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Saturday April 19, 2008
By: Rodney Rescott
West Lebanon, NY: The Valley of Speed opened it's gates for the 56th season of racing this past Saturday night. And once the racing got under way, the action was hot and heavy on a warm spring night.
The atmosphere around the legendary high banks was filled with high octane fuel, dirt, and a lot of anticipation for the new season. The sweet smell of fresh paint, mixed with the roar of the 850 horse motors, then add in some very seasonable temperatures, and the racing was on!
The marquee Big Block Modifieds took to the speedway for the first time this season for the L&M Motors and Heavy Haulers 30 lap feature event. At the start, the sparks began to fly as a bizarre chain of events took place under the pace laps of the event. While traveling down the backstretch, contact between the #77F of Mark Flach and the #115 of Tremont caused Tremont to suffer enough damage that didn't allow him to continue.
After a short pause to allow Tremont to fix the damaged S&S Asphalt #115, the field was finally given the one to go, and the race began without Tremont in the field. At the point, it was the Mighty Matt Quinn's #20 taking control of the top spot. Quinn powered out to a comfortable lead after a lap 2 restart as well for Mike Keeler making contact with the turn 3 wall.
Quinn held the point for more than half the circuits around the Valley of Speed. But quietly sneaking through the field aboard his new ride owned by Steve Hough, the Wild Child, Andy Bachetti drove the new #34B through the field under the radar.
The Hough Motors, Albreada Waste #34B took over 2nd place from the King Fish, Mike King by lap 13. A spirited battle ensued between Quinn and Bachetti for the head of the class, but the #20 just couldn't hold back the 2006 champ, as the #34B drove around the high side through turn 3, and away he went.
There was no stopping the Wild Child on the 56th Opening Night, as Bachetti powered away and stayed there taking the L&M Motors, Heavy Haulers 30 lap Big Block Feature event. Bachetti was followed by a steady Mark Flach driving the #77F, Hector Stratton drove his #87 to a solid 3rd place finish, followed by the #21J of Jeff Trombley and the #74 of defending champ J.R. Heffner.
Also on tap was the 20 lap Pro Stock feature event that also kept the packed stands on their feet all night. At the point of the field was the Rookie, Nick Hilt aboard his #17 at the start of the feature. Hilt maintained control of the event, event under pressure from the #243 of Victor Hopkins and then by the #8 of Jay Corbin. Corbin charged from his 6th place starting spot to take over the second spot by lap 8, then challenged the lead shortly thereafter.
There was nothing that the N&L Autobody #17 could do to keep the J&M Auto #8 of Corbin from taking over control of the race. Corbin powered by Hilt on lap 12, and that was the last of the #8 that field saw. Even a late race charge from the #24 of Robbie Speed was not going to be enough to keep Corbin out of victory lap. At the checkers, Corbin was followed by Hilt, Speed, defending champ Kevin Arnold powered to a 4th place finish, and Rick Dempsey climbed to a solid 5th place finish.
George Miles grabbed the Limited Pro Stock victory away from Jery Helms Sr. Scott Kilmer settled in for 3rd, followed by Dave Stickles and Jay Kreutziger Jr.
The Pure Stocks once again packed the pit area with over 50 competitors, and put on yet another round of fantastic racing into 4 feature events. In PS#1 Phil Wood took the top honors, while in PS#2 Lou Ganzar stole the show. PS#3 was captured by Pete Weigand, while the Pure Stock #4 was won by Al Relyea.
There was also a 4 cylinder 15 lap feature that saw Tom Delaney take top honors in the Duel Cam class (the single cam class winner was not known at press time).
Mark your calendars for next Saturday April 26th, as Callanan Industries and Contractor Sales presents Opening Night for the Sportsman division.
For more information, a copy of the schedule, ticket info, or directions, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com and click on "Speedway". Or call the Speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606 or (518) 794-9965.
Saturday April 19, 2008 - L & M Motors and Heavy Hauler Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1 Bachetti, Andy 2 Flach, Mark Jr 3 Stratton, Hector 4 Trombley, Jeff 5 Heffner, J. R. 6 Quinn, Matt 7 King, Mike 8 Sheldon, Guy 9 Phelps, Jimmy 10 Jelley, Wayne 11 Berger, Brian 12 Sheldon, Kyle 13 Flach, Keith 14 Browe, Lorne 15 Flach, J. C. 16 Ackner, Donnie 17 Hewitt, John 18 Singer, Bill 19 Ruchel, John 20 Fox, Skippy 21 Hough, Steve 22 Gilardi, Paul 23 McFeeters, Dave 24 Marshall, Eddie 25 Sukup, Jeff 26 Keeler, Mike 27 Tremont, Kenny 28 Larkin, Ryan 29 Salisbury, Rich 30 Houghtaling, Alan (358)
Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1 Corbin, Jay 2 Hilt, Nick 3 Speed, Robbie 4 Arnold, Kevin 5 Dempsey, Rick 6 Casey, Jason 7 Hopkins, Victor 8 LaRochelle, Paul 9 Keough, Brian 10 Clark, Kent 11 Warner, Henry 12 Shadic, Matt 13 Hosier, Kyle 14 Quenneville, Duane 15 Maxon, Rob 16 Routhier, Jon 17 Casey, Jay
Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 Miles, George Jr 2 Helms, Jery Sr 3 Kilmer, Scott 4 Stickles, Dave 5 Kreutziger, Jay Jr 6 Helms, Jery Jr 7 McDermott, Shannon 8 Sayers, Tim 9 Fuller, Don 10 Hammell, Bill DNS Kennedy, Dale
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Wood, Phil 2 Hall, Ray Jr 3 Myers, Randy 4 Murphy, Chris 5 Wilbur, Jeff 6 Parker, Matt 7 Delaney, Johnny 8 Hubbard, John 9 Walcott, Joe 10 Douglass, Jeff DNS Hoyt, Ron Jr DNS Davies, Tom DQ Herring, Dan
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Ganzar, Lou 2 Lane, Johnny 3 Olds, Doug 4 Eichstedt, Mike 5 Webb, Mark 6 Houghtaling, Brian 7 Tomlin, Lloyd 8 Castagna, Carl 9 Roger, Rich 10 Harding, Paul 11 Murphy, Jesse DNS Chapman, John DNS Douglass, Rich
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Weigand, Pete 2 Stanaway, Kirk 3 Houser, Dave 4 Hall, Ray Sr 5 Palmer, Bob 6 Tarantino, Harold 7 Casey, Jay 8 Fachini, Dave 9 Fields, Lenny 10 Niles, Tim 11 Carey, Mike DNS Bonner, Clint DQ Streeter, Chris
Pure Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Relyea, Al 2 Lane, Todd 3 Becker, Cord 4 Wesley, Lynn 5 Madsen, Howard 6 Engwer, Paul 7 Lampe, Chuck 8 Vandenburg, Brian 9 Martin, Jay 10 Olds, Dan 11 Harkins, Tom 12 Quigley, John DNS Kreutziger, Jeff DNS Kahler, Steve
"Lebanon Valley Speedway – 56th Season of fun for the Whole Family!"
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