"Wild Child" Tames the High Banks to Take the First Ever Bud Classic

Saturday July 8, 2006 - By: Rodney Rescott

West Lebanon, NY:  Lebanon Valley Speedway played host to the 100 lap Big Block Modified "Bud Classic", the first time ever held on a Saturday Night, along with a regular racing program.  Fans were treated to 'edge-of-your-seat' racing all night long only to be treated to a classic Valley battle for 100 laps.

Clear skies and bright sun have finally returned to Upstate New York, and the Valley of Speed took full advantage by packing the stands full of fans, and packing the track full of fantastic racing.  But the night capper had everything; strategy, patience, and a dash of luck.

John Ruchel and Denny Soltis took the field of 31 cars to the green for the 100 lap Bud Classic presented by Budweiser.  The caution flew only a few times throughout the event, the first came just 4 laps in, as the 34R of Russ Reckner came to a stop on the backstretch suffering from a broken rear-end gear.  On the subsequent restart, the #55K of Mike King took the helm of the ship and drove to the front; a spot in which he would hold right through lap 36.  But pressure was coming, and it wasn't long before the Valley bad Boys made an appearance from deep in the pack.  At that point Lorne Browe, piloting his #14, took the point from King to try and steal the show away.

But the caution flew by lap 42 for the first of several blown tires, this time it was the #77F of Mark Flach.  That bunched the field, pulling the lead that Browe had built up, right down to nothing.  And when the car lined up for the restart, the usual suspects of J.R. Heffner, Andy Bachetti, and
Kenny Tremont were right there in the top five, ready to take over the helm.

On the restart, Bachetti jumped into second, then was going for the top spot from Browe, when contact between the #45J of Wayne Jelley and Tremont forced another caution as Jelley suffered a broken rear-end as well, taking him out of the event.  This lined up the "Wild Child" right on Browe's bumper, and on the next restart, it took a lap or two, but the Albreida Waste #4 took the top spot just in time for the next caution brought out by the #74 of Heffner with a flat right rear tire.  Once the field hit the halfway mark, every seemed to settle in to make sure they had enough to go the distance.

Tremont moved into the third running spot by lap 63 behind the L. Browe Paving #14, who was following Bachetti's lead.  Browe, a 'rookie' Big Block Modified pilot, settled into following the #4's tire tracks and began to separate himself from the S&S Asphalt #115 running in 3rd.  Lap traffic, and attrition began to hamper Bachetti's progress, but he used patience to get through the slower cars, and occasional tire debris from blown tires.  Bachetti drove like a veteran, and his patience paid off, taking the first ever Bud Classic 100, and the mighty big $6,000.00 paycheck too. Browe's #14 crossed the line 2nd, followed by Tremont, Eddie Marshall, and Tim Dwyer completing the top 5.

The Sportsman class had their 20 lap feature event earlier in the night.  As Danny Sanchez held the top spot from the drop of the green flag, he tried all he could to hold off the mid race charge from Chris Tryon's #5, but Tryon was too much and took over from Sanchez on lap 12.  Tryon put on the afterburners, and covered the field even in the closing laps with the #25 and #22 pressuring.  But it was going to be Tryon to the checkers first, followed by Frankie Harper.   Sanchez battled his way into third, while Jeff Watson and Kyle Hoffman rounded out the top 5.

The Pro Stocks put on a show on their own, as their 20 lap feature took to the Valley of Speed.  Mike Middleton took the top spot at the beginning, but it didn't take long for everyone else to pressure him for the helm.  Like a mutiny declared on a pirate ship, the lead was tossed back and forth as much as a restrictor plate race at Daytona.  But it was the last 6 laps that made the crown throughout the seats they bought, and just stood to watch this wheel to wheel battle with the Rob and Rob Show.  It was Speed at the point, but Yetman wanted it; and so it began, getting more and more heated as the laps wound down.  On the white flag lap, the make contact going into turn 3, Speed shimmies up the track a little, Yetman squeezes in on the bottom groove, they trade paint again as the head for the home stretch.  Back and forth, door to door, wheel to wheel, rubbing, banging, and standing on the gas to the checkers.  At the line, it was the #7 of Yetman taking the win by about a foot and a half.    After the checkers, Yetman blew his right front, causing him to veer into the #24 on the cool down lap in turn one, sending both into the outside wall, causing minor damage.

Speed, unhappy with the outcome, came back up to the front stretch after going over the scales, only to be told he finished second.  He sped off, obviously unhappy with the outcome.  Yetman crossed the line first, followed by Speed's #24.  Third was Paul LaRochelle, Mike Middleton, and Rick Dempsey completed the front 5.  The finish was still listed as "Unofficial" at press time.  The Limited Pro Stocks also had their 10 lap event, as Nick Hilt took his 3rd win of 2006 over John Santolin, Brian Keough, Justin Herron, and Frankie Twing getting his first top 5 finish.

The Pure Stock Division also had their 8 lap features, packing over 50 cars into 4 events.  The winners were: Pure Stock #1 Mike Eichstedt, PS# 2 Lou Ganczar, PS# 3 Pete Wiegand, his 5th on the year, and Pure Stock #4 was captured by Larry Ball, his first of 2006.

Track crews immediately began transforming the speedway for the annual return of the USHRA Monster Truck Summer Nationals starting Monday July 10th, 11th, and 12th.  Then its right back to the High Banks Saturday July 15th as Rifenberg Construction presents a huge night of racing in all classes, including the Benjamin Moore 358 Super Series returning for another engagement.

For more information, or tickets, visit our 'new' website at www.LebanonValley.com, or call the Speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965 during normal business hours.

Saturday July 08, 2006 -

BUDWEISER BEER PRESENTS 100 LAP "MODIFIED BUD CLASSIC" Results (100 Laps) -
1 Andy Bachetti, 2 Lorne Browe, 3 Kenny Tremont, 4 Eddie Marshall, 5 Tim Dwyer, 6 Keith Flach, 7 Donnie Corellis, 8 Brian Berger, 9 John Hewitt, 10 Guy Sheldon, 11 Denny Soltis, 12 J. R. Heffner, 13 Paul Gilardi, 14 John Alberti, 15 Jeremy Matthies, 16 Mark Flach Jr, 17 Ron Dwyer, 18 Steve Hough, 19 Mike King, 20 John Ruchel, 21 Skippy Fox, 22 Mark Pullen, 23 Hector Stratton, 24 Wayne Jelley, 25 Jeff Watson, 26 Wayne Figler, 27 Matt Quinn, 28 Russ Reckner, 29 Kyle Sheldon, 30 Ryan Larkin

Sportsman Main Results (20 Laps) - 1Chris Tryon, 2 Frank Harper, 3 Danny Sanchez, 4 Jeff Watson, 5 Kyle Hoffman, 6 Ed Harkin, 7 Art Collins, 8 Carmon Carnibucci, 9 Chris Kokosa, 10 KC Goewey, 11 Alan Houghtaling, 12 Kory Sandstedt, 13 Ryan Larkin, 14 Kevin Lynch, 15 Chad Pierce, 16 Joe Mabb Jr, 17 Butch Lyons, 18 Derek Schibi, 19 Bob Bouchard, 20 D. T. Pickard, 21 Wayne Keyes, 22 Brian Sandstedt, 23 Earl Thitchener, 24 Don Miller, 25 Neil Stratton, 26 Danny Burl

Pro Stock Main Results (Unofficial) (20 Laps) - 1 Rob Yetman, 2 Robbie Speed, 3 Paul LaRochelle, 4 Mike Middleton, 5 Rick Dempsey, 6 Chris Crews, 7 Kevin Arnold, 8 Don Carlson, 9 Henry Warner, 10 Jon Routhier, 11 Lori Cary, 12 Jay Corbin, 13 Don Collins, 14 Rob Langevin, 15 Jeff Kelmel, 16 Tim Emmonds, 17 Dwayne Quennville, 18 Victor Hopkins, 19 Chris Claus, 20 Jim Langenback, 21 Mike Stebbins, 22 Jason Casey

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

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Mike Eichstedt, 2 Ed Hatch, 3 Nick Regis, 4 David Bink, 5 John Quiqley, 6 Don Coon, 7 Kirk Stanaway, 8 Todd Pelkey, 9 Tim Sayers, 10 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 11 Ron Hoyt Jr, 12 Rich Douglass

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Lou Ganczar, 2 Shannon McDermott, 3 Ryan Coon, 4 Dave Houser, 5 Steve Kahler Jr, 6 Joe Walcott, 7 Jim Fachini, 8 E. J. Legeyt, 9 Wuggie Burdick, 10 Jerry Helms Jr, 11 Billy Bulson, 12 Doug Olds, 13 Mark Stevens

Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Pete Wiegand, 2 Chrissy Hilt, 3 Jesse Murphy, 4 Bob Palmer, 5 Dave Streibel, 6 Ray Hall Sr, 7 John Chapman, 8 Steve Hatch, 9 Matt Humes, 10 Al Relyea, 11 Tom Harkins, 12 Kevin Winters, 13 Brian Houghtaling

Pure Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Larry Ball, 2 Richard Puff, 3 Jeff Douglass, 4 Dan Olds, 5 Chris Keller, 6 Karl Castagna, 7 Chip Martin, 8 Joe Chenail, 9 Gary VanDenberg, 10 Lynn Wesley, 11 Dave Stickles, 12 Richard Rogers, 13 Keri Van Denberg