Don Carlson Takes $500 Pro Stock Win, Then Came the Rains.

Saturday August 19th, 2006 - By: Rodney Rescott

West Lebanon, NY:  Mother Nature put Howard Commander's Lebanon Valley Speedway on the clock this past Saturday Night.  With rains closing in on the Valley of Speed, the JH Financial program went off a few minutes early to try and get as much racing in safely before the rain spoiled the night.

And with very little time wasted in between feature and heat races, the program went along up until the skies opened up.  At that time, the Modifieds were on the High Banks for their 30 lap feature event.  All they got in was about 5 parade laps to keep the track, but it was too late, the rains came, and the night was done.

With only the Modifieds and Sportsman left on the docket, the race was rescheduled as follows:  Modifieds will have double features on Saturday September 2, 2006.  The Sportsman division will complete their double features next week, Saturday August 26, 2006.

With all racing under the gun with wet weather looming, Don Carlson thought that would be a great time to take home a victory.  As the JH Financial $500.00 to Win 20 lap feature event took the green with Carlson on the front row.  And by the time the field reached the backstretch, Carlson took the top spot in hopes of taking away the big payday.  Caution on lap 2 involving the #7 of Rob Yetman, and the #44 of Steve Hankle, both were able to continue.  But the defending champ, Yetman struggled from that point on, with a handling issue, then later with motor issues; causing the #7 to retire early from the event.

But up front it was Carlson at the helm of the field.  Robbie Speed's #24 powered into 2nd place behind Carlson, but that's as far as he would get.  Contact with the #76 of Kevin Arnold later in the race caused some body damage, relegating Speed to a 3rd place finish.  Arnold made his patented late race charge; that was not going to be enough to get the job done; as Don Carlson piloted his #26 to the victory.  This was his first win of 2006.  Arnold crossed the line 2nd with Speed holding on for 3rd.  Fourth across the line was the #8 of Jay Corbin, and then the #5 of Chris Crews finished completing the top five.

The Limited Pro Stocks saw the #17 of Nick Hilt cross the line first for his forth of 2006.  Following Hilt was the #311 of Brian Keough, #6 of John Santolin, the #12 of Dale Kennedy, and the #98 Justin Herron finishing out the top 5.  At Press Time, the results were still unofficial due to a post race protest.  The race will be made official by Monday morning.

The Pure Stock division also got all their racing in, as the big crowd on hand got to see some excellent side by side racing action with the 4 separate 8 lap features.  Pure Stock #1 saw the #67 of Dave Houser take the win.  Following Houser was Todd Pelkey, Lynn Wesley, Dan Olds, and Chris Keller to round out the top 5.

Pure Stock #2 was captured by the #53 of Joe Chenail, followed by Mark Stevens, Nick Regis, Gary VanDenberg, and Johnny Lane completing the top 5.

Pure Stock #3 completed their 8 lap feature with Matt Humes taking the victory. Following Humes was Chrissy Hilt, Al Relyea, Tom Harkins, and Pete Wiegand completing the top 5.

Pure Stock #4 had the hard charging #2 of Shannon McDermott take the checkers.  Following McDermott acrossed the line was Dave Steibel, Mike Eichstedt, Paul Engwer, and Ed Hatch.

The 4 Cylinder event was also postpones to a yet to be determined later date.  All competitors will be notified when the event will be completed.

Mark on your calendar next weeks events as Wingfest returns to the Valley of Speed!  Saturday August 26th, County Concrete and Heavy hauler present the Carquest $5000.00 to win Modified Wingfest.  This exciting event attracts everyone with a race car with the big payday.  Plus your Modified drivers change their cars to have a wing and sail panels, a couple of engine modifications, and some extreme driving, making Wingfest 2006 a 'can't miss' event.

Also, the Coors National 200 Race of Kings Weekend is just 3 short weeks away, and tickets are going fast.  If you was to pre order you tickets for Friday, Saturday, or both nights, call the speedway Offices now to get the reserved seats you want!  General admission will be $10 on Friday, $22 on Saturday.  Reserved seating for Friday is $12, and $24 for Saturday's events.  If you plan to be there the whole weekend, save yourself some cash and get the Coors National Race of Kings Combo Pass for just $34! For more information on the speedway, as well as to order tickets, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, or call the speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965 during normal business hours.

Results:

Saturday, August 19, 2006 - JH Financial Services

Modified Results (30 Laps) - Postponed till September 2nd - Double Features!

Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - Postponed till August 26th - Double Features!

Pro Stock JH Financial $500.00 To Win Results (20 Laps) - 1 Don Carlson, 2 Kevin Arnold, 3 Robbie Speed, 4 Jay Corbin, 5 Chris Crews, 6 Jon Routhier, 7 Mike Middleton, 8 Ed Bachand, 9 Victor Hopkins, 10 Rick Dempsey, 11 Jason Casey, 12 Paul LaRochelle, 13 Jay Casey, 14 Rob Langevin, 15 Mike Halachik, 16 Eric Marin, 17 Don Collins, 18 Steve Goodermote, 19 Rob Yetman, 20 Jeff Kelmel, 21 Steve Hankle, 22 Rick Spencer, 23 Hugh Page

Limited Pro Stock Results [Official] (10 Laps) – 1 Brian Keough, 2 John Santolin, 3 Dale Kennedy, 4 Justin Herron, 5 George Miles Jr, 6 Jerry Helms Sr, 7 Dirk LaPierre, 8 Frankie Twing, 9 Jim Keough, 10 Gary Ashley, 111 Jim Fachini, 12 Nick Hilt

Pure Stock #1 (8 Laps) - 1 Dave Houser, 2 Todd Pelkey, 3 Lynn Wesley, 4 Dan Olds, 5 Chris Keller, 6 Jeff Douglass, 7 Richard Puff, 8 Steve Hatch, 9 Doug Olds, 10 Rob Partridge, 11 Mike Arnold

Pure Stock #2 (8 Laps) - 1 Joe Chenail, 2 Mark Stevens, 3 Nick Regis, 4 Gary VanDenberg, 5 Johnny Lane, 6 Joe Walcott, 7 Rich Douglass, 8 Gil Twing Jr, 9 Kirk Stanaway, 10 John Quiqley, 11 Dave Fachini Jr, 12 Chuck Lampe

Pure Stock #3 (8 Laps) - 1 Matt Humes, 2 Chrissy Hilt, 3 Al Relyea, 4 Tom Harkins, 5 Pete Wiegand, 6 John Chapman, 7 Bob Palmer, 8 Ray Hall Sr, 9 Steve Kahler Jr, 10 Larry Ball, 11 Lou Ganczar, 12 Dave Stickles,

Pure Stock #4 (8 Laps) - 1 Shannon McDermott, 2 Dave Streibel, 3 Mike Eichstedt, 4 Paul Engwer, 5 Ed Hatch, 6 Howard Madsen, 7 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 8 Mike Fachini, 9 E. J. Legeyt, 10 Robert Hammell, 11Tim Sayers, 12 Lloyd Tomlin