Tremont Captures His 110th Career Win from the Front Row
Saturday April 26, 2008
West Lebanon, NY: For the second week in a row, mother nature delivered another fine night for racing. This time the temps were a little cooler, but that only made the racing at the Valley of Speed even hotter.
Callanan Industries and Contractor Sales presented the night of racing action at the legendary High Banks at Lebanon Valley Speedway. And at the top of the wish list was the 30 Lap Big Block Modified main event. Once the green flag dropped, the tension was thicker than San Francisco smog.
In the captain’s seat was the #39 of Ryan Larkin as the green dropped for the first time. But any advantage he gain was quickly erased when contact was made with several drivers entering turn 1, cause a few to spin including the #7 John Ruchel, the #60 of Brian Berger and the #347 of Skippy Fox. All cars drove away without assistance. With the field reassembled, Larkin brought the field down the green once again. This time, they didn’t even make it through the 1st turn as Dave McFeeters’ #27 broke while running in the 8th spot, and everyone scramble to avoid contact, but to no avail as several cars were collected up causing a brief red flag situation due to the track being blocked. With still zero laps on the board, Larkin still had control of the point. And when they finally got the green again, Larkin was off and running. This time, the King of the Valley was hot on his heels, as the legendary #115 of Kenny Tremont Jr. hung in Larkin’s tire tracks for several laps looking for a way around.
And by lap 8, Tremont pounced, and took control of the field. But that certainly wasn’t the end of the story for everyone else, as the #98 of Eddie Marshall seemed to have a faster car, but looked to be just waiting for the right moment. But that moment came and went as Marshal broke something in the rear-end of the #98 and he retired by lap 22. That put the sophomore sensation of Mark Flach Jr. right on the tail of the other Jr. for the rest of the feature. The #77F, who was said to have made contact with the #115 last week but it was actually the #77J of J.C. Flach, was showing that he was faster than Tremont, but the wily veteran knows the Valley of Speed better than anyone; held the right line to block Flach’s advances.
And even with a late race yellow, you just couldn’t shake the nerve of the S&S Asphalt #115 all the way to the checkers. At the line it was Tremont holding on for his first win in over year, followed by Flach, who expired a motor just as the checkers flew. Third behind them was the defending champ of J.R. Heffner followed by the teammates of Steve Hough and Andy Bachetti to round out your top 5.
Callanan Industries and Contractor Sales also presented opening night of points for the Sportsman class. On the front row of the their 20 lap feature event was rookie Josh Gaylord’s #2B and the #24 of Kevin Petrucci as the green flew.
The field was under control by the rookie for just over a half dozen laps as the handle began to fade. This bunched up the top 5 quickly making for some exciting three wide racing with the #2B, the #3 of Kim LaVoy, the #63 of Danny Sanchez, and the #25 of Frank Harper.
After some tricky slicing and dicing, the #63 of Sanchez appeared in the captain’s seat by lap 9. Just past the halfway mark the #80 of Kory Sandstedt and the #25 of Harper were charging through the field to try to make a run at Sanchez. By lap 13, that chance presented itself as Sanchez began to struggle with his handling, allowing the challengers their opportunity. But the first to pounce was the Thoma Tire #25 of Harper. He snatched up his chance with Sanchez and cleanly moved past to take over the top spot on the field. And once the PMC got in clean air, it was time to set sail for the checkers.
No one was gonna get any closer, as Harper captures his first opening night win in the Sportsman division. Kory Sandstedt snuck into 2nd, while Ed Harkins raced his way into 3rd, followed by Sanchez’s #63 for 4th and Kyle Armstrong’s #11A crossed the line for 5th.
The Pro Stocks had their 20 lap feature event earlier in the night as Jay Casey sprinted out to the win aboard his #322. Even a mid race battle with perennial favorite Robbie Speed before Speed broke a motor on lap 12, could waiver the #322 of taking the trophy.
At the checkers, Casey was followed by defending champ Kevin Arnold; Paul LaRochelle kept his car straight enough to cross the line 3rd, followed by a strong run by Victor Hopkins and Rick Dempsey who completed the top nickel.
The Limited Pro Stocks saw a scary 1st lap crash that involved the #55 of Dave Stickles suffered from a stuck throttle at the drop of the green making hard contact with the outside wall and with another racer who wasn’t even scheduled to be in that event. All drivers walked away, but the #55 of Stickles’ took the worst of it with severe structural damage.
After all that was cleaned up; George Miles Jr. charged to the front of the field to take his 2nd win 2008. Jay Kreutziger Jr. held on for 2nd, followed by Jery Helms Jr, Jery Helms Sr, and Mark Stevens.
The Pure Stocks saw the #013 of Jesse Murphy score a win in PS#1. Pure Stock #2 had the #04 of Tom Harkins in victory lane; while in PS#3 it was the veteran Al Relyea followed by Jay Casey’s #93 taking Pure Stock #4.
Next Saturday March 3rd, Lebanon Valley Speedway along with Sheldon Oil Services and Boomer’s Performance bring you a special Boomer’s 20 lap PureStock Clash, along with all other divisions on tap. Gates will open at 5pm with racing getting under way at 6pm.
For more information, directions, or a full copy of the schedule, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, or call the Speedway Offices during normal business hours at (518) 794-9606 or (518) 794-9965.
"Lebanon Valley Speedway – 56th Season of fun for the Whole Family!"
Saturday April 26, 2008 - Callanan Industries & Contractor Sales Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1) Tremont, Kenny Jr 2) Flach, Mark Jr 3) Heffner, J. R. 4) Hough, Steve 5) Bachetti, Andy 6) Sheldon, Guy 7) Jelley, Wayne 8) Berger, Brian 9) Trombley, Jeff 10) Flach, Keith 11) Ruchel, John 12) Quinn, Matt 13) King, Mike 14) Flach, J. C. (R) 15) Keeler, Mike (R) 16) Larkin, Ryan 17) Fox, Skippy 18) Singer, Bill (R) 19) Marshall, Eddie 20) Gilardi, Paul 21) Salisbury, Rich (R) 22) Ackner, Donnie 23) Stratton, Hector 24) Browe, Lorne 25) McFeeters, Dave 26) Sheldon, Kyle
Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1) Harper, Frank 2) Sandstedt, Kory 3) Harkin, Ed 4) Sanchez, Danny 5) Armstrong, Kyle 6) Lavoy, Kim 7) Stratton, Neal 8) Tryon, Chris 9) Hoffman, Kyle 10) Petrucci, Kevin 11) Keyes, Wayne 12) Groff, Kale 13) Sandstedt, Brian 14) Kokosa, Chris 15) Kelly, Jeff 16) Faulkner, D. J. 17) Gaylord, Josh 18) Haas, Brett 19) Watson, Jeff 20) Schroder, Kolby 21) Winters, Kevin 22) Pierce, Chad 23) Hotchkiss, Dan 24) Daley, R. J. 25) Lynch, Kevin 26) Houghtaling, Alan 27) Knox, Paul
Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1) Casey, Jay 2) Arnold, Kevin 3) LaRochelle, Paul 4) Hopkins, Victor 5) Dempsey, Rick 6) Casey, Jason 7) Hilt, Nick 8) Routhier, Jon 9) Hosier, Kyle 10) Keough, Brian 11) Corbin, Jay 12) Kelmel, Jeff 13) Shadic, Matt 14) Maxon, Rob 15) Warner, Henry 16) Speed, Robbie 17) Denue, John 18) Fosby, Rick 19) Quenneville, Duane
Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1) Miles, George Jr 2) Kreutziger, Jay Jr 3) Helms, Jery Jr 4) Helms, Jery Sr 5) Stevens, Mark 6) Sayers, Tim 7) Hammell, Bill 9) Stickles, Dave DNS) Kennedy, Dale
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Murphy, Jesse 2) Streeter, Chris 3) Hall, Ray Sr 4) Houghtaling, Brian 5) Castagna, Karl 6) Vandenburgh, Brian 7) Taratino, Harold 8) Roger, Rich 9) Partridge, Rob Jr 10) Palmer, Bob DNS) Daley, Anthony
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Harkins, Tom 2) Eichstedt, Mike 3) Tomlin, Lloyd 4) Fachini, Jim 5) Chenail, Joe 6) Wilbur, Jeff 7) Herring, Dan 8) Quigey, John 9) Walcott, Joe 10) Hubbard, John DNS) Engwer, Paul
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Relyea, Al 2) Weigand, Pete 3) Lane, Johnny 4) Ganzar, Lou 5) Hall, Ray Jr 6) Stanaway, Kirk 7) Myers, Randy 8) Houser, Dave 9) Becker, Cord 10) Wood, Phil 11) Olds, Doug DNS) Lane, Todd
Pure Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Casey, Jay 2) Hatch, Ed 3) Olds, Dan 4) Madsen, Howard 5) Wesley, Lynn 6) Webb, Mark 7) Fields, Lenny 8) Niles, Tim DNS) Fachini, Dave