Valley Puts Cap On '06 Season Yetman Battles to Repeat
Title; Keough and Wiegand Crowned Champs
Saturday September 16, 2006
- By: Rodney Rescott
West Lebanon, NY: With
clear skies and no storms in the forecast, the Valley of Speed put the last
program on the schedule on the speedway to wrap up the final points in the Pro
Stocks, Limited Pros Stock, and Pure Stock divisions. Howard Commander's
Lebanon Valley Speedway was in tip-top shape for a night of full fender
battles, along with a special Funplex Funpark Sportsman 30 lap Shootout.
After dominating earlier in
the 2006 season, Rob Yetman's #7 seems to struggle to get to the top 5 in the
last few events. This opened the door for the rest of the field to reel
Yetman back in for the overall points title in the Pro Stock division.
After last week's solid top five, Yetman came into the night with just a scant
38 point lead over veteran Paul LaRochelle.
As the 30 lap Pro Stock
finale got under way, as Ed Bachand took his #165 to the point. Bachand
stayed out front after several cautions slowed the field. The first
caution came on lap 4, then just 3 laps later on lap 7. Both of which
caused Yetman to go pitside to change flat tires on the Beer Belly Bob's #7,
relegating him to starting 'clean-up' on the field. On the ensuing
restart, Bachand began getting pressure from Jay Corbin's #8. Corbin finally made the pass by lap 9, and
began to pull away from the rest of the field.
LaRochelle was wading within
the top 10 all race, but just couldn't get a good grip on the high banks to
make a charge to the front get the most out of Yetman's misfortunes. But
there was no one going to catch the #8 as Corbin charged to a near ¾
straightaway lead to take the 30 lap Pro Stock Feature event. With LaRochelle
mustering just a 5th place finish, and Yetman crossing the line 10th, it was
not enough as the defending champ, Rob Yetman takes the 2006 Pro Stock
Championship.
The Limited Pro Stocks also
crowned their champ at the Valley of Speed.
This time, after a bizarre lap 3 pileup in the 2nd turn taking out
nearly half the field; including the #2 in points, George Miles, and damaging
most everyone else except for the #311 of Brian Keough. Keough assumed
the lead by lap 4, but was later pressured by the #17 of Nick Hilt. Hilt
took over the top spot by lap 12, and went on the win the 15 lap Limited Pros
Stock feature, but Keough cruised home in second, securing the 2006 Limited Pro
Stock Championship by over 26 points.
The Pure Stock Division also
took to the high banks to finalize their point's title. The 53 cars in
attendance were divided up into 4 races, with the top 14 in points battling it
out among themselves in their own race. The results are as follows:
PS#1 - Jeff Douglass, PS#2 - Jay Kreutziger Jr., PS#3 - Matt Humes, and PS#4 -
Jesse Murphy. The full results for each are listed below in the 'Results'
section.
Not only did these finishes
set the stage for the Boomer's Performance 15 lap Pure Stock Classic, but it
also determined the point champ. And by virtue of nearly a full dozen
wins this year, the veteran racer Pete Wiegand, pilot of his familiar red and
black #78, captured the 2006 Pure Stock Point Championship.
With the titles handed out,
and the regular racing season coming to an end, it was time for a couple of
dash for cash races for the Sportsman class and Pure Stocks. The Funplex
Funpark 30 lap Sportsman $1000.00 to win Shoot-Out.
Alan Houghtaling and Frankie
Harper took the field to the green, but it wasn't long before the legendary Art
Collins showed he was ready to take home the big dough. The Alligator
began his charge from the 5th starting spot, but it was his own back-up car,
the #25 of Frankie Harper that gave him the most trouble. Harper held the
lead till lap #8, but the #25 drifted up in turn 1, at the door opened for the
#68. Collins took the point, and never
looked back, as the Alligator Art Collins wins the Funplex Funpark Sportsman
Classic.
Also on tap was the season
finale for the Pure Stocks as Boomer's Performance put up a $300.00 payday for
the full fender class, as Lynne Wesley and Joe Walcott took the field to the
green for their 15 lap shoot-out. A few caution bunched the field, but
that wasn't going to deny the 'Rocket man', Al Relyea, as he charged from his
18th starting spot to score the Boomer's Performance Pure Stock dash.
With all the racing coming
to a close at the high banks for 2006, Lebanon Valley Speedway, along with the
management and staff would like to thank all the teams, drivers, sponsors,
employees, and most importantly, the fans for a fantastic 2006 season of racing
and the Valley of Speed, Lebanon Valley Speedway!
And not to forget about the
last event to be held this year, the 24th Annual Swap Meet, scheduled for
Sunday November 5th, rain or shine!
For more information on the
Swap Meet, or more coverage of the years event, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com or call the
speedway offices at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965 during normal business
hours.
Final Points as of
09/16/2006:Pure Stock Division:
1 Pete Weigand 466, 2 Matt
Humes 410, 3 Al Relyea 409, 4 Bob Palmer 357, 5 Tom Harkins 344, 6, Ray Hall Sr
341, 7 John Chapman 337, 8 Shannon McDermott 335, 9 Nick Regis 325, 10 Steve
Hatch 324.
Limited Pro Stock Division:
1 Brian Keough 454, 2 George
Miles Jr 428, 3 Nick Hilt 415, 4 Justin Herron 348, 5 John Santolin 342, 6
Frankie Twing 279, 7 Dirk Lapierre 218, 8 Jim Keough 183, 9 Gary Ashley 133, 10
Zach Peckham 113
Pro Stock Division:
1 Rob Yetman 854, 2 Paul
LaRochelle 826, 3 Jay Corbin 797, 4 Mike Middleton 779, 5 Jason Casey 750, 6
Chris Crews 743,7 Kevin Arnold 734, 8 Don Carlson 705, 9 Jon Routhier 668, 10
Victor Hopkins 658
Results:
Saturday September 16, 2006
- FunPlex Fun Park Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1 Art Collins, 2 Kyle Hoffman,
3 Chris Kokosa, 4 Frank Harper, 5 Ryan Larkin, 6 Jeff Watson, 7 Chris Tryon, 8
Bobby Knipe, 9 Kory Sandstedt, 10 Neil Stratton, 11 Kolby Schroder, 12 Bill
Singer, 13 Butch Lyons, 14 Wayne Keyes, 15 Jeff Kelly, 16 Mark Dickey, 17 Earl
Thitchener, 18 Alan Houghtaling, 19 Ed Harkin, 20 Rob Yetman, 21 Gus
Kamburelis, 22 Chad Pierce, 23 Kale Groff, 24 Kim Lavoy, 25 Ray Tarantino, 25
Jerry Hunt, 26 Don Miller, 28 Mike Mason
Pro Stock Results (20 Laps)
- 1 Jay Corbin, 2 Jason Casey, 3 Jay Casey, 4 Robbie Speed, 5 Paul LaRochelle,
6 Kevin Arnold, 7 Ed Bachand, 8 Mike Middleton, 9 Jon Routhier, 10 Rob Yetman,
11 Chris Stalker, 12 Victor Hopkins, 13 Rich Crane, 14 Rick Dempsey, 15 Jeff
Kelmel, 16 Larry Megan, 17 John Drake, 18 Don Collins, 19 Chris Crews, 20 Steve
Hankle, 21 Mike Halachik, 22 Don Carlson, 23 Clay Murphy, 24 Hugh Page, 25 Rob
Langevin
Limited Pro Stock Results
(10 Laps) - 1 Nick Hilt, 2 Brian Keough, 3 Bill Hammell, 4 Gary Ashley, 5 Dirk
Lapierre, 6 Dale Kennedy, 7 George Miles Jr, 8 Jim Fachini, 9 Frankie Twing, 10
Kevin Winters, 11 Justin Herron
Pure Stock #1 Results (8
Laps) - 1 Jeff Douglass, 2 Steve Hatch, 3 Windy Winters, 4 Karl Castagna, 5 Joe
Walcott, 6 Don Coon, 7 Gary VanDenberg, 8 Doug Olds, 9 Tony Arcolleo, 10 Tim
Niles, 11 John Quiqley, 12 Mike Fachini
Pure Stock #2 Results (8
Laps) - 1 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 2 Jeff Kreutziger, 3 Ed Hatch, 4 Nick Regis, 5
Rich Douglass, 6 Todd Pelkey, 7 Dan Olds, 8 Richard Rogers, 9 Steve Kahler Jr,
10 Dave Fachini Jr, 11 Adam Tator, 12 Scott Kilmer, 13 Billy Bulson
Pure Stock #3 Results (8
Laps) - 1 Matt Humes, 2 Al Relyea, 3 Shannon McDermott, 4 Tom Harkins, 5 Pete
Weigand, 6 John Chapman, 7 Bob Palmer, 8 Phil Wood, 9 Lou Ganczar, 10 Ray Hall
Sr, 11 Mike Eichstedt, 12 Dave Streibel, 13 Dave Stickles, 14 Larry Ball
Pure Stock #4 Results (8
Laps) - 1 Jesse Murphy, 2 Richard Puff, 3 Robert Hammell, 4 Dave Houser, 5 Joe
Chenail, 6 Chrissy Hilt, 7 Gil Twing Jr, 8 Lynn Wesley, 9 Howard Madsen, 10
Mike Arnold, 11 Sean Tomlin, 12 Paul Engwer, 13 Chris Keller, 14 Harold
Tarantino
Boomer's Performance Pure
Stock Classic (15 Laps) - 1 Al Relyea, 2 Mike Eichstedt, 3 Rich Douglass, 4
John Chapman, 5 Shannon McDermott, 6 Pete Weigand, 7 Matt Humes, 8 Bob Palmer,
9 Dave Streibel, 10 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 11 Dave Stickles, 12 Tom Harkins, 13
Steve Hatch, 14 Dave Houser, 15 Nick Regis, 16 Ray Hall Sr, 17 Steve Kahler Jr,
18 Lynn Wesley, 19 Larry Ball, 20 Joe Walcott
1st 4 Cylinder Feature
Results (15 Laps) - 1 Randy Davis, 2 Tom Delaney, 3 Todd Goldstein, 4 Mark
Intelisano, 5 Jim Daniels, 6 Marty Poole, 7 Todd Bartley, 8 Eddie Wurzburg, 9
Kevin Winters, 10 Shane Barto, 11 Shawn Perez, 12 Brian Walsh, 13 Paul Hankey,
14 William Boo, 15 Gary Daniels Sr, 16 Gary Daniels, 17 Phil Defiglio, 18
Richard Puff, 19 Aaron Roberts, 20 Dave Barto,21 Tim Formel, 22 Jason Ferrin,
23 Josh Stall, 24 Phil Bink, 25 Josh Feldman, 26 Johnny Rivers, 27 Tim Sayers,
2nd 4 Cylinder Results (15
Laps) - 1 Todd Goldstein, 2 Todd Bartley, 3 Mark Intelisano, 4 Bubba Barber, 5
Marty Poole, 6 Paul Hankey, 7 Aaron Roberts, 8 Shawn Perez, 9 William Boo, 10
Brian Walsh, 11 Josh Feldman, 12 Eddie Wurzburg, 13 Kevin Winters, 14 Gary
Daniels Sr, 15 Gary Daniels, 16 Shane Barto, 17 Tim Formel, 18 Eric Budd, 19
Phil Defiglio, 20 Dave Barto, 21 Tom Delaney