Leckonby Flies to Big Pay Day; Arnold Soars to the

Checkers.Double Features for Sportsman –

Kyle Hoffman and Jeff Watson Take Victories!

Saturday August 26, 2006 - By: Rodney Rescott

New Lebanon, NY: Tons of racing fans filed into the famed Valley of Speed Saturday Night, as County Concrete and Heavy Hauler put on a special program titled Wingfest.  All divisions took their normal rules and threw them out the window, except for the Sportsman, and Pure Stocks, to put on an 'Extreme' race for some big money.

The rules were simply - anything goes.  So teams brought their normal Saturday Night Big Block Modifieds to the High Banks, only this time, they were more like Dr. Jekyll, than Mr. Hyde.  Picture a Northeast Dirt Modified, then grow a huge wing or sail panel on the left side, some short like a sprint car, some long like a giant billboard.  Then throw in a 'no engine rule' where anything goes, and you got a spectacle that only the Valley could produce.  Then add in a big, fat check for about $5,000.00; now you gotta something to race for!  Including a cool $1,000.00 to the first "DIRT Legal" car to cross the line.

So the field was formed, and the 30 lap feature was just about under way as Andy Bachetti waved the green on the first due to blowing an engine in the heats earlier n the night.  Ronnie Dwyer and Dave McFeeters led the field to the green, the race was on.  Dwyer took his familiar #88D un-changed, to the top spot, and began to check out on the field.  And he needs to, because the 'winged warriors' were beginning to get a feel for their transformed cars, and they were coming to the front in a hurry.

Deep in the field, J.R. Heffner's 'altered' #74 began to charge through the field.  But just ahead of him was the "Mayor" Dave Leckonby piloting his 'altered' #4 who was driving like an ol' sprint car pro.  Caution came out by lap 11 for the #34R of Russ Reckner.  Under caution, the #77F made contact with another car due to an track racing incident; he was then black fagged and sent to the pits for 'rough driving'.  The field was then gathered up, and they went back to green.  Once again with Dwyer up front, but he didn't get too far out front, as the #44 of Leckonby was on the charge.  He restarted in the 4th position, and within a lap, he was perched in second place ready to make the move for the lead.

Without wasting a moment, the #44 leaped into the top spot, and took off.  A few positions back, was the #74 of Heffner, but he just couldn't get to the front fast enough, and ran out of time.  Leckonby parlayed his nearly half a track lead into a $5,000.00 victory.  Heffner's charge got him to 2nd place, 3rd was Dwyer, the first 'Dirt Legal', 4th was Wayne Jelley, and Eddie Marshall rounded out the top 5.

Like that wasn't enough. The Sportsman division had double features due to the rain out from last week.  The first 20 lap feature, made up from last week saw several cautions, and nearly half the field hooked up to a tow truck at one point or another.  This included a 1st lap crash on the front stretch that involved nearly 8 cars, causing the #9H of Ed Harkins to flip down the front stretch.  He was OK, but the car was in tough shape, and he was out of the first one.  He did get a lot of time to get it fixed, and made the 2nd feature.

After a brief red flag, the field was back under green.  The action was hot, but this one belonged to the #16 of Kyle Hoffman.  He drove away with the win; his first of '06, with the #25 of Frank Harper hot on his heals to finish in second.  3rd across the line was the #22 Jeff Watson, Brian Sandstedt finished 4th, and Chris Kokosa charged from the back of the pack after the first caution to finish 5th.

The second 20 lap feature was shaping up to be a stunner, as the #09 of Kevin Lynch led nearly 19 circuits, only to be passed with just one lap to go.  The SportsPage Bar and Grill #09 charged to the lead right at the drop of the green, and he tried to put as much acreage between himself and the #95 of Carmen Carnibucci sitting in 2nd.  And that's the way the front stayed for over half the race; but the #22 of Jeff Watson was on the move, and he wanting to get to the top spot.  Unfortunately there was no one that was going to deny him of the win.  Even with a caution on lap 18, putting Watson on the back bumper of Lynch, just was delaying the inevitable.   When the field restarted, the #22 wasted no time, while Lynch tried to hold him off valiantly, Watson was just too strong.  Watson took the lead, and never looked back.  Watson takes the win, his 2nd of 2006; Carmon Carnibucci drove his Toyota sponsored #95 to a hard fought 2nd place finish.  3rd acrossed the line was the #9H of Ed Harkins, recovering nicely from the first feature wreck.  4th was Lynch's #09, followed by the #87 of Neil Stratton.

Also on tap for night's activities was the Pro Stock division.  They, too, were taking part in the 'Wingfest' festivities, as the #76 of Kevin Arnold was the first of the winged warriors to get to the front, and he pulled away to take his 2nd win of the year.  Jon Routhier finished 2nd, 3rd was Eric Marin, 4th was Jim Langenback, and rounding out the top 5 was Ed Bachand's #165 (the first Dirt Legal across the line).

The Limited pro Stockers put on an excellent race as the #1 of George Miles pulled off another last lap on the last turn, pass to take the win, by just inches.  Dave Colwell came up a few inches short to finish 2nd, 3rd was Nick Hilt, followed by the #311 of Brian Keough, and the #6 of John Santolin.

Nearly 50 Pure Stockers jammed into the Valley of Speed for some excellent door to door action.  This time, the Pure Stock winners were:  PS#1 - Dave Streibel, PS#2 - Mike Eichstedt, PS#3 - Pete Wiegand (his 9th of '06!), and PS#4 - Dave Stickles.

Mark your calendars as its Final Points Night!  Here already is the last point night for the Modifieds, the 358's, and the Sportsman.  The High Banks will be just packed from corner to corner with all division in full action to decide the 2006 Champs for the top 3 divisions.  Gable Auto Stores and Pepsi Cola are presenting a Carquest $3,000.00 to Win Modified Special, as well as the Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Super Series.  Gates open at 5pm, and racing set to begin at 6pm.  Remember, this is also going to be Double Features for the Modifieds as a make up from 2 weeks ago!  There will be action from beginning to end, so you are not gonna want to miss this one.

For more information, current points, or ticket information, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, or call the Speedway offices during normal business hours at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965.

Results:

Saturday August 26, 2006 - County Concrete & Heavey Hauler $5000 to Win Modified Wingfest Results (30 Laps) - 1 Dave Leckonby, 2 J. R. Heffner, 3 Ron Dwyer, 4 Wayne Jelley, 5 Eddie Marshall, 6 Brian Berger, 7 Lorne Browe, 8 Mike King, 9 John Alberti, 10 Steve Hough, 11 Guy Sheldon, 12 Dave McFeeters, 13 Donnie Ackner, 14 John Ruchel, 15 Skippy Fox, 16 Mark Pullen, 17 Keith Flach, 18 Kenny Tremont, 19 Wayne Figler, 20 Kyle Sheldon, 21 John G. Wolfe, 22 Mark Flach Jr, 23 John Hewitt, 24 Russ Reckner, 25 Donnie Corellis, 26 Paul Gilardi

Sportsman 08/19 JH Financial Services Rained Out Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Kyle Hoffman, 2 Frank Harper, 3 Jeff Watson,4 Brian Sandstedt, 5 Chris Kokosa, 6 Art Collins, 7 Alan Houghtaling, 8 Ryan Larkin, 9 Kory Sandstedt, 10 Danny Sanchez,11 Carmon Carnibucci, 12 Kevin Lynch, 13 Chad Pierce, 14 Earl Thitchener, 15 Jeff Kelly, 16 KC Goewey, 17 Kim LaVoy, 18 Neil Stratton, 19 Don Miller, 20 Chris Tryon, 21 Wayne Keyes, 22 Derek Schibi, 23 Joe Mabb Jr, 24 Ed Harkin

Sportsman Regular Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Jeff Watson, 2 Carmon Carnibucci, 3 Ed Harkin, 4 Kevin Lynch, 5 Neil Stratton,6 Danny Sanchez, 7 KC Goewey, 8 Chris Tryon, 9 Alan Houghtaling, 10 Brian Sandstedt, 11 Art Collins, 12 Ryan Larkin, 13 Chris Kokosa, 14 Kyle Hoffman, 15 Kory Sandstedt, 16 Frank Harper, 17 Kim LaVoy, 18 Jason Tompkins, 19 Kolby Schroder,20 Chad Pierce, 21 Bill Singer, 22 Derek Schibi, 23 Kent Clark, 24 Don Miller, 25 Jeff Kelly

Pro Stock Run What Ya Brung Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Kevin Arnold, 2 Jon Routhier, 3 Eric Marin, 4 Jim Langenback, 5 Mike Middleton, 6 Ed Bachand, 7 Rob Langevin, 8 Paul LaRochelle, 9 Jason Casey, 10 Chris Crews, 11 Chip Smith, 12 Rich Crane, 13 Victor Hopkins, 14 Don Collins, 15 Robbie Speed, 16 Hugh Page, 17 Rick Dempsey, 18 Steve Hankle, 19 Frank Twing, 20 Jay Corbin, 21 Rob Yetman, 22 Don Carlson, 23 Dwayne Quennville

Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 George Miles Jr, 2 Dave Colwell, 3 Nick Hilt, 4 Brian Keough, 5 John Santolin, 6 Jerry Helms Sr, 7 Justin Herron, 8 Dirk Lapierre, 9 Zach Peckham, 10 Frankie Twing, 11 Bill Hammell, 12 Dale Kennedy, 13 Kevin Winters

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Dave Stickles, 2 Ed Hatch, 3 E. J. Legeyt, 4 Nick Regis, 5 Howard Madsen, 6 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 7 Joe Chenail, 8 Richard Rogers, 9 Tim Sayers, 10 John Quiqley, 11 Billy Bulson, 12 Jeff Douglass, 13 Dave Fachini Jr

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Mike Eichstedt, 2 Chip Martin, 3 Lou Ganczar, 4 Dan Olds, 5 Dave Houser, 6 Scott Kilmer, 7 Don Coon, 8 Mike Arnold, 9 Joe Walcott, 10 Kirk Stanaway, 11 Mark Stevens, 12 Doug Olds, 13 Jesse Murphy

Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Pete Weigand, 2 Ray Hall Sr, 3 Matt Humes, 4 Bob Palmer, 5 Shannon McDermott, 6 Al Relyea, 7 Larry Ball, 8 John Chapman, 9 Lynn Wesley, 10 Steve Kahler Jr, 11 Chrissy Hilt

Pure Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Dave Streibel, 2 Jay Casey, 3 Chris Keller, 4 Jerry Helms Jr, 5 Windy Winters, 6 Ryan Coon, 7 Steve Hatch, 8 Sean Tomlin, 9 Rich Douglass, 10 Gil Twing Jr, 11 Gary VanDenberg, 12 Paul Engwer