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By: Rodney Rescott
West Lebanon, NY: Rifenburg Construction pulled out all the stops at
the
Valley of Speed this past Saturday night. That included a first career
win,
and $1,000.00 to win shoot-out, a parade of big rigs and equipment, and
top
it all off with a nearly standing-room-only crowd, and that’s a recipe
for
some major dirt track racing.
The 30 Lap Rifenburg Construction Modified main event had an added
twist of
double points, that will come in handy for the fact that 1st through
8th are
under 100 points apart. At the front of the class, it was the #0 of
Charlie
Humes and the #43 of Keith Flach. The green flag flew, and it was the
#0
out front pacing the field with Flach in tow.
A couple of cautions slowed the field early, with the worst being on
lap 3
when heavy contact was made with the #7 of John Ruchel, the #87 of
Hector
Stratton, the #347 of Skippy Fox, and a few others.
This would come into play later on in the race, as the field came under
green again. All the cars from the earlier incident returned to track,
some
where a few laps down. At the front, Humes again had control, but the
big
guns were coming. Defending Champ Andy Bachetti, Kenny Tremont, J.R.
Heffner, Eddie Marshall, and Jeff Trombley were making their way
through the
field to get to the front.
But up front, Flach got on run on Humes, and took over at the top of
the
field. As they raced, no sooner than Flach got it, he lost it, to
Heffner’s
#74 as J.R. powered around the high side of the high banks and took
over the
lead. The A.Calarusso and Sons #74 began to pull away and set sail for
the
checkers.
Behind him, Flach was holding strong in the Flach Crane and Rigging
#43,
with Bachetti’s Albreada Waste #4, the S&S Asphalt #115 of Tremont, and
the
Marshall Oil #98 of Eddie Marshall all in tow, and trying to get to the
front. As the race wound down, it seemed that Heffner was a lock, and
everyone else was racing for 2nd.
As the white flag flew, Heffner was already in the midst of a few lap
cars,
Flach began to charge for a last ditch effort to get a win. As the #74
approached turn 3 and 4, the #347 of Fox bobbled, and drifted up the
track,
right in the path of Heffner. Heffner took slowed to maneuver around
the
slower car, and moved to the low side to make the pass. Just then,
with a
full head of steam, the #43 of Flach carried the momentum around the
high
side of both, to nip the #74 at the line by just a ½ a car length.
In exciting fashion, the #43 of Keith Flach gets his first Big Block
win at
the Valley of Speed. Following Flach was Heffner; Brian Berger crossed
the
line 3rd, followed by Guy Sheldon, and Andy Bachetti.
The 20 lap Sportsman event was on the track next, with the #1 of D.T.
Pickard and the #3 of Kim Lavoy at the point. When the green flew, the
#1
was #1 and began to pull away from the field. Trouble began early as
well,
with the worse incident coming around lap 8 when contact was made with
the
spinning #3 of Lavoy that collected the #122 of Wayne Keyes, and the
#97
Bill Singer, among others. Most were able to continue.
At this point in the event, the #2 of K.C Goewey was out front of the
field.
After they went back to green, Goewey led the field for a few short
laps,
until the #2 stowed in turn 3 with transmission failure, handing over
the
top spot to the #250 of Alan Houghtaling.
The #250, had the field covered, except for the #22 of Defending Champ
Jeff
Watson. Watson hounded the #250 for several laps, and finally on lap
18,
the #22 powered around Houghtaling, and took over the lead. That was
all he
needed, as the checkers flew it was Jeff Watson with the win, followed
by
the #250 of Houghtaling. 3rd was Art Collins, followed by Chris Kokosa
and
Kory Sandstedt.
Also on the menu of events was the Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Super
Series 24
lap feature event. At the green, the #30 of Mark Pullen led the field
through turns 1 and 2. Back in the field, the heavy hitters were
beginning
to charge through the field. At the same time, the #20 of Matt Quinn
powered passed Pullen’s #30, and took the top spot.
The field was slowed by a caution on lap 3 when heavy contact was made
between the #145 of Roy Bridge, and the #171 of Tom Faxon, that
involved the
#39 of Ryan Larkin.
Quinn restarted the field to the green, and stayed in the top position
for
the next several laps. That is, until the #4 of Bachetti charged to
the
front of the field, and took over from Quinn by lap 12. Back in the
field,
J.R. Heffner and Keith Flach were making their way to the front as
well, but
there was nothing anyone could do about the #4. Bachetti takes the
checkers
for his 3rd win of 2007.
Following Bachetti was Keith Flach, J.R. Heffner, Matt Quinn, and Jeff
Trombley rounded out the top 5.
At the end of the night, a Special $1,000.00 to win Big Block Shootout,
presented by Rifenberg Construction, pitted the Valley of Speeds big
guns
with a 4 lap sprint, a 1 tire pit stop, followed by a Delaware style
restart. The first 4 laps were led by the #21J of Jeff Trombley, but
dropped to 4th after the pit stops on lap 4. Andy Bachetti came out of
the
pits first and that was it for the rest of the field. The #4 led the
last
four laps to win the shootout and the $1,000.00. Heffner finished 2nd,
followed by Tremont, Marshall, Berger, and Trombley.
The Pro Stocks were up next, and the action wasn’t any less exciting,
as the
#324 of jay Casey and the #38M of Mike Middleton diced it out for the
last
12 laps of the 20 lap event. After swapping the lead back and forth,
the
#38M finally prevailed, and got his first win of 2007 in exciting
fashion.
Following Middleton was Casey, followed by Kevin Arnold, Robbie Speed,
and
Paul LaRochelle rounded out the top 5.
The Limited Pro Stock 10 lap feature was captured by the #17 of Nick
Hilt,
his 8th of 2007, and his 6th in a row.
The other full fendered division, the Pure Stocks, hit the valley of
speed,
with this week’s winners being: PS#1 - #67 of Dave Houser, PS#2 - #078
of
Kirk Stanaway, and PS#3 went to the #0 of Matt Humes.
Lebanon Valley Speedway is set to play host to the USHRA Monster truck
Summer Nationals, presented by Carquest and Joe Tornabene’s GMC this
Monday
through Wednesday July 16th-18th. For more details and ticket
information,
visit our website.
And next Saturday at the High Banks, all classes will be in action,
including a special $500.00 to Win Pro Stock Feature presented by
Sayer’s
Auto Wrecking and Sheffield Building Supply.
For more information about the speedway, directions, or ticket
information,
visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, click on “Speedway”. Or
call
the Speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606, (518) 794-9965 during normal
business hours.
Saturday July 14, 2007 - Rifenburg Construction Presents The Night Of
Features Modified Results (Double Points) (30 Laps) - 1 Keith Flach, 2
J. R.
Heffner, 3 Brian Berger, 4 Guy Sheldon, 5 Andy Bachetti, 6 Kenny
Tremont, 7
Eddie Marshall, 8 John Hewitt, 9 Russ Reckner, 10 Matt Quinn, 11 Jeff
Trombley, 12 Mike King, 13 Paul Gilardi, 14 Steve Hough, 15 John
Ruchel, 16
Dave McFeeters, 17 Wayne Figler, 18 Charlie Humes, 19 Hector Stratton,
20
Kyle Sheldon, 21 Ryan Larkin, 22 Skippy Fox, 23 John Alberti, 24 Mark
Flach
Jr
Rifenburg Modified Construction Dash Results (8 Laps) - 1 Andy Bachetti
-
Wentworth Construction, 2 J. R. Heffner - A. Callarusso & Sons, 3 Kenny
Tremont Jr. - Rifenburg Construction, 4 Eddie Marshall - Fan Vote, 5
Brian
Berger - Fan Vote, 6 Jeff Trombley - Fan Vote
Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Super Series Results (24 Laps) - 1
Andy
Bachetti, 2 Keith Flach, 3 J. R. Heffner, 4 Matt Quinn, 5 Jeff
Trombley, 6
Ray Hoard, 7 Denny Young Jr, 8 J. C. Flach, 9 Rich Salisbury, 10 Art
Collins, 11 Danny Burl, 12 Tom Faxon, 13 Ted Teal, 14 Mark Pullen, 15
Robert
Allen, 16 John Hotchkiss, 17 Ryan Larkin, 18 Kenny Tremont Jr., 19 Alex
Sommer, 20 Donnie Ackner, 21 Roy Bridge
Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1 Jeff Watson, 2 Alan Houghtaling, 3 Art
Collins, 4 Chris Kokosa, 5 Kory Sandstedt, 6 Danny Sanchez, 7 Frank
Harper,
8 Kyle Hoffman, 9 Kolby Schroder, 10 Chris Tryon, 11 Kevin Lynch, 12
Kyle
Armstrong, 13 Don Miller, 14 Brian Sandstedt, 15 Carmon Carnibucci, 16
Jason
Tompkins, 17 D. J. Faulkner, 18 Ed Harkin, 19 Kevin Petrucci, 20 Don
Kennedy, 21 Chad Pierce, 22 Josh Gaylord, 23 Jim Cronk, 24 Wayne Keyes,
25
Neil Stratton, 26 K. C. Goewey, 27 Bill Singer, 28 Kim Lavoy, 29 Jeff
Kelly,30 D. T. Pickard
Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1 Mike Middleton, 2 Jay Casey, 3 Kevin
Arnold,
4 Robbie Speed, 5 Paul LaRochelle, 6 Victor Hopkins, 7 Jay Corbin, 8
Chris
Crews, 9 Don Carlson, 10 Ed Bachand, 11 Jason Casey, 12 Ed Bishop, 13
Rick
Dempsey, 14 Steve Hankle, 15 Brian Keough, 16 Mike Slauson, 17 Jon
Routhier,
18 Kyle Hosier, 19 Paul Rogers, 20 Jeff Kelmel, 21 Johnny Rivers, 22
Don
Collins
Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 Nick Hilt, 2 Justin Herron, 3
Rob
Maxon, 4 Kevin Winters, 5 Bill Hammell, 6 Jay Kretuziger Jr, 7 Joe
Mennite,
8 Gary Ashley, 9 John Santolin, 10 Mark Stevens, 11 Dale Kennedy, 12
Chad
Jeseo
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Dave Houser, 2 Chuck Lampe, 3 Rich
Douglass, 4 Tim Sayers, 5 Jim Fachini, 6 Ron Hoyt Jr, 7 Paul Engwer, 8
Brian
Vandenburgh, 9 Cord Becker, 10 John Quiqley, 11 Tom Davies, 12 Jeff
Douglass
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Kirk Stanaway, 2 Mike Fachini, 3 Ray
Hall
Sr., 4 Randy Myers, 5 Ed Hatch, 6 Chris Streeter, 7 E. J. Legeyt, 8 Joe
Chenail, 9 Gary VanDenburg, 10 Rob Partridge, 11 Karl Castagna, 12 Joe
Walcott
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Matt Humes, 2 Phil Wood, 3 Jay
Casey, 4
Jesse Murphy, 5 Al Relyea, 6 Dave Streibel, 7 Shannon McDermott, 8 Lou
Ganzar, 9 Dave Stickles, 10 Robert Hammell, 11 John Chapman, 12 Tom
Harkins,
13 Mike Eichstedt
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