Brett Hearn Wins Valley Feature with Last-Lap Pass
Story By: PHIL ALLAWAY / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY Photos By: MARK BROWN / NEPART PHOTOS
WEST LEBANON, NY- May 23, 2016- For the second week in a row rain played a role in the overall outcome at Lebanon Valley. This week, the Pro Stock feature was red-flagged after five laps due to rain. It will continue next Saturday night with Jay Corbin leading the field to the green flag.
Before the rains came, Chad Jeseo started the Modified feature from the pole with Kyle Sheldon alongside. Sheldon has struggled so far in 2016, but seemed to find the proper setup. He was able to keep tabs with Jeseo for the first few laps, then pounced to take the advantage on lap 4. From there, Sheldon began pulling away from the field.
Meanwhile, Brett Hearn, Kenny Tremont, Jr. and Andy Bachetti were attempting to move up from their mid-pack starting positions to contend. By lap 6, Hearn was up from 15th to ninth and seventh by lap 12. Tremont and Bachetti’s advances were much slower. They would stall out around ninth and tenth, then battle with each other.
Sheldon had a big lead until Kyle Armstrong and Mike King collided exiting turn 4 and spun on lap 18 after battling hard for quite a few laps. The caution put Hearn, who was up to fourth, on the tail of the leaders. On the restart, Hearn passed Steve Hough for third while Tremont moved up a number of spots before another yellow for Kolby Schroder bunched up the pack for the last eight laps.
On the restart, Hearn made quick work of Jeseo for second, then began running down Sheldon for the lead. Hearn tried the inside on Sheldon, but the young racer used the outside line to keep ahead. Coming to the white flag, Hearn got alongside Sheldon and finally made it stick exiting turn 2 on the final lap. From there, Hearn pulled away to take his second win in a row.
Hearn was very happy with the win, but acknowledged that it was not easy.
“Tonight was a little harder,” Hearn said in the pits. “I thought that we might have to settle [for] second at the end because the tires were so overheated. I got just enough of a run there on the last lap…to execute the pass.”
Sheldon held on for second, while Jeseo finished a season-best third. Brian Berger was fourth, while Tremont was fifth.
In the Small Block Modifieds, Buddy Hencke led from the pole and was easily able to maintain the advantage over Alan Houghtaling. Meanwhile, Tremont started in a distant 14th and quickly made his way up through the order.
Steve Hough crashed into the Jersey Barrier on the frontstretch to bring out the yellow on lap 11. At the same time, Hencke developed issues with his engine and was forced to retire, giving the lead to Houghtaling.
On the restart, Tremont had a great run from fourth to take second away from Rob Pitcher. Tremont then ran down Houghtaling and took the lead away two laps later. From there, the veteran racer pulled away from the pack to take his second straight win.
Houghtaling, after dealing with panhard bar issues last week, held on for second, while Rob Pitcher was third. Brett Haas touted the strength of his brakes in avoiding wrecks last week. Then, they turned traitor in warm-ups, resulting in a crash. The Brett Haas Racing team repaired the No. 55 and Haas drove the wounded vehicle to fourth from 15th. Frank Harper rounded out the top 5.
The Sportsman class saw the scariest incident of the night. Just after the first lap was completed, Anthony Savoca slid into the wall exiting turn 2 and ground to a halt exiting turn 2. Savoca was then hit, triggering a multi-car crash in which both Savoca and Greg Catlin rolled over. Dan Speedling, Alissa Cody, Ryan Heath, David Schilling and Jim Boardman were also involved. At the same time, a separate incident in turn 1 wrapped up Nikki Ouellette, Dan Lyle and John Miller. Despite the severity of the crash, everyone involved was ok. A lengthy red flag was required for cleanup.
Once the race got back underway, Whitey Slavin was able to take the lead away from Carmon Carnibucci, bringing Jeff Watson with him. Watson tried for the lead, but Brandon Pitcher brought out a yellow before he could get it.
Watson took the lead for good on lap 8, then was not challenged for the rest of the race on the way to the victory. Kevin Ward moved up to finish second, followed by John Virgilio. Michael Sabia was fourth and Chris Lynch was fifth.
In Pure Stock, Scott Morris, Jesse Murphy and Jason Meltz each won features.
Madsen Overhead Doors/Mark’s Variety Modified Feature Results (30 laps): 1) Brett Hearn, 2) Kyle Sheldon, 3) Chad Jeseo, 4) Brian Berger, 5) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 6) Andy Bachetti, 7) Eddie Marshall, 8) Steve Hough, 9) Keith Flach, 10) Matt Pupello, 11) Olden Dwyer, 12) J.R. Heffner, 13) Rob Pitcher, 14) Elmo Reckner, 15) Kyle Hoffman, 16) Mike Keeler, 17) Kyle Armstrong, 18) Paul Gilardi, 19) Denny Soltis, 20) Kolby Schroder, 21) Mike King, 22) Stan Frankenfield, 23) Mark Chartrand, 24) Ken McGuire, 25) Lorne Browe
Small Block Modified Feature Results (24 laps): 1) Kenny Tremont, Jr., 2) Alan Houghtaling, 3) Rob Pitcher, 4) Brett Haas, 5) Frank Harper, 6) Demetrios Drellos, 7) Brian Sandstedt, 8) Chad Jeseo, 9) Kim LaVoy, 10) J.R. Heffner, 11) Chad Pierce, 12) Jason Herrington, 13) Elmo Reckner, 14) Peter Carlotto, 15) Bryan McGuire, 16) Ricky Davis, 17) Brian Peterson, 18) Dan Humes, 19) Michael Sabia, 20) Olden Dwyer, 21) Buddy Hencke, 22) Steve Hough, 23) Ray Hall, Jr., 24) Frank Hoard, III. DNS: Joey Scarborough
Unofficial Sportsman Andrew Sherman Memorial Results (20 laps): 1) Jeff Watson, 2) Kevin Ward, 3) John Virgilio, 4) Michael Sabia, 5) Chris Lynch, 6) Whitey Slavin, 7) Timothy Davis, 8) Kevin Arnold, 9) David Schilling, 10) Cody Hunt, 11) Frank Hoard, Jr., 12) Rob Maxon, 13) Cody Ochs, 14) Alissa Cody, 15) Dan Lyle, 16) Nikki Ouellette, 17) Carmon Carnibucci, 18) Brandon Pitcher, 19) Anthony Savoca, 20) Greg Catlin, 21) Ryan Heath, 22) Dan Speedling, 23) Jim Boardman, 24) John Miller
Pure Stock Feature No. 1 Results (8 laps): 1) Scott Morris, 2) Zach Seyerlein, 3) Dennis O’Connor, 4) Dan Cote, 5) Bill Deak, Sr., 6) Tim Thompson, 7) Greg DeCamp, 8) Wuggie Burdick, 9) Joe Walcott. DNS: Mark Dwyer, Ed Hatch
Pure Stock Feature No. 2 Results (8 laps): 1) Jesse Murphy, 2) Dave Stickles, 3) Zach Sorrentino, 4) Clifford Booth, 5) Nick Reilly, 6) Mike Arnold, 7) Keri VanDenburg, 8) Martina Martin, 9) Karen Verhagen, 10) John Devine. DNS: Brian VanDenburg
Pure Stock Feature No. 3 Results (12 laps): 1) Jason Meltz, 2) Al Relyea, 3) Jay Casey, 4) Ray Hall, Sr., 5) Jeff Meltz, Sr., 6) Jeff Meltz, Jr., 7) Gary O’Brien, 8) Jeff Kreutziger, 9) Brian Walsh, 10) Dom Denue, 11) Chris Murphy, 12) Harold Robitaille, 13) Kevin Paul, 14) Shawn Perez. DNS: Larry Perez
