Sheldon Gets First Win of 2006

Sheldon, Collins, and Blanchard Tame the High Banks for 1st of the Year

Saturday August 12, 2006 – By: Rodney Rescott

West Lebanon, NY: A warm sunny day, turned into a cool summer night, but the 
action remained as hot as ever at the Valley of Speed.  “Hollywood” Guy 
Sheldon put all the pieces together to finally reach victory lane at the 
High Bank.  Art Collins used his veteran patience to finally see the 
checkers, while Dave Blanchard battled door to door to climb into the top 
spot.

Aladco and Triple Nickel presented the night’s program of racing, and the 
legendary Valley of Speed pack the stands with the local racing devoted, as 
well as the ‘little guys’ as it was Kiddie Ride night.  Over 40 cars lined 
the front stretch at the Valley with each one stock full of young fans 
holding on for dear-life, but smiling from ear to ear doing it!  After the 2 
lap parade around the speedway, it was time to go racing.

As the fans settled into the seats for a night of racing action; the first 
on the grid was the Pure Stock Division.  The action was tight, and abundant 
with nearly 55 cars on tap.  The winners of each of the 4 main events were:  
PS#1 – Kirk Stanaway, PS#2 – Richard Puff, PS#3 – Pete Wiegand (8th of 
2006), and PS#4 – Chip Martin.

The highlight of the night belonged to the Modifieds, as the field took to 
the high banks for their 30 main event.  On the front row it was the #88d of 
Ron Dwyer, along side the “Valley Pole Sitter” Kyle Sheldon.  At the drop of 
the green, Sheldon led the filed into turn one, but that was all the #518 
had, as the #88d of Dwyer stuck to the bottom, and powered into the top spot 
going down the backstretch.  Dwyer charged to the lead and set sail.  But 
the family Sheldon had other ideas.  By lap 8, the #42 of Guy Sheldon got to 
the back bumper of the #88d and began to pressure Dwyer.

The Devine Racing #42 of Sheldon finally maneuvered by to take over the top 
spot by lap 12.  With only two cautions slowing the field, nobody had much 
of a chance to catch Sheldon.  The usual Valley Bad Boys of Eddie Marshall, 
Kenny Tremont, and Andy Bachetti made their way through the field to the 
front, but it was much too little much too late, as Hollywood Guy Sheldon 
takes his first win of ’06.  Marshall drove his #98 to place finish.  3rd 
was Tremont’s #115 followed by J.R. Heffner’s #74 and tin Dwyer’s #1A 
rounded out the top five.

The Sportsman division, with one of the closest point’s battle in years, 
took to the Valley of Speed for their 20 lap feature event.  Bob Bouchard 
and Neil Stratton brought the field to the green, but by turn 2, Stratton 
took over the top of the heap.  The caution came out early on lap 2 as 
contact between the #3 of last weeks winner, Kim LaVoy and the #122 of Wayne 
Keyes ended up with LaVoy’s left front wedged in the side nerf-bars of the 
#122 of Keyes.  After a short delay to separate the two cars, the filed went 
back to green.  Stratton continued to show his speed, but soon, a wily 
veteran began to patiently make his presents known at the front.  A lap 8 
restart bunched the filed again, this time in single file, as that was all 
the defending champion needed, as the Alligator Art Collins drove his 
familiar #68 to the top spot, then drove off to another area code.

Nobody could muster a late race challenge to the ‘ol veteran, as Collins 
takes his first win of 2006.  Following Collins was the #250 of Alan 
Houghtaling with a strong runner-up finish.  Stratton held on for 3rd, 
followed by Ed Harkin, and a hard charging Chris Kokosa.

The Action didn’t stop there, though.  The Pro Stocks wanted to make it 3 
for 3 with first time winners this week, and with defending champ Rob Yetman 
starting deep in the field, there was a good chance for that to come to 
fruition.  Don Carlson and Lori Cary brought the field to the green for 
their 20 lap feature event.  Carey battled for the top spot, but Carlson 
just had too much early in the event and took over the lead by lap 2.  
Carlson held the lead, with the rest of field fighting door to door from 2nd 
to 15th place.  Finally something had to give, and it did around lap 8, as 
several cars were involved including the #117B of Rob Langevin, the #165 of 
Ed Bachand, the #38 of Mike Middleton, and Yetman’s #7.  All were able to 
continue after several repairs to their damaged racers.

At the drop of the green, Carlson took charge again as the rest of the field 
battled for position.  With only 6 laps left on the lap counter, Carlson had 
company in the form of the #15 of Dave Blanchard.  Blanchard waited 
patiently for the right moment, and by the next lap it came as the #26 
drifted up high in turns 1 and 2.  Blanchard took over, and never looked 
back.  Dave Blanchard crossed the line first, taking his first victory of 
2006 followed by the #78 of Paul LaRochelle; Jay Casey’s #322, Rick Dempsey 
battled to take the forth spot, and Carlson held on to finish 5th.

The Limited Pro Stocks featured a complete field pile up on lap 3 in turn 1, 
with most of the cars continuing, all with minor to medium damage.  But it 
was Nick Hilt taking his 4th win of ’06 followed by Brian Keough, George 
Miles, Frankie Twing and Justin Herron.

The Valley comes back this coming Saturday with a special $500.00 to win Pro 
Stock Feature presented by JH Financial.  All classes will be in attendance, 
including the 4 Cylinders.  Gates open at 5pm, racing starts at 6pm.

For more information, or ticket info, visit our website at 
www.LebanonValley.com.  Or call the Speedway Offices during normal business 
hours at (518) 794-9606, or (518) 794-9965.

Results:  Saturday August 12, 2006 –

Aladco Uniform Services, Triple Nickel Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1 Guy 
Sheldon 2 Eddie Marshall, 3 Kenny Tremont, 4 J. R. Heffner, 5 Tim Dwyer, 6 
Andy Bachetti, 7 Steve Hough, 8 Donnie Corellis, 9 Denny Soltis, 10 Brian 
Berger, 11 Hector Stratton, 12 Wayne Jelley, 13 Keith Flach, 14 Kyle 
Sheldon, 15 John Hewitt, 16 Lorne Browe, 17 Russ Reckner, 18 Mike King, 19 
Dave Leckonby, 20 Don Mattison, 21 John Ruchel, 22 John Alberti, 23 Dave 
McFeeters, 24 Mark Pullen, 25 Wayne Figler, 26 Skippy Fox, 27 Mark Flach Jr, 
28 Ron Dwyer, 29 Paul Gilardi, 30 Donnie Ackner

Sportsman Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Art Collins, 2 Alan Houghtaling, 3 Neil 
Stratton, 4 Ed Harkin, 5 Chris Kokosa, 6 KC Goewey, 7 Kyle Hoffman, 8 Carmon 
Carnibucci, 9 Ryan Larkin, 10 Jeff Watson, 11 Frank Harper, 12 Chad Pierce, 
13 Jeff Kelly, 14 Brian Sandstedt, 15 Chris Tryon, 16 Bob Bouchard, 17 Joe 
Mabb Jr, 18 Wayne Keyes, 19 Kim LaVoy, 20 Don Kennedy, 21 Kent Clark, 22 
Kory Sandstedt, 23 Don Miller, 24 Danny Sanchez, 25 Derek Schibi

Pro Stock Main Results (20 Laps) - 1 Dave Blanchard, 2 Paul LaRochelle, 3 
Jay Casey, 4 Rick Dempsey, 5 Don Carlson, 6 Jason Casey, 7 Chris Crews, 8 
Robbie Speed, 9 Jay Corbin, 10 Kevin Arnold, 11 Victor Hopkins, 12 Henry 
Warner, 13 Lori Cary, 14 Don Collins, 15 Jon Routhier, 16 Mike Middleton, 17 
Rob Yetman, 18 Rob Langevin, 19 Jeff Kelmel, 20 Steve Hankle, 21 Ed Bachand

Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 Nick Hilt, 2 Brian Keough, 3 George 
Miles Jr, 4 Frankie Twing, 5 Justin Herron, 6 Dirk LaPierre, 7 Jerry Helms 
Sr, 8 Gary Ashley, 9 Dale Kennedy, 10 Jim Keough, 11 John Santolin, 12 Rob 
Maxon, 13 Zach Peckham, 14 Dave Colwell

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Kirk Stanaway, 2 Dave Houser, 3 Steve 
Kahler Jr, 4 Todd Pelkey, 5 Nick Regis, 6 Lou Ganczar, 7 Robert Hammell, 8 
Lloyd Tomlin, 9 Doug Olds, 10 Joe Chenail, 11 Ed Hatch, 12 Jim Fachini

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Richard Puff, 2 Dave Stickles, 3 Ryan 
Coon, 4 Gary VanDenberg, 5 Paul Engwer, 6 Lynn Wesley, 7 Dan Olds, 8 John 
Quiqley, 9 Paul Handlowich, 10 Mike Arnold, 11 Mike Acker, 12 Billy Bulson, 
13 Steve Hatch

Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Pete Wiegand, 2 Al Relyea, 3 Matt Humes, 
4 Bob Palmer, 5 John Chapman, 6 Tom Harkins, 7 Ray Hall Sr, 8 Larry Ball, 9 
Rich Douglass, 10 Mike Fachini, 11 Dave Streibel, 12 Shannon McDermott, 13 
Brian Houghtaling, 14 Jesse Murphy

Pure Stock #4 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Chip Martin, 2 Jay LaMountain, 3 Chrissy 
Hilt, 4 Jeff Douglass, 5 Jay Kreutziger Jr, 6 Don Coon, 7 Joe Walcott, 8 
Wuggie Burdick, 9 Richard Rogers, 10 Tom Goodermote, 11 Jay Casey, 12 Chris 
Keller, 13 David Bink, 14 Johnny Lane, 15 Jerry Helms Jr, 16 Dave Fachini Jr