New Year, Same Results: Tim Hartman Jr. Wins At Lebanon Valley; Takes $4,000 Spring Fling

Story By: PHIL ALLAWAY / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY – WEST LEBANON, NY – Cold and rainy weather forced Lebanon Valley Speedway to delay their season opener to Sunday afternoon.

Despite this, Tim Hartman Jr. brought his best.

He was able to get past Alex Bell on a restart with 11 laps to go and held on to win the Spring Fling, taking home a check for $4000.

Hartman won by 1.581 seconds over Mike Arnold. Craig Wholey was third, then Connor Crane and Dylan Grogan.

In an unusual “revenge draw,” Owen Lewis earned the pole for the 40-lap feature. However, his time at the front was short-lived as Wholey was able to take the advantage in turn 2 on the first lap. Shortly afterwards, Brady Cordova stalled in turn 4 to bring out a caution. That ended a terrible day for the Cordova team as Cody Cordova crashed in the Last Chance Qualifier.

A couple of laps later, Arnold was wrapped up in an incident in turn 1 with Karl Barnes and Nick Giardini. Arnold’s new Cyclone chassis was unscathed, allowing him to continue. Meanwhile, Giardini was done.

Wholey ended up having to do battle with Alex Bell for a decent chunk of the feature. Bell got up to second in the early laps and simply couldn’t do much with Wholey’s No. 98.

Ultimately, the leaders catching the rear of the field allowed for Bell to get along Wholey. With 13 laps to go, he was able to snatch the lead.

Meanwhile, Hartman was gifted the 15th starting spot in the revenge draw. That meant that he had to spend the race coming up through the field. He was able to get to fourth, but spent a bunch of laps fighting with Crane and losing ground to the leaders.

The entire complexion of the race changed on lap 29 when Shawn McPhee spun in turn 4 to bring out a yellow. That closed the pack up and gave Wholey another chance to get the lead back.

On the restart, Hartman pushed Bell out ahead of Wholey, then dove to the inside in turns 1 and 2. By the time they reached the backstretch, Hartman had the advantage.

From there, Hartman had to survive a couple of late restarts, but was otherwise in the clear to take the win. Bell finished second on the road, but came up light at the scale afterwards and was disqualified.

In Limited Sportsman, Brandon Lemaire started from pole and was not shy about protecting his position. That served him well in a start-and-stop feature.

After Kevin Groff and Sarah Arnold collided on the initial start, Brian Walsh spun after contact from Frank Twing Jr. to bring out another yellow. Later on, Dylan Holmes crashed in turn 2 for another yellow.

At the halfway point, Lemaire came under pressure from AJ Albreada for the lead. The rookie driver out of Slingshots ran Lemaire hard for the lead along with Nick Arnold.

On lap 9, Nick Arnold made a move for the lead that resulted in himself and Lemaire colliding hard in turn 4. The contact forced Lemaire up the track and allowed Albreada to take over. Nick Arnold’s car broke as a result of the contact and ground to a halt, bringing out the caution.

From there, Albreada was able to hold on to take his first win in a full-sized car on debut. His margin of victory was 1.192 seconds over Frank Twing Jr. Walsh was third, then John Santolin and Chris Humes.

The Pro Stock Feature saw Frank Twing start from the pole, but like in the Spring Fling, he wasn’t up front for long. Chris Stalker was able to move around Twing in turn 2 to take the lead on the first lap.

From there, Stalker was able to drive off to a decent advantage. Meanwhile, 2024 champion Zach Sorrentino was battling for third with Paul LaRochelle for third. He would eventually take the spot away.

Things got a little weird after halfway. Nick Hilt failed to take the start on the track, thus making him officially a DNS. However, he joined the race right after halfway, then proceeded to lose his hood and bring out a caution.

Later on, Sorrentino spun out in turn 2 to bring out a yellow with four laps to go. From there, Stalker was able to hold on to take the victory. He won by 1.529 seconds over Frank Twing. Tom Dean was third, then LaRochelle and Sorrentino.

In the Street Stocks, Anthony King took the lead from Jeff Meltz Sr. on lap 9 and held on to win in his first career start. In the 4-Cylinder feature, Jason Peck won the Dual-Cam class and overall, while Bradley Batho finished second and won Single-cam.

Sportsman Spring Fling Results (40 laps): 1) Tim Hartman Jr., 2) Mike Arnold, 3) Craig Wholey, 4) Connor Crane, 5) Dylan Grogan, 6) Michael Sabia, 7) Anthony Maxon, 8) Chris Crane Jr., 9) Ray Hall Jr., 10) Owen Lewis, 11) Derrick McGrew, 12) Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, 13) Phil Arnold, 14) Karl Barnes, 15) Nick Brundige, 16) Pat Mann, 17) Shawn McPhee, 18) Joey Scarborough, 19) Nick Giardini, 20) Scott Towslee, 21) Cody Cordova, 22) Brady Cordova. DQ: Alex Bell

Limited Sportsman Feature Results (15 laps): 1) AJ Albreada, 2) Frank Twing Jr., 3) Brian Walsh, 4) John Santolin, 5) Chris Humes, 6) Garrett Biagiarelli, 7) Sarah Arnold, 8) Kent Clark, 9) Cam Van Zandt, 10) Brandon Lemaire, 11) Braxton Martin, 12) Nick Arnold, 13) Kevin Groff, 14) Dylan Holmes

Pro Stock Feature Results (20 laps): 1) Chris Stalker, 2) Frank Twing, 3) Tom Dean, 4) Paul LaRochelle, 5) Zach Sorrentino, 6) Jason Meltz, 7) Shawn Perez, 8) Shawn Perez Jr., 9) Brian Keough, 10) Dave Stickles, 11) Rick Duzlak, 12) Rocco Procopio

Note: Nick Hilt entered the circuit roughly halfway through the feature. He was not scored as you must take the initial green to be able to race.

Street Stock Feature Results (15 laps): 1) Anthony King, 2) Jeff Meltz Sr., 3) Dave Streibel Jr., 4) Dave Streibel, 5) Evan Denue, 6) Doug Sterling, 7) Peter Huntoon, 8) Hannah Stalker, 9) Franklin Smith

4-Cylinder Single-Cam Results (10 laps): 1) Jason Peck, 2) Bradley Batho, 3) Henry Morris, 4) Morgan Houghtaling, 5) Stephen Burka, 6) Dawson Thompson