RPW Column: Marc Johnson Used A Lesson From A Fellow Racer To Score Win #2 Of ’21 At Lebanon Valley
Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEST LEBANON, NY – Did Marc Johnson have a good Scott Hamlin-owned #3J Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway? Did he have what it took to win?
The answer to both questions is yes.
However, Johnson probably has fellow competitors LJ Lombardo and Timothy Davis to thank for helping him visit victory lane for the second time in his career on the high banks.
The Guilderland, NY driver had worked his way to the runner-up spot after starting in 12th. On lap five, Mike King’s broken right front shock forced the yellow flag to fly, which had been a theme early in the Modified main.
On the ensuing restart, Lombardo rocketed on the high side around Johnson to take second going through turns one and two with eyes on grabbing the top spot from leader Bobby Hackel.
Unfortunately for Lombardo, as the field on the same lap as the field worked turns three and four, Davis did a complete 360 degree spin to bring out the caution, yet again.
Now, a lap was never counted so Johnson felt like he was going to return to the second position. However, before the yellow flew, the field had crossed the timing line on the backstretch which put Lombardo ahead of Johnson.
That was, in actuality, the best scenario possible for the 3J as he’d learned exactly what to do for the next restart.
“Lombardo showed me the top groove,” Johnson said. “When I had the opportunity, I knew I had to take it.”
As the race restarted, Johnson took full advantage, making his challenge by getting around Lombardo and was door-to-door with Hackel by the time the field had made their way off turn two.
From the time the lap counter clicked lap six until starter Rodney Rescott threw the checkered flag, it was all 3J up front as Johnson went on to record the win.
“It was tough on the starts,” he said. “Hackel was waiting a long time to fire and it was screwing the inside lane up but when I saw that the top worked, I knew I had to use it and it worked out.”
Now in his third year behind the wheel of a Modified full-time at the Valley, Johnson knows he’s got great equipment at his disposal and is putting it to good use in 2021.
“I can’t thank my guys enough,” he said. “This is an unbelievable team…the best team I’ve ever had and we’re all gelling good right now. I have to thank Scott Hamlin for trusting me to enough to put me in his car, Boss Mechanical, Andy from Lebanon Springs Excavating, all our sponsors and Dan Bedell for building a killer engine. That man works hard for us and JAM Performance with the shocks. Everything just clicked tonight.”
Lombardo was able to get to the second place position by the time the feature had concluded, but still came up a couple car lengths short of his fourth win of 2021.
“Our car was an absolute rocket ship tonight,” Lombardo said. “Those are the breaks but I have to thank Paul Wehnau from Snap-On and everyone for their support and hard work tonight. One spot short just makes me work want to work even harder for next week.”
Third on the night was Brett Haas. Haas, who drove from 13th starting position, worked hard in the latter stages of the feature to get to third. He was closing in on the top two as the laps clicked off, and if he’d been aided by a few cautions late, the Prime Time 55 might have grabbed win #1 of the season.
“We had a really good car tonight,” Haas said. “We just didn’t catch the breaks we needed early on in the race to get us track position. However, to still come home with a very strong third after a long green flag run to finish the race is awesome. I’m proud of our entire team’s effort tonight.”
Eddie Marshall and point leader Andy Bachetti completed the top five.
Some may say that it happened one race late, but John Virgilio probably chose the perfect night to put the Russ Blake tribute #29 car in victory lane during the 20-lap Sportsman feature.
Last time out was the night to honor the patriarch of Blake racing family, but Saturday was extra special as there was a $500 bonus on the line, honoring the memory of veteran George Marcus, arguably one of the best ever in the division, from the Marcus Family.
To say Virgilio’s win was special for many on Saturday would be an understatement, but it wasn’t handed to him. He started in the 13th spot and had worked his way to the top three by lap five.
He then worked around Matt Burke and set sights on leader Dylan Gibson, catching him on the as the two worked lap traffic on lap eight. Virgilio made the pass entering turn three and from the ninth circuit until the checkered flag, was never challenged again, scoring his third victory of ’21 season.
“To win tonight is special,” Virgilio said. “I got to talk with a lot of George Marcus’ family and many of them told me he really enjoyed watching the Sportsman division. That really means the world to me but to do it in the 29 means so much too for Russ and Ron and the entire Blake family.”
The connection between the Virgilio and Blake families goes way back and John knows just what this victory means to both.
“I don’t know if it was a curse or a blessing but Russ got my dad (Gary) into racing all these years ago,” he said. “Now I’m into it and here we are, trying for our third championship in-a-row (fourth overall) which is just incredible. I just appreciate everyone’s support in this.”
Starting deep on the field, Virgilio had to make moves early if he wanted a chance at the victory. He did just from the moment the opening green flag was thrown.
“We got pretty lucky on the initial start,” he said. “The inside row slowed up just enough and we were able to get to the bottom pretty quick which is where this car likes to run. That really worked out well for us.”
Walter Hammond made a move around Rob Maxon for second with just a few laps remaining. He ended up finishing in the runner-up spot with Maxon third. Burke had his best career finish on the high banks in fourth with Jeff Watson, who fought carburetor issues all night long, driving from 17th to grab a hard-fought fifth at the finish.
They say you always remember your first. Well, for Pro Stock racer Zach Seyerlein, that will hold true as the young second-year pilot used a pole starting spot to lead from green-to-checkers in a non-stop 20-lap main to score his first ever win in the division.
“Man, this feels real good right now,” Seyerlein said. “We’ve worked real hard for this. Everyone’s stuck with this team and I really don’t know what to say right now.”
Early on, Seyerlein had to hold off the challenges of Jay Fitzgerald who worked on the leader for several laps. However, as the race went on, the #33 began to distance himself from the rest of the field and when the checkers flew, he was the man at he top of the mountain. Zach is now a Pro Stock winner.
“I saw Jay show his nose a couple times,” he said. “I thought I was doing good until I saw him at my door and said to myself I better start driving this thing a little deeper. I’m just really happy.”
Fitzgerald brought his bright orange #56 home in the runner-up spot with point leader Chad Jeseo quietly working his way to third. This was yet another top three finish for the 25 team.
Tommy Dean came home in fourth with Johnny Rivers completing the top five.
Janai St. Pierre, Colby Kokosa and Rob Partridge took home the three Pure Stock feature event wins.
MODIFIED FEATURE RESULTS ( 30 LAPS) 1) Marc Johnson* 2) L.J Lombardo*** 3) Brett Haas, 4) Eddie Marshall, 5) Andy Bachetti**** 6) Bobby Hackel IV 7) Kyle Sheldon, 8) Kyle Armstrong, 9) Olden Dwyer, 10) Ryan Darcy* 11) Timothy Davis 12) Mike King, 13) Dan Humes 14) Josh Marcus, 15) J.R. Heffner, 16) Kenny Tremont Jr, 17) Paul Gilardi, 18) Kenny Aanonsen Jr 19) John Ruchel 20) Wayne Jelley, 21) Kolby Schroder, 22) Brian Berger,
SPORTSMAN FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) John Virgilio*** 2) Walter J. Hammond 3) Rob Maxon* 4) Matt Burke, 5) Jeff Watson, 6) Pete Carlotto, 7) Kevin Ward, 8) Walter Hammond JR., 9) Micheal Sabia 10) Robbie Colburn, 11) Dylan Gibson 11) John Stowell, 12) Bob Fachini 13) Bill August 14) Jeff Reis 15) John Santolin 16) Greg Decamp 17) Nikki Ouellette, 18) Jimmy VanZandt 19) Robert Burl 20) Karl Barnes, 21) Pete Lorenzo 22) Kevin Ames 23) Jacob Perry, 24) Rob Hallaback, 25) Chris Lynch*** 26) Harold Robitaille 27) Alan Houghtaling 28) Whitey Slavin, 29) Ryan Heath 30) Ed Arnold
PRO STOCKS FEATURE RESULTS (20 LAPS) 1) Zach Seyerlein* 2) Jay Fitgerald* 3) Chad Jeseo,** 4) Tom Dean, 5) Johnny Rivers* 6) Nick Hilt** 7) Steven LaRochelle* 8) Dave Stickles* 9) Doug Olds 10) Brian Carter 11) Shawn Perez, 11) Brian Keough 12) J.J Courcy 13) Jason Meltz*
PURE STOCK # 1 FEATURE RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1) Janai St. Pierre** 2) Chris Murphy, 3) Katarina Foster 4) Dave Striebel JR. 5) Rocco Procopio** 6) Jim Dellea, 7) Clifford Booth, 8) Franklin Smith, 9) Mike Dianda
PURE STOCK # 2 FEATURE RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1) Colby Kokosa** 2) Dave Striebel 3) Chris Stalker**** 4) Dylan Fachini 5) Jethro Rossman, 6) Brian Walsh*** 7) Chris Calkbro 8) Chris Brown, 9) Peter Huntoon,
PURE STOCK # 3 FEATURE RESULTS (8 LAPS) 1) Rob Partridge**** 2) Jeff Meltz SR.**** 3) John Devine** 4) Scott Morris, 5) Jeff Meltz JR.* 6) Scott Kilmer** 7) Don Kennedy,* 8) Shawn Perez, 9) Keri Vandenburg*
