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Donnie Ackner Returns to Victory Lane At Valley of Speed!
Saturday July 26, 2008
By: Rodney Rescott
West Lebanon, NY: The theme of 2008 at the legendary high banks at Lebanon Valley Speedway is run a race, wait for the rain to stop, run the track in, and finish the races. Mother nature still hampering the racing programs around the state, but the Valley of Speed was once again determined to get the show done.
And after another hour and a half delay, the racing was back underway. NBT Bank packed in a full card of races that included the 2nd round of the King of the Track Big Block Modified Mid-Summer Series.
At the front of the 30 lap NBT Bank Big Block Modified feature was the cagey veteran racer Donnie Ackner aboard the #64. Once the green flag flew, Ackner was out front, with Kyle Sheldon in 2nd trying to settle in for a 30 lap shootout in his #50th big block.
As the field completed lap 5, the first caution flew in turn 4 as contact toward the front of the field collected up several cars, including the #97 of Bill Singer, the #87 of Hector Stratton, the #34H of Steve Hough, #43 of Keith Flach, the #24H of John Hewitt, #39 of Ryan Larkin, and the #7 of John Ruchel. Hough and Ruchel were unable to continue, the rest returned to the speedway.
On the ensuing restart, the field was under control of Ackner again at the point. But as the field completed lap 6 the #55K of Mike King spun and collected the likes of the #34B of Andy Bachetti, the #77F of Mark Flach, the #87X of Paul Gilardi and the #98 of Eddie Marshall.
After the clean up, Ackner led the field to green again, but was slowed 2 laps later for the #21J of Jeff Trombley. Finally on the 11th lap, the field went under green again, but it was the same old story with the #64 out front. Wayne Jelley powered his #45J into the 2nd spot by lap 13, but just couldn’t mount a strong shot at Ackner, as the #64 pulled away for first win in a number of years, and round 2 of the King of the Track Series.
Jelley followed for 2nd, 3rd was the Kyle Sheldon, 4th went to Guy Sheldon, while 2007 champ J.R. Heffner crossed the line in 5th.
NBT Bank didn’t stop there as the put a special $500 to win Pro Stock 20 lap feature event too. At the point was the #315 of Jon Routhier and the #35 of Rick Dempsey. Routhier took control early, but by lap 4, Dempsey made his way by bring the #38M of Middleton with him into 2nd.
The racing stayed clean and green for over a dozen laps until the caution flew for the #315 of Routhier for a flat tire on lap 14. On the restart, Middleton was once again hounding the #35 of Dempsey for another several laps, but it just wasn’t going to be enough to get by, as Dempsey takes the checkers, the first time of 2008.
Middleton crossed the line 2nd, followed by Nick Hilt, Kevin Arnold, and Paul LaRochelle. The finish is still listed as “Unofficial” due to a possible violation in post race inspection involving a couple of cars. More details will be posted once they become available.
The Sportsman division took to the high banks for their 20 lap feature event, with the #44 of Jeff Kelly out in front of the field early. The #9 of Ed Harkins settled in for 2nd as the field began a series of cautions that kept the field bunched.
After the yellows came out on laps 4, 5, 7, and 9, the field looked beat and battered, but more importantly, Kelly had given up the lead to the #87 of Neil Stratton. After another caution slowed the field on lap 11, Stratton kept his #87 wound up tight out front and scored his first win of ‘08. Following Stratton was Harkin, Jeff Watson powered his way into 3rd, while Jeff Kelly held on for 4th, and Chris Kokosa charged from the back to 5th.
Dave Streibel took the 10 lap Limited Pro Stock feature event with Jay Casey and Scott Kilmer completing the top 3. A special 20 lap NBT Bank Pure Stock Shootout was captured by Al Relyea, followed by Phil Wood, and Rich Douglass.
In the regular 8 lap Pure Stock features, the winners were: PS#1 Randy Myers, PS#2 Bob Palmer, and PS#3 was captured by Cord Becker.
This coming Saturday is set for another action packed night of racing as Alarms of Berkshire County and Heavy Hauler present the Royal’s Garage $3,00 to win Big Block Modified Feature along with the 3rd leg of the King of the Track Mid-Summer Series. All division will be in attendance including the 4 cylinders.
For more information on the upcoming events, a copy of the schedule, or just for directions, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, and click on “speedway”, or call the Speedway Offices during normal business hours at (518) 794-9606, (518) 794-9965.
Saturday July 26, 2008 - NBT Bank Modified Results "King of the Track Series" Race 2 of 4 (30 Laps) - 1) Donnie Ackner, 2) Wayne Jelley, 3) Kyle Sheldon, 4) Guy Sheldon, 5) J. R. Heffner, 6) Kenny Tremont Jr, 7) Lorne Browe, 8) Mark Flach Jr, 9) Paul Gilardi, 10) J. C. Flach, 11) Hector Stratton, 12) John Hewitt, 13) Brian Berger, 14) Dave McFeeters, 15) Bill Singer, 16) Andy Bachetti, 17) Keith Flach, 18) Mike King, 19) Rich Salisbury, 20) Ryan Larkin, 21) Jeff Trombley, 22) Eddie Marshall, 23) John Ruchel, 24) Steve Hough, 25) Matt Quinn, 26) Skippy Fox
Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1) Neil Stratton, 2) Ed Harkin, 3) Jeff Watson 4) Jeff Kelly, 5) Chris Kokosa, 6) Danny Sanchez, 7) Kolby Schroder, 8) Kory Sandstedt, 9) Kyle Hoffman, 10) Alan Houghtaling, 11) Frank Harper, 12) Bobby Knipe, 13) Chris Tryon, 14) Chad Pierce, 15) Kevin Petrucci, 16) Brian Sandstedt, 17) Don Kennedy, 18) Kyle Armstrong, 19) Kevin Winters, 20) Brett Haas, 21) R. J. Daley, 22) Kale Groff, 23) Kim Lavoy, 24) Paul Knox, 25) Wayne Keyes, 26) Josh Gaylord, 27) Dan Hotchkiss
NBT Bank $500 to Win Pro Stock “Unofficial” Results (20 Laps) - 1) Rick Dempsey, 2) Mike Middleton, 3) Nick Hilt, 4) Kevin Arnold, 5) Paul LaRochelle, 6) Robbie Speed, 7) Victor Hopkins, 8) Jay Casey, 9) Matt Shadic, 10) Donnie Denue, 11) Chris Crew, 12) Hugh Paige, 13) Jeff Kelmel, 14) Kent Clark, 15) Jay Corbin, 16) Jon Routhier, 17) Jason Casey, 18) Brian Keough, 19) Rob Maxon,
Limited Pro Stock Results (7 Laps) - 1) Dave Striebel, 2) Jay Casey, 3) Scott Kilmer, 4) Tim Sayers, 5) Jay Kreutiziger Jr, 6) Frank Twing, 7) Dale Kennedy, 8) Jery Helms Sr
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Randy Myers, 2) Rich Douglass, 3) Joe Chenail, 4) Chad Arsenault, 5) Paul Engwer, 6) Lloyd Tomlin, 7) John Hubbard, 8) Anthony Daley, 9) Karl Castagna, 10) Herb Tompkins III, 11) John Quigley, 12) Joe Walcott, 13) Dan Herring, 14) Dave Fachini, 15) Anthony Maddalla
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Bob Palmer, 2) Todd Lane, 3) Doug Olds, 4) Harold Tarantino, 5) E. J. Legeyt, 6) John Devine, 7) Dave Stickles, 8) Dave Houser, 9) Chuck Lampe, 10) Rich Roger, 11) Jeff Wilbur, 12) Scott Adams, 13) Lenny Fields, 14) David Whitney, 15) John Chapman, 16) Jeff Douglass
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Cord Becker, 2) Phill Wood, 3) Al Relyea,4) Kirk Stanaway, 5) Ray Hall Jr, 6) Mark Webb, 7) Mike Eichstedt, 8) Lou Ganczar, 9) Ed Hatch, 10) Lynn Wesley, 11) Rob Partridge Jr, 12) Chris Streeter, 13) Pete Wiegand, 14) Jim Fachini, 15) Johnny Lane, 16) Ray Hall Sr
NBT Bank Pure Stock Special Results (20 Laps) - 1) Al Relyea, 2) Phill Wood, 3) Rich Douglass, 4) Harold Tarantino, 5) John Devine, 6) Mike Eichstedt, 7) Dave Stickles, 8) Randy Myers, 9) Cord Becker, 10) Joe Chenail, 11) Bob Palmer, 12) Todd Lane, 13) Paul Engwer, 14) John Hubbard, 15) E. J. Legeyt, 16) Doug Olds, 17) Ray Hall Jr
“ Lebanon Valley Speedway – 56th Season of fun for the Whole Family!”
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