Brett Hearn learned you can go home again after breaking his winless streak at his home track Thursday night, August 31. Hearn won $17,500 for his victory in the Mr. Dirt Track USA A-Main at Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, NY. This was Hearn’s first win in more than two years, his last victory coming on August 23rd, 2015 at Cornwall (Ontario) Motor Speedway.
Thursday night’s win came in a glorious fashion as Hearn started seventh in the A-main.
“We’ve been getting criticized for not winning a series race the last year and half so I guess if you are going to break out of a slump, you might as well win the one that pays the most money,” said Hearn with a smile in Victory Lane. “This will change the balance sheet for this summer pretty much. Thanks to Howard (Commander) for giving us this $17,500 race to shoot for. It makes being a regular here all worthwhile when you win the big one.”
This $17,500 win is the largest payout in the Super DIRTcar Series this season. To win, Hearn had to make it past both series regulars and hometown boys. Hearn passed his first two cars on the first lap to make it into the top five. His next five passes would not come as easy.
It took a few laps for Hearn to make his way up to and by Jimmy Phelps, passing him for fourth on lap four. Hearn settled in the fourth spot when the first caution of the night came out on lap 14 when Chad Jeseo brought out the caution after he lost his groove trying to find a way around Larry Wight. Jeseo found the wall instead.
Five laps later, the field went back to green and Hearn took on the top three with a vengeance. He gained his next position before the field was out of the first corner. By the time they exited turn two onto the back straightaway Hearn had the lead.
Eddie Marshall who was leading at the time that Hearn shot himself to the front was surprised that it was the No. 20 car that was passing him and not that of Keith Flach who was next to him on the restart.
“I was kind of surprised it was him,” commented Marshall. “I thought it was Keith [Flach] down there. When I saw that it was him I knew it was a big problem. He was super strong. I can’t be ashamed to run second the way he was running that’s for sure. We were good, just not good enough.”
“I wanted to get past the four (Andy Bachetti) and I went into one and the 43 (Flach) went low and I got a good run on the outside,” cited Hearn. “Eddie (Marshall) kind of slid up a little bit and the lane opened right up. He came out sideways and lost the traction a little bit. I had a good run from the top and that was all I needed.”
From then on Hearn had the opportunity as the leader to save his equipment for a strong run at the end while still putting a little bit of space in between him and Marshall in second.
On lap 30, Tyler Dippel’s left rear tire blew leading him to stop on the speedway in turn two, the brought out the second yellow of the evening.
The green flag flew again on lap 34, Hearn easily won the restart—leaving the rest of the field to fight for second. As racing continued and lapped traffic started to affect the top drivers’ runs, Marshall started to pull the leash on Hearn.
Within the final 25 laps Stewart Friesen made his presence known as he started searching for a way by Marshall. While the two drivers battled Matt Papello, who was running in the top 10 at the time, spun bringing out the final caution of the race.
Hearn was dominant again on the restart and quickly pulled away from Marshall and Friesen. Hearn led the final 12 laps of the race leading to his 121st series victory and 903rd career feature win.
In Victory Lane, Hearn discussed the anxiety of leading: a racer’s version of first world problems. “It’s totally nerve wracking I’m telling you. After the restarts you are feeling vibrations, then I’m thinking I’m running out of gas as the motor is stumbling. We had other issues after the heat race with some oil issues. It’s crazy, just a lot of anxiety.”
Marshall finished second after several attempts of retaking the lead from Hearn who had the dominant setup all night. “He was really running. We kind of got tight in the middle of the race and I was laboring with that. The longer it went the tighter it got. I knew if I was dead on I wasn’t going to go back by him too easy. He was the class of the field. He came back to us a little bit. I think he was saving his tires.”
Third-place Friesen was happy with his podium finish, since it also meant that he was the highest finishing non track regular in the 101-lap feature.
“To be the first outsider, I love coming here, love racing here and to have a top-three with those guys is good,” said Friesen. “We were close there with Eddie (Marshall) but Brett (Hearn) was pretty much lights out. We are happy for the Halmar (International) team. We kind of righted the ship a little bit on the series here. We’ve been working really hard in the shop the last couple weeks. I think we are onto something. We got some grip; I’m looking forward to see how that works out on Monday at Weedsport.”
Another track regular Kenny Tremont finished fourth and Flach, who ran as high as second, wrapped up the top five.
Top-10 Finishers
1. Brett Hearn
2. Eddie Marshal
3. Stewart Friesen
4. Kenny Tremont
5. Mike Mahaney
6. Andy Bachetti
7. Jimmy Phelps
8. Billy Decker
9. Matt Sheppard
10. JR Heffner
Thursday night’s win came in a glorious fashion as Hearn started seventh in the A-main.
“We’ve been getting criticized for not winning a series race the last year and half so I guess if you are going to break out of a slump, you might as well win the one that pays the most money,” said Hearn with a smile in Victory Lane. “This will change the balance sheet for this summer pretty much. Thanks to Howard (Commander) for giving us this $17,500 race to shoot for. It makes being a regular here all worthwhile when you win the big one.”
This $17,500 win is the largest payout in the Super DIRTcar Series this season. To win, Hearn had to make it past both series regulars and hometown boys. Hearn passed his first two cars on the first lap to make it into the top five. His next five passes would not come as easy.
It took a few laps for Hearn to make his way up to and by Jimmy Phelps, passing him for fourth on lap four. Hearn settled in the fourth spot when the first caution of the night came out on lap 14 when Chad Jeseo brought out the caution after he lost his groove trying to find a way around Larry Wight. Jeseo found the wall instead.
Five laps later, the field went back to green and Hearn took on the top three with a vengeance. He gained his next position before the field was out of the first corner. By the time they exited turn two onto the back straightaway Hearn had the lead.
Eddie Marshall who was leading at the time that Hearn shot himself to the front was surprised that it was the No. 20 car that was passing him and not that of Keith Flach who was next to him on the restart.
“I was kind of surprised it was him,” commented Marshall. “I thought it was Keith [Flach] down there. When I saw that it was him I knew it was a big problem. He was super strong. I can’t be ashamed to run second the way he was running that’s for sure. We were good, just not good enough.”
“I wanted to get past the four (Andy Bachetti) and I went into one and the 43 (Flach) went low and I got a good run on the outside,” cited Hearn. “Eddie (Marshall) kind of slid up a little bit and the lane opened right up. He came out sideways and lost the traction a little bit. I had a good run from the top and that was all I needed.”
From then on Hearn had the opportunity as the leader to save his equipment for a strong run at the end while still putting a little bit of space in between him and Marshall in second.
On lap 30, Tyler Dippel’s left rear tire blew leading him to stop on the speedway in turn two, the brought out the second yellow of the evening.
The green flag flew again on lap 34, Hearn easily won the restart—leaving the rest of the field to fight for second. As racing continued and lapped traffic started to affect the top drivers’ runs, Marshall started to pull the leash on Hearn.
Within the final 25 laps Stewart Friesen made his presence known as he started searching for a way by Marshall. While the two drivers battled Matt Papello, who was running in the top 10 at the time, spun bringing out the final caution of the race.
Hearn was dominant again on the restart and quickly pulled away from Marshall and Friesen. Hearn led the final 12 laps of the race leading to his 121st series victory and 903rd career feature win.
In Victory Lane, Hearn discussed the anxiety of leading: a racer’s version of first world problems. “It’s totally nerve wracking I’m telling you. After the restarts you are feeling vibrations, then I’m thinking I’m running out of gas as the motor is stumbling. We had other issues after the heat race with some oil issues. It’s crazy, just a lot of anxiety.”
Marshall finished second after several attempts of retaking the lead from Hearn who had the dominant setup all night. “He was really running. We kind of got tight in the middle of the race and I was laboring with that. The longer it went the tighter it got. I knew if I was dead on I wasn’t going to go back by him too easy. He was the class of the field. He came back to us a little bit. I think he was saving his tires.”
Third-place Friesen was happy with his podium finish, since it also meant that he was the highest finishing non track regular in the 101-lap feature.
“To be the first outsider, I love coming here, love racing here and to have a top-three with those guys is good,” said Friesen. “We were close there with Eddie (Marshall) but Brett (Hearn) was pretty much lights out. We are happy for the Halmar (International) team. We kind of righted the ship a little bit on the series here. We’ve been working really hard in the shop the last couple weeks. I think we are onto something. We got some grip; I’m looking forward to see how that works out on Monday at Weedsport.”
Another track regular Kenny Tremont finished fourth and Flach, who ran as high as second, wrapped up the top five.
Top-10 Finishers
1. Brett Hearn
2. Eddie Marshal
3. Stewart Friesen
4. Kenny Tremont
5. Mike Mahaney
6. Andy Bachetti
7. Jimmy Phelps
8. Billy Decker
9. Matt Sheppard
10. JR Heffner