The Official Site of Area Auto Racing News and Len Sammons Productions Area Auto Racing News
West Lebanon, NY: The sun, the wind, and race cars on a dry dirt track created a perfect ‘storm’ for race fans and drivers alike. Brett Hearn powered his way to the front for the win going away in the Big Block Modifieds, while Frank Harper scored the win in a crazy Small Block Modified feature. Rob Yetman goes for 3 in a row in the Pro Stocks on the High Banks.
A less than ideal situation arose at the mighty high speed high banks at Lebanon Valley Speedway as a combination of the severe wet weather over the course of the last several days, followed by sunny, dry, windy weather causing track conditions to be a bit difficult at best.
The big block modifieds took the speedway for their 30 lap feature event, and quickly realized that visibility was going to be at a premium. At the start, Matt Pupello and Andy Bachetti brought the field to the green.
But the all eyes were on the superfast 20H of Brett Hearn as he cracked the top 5 by lap 4, and then the eased into 2nd by lap 9. And just 3 laps shy of halfway, Hearn took over the top spot, and sailed away by a full straightaway.
Back in the field, everyone was struggling to gain positions and to navigate through the field. But all drivers held on to survive a safe night of racing action. However, that was all for 2nd on back, as Hearn dominated for the win, his 2nd on the season.
Bachetti held on for a strong 2nd place finish. Kyle Hoffman, Kenny Tremont Jr , and J.R. Heffner completed the top 5 finishers.
In the small block modified feature, the conditions were much the same, as Jim Rajczi jumped out to the early lead. But a caution on lap 2 slowed the field with a spin on the backstretch involving the 66P of Sean Mandel and the 12 of Brian Sandstedt. What could have been much worse, but all drivers drove away with minimal damage.
Back to green, the 9 of Rajczi was still in command, but the 25 of Frank Harper wasted no time getting to the front by lap 3. The handling began to fade in the closing lapsfor Harper, allowing the 21 of Ryan Darcy to close and make a last lap, last corner pass for the lead.
But the slide didn’t stick causing the 21 to spin in front of the field collecting the 25J of Chad Jeseo ending his strong top 5 run. At the checkers though, Harper scored the win followed by Brett Haas. Wayne Jelley, Chad Pierce and Art Collins completed the top 5 finishers.
In the Pro Stock 20 lap feature, Rob Yetman drove the 143 to the head of the field by lap 7 and checked out on the rest of the competitors. Some additional cautions slowed the field, but it made no difference up front, as Yetman was on rails, and scored the win, his 3rd in a row.
Robbie Speed held on for 2nd, Daniel Sanchez finished 3rd. Jon Routhier and Frank Twing rounded out the top 5 finishers.
Earlier on the night, the full fendered Purestocks took the high banks, and in PS 1, Clifford Booth scored the win. In Purestock 2, Scott Morris got to the checkers first. And in PS 3, Steven LaRochelle made the last lap pass for the win!
In the 4 Cylinders feature, Ian Relyea scored the win in Single Cam, and Kenny Stager scored the win in Dual Cam.
Next Saturday Night is a special $5,000 to Win King of the Track Big Block Modified Shootout presented by Rifenburg Construction. All divisions will be on tap including the Budget Sportsman. Then, it’s the Marchese Ford, MONSTER JAM USHRA SUMMER NATIONALS starting Sunday July 13h through Wednesday July 16th!
For more information, ticket information, and more, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com and click on ‘Speedway’.
Freihofer’s Big Block Modified Feature (30 Laps): 1)Brett Hearn, 2)Andy Bachetti, 3)Kyle Hoffman, 4)Kenny Tremont Jr, 5)J.R. Heffner, 6)Donnie Corellis, 7)Kyle Armstrong, 8)Kolby Schroder, 9)Kyle Sheldon, 10)Brian Berger, 11)Rob Pitcher, 12)Keith Flach, 13)Mike King, 14)Eddie Marshall, 15)Matt Pupello, 16)Frank Hoard 3rd(SB), 17)Paul Gilardi, 18)Brian Peterson(SB), 19)Chad Pierce (SB), 20)Ken Aanonsen Jr(SB), 21)Ryan Charland(SB), 22)Brett Haas (SB), 23)Bobby Hackel, 24)Olden Dwyer(SB), DNS)Guy Sheldon
Ray Energy Small Block Modified Feature (20 Laps): 1)Frank Harper, 2)Brett Haas, 3)Wayne Jelley, 4)Chad Pierce, 5)Art Collins, 6)Frank Hoard III, 7)Kim LaVoy, 8)Brian Sandstedt, 9)Ryan Charland, 10)Kenny Aanonsen JR, 11)Ryan Darcy, 12)Chad Jeseo, 13)Brian Peterson, 14)Jim Rajczi, 15)Ray Hall, 16)Sean Mendel, 17)Alan Houghtaling, DNS)Jason Herrington, DNS)Olden Dwyer
Pro Stock Feature (20 Laps): 1)Rob Yetman, 2)Robbie Speed, 3)Daniel Sanchez, 4)Jon Routhier, 5)Frank Twing, 6)Victor Hopkins, 7)Nick Hilt, 8)Paul LaRochelle, 9)Justin Tilton, 10)Jeff Kelmel, 11)Rick Duzlak, 12)Chris Claus, 13)Tom Princiotta, 14)Chuck Towslee, 15)Tom Harkins, 16)Brian Walsh, 17)Tony DeRose
Purestock 1 Feature (8 Laps): 1)Clifford Booth, 2)Dan Cote, 3)Joe Cheneil, 4)Joe, Laundry, 5)Martina Martin, 6)Chris Pierce, 7)David Olds, 8)Chris Streeter, 9)Dave Stickles, 10)Dave Fachini, 11)Dan Lyle
Purestock 2 Feature(8 Laps):1)Scott Morris, 2)Phil Sherman, 3)Shawn Perez, 4)Jesse Murphy, 5)Jay Martin, 6)Keri Vandenburg, 7)Zachery Seyerlein, 8)Joe Walcott, 9)Brian Vandenburg, 10)Raymond Mandel, 11)Harold Robitaille
Purestock 3 Feature (12 Laps): 1)Steven LaRochelle, 2)Ed Hatch, 3)Jeff Meltz, 4)Al Relyea, 5)Mike Eichstedt, 6)Ray Hall Sr, 7)Jeff Meltz Sr., 8)Jason Meltz, 9)John Devine, 10)John Felarecki, 11)Bob Brown, 12)Jeff Kreutzinger, 13)Doug Olds, 14)Bob Palmer, 15)Gary O’Brien, 16)Lou Ganczar
