DANNY SANCHEZ WINS PRO STOCK FINALE, PAUL LAROCHELLE CHAMP!

DANNY SANCHEZ WINS PRO STOCK FINALE, PAUL LAROCHELLE CHAMP!

September 21, 2002
WEST LEBANON, NY-Danny Sanchez captured the victory in the 50-lap pro stock 
feature at Lebanon Valley Saturday night. It was his third victory of the 
2002 season and he collected five hundred dollars for the extra distance 
affair. Paul LaRochelle finished the race in fourth and was crowned the 2002 
Pro Stock Champion. The 20-lap Rookie Pro Stock feature went to Bill Lobdell 
and along with it the 2002 point championship in that division. Jason Casey 
won the first Pure Stock Feature, Pancho Hankey won the second Pure Stock 
Feature, Bobby Burl won the third feature and Dave Atwater won the fourth 
Pure Stock main. The fine folks at Dick's Automotive and Speed's Garage 
brought us this final night of point racing at the high banks.
    Three drivers had a legitimate shot at winning the 2002 Pro Stock title 
when the green flag fell on the 50-lap finale. Rob Yetman went into the race 
as the point leader, nine points ahead of Paul LaRochelle and fourteen points 
ahead of Jim Langenback. Attrition was one of the big questions everyone had 
going into the 50-lap main, but seventeen of the twenty-two starters finished 
the event. 
    Tom Brant took the early race leader and was setting a comfortable pace. 
Langenback was making his charge early as he moved into the top five on lap 
five. Disaster for the leader, Brant, on lap seven as his car suddenly veered 
into the turn three wall. This handed the lead over to the #5 car of Chris 
Crews. Unfortunately Crews did not fair much better as he came to a stop on 
the backstretch while the field was under yellow for the Brandt incident. 
This now gave the lead to the Thoma Tire #63 of Danny Sanchez with Al 
Blackburn and Langenback in tow. Ed Bachand was able to use several restarts 
just before lap 20 to move in to third. 
    Sanchez held a comfortable lead over Blackburn, Bachand, Langenback, and 
LaRochelle at the halfway point in the race. The driver that appeared to be 
missing was the current point leader, Yetman. The Beer Belly Bob's #7 of 
Yetman sat just outside the top five at the halfway point as he seemed to be 
biding his time and trying to avoid any problems that could cost him the 
title. The yellow flag came out once again on lap 35 for Dan Blackburn. It 
would cost his brother, Al a spot on the restart as Bachand got by for 
second. 
    Things got really interesting in the final ten laps of the race as the 
caution flag would fly four separate times in the final laps. Yetman began 
his charge to the front with less than ten laps remaining. That charge was 
short-lived however as Adam Haas spun in turn four and collected up Yetman, 
sending both drivers to the back of the pack. Yetman had been so careful 
throughout the race and looked like he had done everything he could to secure 
the title and in one instant it was over. The title was now going to be 
decided between LaRochelle and Langenback. It looked like the cagey veteran; 
Langenback might get the title, as he was a couple of spots ahead of 
LaRochelle with two laps to go. But the two cars in front of LaRochelle 
crashed on lap 49, putting LaRochelle on Langenback's back bumper.
    Sanchez easily cruised home to his third victory of the season followed 
by Bachand and Al Blackburn. LaRochelle was able to get by Langenback on the 
final lap and his fourth place finish earned him the 2002 track championship. 
Langenback rounded out the top five. 
    Lebanon Valley Speedway will be back in action next Saturday night with a 
Pure Stock Shootout, Cannonball run events and a four-cylinder enduro. Gates 
open at 4:00 and racing starts at 5:30. The final event of the 2002 season at 
Lebanon Valley will be the 20th annual Swap Meet on Sunday, November 3rd. For 
more information on the last two events of the season call the speedway at 
(518) 794-9606 or visit us on the web at www.lebanonvalley.com   

SPEED'S GARAGE / DICK'S AUTOMOTIVE $500 TO WIN PRO STOCK RESULTS (50 LAPS) - 
1) Danny Sanchez, 2) Ed Bachand, 3) Al Blackburn, 4) Paul LaRochelle, 5) Jim 
Langenback, 6) Glenn Cargain, 7) Adam Haas, 8) Dan Kelleher, 9) Tom Faxon, 
10) Rob Yetman, 11) Jason DiBello, 12) Spencer Hughes, 13) Brian Keough, 14) 
Robbie Speed, 15) Ray Hall Sr, 16) Dan Blackburn, 17) Jeff Kelmel, 18) Rick 
Spencer, 19) Jim Hankle, 20) Rick Fosby, 21) Chris Crews, 22) Tom Brandt, 23) 
Don Ely 
        
ROOKIE PRO STOCK RESULTS (20 LAPS) - 1) Bill Lobdell, 2) John Santolin, 3) 
Mike Fachini, 4) Jerry Wright, 5) Jery Helms, 6) Mark Forrest, 7) Jay Corbin, 
8) Ralph Hotchkiss, 9) John Denue, 10) Larry Megan, 11) Joe Mabb Jr, 12) Kim 
LaVoy, 13) Jim Keough, 14) Bill Hammell 
        
PURE STOCK #1 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Jason Casey, 2) Kevin Arnold, 3) Ron 
Tritschler, 4) Chrissy Hilt, 5) Earl Soulier Jr, 6) Mark Burke, 7) Ron 
Hapeman, 8) Chris Streeter, 9) Kevin Dolan, 10) Jim O'Neil, 11) Dan Crosby, 
12) John Hubbard, 13) Mike Grehl Jr, 14) Dave Shepard, 15) John Fachini, 16) 
Ross Zito   

PURE STOCK #2 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Poncho Hankey, 2) Mike Eichstedt, 3) 
John Betz, 4) Phil Moffit, 5) Jim Fachini, 6) Jeff Douglass, 7) Don Coon, 8) 
Rich Douglass, 9) Todd Pelkey, 10) Paul Harding, 11) Shannon McDermott, 12) 
Dave Houser, 13) Marcus Tifft, 14) Steve Hatch, 15) Ryan Hover, 16) John 
Connor Jr, 17) Jeff Joseph, 18) Bruce Moffit, 19) Eric Barber   
        
PURE STOCK #3 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Bob Burl, 2) Pete DeFiglio, 3) Peter 
Wiegand, 4) Keith Barlow, 5) Kory Sandstadt, 6) Bob Palmer, 7) Brian 
Sandstedt, 8) Ronny Jacobsen, 9) Don Carlson, 10) John Chapman, 11) Nick Hilt 
Jr, 12) Henry Dickinson, 13) D.T. Pickard, 14) Kevin Hilt, 15) Jim Hankey, 
16) George Miles Jr 
        
PURE STOCK #4 RESULTS (10 LAPS) - 1) Dave Atwater, 2) Michael Davis, 3) Guy 
Hughes, 4) Jay Martin, 5) Larry Ball, 6) Chris Stalker, 7) Eric Sbrega, 8) 
Robert Gibson, 9) Randy Myers, 10) Michael Middleton, 11) Ryan Coon, 12) 
Chris Hutnik, 13) John Rivers Jr, 14) Bob Copeland, 15) Michael Dianda