The Valley is Lit Up With Fireworks; Tremont Explodes Into Victory Lane

Saturday June 24, 2006 - By: Rodney Rescott

New Lebanon, NY:  A huge crowd packed the stands for the annual Fireworks spectacular, and there was some in the sky too!  The nearly standing room only crowd didn't need their seats as all the divisions put on a show from beginning to end.  This week, it was all the cagey veterans that conquered the High Banks in all 3 main divisions.

Berkshire Bank and Capitol Tractor presented the program of racing action in all divisions, as well as a gigantic fireworks display that light up the sky!  All eyes moved from the fantastic firework display, to the Carquest $3,000 to win Modified 30 lap feature event.  The mighty modifieds took to the Valley of Speed with the drop of the green, everyone was looking to see who was gonna have the fast car of the night.

The #45 of Wayne jelly made the first move towards the front from his 4th row starting position, as he began weaving his way through the field to the front.  In tow behind Jelley was the #74 of J.R. Heffner, the #1A of Tim Dwyer, the #4 of Andy Bachetti, and the Slingshot, Kenny Tremont aboard his legendary #115.  Only a few short cautions slowed the field involving Dave Leckonby, and later Matt Quinn.

On a restart around lap 11, Jelley finally took over the top spot from the #87 of hector Stratton, and began to pull away.  Deep in the field, Bachetti and Tremont were making their presents known, charging inside and outside, but it was Tremont with a clear advance over the Wild child early.  By the time Tremont got to the front, Jelley had firm control over the lead, and had put a few car lengths between himself and the rest of the field, but that all evaporated quickly when the final caution came out on lap 28 for Quinn, who slowed on the front stretch with motor problems.   That put Tremont right on the bumper of the #45 for a two lap shoot-out.  At the drop of the green, Jelley stretch a 2 car-length lead, but by turn one, the #115 dove to the inside to challenge.  The crowd came to their feet, as the two charged down the backstretch slicing and dicing try to secure the victory.

The white flag flew as Jelley raced into to turn 1, Tremont tried the outside, but Jelley moved to block, Tremont then dove to the bottom coming out of 2, blocked again.  This merely invigorated the rather stale Tremont as of late, and a flash of the Tremont of old emerged as he charged almost full throttle to the top of turn 3, only to be blocked again, but he applied a little Valley knowledge in turn 4, and dove to the very bottom of the speedway, making a bee-line for the finish line, carrying his momentum down the front stretch, the Slingshot lived up to the name once again, as Tremont captured the win and the $3,000.00 Carquest payday.

"That was fun." explained Tremont in victory lane.  "Wayne tried everything he could, but I just had better bite on the bottom.  It just feels good to be back here again."  Tremont, capturing only his 2nd win of 2006, was 1st over the line followed by the #45 of Jelley.  Third was Stratton, followed by Bachetti, and Ron Dwyer.

The Sportsman division took to the High Banks for their 20 lap feature event.  This time the veteran (not old) took advantage of his 4th row starting spot to take home the victory.  Chris Kokosa charged through the filed from the eighth spot to take the Kokosa Fuels #00 to the front by lap 7.  And after that, it was all over but the autograph line.  No one was coming close to the Berkshire Bullet, not even the O2 of K.C. Goewey as he made a late race charge, but to no avail.  Kokosa took his 2nd win of 2006, followed by Goewey.  A strong 3rd by Chad Pierce's #83, 4th was Neil Stratton, followed by Brian Sandstedt.

The cagey veterans were on fire all night, even as the Pro Stocks took to the Valley of Speed for their 20 lap feature event.  This time, a long delay held the field at the start after completing lap 1, a 6 car jingle jumbled the cars from 3rd on back, with the #117b of Rob Langevin coming to rest on top of the #5 of Chris Crews.   After a short delay in getting the cars separated, the green flew again.  At the helm was Lori Cary, but it was to be short lived, as she later spun a handful of laps later, relegating her to the back of the field.  That handed the front row seat over to Jon Routhier aboard his #315.  And he didn't want to give it up, as several cars made a run to the front to try and take the top spot from his, but he was soon to be surrounded by some tough company.  Rob Yetman made his way to the front, bringing with him the 'ol Buzzard of Jimmy Langenback and several others.  But it was the attack of the veterans that brought the crowd to their feet.

Kevin Arnold nearly stole the show, but faded to fourth with Routhier, Yetman and Langenback left to battler it out.  And just as the Modifieds proved earlier, it was almost like déjà vu as a last lap battle ensued, and by the time they got to the end of the backstretch, it was the #7 and the #54L door to door for the win.  Yetman blocked low, Langenback went high, and then dove down low for the run, slight contact between the two was all the 'ol Buzzard needed, bringing the #54L to victory lane for his first win of 2006. 2nd across the line was Routhier, followed by Yetman, Paul LaRochelle, and Arnold rounding out the top 5.

The Limited Pro Stocks had there 10 lap shootout, as the #311 stole the win in the later laps for his 2nd of the year.  The top 5 were Brian Keough, John Santolin, Nick Hilt, George Miles Jr., and Justin Herron.

The PureStocks once again put on a show, as the 4 races of the 50 cars presented.  PureStock #1 was captured by the #86 of Jerry Helms Jr; PS#2 was won by the #3 of Mark Stevens.  PureStock #3 was taken by the #04 of Tom Harkins, and PS#4 was won by Brian Houghtaling's #28.

With the weather finally acting like summer, the Valley of Speed is all geared up for tons of racing action.  Next week is the Freihofer Baking Company's night of Features, along with the Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Super Series making another return visit to the high banks.  Then in two weeks, the 1st ever regular Saturday night 100 lap $6,000.00 to Win Modified Bud Classic, presented by Budweiser. Don't forget to get your tickets now while the pickin' is still good for the USHRA Monster Truck Summer Nationals set for July 10th, 11th, and 12th.  And, tickets are going fast for the return of the famed World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on July 23rd!

For more information, including tickets, call the Speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965 during normal business hours.

Official Results below:

Saturday June 24, 2006 - Berkshire Bank, Capital Tractor

CARQUEST Auto Parts $3,000 To Win Modified Special Results (30 Laps)1 Kenny Tremont, 2 Wayne Jelley, 3 Hector Stratton, 4 Andy Bachetti, 5 Ron Dwyer, 6 Mark Flach Jr, 7 J. R. Heffner, 8 Tim Dwyer, 9 Mike King, 10 Guy Sheldon, 11 Eddie Marshall, 12 Donnie Corellis, 13 Russ Reckner, 14 Brian Berger, 15 John Alberti, 16 John Hewitt, 17 Keith Flach, 18 Lorne Browe, 19 Stan Wetmore, 20 Steve Hough, 21 Paul Gilardi, 22 John Ruchel, 23 Wayne Figler, 24 Matt Quinn, 25 Dan Humes, 26 Dave Leckonby, 27 Mark Pullen, 28 Kyle Sheldon, DNS Denny Soltis.

Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1 Chris Kokosa, 2 KC Goewey, 3 Chad Pierce, 4 Neil Stratton, 5 Brian Sandstedt, 6 Ed Harkin, 7 Jeff Watson, 8 Danny Sanchez, 9 Kyle Hoffman, 10 Frank Harper, 11 Alan Houghtaling, 12 Danny Burl, 13 Kevin Lynch, 14 Kory Sandstedt, 15 Don Miller, 16 Wayne Keyes, 17 Walt McKay, 18 Bob Bouchard, 19 Butch Lyons, 20 Chris Tryon, 21 Kim LaVoy, 22 Ryan Larkin, 23 Carmon Carnibucci, 24 Mike Senecal.

Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1 Jim Langenback, 2 Jon Routhier, 3 Rob Yetman, 4 Paul LaRochelle, 5 Kevin Arnold, 6 Don Carlson, 7 Jay Corbin, 8 Mike Middleton, 9 Victor Hopkins, 10 Chris Crews, 11 Robbie Speed, 12 Lori Cary, 13 Steve Goodermote, 14 Hugh Page, 15 Bob Duzlak, 16 Kyle Hosier, 17 Jason Casey, 18 Dwayne Quennville, 19 Rob Langevin, DNS Larry Megan, DNS Mike Halachik.

Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1,Brian Keough, 2 John Santolin, 3 Nick Hilt, 4 George Miles Jr, 5 Justin Herron, 6 Gary Ashley, 7 Bill Hammell, 8 Frankie Twing, 9 Zach Peckham, 10 Dirk LaPierre, DNS Rob Maxon.

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Jerry Helms Jr, 2 John Chapman, 3 Rich Douglass, 4 Dave Stickles, 5 Don Coon, 6 Jeff Douglass, 7 Lynn Wesley, 8 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 9 Tony Arcolleo, 10 Windy Winters, 11 Kirk Stanaway.

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Mark Stevens, 2 Robert Hammell, 3 Chip Martin, 4 Tim Sayers, 5 Joe Chenail, 6 David Bink, 7 E. J. Legeyt, 8 Ron Hoyt Jr, 9 John Quiqley, 10 Dave Houser, 11 Karl Castagna, 12 Ed Hatch, 13 Nick Regis, 99 Henry Houser.

Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Tom Harkins, 2 Al Relyea, 3 Ray Hall Sr, 4 Pete Wiegand, 5 Kevin Winters, 6 Shannon McDermott, 7 Phil Wood, 8 Chrissy Hilt, 9 Bob Palmer, 10 Dave Streibel, 11 Larry Ball, 12 Steve Kahler Jr, 13 Matt Humes.

Pure Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Brian Houghtaling, 2 Tom Murphy,3 Ryan Coon, 4 Steve Hatch, 5 Chris Keller, 6 Paul Engwer, 7 Joe Walcott, 8 Chuck Lampe, 9 Richard Rogers, 10 Randy Myers, 11 Jesse Murphy, 12 Lou Ganczar.