Sandstedt Takes Win but Tryon Takes Title
Arnold Scored the Win in Pro Stocks, Title Came Down to Last Lap
Saturday September 13, 2008
By: Rodney Rescott
The Valley of Speed played host to the final nights of points for the rest of the weekly divisions that included the Sportsman class, Pro Stocks, Limited Pro Stock, and Pure Stocks. Both top series classes had to decide the points champions in the last race of the year. The first chase to be decided was in the Sportsman class. And just to make it a little more interesting, and just to make it a little more interesting, an extra 10 circuits were added to the usual 20 lap feature event.
At the point of the 30 lap event was the #122 of Wayne Keys along side the #12 of Brian Sandstedt. The green flew for about 2 laps before the caution flew for the #3 of Kim Lavoy who blew a motor coming down the front stretch. Brian Sandstedt had gotten the lead and maintained it once the green flag flew again.
The caution flew again on lap 3 for the slowing #88 of Alex Bell. The #12 stayed out front with the wiley veteran Ed Harkins in hot pursuit. The #12 saw clear sailing, but behind him is where all the excitement was happening. The current point leader Chris Tryon only needed to finish in the top 10 to wrap up his first Sportsman title.
Tryon, worked his way through the field directly behind his closest chaser, defending champ Jeff Watson, who was 22 points back.
But all that changed by lap 11 when the #22 of Watson lost a power plant, and ended his night and his title hopes. Now with the pressure off, to the front Tryon went. With the #12 of Sandstedt firmly in his sights, he began to work on Sandstedt to try and find a way around.
But that view is what Tryon saw for the rest of the race, as Brian Sandstedt scores his first win of 2008, only a week before he is set to ‘tie the knot’. Tryon settled for 2nd, Harkins was 3rd, Kyle Armstrong powered back to 4th, and Kory Sandstedt rounded the top 5.
And with that finish, Chris Tryon is the 2008 Lebanon Valley Sportsman Point Champion. “This is great. My team worked so hard all year, they deserve this.” Tryon remarked during Champion ceremonies.
That wasn’t the only highly contested title race on the night, cause the Pro Stocks were about to clash for their 20 lap feature, with Robbie Speed just 3 points ahead of another veteran racer Paul LaRochelle.
And as fate would have it, the two were set to start side by side at the green. On the front of the ffield was thee #145 of John Denue, and the #315 of Jon Routhier. But those two up front weren’t gonna stay up there for long as contact between Routhier and Denue in turn 3 ended Routhier night, while Denue continued.
On the restart Jeff Kelmel brought the field to green, but his lead vanished going down the backstretch as the #322 of Jay Casey blew on by for the top spot.
Casey held on for several more circuits until the caution flew on lap 7 for the spinning #24 of Robbie Speed. Suddenly, LaRochelle was in prime position to take the lead in th points battle. On the restart, Casey was out front, LaRochelle was sitting 5th, and Robbie Speed was relegated to the rear of the field.
All eyes were on the #78 and the #24 as Kevin Arnold quietly slid into to 2nd place up at the front of the field. Speed began an unprecedented charge through the field, and by lap 12 he reached 6th.
Upfront it was Casey, Arnold, and now LaRochelle sitting 3rd. With 5 laps left, Speed had caught LaRochelle, and was poised to settle in for a hard battle. A strong and spirited battle ensued with the two dicing it out lap after lap. Suddenly, up front the #322 lost a motor, and Arnold assumed the point with the #78 and the #24 in tow.
Speed tried high, and low while LaRochelle tried to anticipate his moves. When the white flag flew, everyone was on their feet as the points from all year came down to the last lap in the last race.
LaRochelle pushed a little through turns 1 and 2 giving Speed the open door on the bottom. The #24 charged inside, the #78 blocked, but the momentum carried Sped past and he slid up in front of LaRochelle. Contact was made making Speed bobble in turn 3, LaRochelle charged up the inside, the two touched again, and again.
When the two exited turn 4, they raced wheel to wheel, banging door to door, leaving it all on the track. With sheet metal flying behind him, Kevin Arnold captured the win, and at the line, by merely just a half a fender, Speed finish 2nd, followed by LaRochelle, Nick Hilt settled for 4th, and Matt Shadic rounded out the top 5.
And by virtue of his 2nd place finish, Robbie Speed is the 2008 Lebanon Valley Pro Stock Points Champion. “That had to be the most exciting battle to watch, cause it was pretty intense from where I was sitting.” mentioned Speed in the Champions ceremonies.
Scott Klimer survived a blown engine and a borrowed car to survive and capture the Limited Pro Stock title, Jay Casey won the race, his 2nd of 2008.
In the Pure Stocks, Karl Castagna, Shannon McDermott and Mark Webb scored wins, but it was Al Relyea who won the war, as he was crowned the 2008 Lebanon Valley Pure Stock Point Champion. And as if that wasn’t enough, he then went a scored the win in the “Johnny O” Pure Stock Special for an additional $200 payoff.
Steven Loomis scored the dual cam 4 cylinder clash, while Shawn Perez scored the single cam win.
With all points titles now handed out, there was only one event left on the 2008 schedule. The rain delayed Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series events roll back into the Valley of Speed to finish there feature along with the Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Super Series feature event on Sunday September 21st. And as an added bonus, a full card of Pro Stocks was added to round out the night.
For more information on the points finishes for the 2008 season, along with the full schedule of events visit our website at www.lebanonvalley.com, click on “Speedway” . Or call the Speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965.
Saturday September 13, 2008 - Final Night of Points for Sportsman, Pro Stock, Limited Pro Stock and Pure Stock Divisions. Sportsman Results (30 Laps) - 1) Brian Sandstedt, 2) Chris Tryon, 3) Ed Harkin, 4) Kyle Armstrong, 5) Kory Sandstedt, 6) Neil Stratton, 7) Kale Groff,8) Kolby Schroder, 9) Danny Sanchez, 10) Alex Bell, 11) Chad Pierce, 12) Kevin Petrucci, 13) Chris Lynch, 14) Kevin Winters, 15) Wayne Keyes, 16) P. J. Pelc, 17) Frank Harper, 18) Jeff Watson 19) Kim Lavoy, 20) Kyle Hoffman, 21) Jason Tompkins, 22) Brett Haas, 23) R. J. Daley, 24) Whitey Slavin
Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1) Kevin Arnold, 2) Robbie Speed, 3) Paul LaRochelle, 4) Nick Hilt, 5) Matt Shadic, 6) Johnny Rivers 7) Brian Keough, 8) Jay Kreutziger, 9) Rick Dempsey, 10) Jay Casey, 11) Rob Maxon, 12) Jeff Kelmel, 13) Tom Harkins, 14) Jay Casey, 15) John Denue, 16) Jon Routhier, 17) Victor Hopkins, 18) Jason Casey, 19) Thomas Seantemen
Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1) Jay Casey, 2) Frank Twing, 3) Jay Kreutiziger Jr, 4) Scott Kilmer, 5) Steve Kahler, 6) Dale Kennedy, 7) Mike Fachini, 8) Tim Sayers
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Karl Castagna, 2) Rich Roger, 3) Joe Walcott, 4) Bob Camilli, 5) Rich Douglass, 6) Brian Vandenburgh, 7) Matt Parker, 8) Scott Adams, 9) Wuggie Burdick, 10) Tim Niles, 11) Dan Herring, 12) Matt Morgan, 13) Anthony Maddalla
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Shannon McDermott, 2) Jeff Kreutiziger, 3) Jeff Douglass, 4) John Chapman, 5) John Devine, 6) Lenny Fields, 7) Herb Tompkins III, 8) Dave Houser, 9) Jeff Wilbur, 10) Dave Fachini, 11) John Quigley, 12) Johnny Lane, 13) Harold Tarantino
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Mark Webb, 2) Al Relyea, 3) Doug Olds, 4) Bob Palmer, 5) Lloyd Tomlin, 6) Phill Wood, 7) Ed Hatch, 8) Lynn Wesley, 9) Chris Streeter, 10) Kirk Stanaway, 11) Mike Eichstedt, 12) Pete Wiegand, 13) Lou Ganczar, 14) Jim Fachini, 15) Paul Engwer, 16) Chad Arsenault
"Johnny O" Pure Stock Special Results (20 Laps) - 1) Al Relyea, 2) Mike Eichstedt, 3) Bob Palmer, 4) Mark Webb, 5) Doug Olds, 6) Ed Hatch, 7) Lloyd Tomlin, 8) Dave Fachini, 9) Rich Roger, 10) Dan Herring, 11) Jeff Wilbur, 12) Lynn Wesley, 13) Jim Fachini, 14) Brian Vandenburgh,15) John Chapman, 16) Karl Castagna, 17) Lenny Fields, 18) Harold Tarantino, 19) Kirk Stanaway
4-Cylinder Dual Cam Results (15 Laps) - 1) Steven Loomis, 2) Matt Mooradian, 3) Tim Sayers, 4) Jim Williams, 5) Chris White, 6) Todd Bartley, 7) Steve Frangk, 8) Mark Intelisano, 9) Terry McNamara, 10) Bob Ely, 11) Frank Sorrento
4-Cylinder Single Cam Results (15) - 1) Shawn Perez, 2) Don Curley, 3) Rob Partridge, 4) John Miller, 5) Cody Speed, 6) Mike Verhagen, 7) Danny, Webber, 8) Jason Meltz, 9) Luke Williams
Final Points - Position) Driver, *=Wins, Car #, Points
Final Modified Points (Top 10) - 1) Flach, Mark Jr, 77F, 710, 1) Heffner, J. R., 74, 710, 3) Bachetti, Andy ** 34B, 693, 4) Tremont, Kenny Jr ** 115, 687, 5) Sheldon, Guy 42, 634, 6) Marshall, Eddie * 98, 585, 7) Berger, Brian 60, 566, 8) Flach, Keith * 43, 565, 9) Jelley, Wayne * 45J, 563, 10) Quinn, Matt 20Q, 548
Final Modified King of the Track (Top 10) - 1) Tremont, Kenny Jr * 115, 206, 2) Heffner, J. R. 74, 204, 3) Sheldon, Guy 42, 196, 4) Bachetti, Andy * 34B, 181, 5) Flach, Mark Jr 77F, 168, 6) Berger, Brian 60, 166, 7) Jelley, Wayne 45J, 163, 8) Ackner, Donnie * 64, 154, 9) Stratton, Hector 87, 139, 10) Marshall, Eddie 98, 137
Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Super Series Points End on September 21, 2008
Current 358 Modified Points (Top 10) - 1) Bachetti, Andy * 4, 359, 2) Heffner, J. R. * 5, 346, 3) Quinn, Matt * 20Q, 346, 4) Tremont, Kenny Jr * 115, 338, 5) Hoard, Ray 45H, 334, 6) Hough, Steve 34, 334, 7) Faxon, Tom * 171, 334, 8) Salisbury, Rich 24S, 304, 9) Palmer, Ernie 8, 246, 10) Pullen, Mark 30, 244
Final Sportsman Points (Top 10) - 1) Tryon, Chris *** 5, 740, 2) Sandstedt, Kory * 80, 709, 3) Stratton, Neil * 87, 706, 4) Watson, Jeff * 22, 687, 5) Sandstedt, Brian * 12, 665, 6) Harper, Frank ** 25, 639, 7) Harkin, Ed 9H, 630, 8) Sanchez, Danny * 63, 619, 9) Schroder, Kolby * 98, 599, 10) Hoffman, Kyle 16, 594
Current Pro Stock Points (Top 10) - 1) Speed, Robbie *** 24, 845, 2) LaRochelle, Paul ** 78, 838, 3) Arnold, Kevin ** 76, 818, 4) Hilt, Nick 17, 748, 5) Casey, Jason * 324, 748, 6) Casey, Jay * 322, 722, 7) Dempsey, Rick * 35, 700, 8) Hopkins, Victor 243, 697, 9) Routhier, Jon 315, 628, 10) Shadic, Matt * 12S, 599
Final Limited Pro Stock Points (Top 10) - 1) Kilmer, Scott ******** 98, 426, 2) Sayers, Tim **** 88, 402, 3) Twing, Frank 10, 318, 4) Kreutziger, Jay Jr 91J, 226, 5) Helms, Jery Sr 86, 185, 6) Casey, Jay * 93, 151, 7) Helms, Jery Jr 186, 150, 8) Striebel, Dave ** 273, 148, 9) Kennedy, Dale 12, 148, 10) Miles, George Jr ** 1, 98
Final Pure Stock Points (Top 10) - 1) Relyea, Al *** 14, 369, 2) Eichstedt, Mike *** 92, 350, 3) Wood, Phil ** 82, 338, 4) Webb, Mark * 1, 331, 5) Stanaway, Kirk *** 078, 308, 6) Ganczar, Lou ** 08, 303, 7) Hall, Ray Sr * 27, 290, 8) Wiegand, Pete ** 78, 273, 9) Olds, Doug * 037, 273, 10) Palmer, Bob * 29, 271
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