next weekend.
Bonded Concrete/Empire Chemical Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 3) Kyle Hoffman, 4) Keith Flach, 5) Elmo Reckner, 6) Eddie Marshall, 7) Olden Dwyer, 8) Kolby Schroder, 9) Rob Pitcher, 10) Matt Pupello, 11) Andy Bachetti, 12) Mike King, 13) Kyle Armstrong, 14) J.R. Heffner, 15) Stan Frankenfield, 16) Mike Keeler, 17) Kyle Sheldon, 18) Mark Chartrand, 19) Denny Soltis, 20) Lorne Browe, 21) Paul Gilardi, 22) Steve Hough, 23) Brian Berger, 24) Chad Jeseo
Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Brett Haas, 3) Steve Hough, 4) J.R. Heffner, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Elmo Reckner, 7) Frank Hoard, III, 8) Chad Pierce, 9) Peter Carlotto, 10) Kim LaVoy, 11) Ryan Darcy, 12) Rob Pitcher, 13) Ryan Charland, 14) Jason Herrington, 15) Ray Hall, Jr., 16) Ricky Davis, 17) Brian Peterson, 18) Alan Houghtaling, 19) Brian Sandstedt, 20) Jason Tompkins, 21) Demetrios Drellos, 22) Buddy Hencke, 23) Olden Dwyer, 24) Chad Jeseo. DNS: Kenny Aanonsen, Jr.
Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Victor Hopkins, 2) Jay Corbin, 3) Rick Dempsey, 4) Frank Twing, 5) Rob Yetman, 6) Rick Duzlak, 7) Chuck Towslee, 8) Chad Arsenault, 9) Steven LaRochelle, 10) Paul LaRochelle, 11) Ryan Hosier, 12) Jon Routhier, 13) Ray Hall, Jr., 14) Brian Keough, 15) Nick Hilt, 16) Sparky Reilly, 17) Joe LaFlamme. DNS: Tom Dean (Crash), Mark Dupuis
Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Gary O’Brien, 2) Jesse Murphy, 3) Ed Hatch, Zach Sorrentino, 5) Zach Seyerlein, 6) Joe Cheneil, 7) Mike Arnold, 8) Wuggie Burdick
Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Dom Denue, 2) Tim Thompson, 3) Harold Robitaille, 4) Nick Reilly, 5) Joe Walcott, 6) Victoria Meltz, 7) Mark Dwyer. DNS: Bill Deak, Sr.
Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Al Relyea, 2) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Ray Hall, Sr., 5) Jeff Kreutziger, 6) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 7) Chris Murphy, 8) Brian Walsh, 9) Jay Casey, 10) Shawn Perez, 11) Kevin Paul, 12) Larry Perez
