Press Release: Leckonby takes Wingfest, Sportsman has Double Features

      Leckonby Flies to Big Pay Day; Arnold Soars to the Checkers.
Double Features for Sportsman – Kyle Hoffman and Jeff Watson Take Victories!

Saturday August 26, 2006 – By: Rodney Rescott

New Lebanon, NY: Tons of racing fans filed into the famed Valley of Speed 
Saturday Night, as County Concrete and Heavy Hauler put on a special program 
titled Wingfest.  All divisions took their normal rules and threw them out 
the window, except for the Sportsman, and Pure Stocks, to put on an 
‘Extreme’ race for some big money.

The rules were simply – anything goes.  So teams brought their normal 
Saturday Night Big Block Modifieds to the High Banks, only this time, they 
were more like Dr. Jekyll, than Mr. Hyde.  Picture a Northeast Dirt 
Modified, then grow a huge wing or sail panel on the left side, some short 
like a sprint car, some long like a giant billboard.  Then throw in a ‘no 
engine rule’ where anything goes, and you got a spectacle that only the 
Valley could produce.  Then add in a big, fat check for about $5,000.00; now 
you gotta something to race for!  Including a cool $1,000.00 to the first 
“DIRT Legal” car to cross the line.

So the field was formed, and the 30 lap feature was just about under way as 
Andy Bachetti waved the green on the first due to blowing an engine in the 
heats earlier n the night.  Ronnie Dwyer and Dave McFeeters led the field to 
the green, the race was on.  Dwyer took his familiar #88D un-changed, to the 
top spot, and began to check out on the field.  And he needs to, because the 
‘winged warriors’ were beginning to get a feel for their transformed cars, 
and they were coming to the front in a hurry.

Deep in the field, J.R. Heffner’s ‘altered’ #74 began to charge through the 
field.  But just ahead of him was the “Mayor” Dave Leckonby piloting his 
‘altered’ #4 who was driving like an ol’ sprint car pro.  Caution came out 
by lap 11 for the #34R of Russ Reckner.  Under caution, the #77F made 
contact with another car due to an track racing incident; he was then black 
fagged and sent to the pits for ‘rough driving’.  The field was then 
gathered up, and they went back to green.  Once again with Dwyer up front, 
but he didn’t get too far out front, as the #44 of Leckonby was on the 
charge.  He restarted in the 4th position, and within a lap, he was perched 
in second place ready to make the move for the lead.

Without wasting a moment, the #44 leaped into the top spot, and took off.  A 
few positions back, was the #74 of Heffner, but he just couldn’t get to the 
front fast enough, and ran out of time.  Leckonby parlayed his nearly half a 
track lead into a $5,000.00 victory.  Heffner’s charge got him to 2nd place, 
3rd was Dwyer, the first ‘Dirt Legal’, 4th was Wayne Jelley, and Eddie 
Marshall rounded out the top 5.

Like that wasn’t enough. The Sportsman division had double features due to 
the rain out from last week.  The first 20 lap feature, made up from last 
week saw several cautions, and nearly half the field hooked up to a tow 
truck at one point or another.  This included a 1st lap crash on the front 
stretch that involved nearly 8 cars, causing the #9H of Ed Harkins to flip 
down the front stretch.  He was OK, but the car was in tough shape, and he 
was out of the first one.  He did get a lot of time to get it fixed, and 
made the 2nd feature.

After a brief red flag, the field was back under green.  The action was hot, 
but this one belonged to the #16 of Kyle Hoffman.  He drove away with the 
win; his first of ’06, with the #25 of Frank Harper hot on his heals to 
finish in second.  3rd across the line was the #22 Jeff Watson, Brian 
Sandstedt finished 4th, and Chris Kokosa charged from the back of the pack 
after the first caution to finish 5th.

The second 20 lap feature was shaping up to be a stunner, as the #09 of 
Kevin Lynch led nearly 19 circuits, only to be passed with just one lap to 
go.  The SportsPage Bar and Grill #09 charged to the lead right at the drop 
of the green, and he tried to put as much acreage between himself and the 
#95 of Carmen Carnibucci sitting in 2nd.  And that’s the way the front 
stayed for over half the race; but the #22 of Jeff Watson was on the move, 
and he wanting to get to the top spot.  Unfortunately there was no one that 
was going to deny him of the win.  Even with a caution on lap 18, putting 
Watson on the back bumper of Lynch, just was delaying the inevitable.   When 
the field restarted, the #22 wasted no time, while Lynch tried to hold him 
off valiantly, Watson was just too strong.  Watson took the lead, and never 
looked back.  Watson takes the win, his 2nd of 2006; Carmon Carnibucci drove 
his Toyota sponsored #95 to a hard fought 2nd place finish.  3rd acrossed 
the line was the #9H of Ed Harkins, recovering nicely from the first feature 
wreck.  4th was Lynch’s #09, followed by the #87 of Neil Stratton.

Also on tap for night’s activities was the Pro Stock division.  They, too, 
were taking part in the ‘Wingfest’ festivities, as the #76 of Kevin Arnold 
was the first of the winged warriors to get to the front, and he pulled away 
to take his 2nd win of the year.  Jon Routhier finished 2nd, 3rd was Eric 
Marin, 4th was Jim Langenback, and rounding out the top 5 was Ed Bachand’s 
#165 (the first Dirt Legal across the line).

The Limited pro Stockers put on an excellent race as the #1 of George Miles 
pulled off another last lap on the last turn, pass to take the win, by just 
inches.  Dave Colwell came up a few inches short to finish 2nd, 3rd was Nick 
Hilt, followed by the #311 of Brian Keough, and the #6 of John Santolin.

Nearly 50 Pure Stockers jammed into the Valley of Speed for some excellent 
door to door action.  This time, the Pure Stock winners were:  PS#1 - Dave 
Streibel, PS#2 – Mike Eichstedt, PS#3 – Pete Wiegand (his 9th of ’06!), and 
PS#4 – Dave Stickles.

Mark your calendars as its Final Points Night!  Here already is the last 
point night for the Modifieds, the 358’s, and the Sportsman.  The High Banks 
will be just packed from corner to corner with all division in full action 
to decide the 2006 Champs for the top 3 divisions.  Gable Auto Stores and 
Pepsi Cola are presenting a Carquest $3,000.00 to Win Modified Special, as 
well as the Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Super Series.  Gates open at 5pm, and 
racing set to begin at 6pm.  Remember, this is also going to be Double 
Features for the Modifieds as a make up from 2 weeks ago!  There will be 
action from beginning to end, so you are not gonna want to miss this one.

For more information, current points, or ticket information, 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:

County Waste and Heavy Hauler present the Carquest Wingfest – August 26, 
2006.

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

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

Sportsman #2 (20 laps) [Unofficial – due to protest] - 1 Jeff Watson, 2 
Carmon Carnibucci, 3 Ed Harkin, 4 Kevin Lynch, 5 Neil Stratton, 6 Danny 
Sanchez, 7 KC Goewey, 8 Chris Tryon, 9 Alan Houghtaling, 10 Brian Sandstedt, 
11 Art Collins, 12 Ryan Larkin, 13 Chris Kokosa, 14 Kyle Hoffman, 15 Kory 
Sandstedt, 16 Frank Harper, 17 Kim LaVoy, 18 Jason Tomkins, 19 Kolby 
Schroeder, 20 Chad Pierce, 21 Bill Singer, 22 Derek Schibi, 23 Kent Clark, 
24 Don Miller, 25 Jeff Kelly

Pro Stock (20 laps) -1 Kevin Arnold, 2 Jon Routhier, 3 Eric Marin, 4 Jim 
Langenback, 5 Mike Middleton, 6 Ed Bachand, 7 Rob Langevin, 8 Paul 
LaRochelle, 9 Jason Casey, 10 Chris Crews, 11 Chip Smith, 12 Rich Crane, 13 
Victor Hopkins, 14 Don Collin, 15 Robbie Speed, 16 Hugh Page, 17 Rick 
Dempsey, 18 Steve Hankle, 19 Frank Twing, 20 Jay Corbin, 21 Rob Yetman, 22 
Don Carlson, 23 Dwayne Quennville, 24 Jay Casey

Limited Pro Stock (10 laps) -  1 George Miles Jr, 2 Dave Colwell, 3 Nick 
Hilt, 4 Brian Keough, 5 John Santolin, 6 Jerry Helms Sr, 7 Justin Herron, 8 
Dirk LaPierre, 9 Zach Peckham, 10 Frankie Twing, 11 Bill Hammell, 12 Dale 
Kennedy, 13 Kevin Winters

Pure Stocks - Due to technical issue, the complete results will be posted on 
the website by Tuesday morning.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

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