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Prescott Returns To Winning Ways At Jennerstown
Jennerstown -(May 1, 1999) Steve Prescott of Gardiner,
ME and Doug Averill of Litchfield, ME cranked out sub
20-second laps in time trials as the PRO Tour trucks
returned to the famous .522-mile Jennerstown Speedway in
Jennerstown, PA on Saturday night May 1.
The Maine natives made the 12-hour trip to Jennerstown
worthwhile as their 19.898 and
19.945 second times respectively held up for the front
row on the famous fast .522-mile
oval. Rookie David Avery of N. Woodstock, NH was 17 one-hundreths
behind to take the
third spot with point leader Kenny Martin, Jr. of
Sprakers, NY only three one-thousands
behind Avery to complete the second row. The first 16
trucks were within four-tenths of a
second at the end of time trials.
Prescott's #03 EJP-sponsored Chevrolet and Averill's VIP
Discount Auto Centers
sponsored Dodge lead the 20-truck field to the green in
front of the opening night crowd on
a pleasant Spring evening. But the green was hardly
flying when someone checked up on
the start sending the #34 of last year's Jennerstown
winner Rich Lucas of Morganville, NJ,
the #0 of Brent Dragon of Milton, VT, and the #14 of the
racing dentist Mike Ledoux around
in a mid-pack tangle. Last week's winner at Tioga, Bryon
Chew of E. Hampton, NY, was
also caught up in the melee. Chew and Dragon both were
forced to pit to remove some
damaged body panels but made it back without losing a
lap. Ledoux continued on without
pitting, but, unfortunately, Lucas' title defense was
over as he was through for the day.
The restart was much better, and Prescott and Averill
dueled side-by-side for six laps
before Prescott finally got the advantage coming off
turn four and was by himself when
they reached turn one. Averill fell in behind with
Martin third and Avery fourth. On lap 18,
the sixth fastest qualifier, Mark Durgin of Lynn, MA in
the J. S Lester Contracting #32
Dodge cut down a right front between turns three and
four. The rookie managed to keep
the truck off the wall and out of the way of the rest of
the field. On lap 32 it happened again,
and Durgin was in again for a long pit stop with another
cut tire. Durgin made it back out
on lap 46, but saw his chances for a repeat of his
strong performance at Tioga last week
fade.
On lap 53, Oliver Allen of Streetsboro, OH in the #27
Chevrolet pitted just as the yellow
was coming out for a spin by rookie Danny Sammons in the
#97 Ford in turn two. The spin
started in turn one, and "Heart Attack Kid" almost saved
it, but the last twitch sent him into
the turn two wall backwards. In the meantime, Allen
raced out of the pits to prevent getting
trapped in the pits.
At halfway, it was still Prescott and Averill with
Martin close behind. However, Marc
Hebbelinck of Methuen, MA in the Larry's Service #65 had
made his from his ninth starting
spot to challenge Martin. The rookie Avery in the #10
was running a strong fifth and Chuck
Steuer of Bohemia, NY in the #1 NEC-sponsored Chevy was
next. Steuer was in a hurry
because he had to leave right after the race with
Chrissy to get back to Long Island for
their wedding on Sunday afternoon.
Joe Wesnitzer of Sandusky, OH in the beautiful #44 had
to pit with a mechanical problem
on lap 63 after running in the top ten all evening from
his seventh qualifying spot. Joe made
it back out but he was a couple of laps down as Prescott
continued to click off the laps
around the super quick Jennerstown oval.
What the PRO Tour is all about can best be summed up by
the effort of Gary Swanander
of S. Hampton, NY and the crew of the #46 Rapid Recovery
Dodge. At lap 75, Swanander
was in the top ten, but that's only part of the story.
He had a right front go down just as he
was coming out of turn four during afternoon practice.
He smacked the outside wall pretty
hard and twisted the right front of the Dodge. Gary was
OK, but the truck wasn't. With
some help from their neighbors in the pits, the #46 crew
replaced the right-front hub,
spindle, rotor, upper and lower control arms, spring,
shock, the steering box, the power
steering pump, and, to add insult to injury, the panhard
bar had snapped when he hit the
wall. The checked the tubes and strung the rear end as
best they could, and they made it
to the line just in time to take the two qualifying
laps. The first lap was slow, but on lap two
Gary hung it out there and came home with 11th fastest
time. Not the pole, but they got the
truck in the field, and it was only after qualifying
that we learned that the power steering
pump was still acting up and he had run the qualifying
laps with no power steering.
At the 65-lap mark, it was still Prescott, but the race
was from second back to tenth. Averill
was still second, and Martin and Hebbelinck were putting
on a show. First it was
Hebbelinck on the outside, but Martin hung in low and
the #65 had to back out of it for a
few laps and start again. Then the guy they call "Mr.
Excitement" when he ran at Star
Speedway in Epping, NH got under Martin down the
backstretch, but not far enough as
Martin slammed the door. Then Marc tried Kenny out of
turn four, but by the time they got
to turn one, Martin had a slight advantage and
Hebbelinck had to back out. They did this
time after time, and they never touched. The Jennerstown
fans were whooping and
hollering as these two went at each other lap after lap.
On lap 76, the #11 of Seth Crocker of Springfield, MA,
who was running seventh, and
eighth place Rusty Turbush of Manorville, NY, in the
Panasonic-sponsored #6, were
side-by-side coming into turn three. By the time they
got to turn four Crocker was a little
sideways and went around by himself. Sammons in the #97
slipped by on the inside, Allen
in the #27 made a great move and spun to avoid Crocker
who was sitting right in the low
grove, and Swanander's luck changed as he made it
through with a move to the high side.
However, Branden Talon of W. Nottingham, NH in the #95
AWA Wrestling-sponsored
truck had no place to go and slid sideways into Crocker,
tearing up both trucks.
On lap 81, the #95 had another problem and had to pit.
On the restart, in an attempt to get
by Prescott, Averill drove it real hard into turn one,
but he couldn't hold the #85 down and
Prescott moved off again by a couple of truck lengths as
Averill slid up into the marbles.
This time, however, Prescott brought Martin, Hebbelinck,
Avery, Steuer, Turbush,
Swanander, and last week's Tioga winner Bryon Chew's #99
along as Averill slid back to
ninth.
Over the next ten laps, Swanander and Chew went at it.
First the #99 went to the outside
and tried that for several laps, but the #46 held his
momentum and Chew finally had to
back off and attempt something else. On lap 92, Chew
made a move to the inside of
Swanander off turn two and moved to seventh, with
Averill now ninth and rookie Bobby
Chalmers of Adams, MA in his DMC-sponsored #4 Dodge
tenth from a 16th place start.
On lap 98, old friends Martin and Hebbelinck were still
going at it. The #65 almost got up to
Martin's door coming out of turn four and down the front
stretch, but when they got to turn
one, Hebbelinck decided that he had two more laps to
make the move and backed out
rather than wreck both trucks. Martin held him off over
the next two laps, and they followed
Prescott across the line. After the race, Prescott ,
with a lot of tongue in his cheek, said he
really enjoyed watching Martin and Hebbelinck through
his rear-view mirror.
Avery brought his #10 truck home fourth for the rookie's
best finish, followed by the
bridegroom Steuer, Turbush, Averill back up to seventh,
Chew was eighth, Swanander
ninth, and Chalmers in tenth.
In victory lane, Prescott thanked his crew for the great
job they did changing a broken
spindle after time trials because they didn't get any
more practice and they had to guess at
the setup with the new spindle. Martin and Hebbelinck
were high-fiving and hugging each
other in victory lane to a great ovation from the
appreciative and knowledgeable
Jennerstown crowd. As they both agreed after the race,
"It was not a win, but we sure had
a lot of fun." And Swanander probably just smiled to
himself with his ninth place finish after
what could have been a real bad day.
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