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Kings Weekend Day 1: Poirier Scores ESS Win, and Schroder Takes Sportsman
** ALERT: Saturday’s Scheduled Events are Postponed Till Sunday September 7th **
Friday September 5, 2008
By: Rodney Rescott
West Lebanon, NY: The season highlight at the Valley of Speed is the Annual Kings 200 Weekend. And with Day 1 in the books, the racing at the high banks was once again in full force with the return of the ESS Sprint Car Series on it’s 25th Anniversary Season.
Many drivers were praising the super-fast and smooth racing surface at Howard Commander’s Lebanon Valley Speedway. With speeds at 130 mph at the top of the straight-aways, this was the fastest track these drivers have seen. And with about 30 teams in attendance, all would test their mettle at the Valley of Speed.
Canadian DirtCar veteran, and long time racer Steve Poirier has many laps on the high banks in other divisions, but this was the first in a sprint car. But he used his experience to find the fast away around the high banks and sit on the pole for the 25 lap Pepsi-Cola ESS Feature presented by Dick Spadaro Early Ford Reproductions.
A the drop of the green flag, Poirier’s #28 was out front early and in control with Jared Finks‘ #21F. The first caution flew on lap 3 for the #27J of Jami Russell, as heavy contact with the infamous turn 3 wall ended his night. When the red flag was lifted, the field was under green once again with the #28 in control.
Poirier had the field well in control early on as the 2nd place runner Jared Fink settled in to find Poirier’s groove. The yellow flew on lap 9 for the #10 of Jeff Cook spinning in turn 4 slowing the field for the second time.
Poirier restarted out front again with the #21F in tow and the #151KB of Brian McDonald hunting them down. Down the backstretch the #32 of Justin Barger made short work of McDonald and Fink, and slid into the runner-up spot.
But that was as far as Barger was gonna get, as Poirier check out. At the checkers, it was the #28 of Steve Poirier, followed by Justin Barger, local favorite Jessica Zemken crossed the line 3rd, Jared Fink settled for 4th, and Brian McDonald rounded the top 5.
The Sportsman division was also on tap for a 20 lap feature event. Kolby Schroder and Jeff Kelly were on the front row for the start.
Schroder took control early with Kelly in tow, but a caution flew for the #9 of Ed Harkins as he made heavy contact with the front stretch wall.
Schroder powered out front again on the restart holding off the #44 of Kelly until the caution flew again for the #23 of Kevin Winters, #122 of Wayne Keys, #34 of Paul Knox and the #8 of Jim Cronk were also involved with heavy damage.
The green flew again as the crowd watched the #09 of rookie Chris Lynch power around the top side of turn one to jump from 4th to 2nd in one turn. The caution flew again on lap 5 for the spinning Kelly.
Schroder was still in control with Lynch holding strong in 2nd when racing continued. Jeff Watson and Neil Stratton made their charge through the field to get to 3rd and 4th respectively by lap 7, but both struggled with the #09 of Lynch.
The battle raged for about a dozen laps until Lynch lost a radiator hose in turn 3 taking him out of the race, along with the #25 of Frank Harper. But that had no effect on the finish as the point leaders battled with themselves, letting Schroder get away, and take the win.
At the checkers, Kolby Schroder scores his 1st win of 2008, Stratton crossed the line 2nd, followed by Watson, Kory Sandstedt finished a strong 4th, while Chris Tryon rounded out the top 5.
The Limited Pro Stocks saw a spirited battle with an ‘unofficial’ finish. The first 5 across the line were Jay Casey, Scott Kilmer, Tim Sayers, Frank Twing, and Jay Kreutiziger Jr.
The Pure Stocks were also on hand for the 1st day of the 2 day Kings 200 Weekend. In Pure Stock #1, Jesse Murphy scored his 4th win of 2008. Pure Stock #2 was captured by John Devine, his 1st in ‘08, while in Pure Stock #3, Mike Eichstedt captured his 3rd win of 2008.
The Pure Stockers also had a special Boomer’s Performance Pure Stock Classic $400 to win 20 lap feature. A horrible front stretch wreck involved the #34 of Paul Engwer and the #82 of Phil Wood. After a lengthy red flag to remove Engwer’s destroyed car, who was shaken a bit, but ok, and Wood relegated pitside, racing resumed clean and green for the remainder of the feature.
Al Relyea scored the $400 Boomer’s Performance Classic win, followed by Jesse Murphy. Kirk Stanaway weaseled his way into 3rd, Mike Eichstedt settled for 4th, while Mark Webb completed the top 5.
For more information, or *Sunday’s schedule of events, visit our website at www.LebanonValley.com, click on “Speedway”, or call the Speedway Offices at (518) 794-9606, (518) 794-9965.
Friday September 5, 2008 - Budweiser & Benjamin Moore Paints Presents the Kings-200 Weekend
Pepsi-Cola Presents The 25th Anniversary Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints $2,000 to Win, Dick Spadaro Early Ford Reproductions A-Main Results (25 laps) - 1) Steve Poirier ($2,275), 2) Justin Barger, 3) Jessica Zemken, 4) Jared Fink, 5) Brian McDonald, 6) Doug Emery, 7) Alain Bergeron, 8) Jason Barney, 9) Tommy Wickham, 10) Warren Alexson, 11) Cory Sparks, 12) Russ Bennett, 13) Jeff Cook, 14) Michael Parent, 15) Anthony Cain, 16) Mike Stelter, 17) Normand Beaudreault, 18) Geoff Quackenbush, 19) Lee Ladouceur, 20) Adam Gordon, 21) Jami Russell, 22) Josh Weller, 23) Lance Yonge.
Lap Leader - Poirier 1-25.
Did Not Qualify - Jeff Lutes, Tim Hogue, Bubba Broderick, James Hanson.
Scratched - Tim Kelly
Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1) Kolby Schroeder, 2) Neil Stratton, 3) Jeff Watson 4) Kory Sandstedt, 5) Chris Tryon, 6) Kale Groff, 7) Whitey Slavin, 8) Kyle Hoffman, 9) Alan Houghtaling, 10) Brett Haas, 11) Jason Tompkins, 12) Brian Sandstedt, 13) Kyle Armstrong, 14) Josh Gaylord, 15) Chris Lynch, 16) Frank Harper, 17) Danny Sanchez, 18) Jeff Kelly, 19) Wayne Keyes, 20) Paul Knox, 21) Jim Cronk, 22) R. J. Daley, 23) Kevin Winters, 24) Kevin Petrucci, 25) Ed Harkin, 26) Chris Kokosa, 27) Kim Lavoy, 28) Mark MacDonald
Limited Pro Stock “Unofficial” Results (10 Laps) - 1) Jay Casey, 2) Scott Kilmer, 3) Tim Sayers, 4) Frank Twing, 5) Jay Kreutiziger Jr, 6) Nick Clark, 7) Dale Kennedy, 8) Steve Kahler
Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Jesse Murphy, 2) Jeff Douglass, 3) Ed Hatch, 4) John Chapman, 5) Lenny Fields, 6) Dave Stickles, 7) Paul Harding, 8) Jeff Kreutiziger, 9) Chuck Lampe, 10) Herb Tompkins III, 11) Brian Vandenburgh, 12) Johnny Lane, 13) Howard Madsen, 14) Tom Davies, 15) Ray Hall Jr, 16) Dave Houser, 17) Scott Adams, 18) Gil Twing
Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1) John Devine, 2) Rich Douglass, 3) Brian Houghtaling, 4) Chad Arsenault, 5) Dan Herring, 6) Joe Walcott, 7) Clint Bonner, 8) Anthony Maddalla, 9) Bob Camilli, 10) Wuggie Burdick, 11) Tim Niles, 12) Matt Parker, 13) Jeff Wilbur, 14) John Quigley, 15) Jay Martin, 16) Rich Roger, 17) E. J. Legeyt, DQ) Dave Fachini
Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1) Mike Eichstedt, 2) Ray Hall Sr, 3) Al Relyea, 4) Mark Webb, 5) Phill Wood, 6) Paul Engwer, 7) Kirk Stanaway, 8) Jim Fachini, 9) Doug Olds, 10) Lloyd Tomlin, 11) Karl Castagna, 12) Lou Ganczar, 13) Chris Streeter, 14) Harold Tarantino, 15) Tom Goodermote, 16) Lynn Wesley, 17) Bob Palmer
Boomer's Performance Pure Stock Classic Results (20 Laps) - 1) Al Relyea, 2) Jesse Murphy, 3) Kirk Stanaway, 4) Mike Eichstedt, 5) Mark Webb, 6) Ed Hatch, 7) Jeff Douglass, 8) Brian Houghtaling, 9) Paul Harding, 10) Rich Douglass, 11) Lenny Fields, 12) Chad Arsenault, 13) Dan Herring, 14) John Chapman, 15) John Devine, 16) Dave Stickles, 17) Paul Engwer, 18) Joe Walcott, 19) Phill Wood, DNS) Ray Hall Sr, DNS) Clint Bonner
4-Cylinder Dual Cam Results (20 Laps) - 1) Steven Loomis, 2) Todd Goldstein, 3) Jim Williams, 4) Terry McNamara, 5) Todd Bartley 6) Steve Frangk, 7) Jeff Ledoux, 8) Tim Sayers, 9) Frank Sorrento, 10) Matt Mooradian, 11) Mike Dianda, 12) Edward Englert, 13) Mark Burke
4-Cylinder Single Cam Results (20 Laps) - 1) Shawn Perez, 2) Richard Puff, 3) Jason Meltz, 4) Jethro Rossman, 5) Mike Verhagen, 6) Don Curley, 7) Vesa Bostrom, 8) Danny, Webber, 9) John Miller, 10) Matt Fenwick, 11) Luke Williams, 12) Chris White
“ Lebanon Valley Speedway – 56th Season of fun for the Whole Family!”
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