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View Full Version : HEARN JETS TO AN IMPRESSIVE RoC DART MODIFIED WIN AT ALBANY - SARATOGA



RGeeProductions
06-30-2007, 08:01 PM
On Friday night at the Albany - Saratoga Speedway Modified driving superstar Brett Hearn of Sussex, NJ lived up to his nickname of “ The Jet . “ Starting 11th in the small block powered Vinnie Salerno owned Four Star Racing entry. Hearn was able to put the Teo Pro - Car chassis anywhere he wished on the slick three eighths mile oval over the 75 lap feature race distance.
Hearn survived a wild four car battle for second over a 33 lap period and a couple of scrapes with long time rival Danny Johnson. To finally find enough bite to overtake race leader Jack Johnson with an outside turn four pass on lap 57. From that point Hearn was never seriously challenged as he motored to the $4,000 win by a margin of 5. 3 seconds.
Jack Johnson who is the all time feature win leader at the track ended up second with AJ Romano finishing third. Defending event winner Brian Weaver using a nine to one compression engine finished fourth with upstart Marc Johnson racing a former Hearn machine impressively finishing fifth.
“ Home court advantage that counts for a lot tonight “ said race winner Brett Hearn. “ The difference in the mix tonight was that we used American Racer tires tonight as we usually race Goodyear tires here weekly. “
Brett spoke about the difference in tire brands for this race which by rule made everyone use an American Racer tire on the right rear and choice of Goodyear or American Racer on the other three corners of the car.
“ This car is normally set up for Goodyear's that we use here weekly and tonight being on American Racers you have an unknown going in. You don't know how the tires or car is going to react five or twenty laps into the race. But it worked out perfect for us tonight. We changed the setup to accommodate the rubber and you just don't know how the car is going to react. We know what to do here weekly when the track changes but we don't know what to do when we use these tires. “
Hearn who has mastered this track the past several seasons showed early on in the racing program that he was going to be a contender on this night. Brett started his heat race in last position and was able to advance into third which was the last spot for the feature re draw. Hearn redrew 12th for the feature but moved up to 11th for the start when Scott Deuel scratched.
When the feature green came out Hearn immediately started to show his strength as he could maneuver anywhere he wished on the multi grooved track. “ I felt that the car was good right from the get go, but not super “ said Brett. “ I wasn't going to go blowing through everybody, I had to really concentrate and really hit my marks. I was really concerned about the top because there really wasn't an edge up there. There was a brown dust on the outside tonight unlike normally here where you can really back it into the corner. But tonight you had to really inch your way up there, judge your speed going into the corner, hit your mark, and roll around the top. “
Brett entered the top five on lap 14 and when positions two through five got into heavy lap traffic the battle intensified. For the next 33 laps Hearn, AJ Romano, Marc Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Jimmy Davis, and Danny Johnson all exchanged these four positions every lap in a crowd pleasing battle. During this time one of the key points of the race took place as the Hearn machine was able to run in the black slick middle of the track. “ I think it was just a fluke that I could run that well in the middle. But I'll tell you when you can run there and no one else can't its fun as you're on the way to the front. “
Brett continued on about the outstanding race for second which included some contact with arch rival Danny Johnson. “ I was getting nervous and I wanted to get out of there bad and I knew I had the car to get out of there but just couldn't at that time. Yea there was some contact as I was sideways going into turn one a couple of times. “
Finally the track started to come to Hearn's liking after the lone restart of the race on lap 45. Brett rim rode into second one lap later and set his sights on leader Jack Johnson. Hearn gained on Johnson each passing lap as he inched closer to taking the lead and finally as the duo raced to the stripe to start lap 57 Hearn inched ahead for the lead he never relinquished. Once in front Hearn opened up a huge lead as he left no doubt who was going to win the race.
“ Running a small block was a key tonight especially the way the track slicked up “ summarized Brett. “ But you have to give Bruce Richards plenty of credit as he gave us a track that you could really race on tonight. I know it was exciting out there racing and I'm sure it was exciting for the fans to watch too. “
It's been a un - Hearn like season to date to which Brett said. “ We've had a bad month, Middletown's hard to pass, and we've had some dnf's which is unusual for us. We got a big stretch of races coming up here in the next two months and we just have to keep it rolling. We got it rolling here now at Albany - Saratoga and hopefully it will continue everywhere else. “
The win marked the first ever Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified feature win for Hearn. In the history of RoC Brett has led several RoC races only to have something happen which kept him from the win. Brett spoke about his first RoC win. “ I'm happy to get my name in the record book as I'm pretty excited about that, it's pretty cool. “
Jack Johnson who drew the pole for the feature was looking for career win 91 at the track. But Jack decided before the feature on a game plan and stuck to it and it did hamper his shot at the win.
“ I set the car up to run the bottom “ said the Duanesburg, NY veteran driver. “ When I got into lap traffic I couldn't get off the bottom. That really hurt when I had to go around the lap cars that were already on the bottom. I figured if I had to come off the bottom I was going to go backwards. “
When the green flag dropped Jack bolted out to the lead out dragging AJ Romano who started beside him. Jack opened up a big lead but as soon as Jack got into lap traffic on lap 15 the problem of passing lap cars came up. While Jack was having this problem he still maintained a good lead as he used his veteran instincts to negotiate his way around the slower lap cars.
“ I had a game plan and stuck to it and he ( Hearn ) had a better race car tonight “ said Jack. “ I was going to stick on the bottom and if anyone wanted to pass me they were going to have to go around me and that is how racing should be. “
“ We tightened the car up for the feature but we didn't go far enough with it “ said third place finisher AJ Romano of Johnstown, NY. “ We would have been better if we made more changes but I don't think we would have had enough to catch Brett or Jack. “
The youngest member of the racing Romano Family summarized his night by saying. “ I thought we could have been a whisper better and if I did that I don't think I would have had anything for the first two anyways. “
Qualifying for the 31 Modifieds in attendance saw heat wins captured by Matt DeLorenzo, Jimmy Davis, Romano, and Scott Duell with the B Main being won by Jeff Trombley.
GREAT RACE PLACE NOTES; Once again the Bruce Richards promoted facility lived up to it's nickname with three and four wide racing taking place all evening long. Only one yellow flag slowed the feature action that saw the 75 laps completed in just over 26 minutes. A huge crowd took in the program that also featured a tremendous fireworks display that was presented before the feature. Ronnie Johnson won his heat but failed to cross the scales meaning he was disqualified. Ronnie threatened to load up and leave but thought better about it and he was rewarded with a sixth place finish after starting 21st. Jimmy Davis was piloting the Wade Family owned car on this night. Scott Duell impressively won heat four with his legal Sportsman mount but had to scratch from the feature when the motor lost oil pressure following the heat win. Danny Johnson was in the thick of the battle until clipping the inside turn three wall and spinning out while in fifth on lap 40 of the feature. AJ Romano was the first small block that was using a 650 cfm carburetor to cross the line and earned the $500 small block bonus. Many teams and spectators were late arriving to the track due to Friday afternoon traffic in the Albany, NY area. Darwin Greene was the last car to arrive due to the traffic woes and broke in his heat race ending his evening. Brian Weaver admitted after the race that he didn't charge to the front early enough in the feature as he felt he had a second place car that was running on racing methanol. Only one North Region point show remains and that is July 25th at Utica - Rome and the championship is wide open. Former race official “ Buffet “ Bob Connelly taking in the exciting racing. RoC would like to send it's condolences to the family of Jack Christensen who passed away from a long battle with cancer on Friday morning.
RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART DIRT MODIFIED TOUR NORTH REGION RACE #3 ALBANY - SARATOGA SPEEDWAY
FINISH; Brett Hearn, Jack Johnson, AJ Romano, Brian Weaver, Marc Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Jimmy Davis, Ted Lamb, Jr., Bobby Varin, Matt Sheppard, Keith Flach, Jeff Trombley, Jim Becker, Danny Johnson, Kenny Tremont, Jr., Robert Langevin, Jimmy Cottrell, Mike Perrotte, Pat Ward, Dan Humes, Don Mattison, Ed Pieniazek, Jr., Don Ackner.
SCRATCH; Scott Duell.
DNQ'S; Tony Kawalchuk, Eric Mack, Matt Depew, Robert Allen, Stanley Lemiesz, Darwin Greene.
LAP LEADERS; J. Johnson ( 1 - 56 ), Hearn ( 57 - 75 )
SMALL BLOCK BONUS $500; Romano

JR KENNERUP/RoC Dart Modified PR