Stratton Takes His 4th Career Valley of Speed Win

West Lebanon, NY:  Earthworm Equipment and Lebanon Springs presented a full program of action packed events this past Saturday night at the legendary High Banks at Lebanon Valley.  A huge Memorial Day Weekend crowd packed the stands to watch an exciting night of racing action in every class.  The Big Block 30 Lap Earthworm Equipment, Lebanon Springs feature event took to the speedway with plenty of action on tap.

At the point, "the Kid" Ryan Larkin brought the field to the green and took over the early lead, with 4th place starter Russ Reckner hot on his heels.  Further back in the pack, 2006 champ Andy Bachetti, Kenny Tremont, and last weeks winner Jeff Trombley, were working their way through the field of 26.  A long green flag run spread the field with Larkin at the front and Reckner following his every move.  Finally, on lap 15, Reckner made his move on the #39, and shot past in turns 1 and 2.  Third place runner Hector Stratton surged into the 2nd spot, following Reckner past Larkin.  The caution flew on lap 16 when Larkin spun around, putting Stratton on the bumper of Reckner.  Reckner's #34R didn't get to lead for long, for on the next restart Stratton drove the Big Boys Toys #87 to the top spot as Reckner bobbled in turn 2.

A few more yellow flags flew, but that was not going to be enough for the rest of the field to get to Stratton.  Bachetti reached the runner up position, but Stratton motored away to take the checkers for his 4th career win at the Valley of Speed.  Bachetti was 2nd, 3rd across the line was Reckner, followed by the FTW #21J of Jeff Trombley, and the Marshall Oil #98 of Eddie Marshall.

The Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Super Series was also on tap for a 24 lap shoot out.  Danny Burl drove off to the early lead at the drop of the green, with a strong field of competitors in toe.As the tires went away on the #4B of Burl, the field was ready to pounce.  And on lap 11, the #1 of Sean Gallivan took over the top spot, and began to pull away. Back in the field, the #97 of Jeff Trombley was leading the charge through the field, with J.R. Heffner, and Andy Bachetti following him through.

By lap 17, the Goodermote #5 of Heffner caught Gallivan, and passed him by to take over the lead.  The top five were Heffner taking the win, followed by Keith Flach, Rich Salisbury, Andy Bachetti, and Roy Bridge finishing 5th.

Also on the card at the Valley of Speed was the 20 Lap Sportsman feature.  This time, the race came down to the last lap as the #95 of Carmen Carnibucci was holding on to the lead with Frankie Harper's #25 hot on his heels waiting to make his move.

When Carnibucci took the white flag, Harper knew he had to go and dove to the inside of the #95 going into turn 1.  But neither would make it out of the turn, as contact was made between Harper and Carnibucci causing them both to spin up into the outside wall, ending both their nights in frustration.  That handed the lead over to third place runner Chris Tryon.  And with a 1 lap shootout, it was not going to be enough time for anyone to mount a charge.  The #5 of Chris Tryon drove to his first win of 2007.  He was followed by the #22 of Jeff Watson for 2nd.  3rd across the line was Don Miller, followed by Kyle Hoffman, and Art Collins.

The Pro Stocks 20 lap feature saw the #324 of Jason Casey led pretty much wire to wire to take his first victory of 2007.  He was hounded by the #8 of Jay Corbin who finished 2nd, followed by Kevin Arnold, Mike Middleton, and a hard charging Robbie Speed rounded out the top 5.

The Limited Pro Stocks saw Nick Hilt take his 3rd win of the year.  The rest of the top 5 were Justin Herron, Jay Kretuziger, Jr., Jery Helms, Jr., and Kevin Winters.

The Pure Stocks took to the speedway with nearly 50 cars divided into three 8 lap events, and this week's winners were:  PS#1 - Robert Hammell, PS#2 - Tom Harkins, and PS#3 - Jesse Murphy.

Next week, at the high banks, Alarms of Berkshire County, and Wohrle's will present a special Modified Twin 20 event, along with the Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Limited Pros, and PureStocks on tap.

In two weeks, a special event is scheduled, but we need your help to make it happen. On June 9th, Lebanon Valley Speedway along with Greylock FCU are presenting the PYX 106 "Eye Rock 500", a race for the Blind, to help raise money for Camp Abilities.  Camp Abilities is a one week long camp for blind, deaf /blind, or legally blind kids, and they are in need of your help.

Bob Wolf, the master mind behind the "Eye Rock 500", from the Wakin' up with the Wolf show on PYX 106, has been asking for help to help raise money for this great camp for challenged kids.  In addition, Scott Morlock and Rich Becker from FOX23 Fast Track have been helping to let us know that your help in needed; both for the event, and to raise some serious money.

How can you help?  Well, it's simple; we are in need of Sponsors for the race cars, and 4cylinder cars for the race.  In addition, we are in search of 'seeing' drivers to help the featured blind drivers navigate the
legendary high banks.

This is the 7th annual "Eye Rock 500", but the first time it's being held at the Valley of Speed.  Let's all pitch in and make this happen, but better yet, let's make this the biggest event ever in the history of the Eye Rock, and raised a record amount for these deserving kids.  In addition, "Car and Driver" magazine will be at the speedway doing a special article for the up coming magazine on the event!

For more information on the "Eye Rock 500" and how you can help, or for ticket information, visit our website site, at www.LebanonValley.com, just click on "Speedway".  Or you can contact the Speedway Offices during normal business hours at (518) 794-9606, (518) 794-9965.

Saturday May 26, 2007 - Earthworm Equipment & Lebanon Springs Excavating

Modified Results (30 Laps) - 1 Hector Stratton, 2 Andy Bachetti, 3 Russ Reckner, 4 Jeff Trombley, 5 Eddie Marshall, 6 Wayne Jelley, 7 J. R. Heffner, 8 Paul Gilardi, 9 Steve Hough, 10 Matt Quinn, 11 Brian Berger, 12 Rich Ricci Jr, 13 Kenny Tremont, 14 Mark Flach Jr, 15 Keith Flach, 16 Kyle Sheldon, 17 John Ruchel, 18 Mike King, 19 Guy Sheldon, 20 Dickie Larkin, 21 Dave McFeeters, 22 Charlie Humes, 23 Tim Dwyer, 24 Ryan Larkin, 25 Kenny Aanonsen, 26 John Hewitt

Benjamin Moore Paints 358 Modified Super Series Results (24 Laps) - 1 J. R. Heffner, 2 Keith Flach, 3 Rich Salsbury, 4 Andy Bachetti, 5 Roy Bridge, 6 Matt Quinn, 7 Tom Faxon, 8 Donnie Ackner, 9 Jeff Trombley, 10 J. C. Flach, 11 Danny Burl, 12 Ted Teal, 13 Denny Young Jr, 14 Mark Pullen, 15 Kory Gurney, 16 Ryan Larkin, 17 John Hotchkiss, 18 Ray Hoard, 19 Sean Gallivan

Sportsman Results (20 Laps) - 1 Chris Tryon, 2 Jeff Watson, 3 Don Miller, 4 Kyle Hoffman, 5 Art Collins, 6 Kevin Lynch, 7 Brian Sandstedt, 8 Chris Kokosa, 9 Danny Sanchez, 10 Alan Houghtaling, 11 Korey Sandstedt, 12 D. J. Faulkner, 13 Jason Tompkins, 14 Bill Singer, 15 Derek Schibi, 16 Kyle Armstrong, 17 Don Kennedy, 18 Neil Stratton, 19 Carmon Carnibucci, 20 Frank Harper, 21 Kolby Schroder, 22 K.C. Goewey, 23 Ed Harkin, 24 Chad Pierce

Pro Stock Results (20 Laps) - 1 Jason Casey, 2 Jay Corbin, 3 Kevin Arnold, 4 Mike Middleton, 5 Robbie Speed, 6 Jay Casey, 7 Jim Langenback, 8 Victor Hopkins, 9 Ed Bishop, 10 Paul Rogers, 11 Paul LaRochelle, 12 Chris Crews, 13 Brian Keough, 14 Jeff Kelmel, 15 Johnny Rivers, 16 Ed Bachand, 17 Don Carlson, 18 Kent Clark, 19 Jon Routhier, 20 Henry Warner, DNS Don Collins

Limited Pro Stock Results (10 Laps) - 1 Nick Hilt, 2 Justin Herron, 3 Jay Kretuziger Jr, 4 Jery Helms Jr., 5 Kevin Winters, 6 Joe Mennite, 7 Gary Ashley, 8 Mark Stevens, 9 Dale Kennedy, 10 Rob Maxon, 11 Dirk Lapierre, 12 Bill Hammell, 13 Chad Jeseo, DNS Dave Colwell

Pure Stock #1 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Robert Hammell, 2 Mike Eichstedt, 3 Dave Houser, 4 Howard Madsen, 5 Chris Murphy, 6 Dave Streibel, 7 Mike Fachini, 8 Tom Murphy, 9 Ron Hoyt Jr, 10 Cord Becker, 11 John Quiqley, 12 Adam Tator, 13 Dave Fachini Jr, 14 Johnny Lane, 15 Gil Twing Sr., DNS John Denue, DQ Chris Streeter

Pure Stock #2 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Tom Harkins, 2 Karl Castagna, 3 Lou Ganzar, 4 Jef Kreutziger, 5 Doug Olds, 6 E. J. Legeyt, 7 Ed Hatch, 8 Kirk Stanaway, 9 Lynn Wesley, 10 Joe Chenail, 11 Gary VanDenburg, 12 Jay Martin, 13 Steve Hatch, 14 Brian Walsh, 15 Jim Fachini, 16 John Devine, 17 Lloyd Tomlin

Pure Stock #3 Results (8 Laps) - 1 Jesse Murphy, 2 Pete Weigand, 3 Matt Humes, 4 Bob Palmer, 5 Ray Hall Sr, 6 Dave Stickles, 7 Jay Casey, 8 Richard Puff, 9 John Chapman, 10 Larry Ball, 11 Phil Wood, 12 Tim Sayers, 13 Rob Partridge, 14 Shannon McDermott, DQ Al Relyea, DNS E. J. Legeyt