RPW Exclusive: Hartman, Dean & Maxon Find Way To Victory Lane Saturday At Lebanon Valley

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway, Tim Hartman Jr. put another notch in the win column and solidified his place as the winningest driver in the Sportsman division this season.

Hartman made a power move on lap 15 to the inside of leader Chris Lynch on a restart in an attempt to grab the top spot.  The #22 pushed and took the line away from Lynch by forcing him out of the gas to avoid contact.

From there, the driver who locked up the 2023 championship on Saturday scored his fifth victory of the season on the High Banks.

“Chris is pretty mad at me after that one,” Hartman said.  “I tried to run it in deep on the bottom and got tight.  I tried to get out of it as I soon as I could to leave him a lane on the top but obviously it screwed him up.”

Hartman felt awful to have any type of controversial move with a good friend.

“He’s my buddy,” he said.  “I don’t want to race anyone dirty like that, especially for a win and especially him.”

Hartman drove from deep on the starting grid and seemed to pick his way though but was aided by the dreaded yellow flag on multiple occasions.

“It was a race of attrition for sure,” he said.  “I am not sure how much fuel we have left in this thing but I’m glad we were able to make it to victory lane.”

Lynch had to settle for second on this night.  This makes two weeks in-a-row that the Connecticut campaigner was leading a majority of the feature but didn’t find his way to victory lane.

Last week, his car shut off after the battery in his #74 shifted while leading and grounded itself to the chassis and fried the entire electrical system.

While this week is a solid finish, Lynch’s time is coming to find his way back to victory lane with how good his car’s been running.

Ricky Davis crossed the line third in the feature event but was disqualified in post-race technical inspection which gave the spot to Ray Hall Jr. who rebounded from a flat left front tire which forced him pitside during the mid-stages of the feature.

Hall’s teammate, Gary O’Brien drove to a fourth place finish while Bob Fachini returned to the Valley this week and was rewarded with a fine fifth place on the night.

In the 18th annual Bubba Tanner Pro Stock Classic, rained out from June, Tommy Dean drove his way to the lead from his ninth starting spot and had to hold off a fierce challenge from 2023 track champion Chad Jeseo to score the victory in the marquee event for the class.

Dean took the lead from Fred Lee one lap shy of the halfway mark and never relinquished the top spot as the driver from Becket, MA took his second win of the season and the $1,323 payday that went along with it.

“This feels great,” Dean said.  “We’ve been chasing a big one here for a long time and to finally get it done on Bubba Tanner night, I can’t explain it.”

Dean, who finished third in points for the 2023 season, loves that he was able to race the champ for this victory.

“It was great to run with Chad,” he said.  “He’s always been a mentor to me so it was finally good to take the stuff he’s taught me and beat him.”

For Jeseo, to get to the runner-up spot wasn’t easy as he had to make a pit stop early in the event after bringing out a caution.  He then powered his way through the field and ran several laps side-by-side with Dean but just never could find his way by to grab the victory.

“This class is so close this year,” Jeseo said.  “A little slip by someone just isn’t enough to get around them anymore and Tommy did everything he needed to get the win and congrats to him and his team.”

Now, the former DIRTcar Pro Stock Series champion is getting ready for the end-of-the-season events.

“Now, we’re looking ahead to Oswego and Super DIRT Week,” he said.  “It’s always the best time of the year.”

Rick Duzlak came home in spot three on the night and was happy with making the podium in the Bubba.

“I’m happy with this run tonight,” Duzlak said.  “I haven’t been here in a couple of weeks but third place tonight in this race, I’ll take it.”

Zach Sorrentino, who locked up second in points this year as the winningest driver in the class, came home fourth and Shawn Perez drove to fifth place at the end.

Anthony Maxon powered to the inside of Fred Pavia for the top spot on the sixth lap of the Limited Sportsman feature.

That was all she wrote as the current point leader padded his chances at a track championship by capturing his fifth win of 2023.

“My car was definitely fast like it’s been all year,” Maxon said.  “I have to thank my father (Rob Maxon).  He went through all the years of the bull sh*t, the bad cars and the tough runs.  Without him, this wouldn’t be near as fast as it is but I also have to thank my crew and all of the sponsors we have.”

Craig Coons passed Pavia on a late restart to grab second place on the night while Pavia came home third.  Harold Robitalle and Owen Lewis rounded out the top five.

SPORTSMAN FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Tim Hartman***** 2) Chris Lynch 3) Ray Hall JR. 4) Gary O’Brien* 5) Bob Fachini 6) Rob Maxon* 7) Brady Cordova* 8) Fred Pavia 9) John Miller 10) Kevin Ames 11) Harold Robitaille 12) Frank Frasco 13) Matt Burke 14) Cody Cordova 15) Karl Barnes 16) Jacob Perry 17) Mike Arnold 18) Kevin Ward*** 19) Whitey Slavin* 20) Gerard Leclair DQ) Ricky Davis

PRO STOCKS FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Tom Dean** 413 2) Chad Jeseo*** 25 3) Rick Duzlak 29 4) Zach Sorrentino*** 54S 5) Shawn Perez O9 6) Tom O’Connor 52 7) Brian Keough 311 8) Katrina Foster 10 9) Rocco Procopio 62 10) Nick Hilt 17 11) Fred Lee 714 12) Steven LaRochelle 178 13) Lou Ganczar O8 14) Frank Twing** 317 15) Mike Dianda 315 16) Dave Stickles** 55

LIMITED SPORTSMAN FEATURE RESULTS (15 LAPS) 1) Anthony Maxon***** 2) Craig Coons* 3) Fred Pavia 4) Harold Robitalle* 5) Owen Lewis 6) Mike Baker 7) Frank Frasco 8) Kent Clark 9) Brian Walsh* 10) Sara Arnold 11) Mike Arnold* 12) Mike Engwer