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Bachetti Doubles Down, LaRochelle and Sandstedt Take Checkers
Saturday August 18, 2007
By: Rodney Rescott
West Lebanon , NY : A cool late summer night didn’t keep the red hot action from hitting the Valley of Speed this past Saturday night. Saxton Signs and Harrington’s Lumber packed the night full of wheel to wheel racing that tightened the points battle even more as the season winds down.
The Big Block Modifieds took to the high banks for their 30 lap feature event. And right off the bat, Mike King took his #55 to the top spot, but wouldn’t enjoy his early lead for long. Several cautions slowed the field early in the event, allowing the heavy hitters deep in the field to pick off spots a few at a time, while scoring only a few laps on the counter.
When all was said a done, and the action finally got under green for a stretch, King was still out front, but had a stacked field behind him. The worse of the early cautions came on lap 7, when contact between the #20 of Matt Quinn, and the #21J of Jeff Trombley resulted in Trombley’s car careening off the outside wall on the front stretch, and shooting back across the track to the inside wall. This also collected up #34 of Steve Hough, the #42 of Guy Sheldon, and the #115 of Kenny Tremont; who started at the rear of the field due to running a back up car.
Under green once more, King was out front, but the #34R of Russ Reckner began to pressure the King Fish. But it was Reckner that King needed to worry about, as the #98 of Eddie Marshall went from 5th to 2nd going into turn 3 in a bold move to get to the front.
This also opened the door for the 2006 Champ Andy Bachetti to make his move to the 3rd spot battling with the #74 of J.R. Heffner. But this trio wasn’t done yet, as they battled, the #4 of Bachetti found the high groove to his liking once again, and powered by all three, including King, and took over the top spot by lap 12.
After that, it was waiting for the fat lady to sing, as the Albreada Waste #4 saw the double checkers to score his 3rd victory of 2007. Eddie Marshall kept Heffner at bay to score a 2nd, while Heffner finished 3rd ahead of Hector Stratton, and Kenny Tremont battled to finish 5th.
With only 2 point nights of racing left on the schedule for the Modifieds, Eddie Marshal is holding a slim 1 point lead over J.R. Heffner. Andy Bachetti is sitting 3rd just 14 points off the lead, while Tremont moves into 4th 56 points out; followed by Guy Sheldon sneaking into 5th, 91 points behind Marshall .
The Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Super Series was also on tap and their 24 lap feature event wasn’t quite as exciting as the Modifieds, but don’t tell that to Bachetti. As he powered from deep in the pack, and while missing a right rear shock that broke out of his car around the second lap, to take just his 2nd win of 2007. Kenny Tremont crossed the line 2nd, followed by Matt Quinn, Keith Flach, and J.R. Heffner to complete the top 5.
The points battle in the 358’s look like this; J.R. Heffner out front with a 6 point advantage over Andy Bachetti. 3rd place Keith Flach sits just 10 points behind Heffner. While Jeff Trombley has 52 points separating him from the top spot and Matt Quinn sits 56 points behind Heffner.
The Sportsman 20 lap feature saw the #98 of Kolby Schroder jump out to an early lead, but all the action was further back in the field. The #00 of Chris Kokosa and the #68 of Art Collins began their charge to the front from the 8th and 9th rows.
As the laps ticked away, is was clear that Collins had the faster car. A few cautions slowed the field early, but it only allowed Collins to keep a close eye on the front of the field. Shortly after lap 11, Kory Sandstedt took away the top spot from Schroder, only to give it up to the hard charging Collins just a lap or two later.
Collins pulled away, but even that was a given, as the #68 crossed the line with just 2 laps to go, something in the engine compartment failed, and the tell tale sign of smoke began to trail Collins’ car. The caution flew, and the #68 retired from the race, handing back the lead to Sandstedt. And he was not going to give up this 2nd chance at a win, as the #80 of Kory Sandstedt took the checkers to score his 1st of 2007.
Behind the #80 was Kolby Schroder’s #98, followed by defending Champ Jeff Watson. 4th over the stripe was Ed Harkins, followed by Chris Kokosa’s #00.
Watson maintained his lead in the points battle with 4 races left in the season. Frank Harper and Chris Tryon are tied for 2nd, with 67 markers behind Watson. Kyle Hoffman has snuck into 4th just 78 points behind, followed by Art Collins just 88 points back.
The 20 lap Pro Stock division had its own trouble trying to get the race started. After several attempted to even get to lap 1, it finally came after the 5th try. The men on the mission were the #322 of Jay Casey, the #24 of Robbie Speed, and the #78 of Paul LaRochelle.
As the field struggled to get one lap in at a time before another caution slowed the racing, the three big guns, were making their presents known. The race to the front finally came on lap 10 as last weeks winner Jay Casey took over the top spot.
Right on his bumper was Speed, followed by the #35 of Rick Dempsey, and the #78 of LaRochelle. But the race wasn’t over, as the #24 slowed under caution dropping him from the 2nd spot. The report from the pits was he was out of fuel. That put the #35 into second on the restart.
At the green, Casey pulled away as Dempsey struggled to hold his position. LaRochelle powered by and began the hunt for the top spot.
Only a few short laps later, LaRochelle pounced on the #322 to take over the point, and began to check out on the field. At the checkers, the #78 scores his 2nd win of 2007. 2nd over the line was Jay Corbin, followed by Jay Casey, Kevin Arnold, and Rick Dempsey held on for 5th.
The points battle has 4 points races left, with the #76 of Kevin Arnold holding a slim lead over the 8 of Jay Corbin by just 16 points. Mike Middleton slipped back to 3rd 17 points off Arnold , while Robbie Speed needs to make up 41 markers, with Jay Casey 53 points back.
The Limited Pro Stocks saw the #57 of Dave Colwell take his 1st win of 2007. The other full fender races, the Pure Stocks, saw the #031 of Chris Streeter taking PS#1. PS#2 was captured by the #31 of Jeff Kreutziger, while Phil Wood took honors in PS#3.
Next week at the Valley of Speed will be a special night with County Concrete presenting Public Safety Night. All classes will be on tap, including the Northeast Vintage mods, and a special Victoria 200 All Star Qualifier.
Tickets are on sale now for the season capper Coor’s National 200 Weekend, September 7th and 8th. Get your Weekend Pass tickets now while they last. For more information about next week’s events, or for the 200 Weekend, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, or call the Speedway Offices during normal business hours, at (518) 794-9606, (518) 794-9965.
Saturday August 18, 2007 - Saxton Signs & Herrington's Lumber
Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1 Andy Bachetti, 2 Eddie Marshall, 3 J. R. Heffner, 4 Hector Stratton, 5 Kenny Tremont, 6 Keith Flach, 7 Mike King, 8 Brian Berger, 9 Russ Reckner, 10 Ryan Larkin, 11 John Ruchel, 12 Guy Sheldon, 13 Skippy Fox, 14 Kyle Sheldon, 15 Matt Quinn, 16 Mark Flach Jr, 17 Paul Gilardi, 18 John Hewitt, 19 Steve Hough, 20 Jeff Trombley, 21 Kenny Aanonsen, 22 Wayne Figler, 23 Dave McFeeters
The Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Super Series Results (24 Laps) - 1 Andy Bachetti, 2 Kenny Tremont Jr, 3 Matt Quinn, 4 Keith Flach, 5 J. R. Heffner, 6 Art Collins, 7 Jeff Trombley, 8 Ted Teal, 9 Tom Faxon, 10 Roy Bridge, 11 Denny Young Jr, 12 J. C. Flach, 13 Ryan Larkin, 14 Danny Burl, 15 Sean Gallivan, 16 Ray Hoard, 17 Jim VanAnden, 18 Kevin Duryea, 19 C. G. Morey, 20 John Hotchkiss, 21 Derek Schibi
Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1 Kory Sandstedt, 2 Kolby Schroder, 3 Jeff Watson, 4 Ed Harkin, 5 Chris Kokosa, 6 Kyle Hoffman, 7 Chris Tryon, 8 Frank Harper, 9 Kyle Armstrong, 10 K. C. Goewey, 11 Danny Sanchez, 12 Neil Stratton, 13 Wayne Keyes, 14 Don Miller, 15 Brian Sandstedt, 16 Carmon Carnibucci, 17 Steve Meilleur, 18 Josh Gaylord, 19 Kale Groff, 20 Art Collins, 21 Chad Pierce, 22 Kim Lavoy, 23 Alan Houghtaling, 24 Kevin Petrucci, DNS Kevin Lynch
Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1 Paul LaRochelle, 2 Jay Corbin, 3 Jay Casey, 4 Kevin Arnold, 5 Rick Dempsey, 6 Victor Hopkins, 7 Nick Hilt, 8 Justin Herron, 9 Mike Middleton, 10 Ed Bishop, 11 Joe Mennite, 12 Johnny Rivers, 13 Don Collins, 14 Robbie Speed, 15 Hugh Page, 16 Mike Slauson, 17 Jeff Kelmel, 18 Jason Casey, 19 Chris Crews, 20 Wayne Hall, 21 Jon Routhier, 22 Ed Bachand, 23 Jim Langenback, 24 Chad Jeseo
Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) – 1 Dave Colwell, 2 Jay Kretuziger Jr, 3 Nick Hilt, 4 Dale Kennedy, 5 Chip Martin, 6 John Santolin, 7 Gary Ashley, 8 Kevin Winters, 9 Mark Stevens, 10 Rob Maxon
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Chris Streeter, 2 Johnny Lane, 3 Ron Hoyt Jr, 4 Rich Douglass, 5 Cord Becker, 6 Harold Tarantino, 7 Karl Castagna, 8 Gary VanDenburg, 9 Joe Chenail, 10 E. J. Legeyt, 11 Howard Madsen, 12 Tom Davies, 13 John Quiqley, 14 Rich Roger, 15 Jim Fachini, 16 Dave Fachini Jr, 17 Lloyd Tomlin, DNS John Hubbard
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Jeff Kreutziger, 2 Robert Hammell, 3 Pete Wiegand, 4 Shannon McDermott, 5 Jeff Douglass, 6 Chuck Lampe, 7 Lynn Wesley, 8 Randy Myers, 9 Richard Puff, 10 Dan Olds, 11 Doug Olds, 12 Dave Houser, 13 Joe Walcott, 14 Kirk Stanaway, 15 Larry Ball, 16 Chrissy Hilt
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Phil Wood, 2 Jesse Murphy, 3 Mike Eichstedt, 4 Al Relyea, 5 Tim Sayers, 6 Jay Casey, 7 Matt Humes, 8 Dave Stickles, 9 Lou Ganzar, 10 Dave Streibel, 11 Ed Hatch, 12 Mark Burke, 13 Ray Hall Sr. 14 John Chapman 15 Tom Harkins
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