RPW Column: Tim Hartman Jr. Takes Sportsman Monday At Lebanon Valley; LaRochelle Wins Wild Pro Stock Feature

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Tim Hartman Jr. has owned the Lebanon Valley Speedway Sportsman class so far in 2023.

That didn’t change on Monday night as the defending track champion led all 20 laps to score his third victory of the season on the high banks, taking the companion event to the Super DIRTcar Series’ King of Spring 100.

From the drop of the green, Hartman was in control after starting on the pole due to the heads-up start format. Along side of the #22 was the only in the division at the track this season, Kevin Ward.

Ultimately, the Mike Parillo-owned DKM machine was untouched throughout the feature event and Hartman Jr. went on to take the victory.

“Starting up front sure helps here at Lebanon Valley,” Hartman said. “I didn’t have to pass any cars so I knew I just had to hit my marks.”

Even with the premier starting spot in the main event, Hartman was still worried about the driver who was along side on every restart and ended up finishing second, Kevin Ward.

“Kevin goes really good here,” he said. “I was worried about him but luckily, I was getting good restarts and able to stay out front.”

Hartman was also aided by something that’s special for when the Super DIRTcar Series comes to town.

“I like the video board (the jumbo-tron that DIRTcar brings in to show the video feed to fans in attendance),” he said. “Coming off of turn four on restarts, I would look over and see if I had Kevin cleared or not so I could go to the bottom in turn one. Maybe we can keep that here.”

Even though Hartman scored yet another win at Lebanon Valley, he still says there’s room to make more adjustments to make the 22 even better.

“It was certainly slippery for Lebanon Valley standards,” he said. “I definitely saw a couple places where we could probably adjust more than we did if the track gets like this but it was obviously a good night for us to be in victory lane.”

Ward came home in the runner-up spot with Matt Burke, Gary O’Brien and Corey Cormier completing the top five.

In the DIRTcar Pro Stock feature, it appeared as if the race was going to produce another first-time winner in the form of Shawn Perez.

Unfortunately, after leading the entire main event, as the white flag flew, Perez was hounded by second place man, Chad Jeseo. Perez made slight contact with the outside wall which gave Jeseo a chance to pull to the inside of the leader.

As the two entered turn three, contact was made which sent Perez spinning around and making hard contact with the outside wall and Jeseo’s #25 coming to rest against the wall with him.

The driver in the cat bird’s seat during all this was third place runner Steven LaRochelle who inherited the lead and ultimately led the most important lap of the event, the last one as LaRochelle went on to take home the checkered flag.

“This feels great,” LaRochelle said. “We’ve been dealing with a couple problems here and there with the car…just fighting with a few bugs but to get the win tonight really feels great.”

Saturday night’s Pro Stock winner, Zach Sorrentino, backed up his win with a fine second place finish.

Dave Stickles came home third with Tommy Dean and Ryan Crellin completing the top five.

SPORTSMAN FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Tim Hartman* 2) Kevin Ward* 3) Matt Burke 4) Gary O’Brein 5) Corey Cormier 6) Keith Johannessen 7) Chris Lynch 8) Pete Lorenzo 9) Brady Cordova 10) Jeff Higham 11) Cody Cordova 12) Roger Hummer 13) Anthony Maxon 14) Frank Twing 15) Jim VanZandt 16) Alex Palmer Sawyer 17) Rob Maxon 18) Bob Fachini 19) Darryl Nutting

PRO STOCKS FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Steven LaRochelle 2) Zach Sorrentino 3) Dave Stickles* 4) Tom Dean 5) Ryan Crellin 6) Slater Baker 7) Fred Lee 8) Gary Silkey 9) Shawn Perez JR. 10) Brian Keough 11) Shawn Perez 12) Chad Jeseo* 13) Johnny Rivers