Sheldon, Collins, and Blanchard Tame the High Banks for 1st of the Year
Saturday
August 12, 2006 - By: Rodney Rescott
West
Lebanon, NY: A warm sunny day, turned into a cool summer night, but the action
remained as hot as ever at the Valley of Speed. "Hollywood" Guy
Sheldon put all the pieces together to finally reach victory lane at the High
Bank. Art Collins used his veteran patience to finally see the checkers,
while Dave Blanchard battled door to door to climb into the top spot.
Aladco
and Triple Nickel presented the night's program of racing, and the legendary
Valley of Speed pack the stands with the local racing devoted, as well as the
'little guys' as it was Kiddie Ride night. Over 40 cars lined the front
stretch at the Valley with each one stock full of young fans holding on for
dear-life, but smiling from ear to ear doing it! After the 2 lap parade
around the speedway, it was time to go racing.
As the fans settled into the seats for a night of racing action; the first on the grid was the Pure Stock Division. The action was tight, and abundant with nearly 55 cars on tap. The winners of each of the 4 main events were: PS#1 - Kirk Stanaway, PS#2 - Richard Puff, PS#3 - Pete Wiegand (8th of 2006), and PS#4 - Chip Martin.
The
highlight of the night belonged to the Modifieds, as the field took to the high
banks for their 30 main event. On the front row it was the #88d of Ron
Dwyer, along side the "Valley Pole Sitter" Kyle Sheldon. At the
drop of the green, Sheldon led the filed into turn one, but that was all the
#518 had, as the #88d of Dwyer stuck to the bottom, and powered into the top
spot going down the backstretch. Dwyer charged to the lead and set
sail. But the family Sheldon had other ideas. By lap 8, the #42 of
Guy Sheldon got to the back bumper of the #88d and began to pressure Dwyer.
The
Devine Racing #42 of Sheldon finally maneuvered by to take over the top spot by
lap 12. With only two cautions slowing the field, nobody had much of a
chance to catch Sheldon. The usual Valley Bad Boys of Eddie Marshall,
Kenny Tremont, and Andy Bachetti made their way through the field to the front,
but it was much too little much too late, as Hollywood Guy Sheldon takes his
first win of '06. Marshall drove his #98 to place finish. 3rd was
Tremont's #115 followed by J.R. Heffner's #74 and tin Dwyer's #1A rounded out
the top five.
The
Sportsman division, with one of the closest point's battle in years, took to
the Valley of Speed for their 20 lap feature event. Bob Bouchard and Neil
Stratton brought the field to the green, but by turn 2, Stratton took over the
top of the heap. The caution came out early on lap 2 as contact between
the #3 of last weeks winner, Kim LaVoy and the #122 of Wayne Keyes ended up
with LaVoy's left front wedged in the side nerf-bars of the #122 of
Keyes. After a short delay to separate the two cars, the filed went back
to green. Stratton continued to show his speed, but soon, a wily veteran
began to patiently make his presents known at the front. A lap 8 restart
bunched the filed again, this time in single file, as that was all the
defending champion needed, as the Alligator Art Collins drove his familiar #68
to the top spot, then drove off to another area code.
Nobody
could muster a late race challenge to the 'ol veteran, as Collins takes his
first win of 2006. Following Collins was the #250 of Alan Houghtaling
with a strong runner-up finish. Stratton held on for 3rd, followed by Ed
Harkin, and a hard charging Chris Kokosa.
The
Action didn't stop there, though. The Pro Stocks wanted to make it 3 for
3 with first time winners this week, and with defending champ Rob Yetman
starting deep in the field, there was a good chance for that to come to
fruition. Don Carlson and Lori Cary brought the field to the green for
their 20 lap feature event. Carey battled for the top spot, but Carlson
just had too much early in the event and took over the lead by lap 2.
Carlson held the lead, with the rest of field fighting door to door from 2nd to
15th place. Finally something had to give, and it did around lap 8, as
several cars were involved including the #117B of Rob Langevin, the #165 of Ed
Bachand, the #38 of Mike Middleton, and Yetman's #7. All were able to
continue after several repairs to their damaged racers.
At
the drop of the green, Carlson took charge again as the rest of the field
battled for position. With only 6 laps left on the lap counter, Carlson
had company in the form of the #15 of Dave Blanchard. Blanchard waited
patiently for the right moment, and by the next lap it came as the #26 drifted
up high in turns 1 and 2. Blanchard took over, and never looked
back. Dave Blanchard crossed the line first, taking his first victory of
2006 followed by the #78 of Paul LaRochelle; Jay Casey's #322, Rick Dempsey
battled to take the forth spot, and Carlson held on to finish 5th.
The
Limited Pro Stocks featured a complete field pile up on lap 3 in turn 1, with
most of the cars continuing, all with minor to medium damage. But it was
Nick Hilt taking his 4th win of '06 followed by Brian Keough, George Miles,
Frankie Twing and Justin Herron.
The
Valley comes back this coming Saturday with a special $500.00 to win Pro Stock
Feature presented by Waste Management. All classes will be in attendance,
including the 4 Cylinders. Gates open at 5pm, racing starts at 6pm.For
more information, or ticket info, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com. Or call
the Speedway Offices during normal business hours at (518) 794-9606, or (518)
794-9965.
Aladco
Uniform Services, Triple Nickel Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1 Guy Sheldon
2 Eddie Marshall, 3 Kenny Tremont, 4 J. R. Heffner, 5 Tim Dwyer, 6 Andy
Bachetti, 7 Steve Hough, 8 Donnie Corellis, 9 Denny Soltis, 10 Brian Berger, 11
Hector Stratton, 12 Wayne Jelley, 13 Keith Flach, 14 Kyle Sheldon, 15 John
Hewitt, 16 Lorne Browe, 17 Russ Reckner, 18 Mike King, 19 Dave Leckonby, 20 Don
Mattison, 21 John Ruchel, 22 John Alberti, 23 Dave McFeeters, 24 Mark Pullen, 25
Wayne Figler, 26 Skippy Fox, 27 Mark Flach Jr, 28 Ron Dwyer, 29 Paul Gilardi,
30 Donnie Ackner
Sportsman
Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Art Collins,
2 Alan Houghtaling, 3 Neil Stratton, 4 Ed Harkin, 5 Chris Kokosa, 6 KC Goewey,
7 Kyle Hoffman, 8 Carmon Carnibucci, 9 Ryan Larkin, 10 Jeff Watson, 11 Frank
Harper, 12 Chad Pierce, 13 Jeff Kelly, 14 Brian Sandstedt, 15 Chris Tryon, 16
Bob Bouchard, 17 Joe Mabb Jr, 18 Wayne Keyes, 19 Kim LaVoy, 20 Don Kennedy, 21
Kent Clark, 22 Kory Sandstedt, 23 Don Miller, 24 Danny Sanchez, 25 Derek Schibi
Pro
Stock Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Dave Blanchard, 2 Paul LaRochelle, 3 Jay Casey, 4 Rick Dempsey, 5
Don Carlson, 6 Jason Casey, 7 Chris Crews, 8 Robbie Speed, 9 Jay Corbin, 10
Kevin Arnold, 11 Victor Hopkins, 12 Henry Warner, 13 Lori Cary, 14 Don Collins,
15 Jon Routhier, 16 Mike Middleton, 17 Rob Yetman, 18 Rob Langevin, 19 Jeff
Kelmel, 20 Steve Hankle, 21 Ed Bachand
Limited
Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 Nick Hilt, 2 Brian Keough, 3 George Miles Jr, 4 Frankie Twing, 5 Justin Herron,
6 Dirk LaPierre, 7 Jerry Helms Sr, 8 Gary Ashley, 9 Dale Kennedy, 10 Jim
Keough, 11 John Santolin, 12 Rob Maxon, 13 Zach Peckham, 14 Dave Colwell
Pure
Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Kirk Stanaway, 2 Dave Houser, 3 Steve Kahler Jr, 4 Todd Pelkey, 5 Nick Regis, 6 Lou
Ganczar, 7 Robert Hammell, 8 Lloyd Tomlin, 9 Doug Olds, 10 Joe Chenail, 11 Ed
Hatch, 12 Jim Fachini
Pure
Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Richard Puff, 2 Dave Stickles, 3 Ryan Coon, 4 Gary VanDenberg, 5 Paul Engwer, 6
Lynn Wesley, 7 Dan Olds, 8 John Quiqley, 9 Paul Handlowich, 10 Mike Arnold, 11
Mike Acker, 12 Billy Bulson, 13 Steve Hatch
Pure
Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Pete Wiegand, 2 Al Relyea, 3 Matt Humes, 4 Bob Palmer, 5 John Chapman, 6 Tom
Harkins, 7 Ray Hall Sr, 8 Larry Ball, 9 Rich Douglass, 10 Mike Fachini, 11 Dave
Streibel, 12 Shannon McDermott, 13 Brian Houghtaling, 14 Jesse Murphy
Pure
Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Chip Martin, 2 Jay LaMountain, 3 Chrissy Hilt, 4 Jeff Douglass, 5 Jay Kreutziger
Jr, 6 Don Coon, 7 Joe Walcott, 8 Wuggie Burdick, 9 Richard Rogers, 10 Tom
Goodermote, 11 Jay Casey, 12 Chris Keller, 13 David Bink, 14 Johnny Lane, 15
Jerry Helms Jr, 16 Dave Fachini Jr